Adolescents in Aotearoa New Zealand who struggle with vaping addiction feel judged by the adults in their lives, researchers at the University of Otago, Wellington – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke have found.
The researchers interviewed 20 New Zealanders between the ages of 16 and 18, who described themselves as moderately to heavily addicted to vaping.
The results are published in the prestigious international journal Tobacco Control.
Study co-leader Anna Graham-DeMello, a Research Fellow in the University’s ASPIRE Aotearoa Research Centre, says the young people spoke of feeling stigmatised and unsupported by family members. Some also felt teachers and other adults were antagonistic towards them.
Anna Graham-DeMello
“Though young people understood the criticism could be coming from a caring place, many of our participants resented comments on their vaping. Instead of helping them manage their addiction, the criticism diminished their sense of self-worth.
“Some were also quick to point out hypocrisy, noting, for instance, that they had often seen teachers vaping, only to be reprimanded by the same teachers. These anomalies intensified the confusion and anger they felt.”
In Aotearoa, 10.5 per cent of 15-17-year-olds and 26.5 per cent of 18-24-year-olds vape daily. Māori are two-and-a-half times more likely to vape than non-Māori.
The young people in the study were attracted to vaping by its social aspect, particularly as vaping had become a normal part of their environment, Ms Graham-DeMello says.
Many of those interviewed mourned their loss of fitness. One commented, “It’s been quite heart breaking … I used to be super fit … really good cardio … nowadays … I can’t [even] walk anywhere without losing my breath, getting a stitch.”
Some said they took up vaping to help them manage anxiety and stress, only to find it had the opposite effect. One noted, “I’m [now] getting more anxious and stressed because I can’t [always] have [a puff] when I need it.”
The adolescents in the study had felt immune to addiction, despite the warnings, and had mistakenly believed they would retain control and be able to vape only when they wished while socialising.
One said, “[I never thought] this would … happen to me … But, at the end of the day … it’s nobody else’s fault.”
Ms DeMello says few considered how companies manufacturing and promoting vapes were deliberately targeting them with appealing flavours and cheap devices, and even fewer considered whether inadequate regulation had failed them.