More than half of teens who vape want to quit or cut back, but fewer want to change their cannabis use | Research

The takeaway

Among 23,915 middle and high school students surveyed, over half of those who vaped e-cigarettes wanted to quit or reduce, but interest in changing cannabis use was lower and driven by different factors.

School counselors, pediatricians, youth substance use program designers, and parents.

40.9% of teen e-cigarette users intended to quit

What the researchers found

Among sole e-cigarette users, 40.9% intended to quit and 24.1% intended to reduce. Among co-users, 42.3% intended to quit and 25.7% intended to reduce e-cigarettes. Fewer expressed interest in changing cannabis use, with cannabis cravings and poly-tobacco use predicting intent to change.

Why it matters

Knowing which teens want to change their substance use, and what predicts that motivation, can help schools and clinicians design interventions that actually reach the students most likely to engage.

The numbers in context

23,915 students surveyed. 543 sole e-cigarette users, with 40.9% wanting to quit and 24.1% wanting to reduce. Non-daily use predicted intention to change e-cigarettes. Cannabis cravings predicted intention to change cannabis use.

How the study worked

Survey of 23,915 middle and high school students. Researchers used LASSO variable selection and multilevel logistic regression to identify predictors of intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes and/or cannabis among sole and co-users.

What this study cannot tell us

Cross-sectional design captures intention at one point, not actual behavior change. Self-reported substance use may undercount actual use. School-based sample may miss out-of-school youth.

How to read the evidence

Large school-based survey with robust statistical methods, but cross-sectional and self-reported.

When this study was published

2024 study of current adolescent substance use patterns.

The bigger picture

The gap between high motivation to change e-cigarette use and lower motivation for cannabis suggests these substances occupy different psychological spaces for teens. Interventions may need substance-specific messaging rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.

Questions still open

Do teens who express intention to quit actually follow through? Would targeted interventions for co-users produce better outcomes than general cessation programs?

Common questions

How many teens who vape want to quit?

About 41% of sole e-cigarette users and 42% of co-users (e-cigarettes plus cannabis) expressed intention to quit vaping.

What predicted wanting to change cannabis use?

Cannabis cravings and poly-tobacco use were the strongest predictors. Heavier cannabis use alone did not consistently predict motivation to change.

Were co-users different from sole users?

Co-users had similar rates of wanting to quit e-cigarettes as sole users, but the predictors of change motivation differed between the two groups.

Read the original research

Intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes, cannabis, and their co-use among a school-based sample of adolescents.

Addictive behaviors, 157, 108101

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Liu, Jessica; Knoll, Sarah J; Pascale, Michael P; Gray, Caroline A; Bodolay, Alec; Potter, Kevin W; Gilman, Jodi; Eden Evins, A; Schuster, Randi M. (2024). Intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes, cannabis, and their co-use among a school-based sample of adolescents.. Addictive behaviors, 157, 108101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108101