“It’s really addictive and I’m trapped:” A qualitative analysis of the reasons for quitting vaping among treatment-seeking young people.

Introduction:
This text provides an analysis of the reasons young people give for quitting e-cigarette use. The study is based on a sample of 1,000 teens and 1,000 young adults who enrolled in a quit vaping program and reported their reasons for quitting. The study aims to describe the range of reasons young people give for wanting to quit vaping, including health concerns as well as reasons other than health.

Key Points:

* The most common reasons for quitting were health (50.9%), financial cost (21.7%), freedom from addiction (16.0%), and social influence (10.1%).
* Selected quotes from users highlight a broad range of additional ways in which young e-cigarette users report their lives have been negatively impacted by use.
* The study demonstrates a strong demand for quit vaping support among young people.
* Despite the converging lines of evidence that many young people want to stop vaping and are actively trying to quit, the subjective experiences motivating quit attempts and treatment-seeking have been largely unexamined.
* An analysis of Twitter posts by people quitting JUUL found that health concerns such as difficulty breathing and financial cost were common reasons for quitting.
* Multiple lawsuits against e-cigarette companies based on personal injury to young people are underway.
* The study highlights, in young e-cigarette users’ own words, the diversity of experiences that motivated them to seek treatment.

Main Message:
The text highlights the importance of understanding the reasons why young people are motivated to quit vaping. The study found that health concerns, financial cost, freedom from addiction, and social influence were the most common reasons for quitting. However, the selected quotes from users also highlight a broad range of additional ways in which young e-cigarette users report their lives have been negatively impacted by use. The study suggests that these experiences should be considered in discussions of policies intended to protect young people and incorporated into cessation programs designed to serve them. Additionally, the strong demand for quit vaping support among young people demonstrates the need for effective cessation programs to address this public health issue.

Amato MS, Bottcher MM, Cha S, Jacobs MA, Pearson JL, Graham AL. “It’s really addictive and I’m trapped:” A qualitative analysis of the reasons for quitting vaping among treatment-seeking young people. Addictive behaviors. 2021;112:106599. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106599