Vaping: Young people

Healthwatch Darlington are concerned at the increase in vaping in young people in Darlington and wanted to better understand e-cigarette and vaping behaviours amongst their local population aged 14 to 25 years old. They undertook an online survey to which 53 young people responded.

Over half of the survey respondents vaped, and their reasons for starting were varied, including stress control, an aid to stop smoking, ‘tasted nice’ and to fit in with friends. Less than half of young vapers thought vaping was safer than smoking, and exactly 50% of them were worried about the long-term impact of vaping.

The majority of respondents had been vaping for 1 to 2 years, and just under half had smoked cigarettes before they started vaping. Nine out of ten respondents vaped every day. 

Four out of five are in work and pay for their vapes, the remainder rely on family and friends or pocket money. The corner shop is the main location where young people buy their vapes, with 3 out of 10 getting them from family or friends. T

wo thirds think it would not be easy to give up vaping, mainly because of its addictive nature. Three quarters of those who vape had not smoked since they started vaping. 

Only a third of vapers read the packaging when opening a vape. The main reason for young people to start vaping was to stop smoking cigarettes, closely followed by it ‘tasting nice”. For those young people who don’t vape, the main reason not to is for health reasons. Less than 10% of respondents thought vaping was safe, whilst 25% thought it was very unsafe.

The report includes 8 recommendations on education and awareness, community engagement, policy development, peer support programmes, parental involvement, access to support services, monitoring and evaluation and partnerships.