The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) supports legislation banning the importation, manufacture and supply of non-therapeutic e-cigarettes, introduced to parliament today by Minister for Health, The Hon. Mark Butler.
A recent report authored by AIFS researchers shows vaping is on the rise and associated with a range of mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression and stress.
The paper highlights concerning risks to youth wellbeing linked with vaping – including its association with anxiety disorders, higher perceived stress levels, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in adolescents.
According to Australian research cited in the report, the number of 14-17 year old Australians who vape has risen almost 12 fold in just 4 years (from fewer than 1% in 2018 to 11.8% in 2022).
Research Fellow at AIFS, Dr Mandy Truong, said until the link between vaping and mental health is better understood, reducing young people’s access to e-cigarettes is a positive move.
‘We can’t say that for every teen who uses e-cigarettes, their mental health will suffer as a result – but we do know that having depressive symptoms makes you more likely to use e-cigarettes and vice-versa – so there is a strong association there,’ Dr Truong said.
‘While we work to better understand that link, and vaping rates are rapidly rising, a ban on selling e-cigarettes is the right thing to do for young people.’
To better understand the impact of vaping, AIFS is currently undertaking research using data from its two long-running longitudinal studies – Ten To Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health, and Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The Ten To Men study on vaping is expected to be published in coming months.
