Mental health problems among Australian teens linked to vaping, study finds | E-cigarettes

Australian high school students with symptoms of severe depression and poor health are twice as likely to have tried e-cigarettes, a new study has found.

The survey also found that a fifth of students in seventh and eighth grades had moderate to severe symptoms of depression, highlighting the need for earlier intervention targeting both mental health and vaping, experts said.

The survey was conducted among more than 5,000 students aged 12 to 14 in 2023 as part of the OurFutures e-cigarette prevention program, led by the University of Sydney's Matilda Centre.

Teenagers from 40 schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia answered questions on topics such as drug use, vaping, likelihood of future drug use and mental health, including symptoms such as depression, anxiety, stress and poor wellbeing.

The findings, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, found that a third of participants reported poor well-being, a further third had high stress and a fifth had high anxiety.

Students who reported moderate or high stress levels were 74% or 64% more likely, respectively, to have tried e-cigarettes than those who reported low stress levels, but there appeared to be little relationship between anxiety levels and e-cigarette use.

Study co-author Associate Professor Emily Stockings from the University of Sydney said the rise in rates of e-cigarette use and poor mental health made the close link between the two even more concerning.

“If we're trying to improve mental health and prevent e-cigarette use, clearly the two have to happen simultaneously,” she said.

Percentage of students in grades 7-12 who have used e-cigarettes in the past month Almost four times Between 2017 and 2022/23, two-fifths of Australians aged 16-24 Experienced a mental disorder Within the past year.

Associate Professor Michelle Jongenelis, from the University of Melbourne, said the results demonstrated the importance of early and effective mental health support for teenagers.

About 8% of students ages 12 to 14 had tried an e-cigarette, and about 2% had used an e-cigarette within the past month, according to the study.

Among older 12-15 year olds, these figures rose to around 24% and 13% respectively, according to the Australian National Secondary School Alcohol and Drug Survey.

The average age of students taking part in the OurFutures survey was 13, but it has previously been found that mental health issues and substance use can start as early as 14 years old.

“This is a critical time for development [when] “They're just starting high school,” Jongeneris said, “and we need to do more to support them so they don't turn to e-cigarettes to relieve anxiety, stress and depression.”

Of the 20 students surveyed, only one attended an educationally disadvantaged school, and Stockings said the study didn't look at public schools, which makes it somewhat limited.

“We couldn't go to public school. [hear from] “The most vulnerable kids, the most disadvantaged kids or the schools that are having the most trouble,” Stockings said.

The study adds to previous research suggesting a link between nicotine use and mental health problems, but could not provide explanations as the data were extracted from a single time point.

While the study did not address the link between mental health and e-cigarette use, it is the first part of an ongoing study in the OurFutures program, in which students will complete further surveys after completing a training course on understanding and avoiding e-cigarette use.

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