More than half of teens who vape want to quit or cut back, but fewer want to change their cannabis use
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.
Quick Facts
What This Study 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.
Key Numbers
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 They Did This
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.
Why This Research 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 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.
What This Study Doesn't 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.
Questions This Raises
- ?Do teens who express intention to quit actually follow through?
- ?Would targeted interventions for co-users produce better outcomes than general cessation programs?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- 40.9% of teen e-cigarette users intended to quit
- Evidence Grade:
- Large school-based survey with robust statistical methods, but cross-sectional and self-reported.
- Study Age:
- 2024 study of current adolescent substance use patterns.
- Original Title:
- Intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes, cannabis, and their co-use among a school-based sample of adolescents.
- Published In:
- Addictive behaviors, 157, 108101 (2024)
- Authors:
- Liu, Jessica(3), Knoll, Sarah J(2), Pascale, Michael P, Gray, Caroline A, Bodolay, Alec, Potter, Kevin W, Gilman, Jodi, Eden Evins, A, Schuster, Randi M
- Database ID:
- RTHC-05484
Evidence Hierarchy
Frequently Asked 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.
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Cite This Study
https://rethinkthc.com/research/RTHC-05484APA
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
MLA
Liu, Jessica, et al. "Intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes, cannabis, and their co-use among a school-based sample of adolescents.." Addictive behaviors, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108101
RethinkTHC
RethinkTHC Research Database. "Intention to quit or reduce e-cigarettes, cannabis, and thei..." RTHC-05484. Retrieved from https://rethinkthc.com/research/liu-2024-intention-to-quit-or
Access the Original Study
Study data sourced from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
This study breakdown was produced by the RethinkTHC research team. We analyze and report published research findings without making health recommendations. All interpretations are based solely on the published abstract and study data.