New study finds teens who vape more likely to have poor mental health

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A link has been found in teenagers between e-cigarette use and poor mental health. A survey of more than 5 thousand high school students has found those with symptoms of severe depression are twice as likely to vape.

Transcript

00:00We were surprised that it was this strong, but essentially we found that among the 5,000

00:06young people that we surveyed for this study, so this is the Our Futures Vaping Prevention

00:10Trial, that young people who said they were experiencing severe symptoms of depression

00:16were twice as likely to also be vaping. So we found that it was quite a strong link,

00:22which was really fascinating and also quite concerning. So it could be a number of things.

00:26It could be that young people are seeking out vapes as a way of coping with negative

00:31mental health emotions. It could be that young people who do vape are more susceptible to

00:37negative health conditions. So we call this a bi-directional relationship, that it does

00:42go both ways. We were surprised at how prevalent negative mental health was in this sample.

00:49Around 20% had severe depression, similar had high levels of anxiety. About a third

00:54were saying that they had high levels of perceived stress, and about the same who

00:58had perceived low levels of wellbeing. This is among 13-year-olds, and this is a relatively

01:04young cohort. This is Year 7 and Year 8 students across three states in Australia. So it raises

01:10a bigger question of, is this normal that the mental health is so elevated at this time?

01:16And it does link into the broader youth mental health crisis that we're seeing unfold in

01:20Australia at the moment.

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