The Association Between Risk Behaviors and Vaping Among Youth in New Mexico.

Introduction:
This text examines the relationship between vaping and other risk behaviors among youth in New Mexico. The study uses data from the New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (NM-YRRS) to analyze the association between electronic vapor product use and substance use, risky driving behaviors, and lack of bicycle helmet use. The text highlights the significance of this issue in New Mexico, which ranks third highest in the prevalence of current e-cigarette use among youth.

Key Points:

* The study analyzes data from the NM-YRRS, a population-based surveillance survey that tracks health risk behaviors among youth.
* The study focuses on high school students in grades 9 to 12 who responded to the question: "Have you ever used an electronic vapor product?"
* The study finds strong associations between vaping and not wearing a bike helmet, driving after drinking, texting while driving, current marijuana use, heroin use, painkiller use, and cocaine use.
* The study notes that the association between vaping and driving after drinking was not significant in 2017, but this may be due to the smaller sample size and smaller proportion of students of driving age.
* The study also notes that the findings on associations between vaping and current drug use are mixed, with positive associations for marijuana and painkiller use, a negative association for heroin use, and no significant association for cocaine or methamphetamine use.
* The study acknowledges limitations such as self-reported survey data, unmeasured confounding factors, and the inability to infer temporality between vaping and other risk-taking behaviors.

Main Message:
The study highlights the significant associations between vaping and risky transportation-related behaviors and substance use behaviors among youth. The findings emphasize the need for prevention measures that address e-cigarette use specifically, as well as prevention measures that collectively address the prevalence of multiple risk factors. The study also suggests that increased taxes on vaping products and more comprehensive strategies that protect against multiple risk behaviors may be helpful strategies to control vaping among youth. Overall, the study underscores the importance of addressing the impact of vaping on youth and the need for further investigation.

Fatemi NN, Cruz TH, Kesler DO, Schiff MA. The Association Between Risk Behaviors and Vaping Among Youth in New Mexico. Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP. 2021;27:S164-S167. doi:10.1097/PHH.0000000000001318