"What Is Vaping?" 10-Years of Youth Questions Regarding Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems

Introduction

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is increasingly common among youth. The popularity of ENDS and the relationship of adolescent ENDS to use to later life smoking underscore the importance of effective prevention education as a tobacco control strategy. The ability to craft prevention messaging consistent with the questions youth have may serve to increase their effectiveness.

Methods

10 years of ENDS-related questions were extracted from transcripts of the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Chat Day program, where youth anonymously pose questions to substance use experts. A content analysis of ENDS-related questions was completed to identify the concerns of youth and document changing ENDS nomenclature.

Results

Content analysis revealed 10 topics youth asked about when considering ENDS. Top concerns included the physiological effects of ENDS use, comparisons to combustible tobacco, and definitional questions. E-cigarette was the first term used to describe ENDS, but over the study time period, this was replaced by vaping and JUULing as the preferred terms when referring to an ENDS.

Conclusions

Prevention education efforts sensitive to the questions youth have regarding ENDS use may be an effective tobacco control strategy. The categories of interest identified here show youth have a wide range of questions about ENDS that could be addressed through prevention curricula.