Vaping and youth

Nicotine impacts brain development in youth and young adults.

On this page:

• Youth and vaping
• How nicotine affects young brains

Youth and vaping

The use of e-cigarettes (vaping) has become an increasing concern. According to the New Brunswick Student Wellness and Education Survey in 2023-2024, 24.7% of students in grades 6-12 reported having tried vaping, with 14% reporting that they vape daily or occasionally.

• Vaping can increase your exposure to harmful chemicals.
• Vaping can lead to nicotine addiction.
• Young people are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of nicotine, especially addiction. Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can result in decreased impulse control as well as cognitive and behavioral problems.
• Emerging evidence shows that youth who had used e-cigarettes were twice as likely to try smoking and almost twice as likely to be daily smokers by the following year.

Learn more on how to talk to your youth about the health risk of vaping

How nicotine affects young brains

Youth are uniquely at risk for long-term, long-lasting effects of exposing their developing brains to nicotine. These risks include nicotine addiction, mood disorders, and permanent lowering of impulse control. 

Nicotine use during adolescence can disrupt the formation of brain circuits that control attention, learning, emotional regulation, and increase susceptibility to other addictions. Research has shown early age of nicotine use and pleasurable initial experiences are correlated with daily use and lifetime nicotine dependence.

5mg of nicotine a day is enough to establish a nicotine addiction–about the amount of nicotine in one-quarter of an e-cigarette pod.

Youth who have never smoked previously and began using e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future.