After years of sharp growth, the rate of vaping among high school and middle school students dropped significantly nationwide last year, though experts are unsure whether the decrease is part of a long-term trend or mostly a pandemic-related blip.
The percent of high school seniors who vaped in the previous year fell from 40.6% in 2019 to 31.5% in 2021, according to a federally funded University of Michigan study. A separate study by federal researchers also found a big drop in recent use.
But the 2021 surveys were from the first half of the year, when many students were learning remotely. The real test of whether the decline in vaping is long term, experts say, will be when data from 2022, when most classes were in-person, is released later this year or in early 2023.
“When you’re at school is when the peer pressure comes to use drugs,” including vape products, said Richard Miech, a research professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and a principal investigator of its annual survey of youth drug and alcohol use.
David Olson – NewsDay – 2022-08-01
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