Research shows daily habits can double the risk of depression

New research finds that vaping, a habit shared by millions of Americans, is linked to depression.

Australian researchers surveyed over 5,000 schoolchildren aged 12 to 14 about their mental health and e-cigarette use.

They found that students who reported experiencing major depression were twice as likely to have tried vaping, compared to students who reported having no symptoms of depression.

About 2 million American adults and 2.1 million children are addicted to e-cigarettes. Millions of adults try vaping each year in an effort to quit smoking, but remain hooked on the devices.

Researchers cannot yet prove that vaping is a direct cause of depression and anxiety. They can only show that there is a link between the two.

Millions of people try e-cigarettes as a way to cope with anxiety or depression and become addicted. Meanwhile, frequent vaping has been linked to mental health problems, including depression.

About 2.8 million people under the age of 18 used a tobacco product in 2023. About 2.1 million of them used e-cigarettes

About 5,000 students in Years 7 and 8 in Australian schools (ages 12 to 14) were surveyed as part of the University of Sydney study. OurFutures Vaping Trialwhich aims to prevent vaping in high schools and colleges.

Students were asked what they thought about vaping, how often they do it, what they knew about the dangers of e-cigarettes, what their motivation was for using them, and whether they had experienced depressive symptoms in the past week.

Of the total of 5,157 high school and college students who participated in the survey, 8.3 percent reported having used an e-cigarette in the past. Students

Students who reported experiencing moderate stress in their lives were 74 percent more likely to use e-cigarettes, compared to students with lower stress levels.

Students who reported experiencing a lot of stress were 64 percent more likely to use e-cigarettes than students who experienced less stress.

And students with low well-being, according to the study’s standards, were 105 percent more likely to use e-cigarettes compared to students with high well-being.

Dr Lauren Gardner, one of the lead researchers behind the OurFutures study, said: ‘More research is needed to understand the complex relationship between mental health and vaping. However, these findings highlight the urgent need for prevention and early intervention approaches, supported by evidence, to support both the short- and long-term health and wellbeing of young people.’

Their findings were published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

According to the researchers, there is a growing body of research examining the links between poor mental health and vaping use.

An American Heart Association survey of 2,505 teenagers looked at the prevalence of anxiety and depression among nicotine vapers.

The study found that 60 percent of participants who only used nicotine and participants who dual vaped reported experiencing anxiety symptoms, such as worry, flashbacks, panic attacks and situational anxiety, in the past week, compared to about 40 percent of participants who had never vaped.

Researchers have found similar links between depression and vaping in adults.

A 2019 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association Research has shown that the more often adults use e-cigarettes, the more likely they are to suffer from depression.

People who vaped daily were 2.4 percent more likely to have depression, while occasional users were 1.96 times more likely.

Meanwhile, a 2019 report in The Annals of Clinical Psychiatry looked at the effects of vaping on the mental health of young adults in college.

Those who used e-cigarettes were significantly more likely have a psychiatric history of ADHD, PTSD, gambling addiction and anxiety, report low self-esteem and endorse impulsive traits.

About 4.5 percent of American adults — roughly 11.6 million people – are current users of e-cigarettes.

In Australia, more than 14 percent of young people aged 15 and over have currently tried vaping or vaping. Vaping appears to be the activity most popular among young people, including those who have never tried traditional cigarettes.

Meanwhile, in the US, about 7.7 percent of college students are current e-cigarette users. That amounts to about 2.1 million kids, including 4.6 percent of middle school students and 10 percent of high school students, according to 2023 data, the most recent available.

There is a glimmer of hope that private and government-backed prevention measures are working. E-cigarette use among high school students fell from just over 14 percent in 2023.

Dr Emily Stockings, one of the lead researchers behind the latest research from Australia, said: ‘Although not examined in our study, it is possible that this association could be explained by shared social, environmental and genetic risk factors, and may reflect potential self-medication behaviour.

‘Regardless of whether mental health issues influence smoking or vice versa, it is clear that if we want to prevent people from taking up vaping, we need to pay attention to our mental health at the same time.’