New Western study suggests why teens vape

London, Ont. -

The Social Science faculty at Western University in London, Ont. recently conducted research focusing on why teens continue to vape, despite research showing the medical implications of it.

“We know that youth vaping is a public health crisis in Canada,” said Dr. Jason Gilliland, professor of Geography at Western University. “There’s a lot of quantitative research on the issue but we set out to undertake qualitative research to get at the youth experiences and the how’s and why they came to vape.”

The Teens Talk Vaping research group conducted roughly 1,000 surveys and multiple focus groups with teens aged 13-19.

The data collected through the research was then made into a video, shot by the students that were a part of the research project.

It includes subjects sharing with researchers that they often find their peers vaping in their school bathrooms, how easy it is to purchase vapes in store and how hard it is to find resources to quit, that resonate with their age group.

The research project was conducted with the intention that it was led by youth, for youth, which is why the team thought it was best to deliver research findings via a three-minute video.

Second-year sociology student, Laila Girum, was just one of the many students that were part of the research team and hopes the video will have an impact on society.

“Not just that teens see it, relate to it and feel like they’re not alone, but also that adults see it and they take from this to change their ways of how they teach about vaping and how they inform students about it,” said Girum.