Targeted by vape brands on social media because they are attracted to the massive array of fruity flavors, one of the main concerns with vaping is young people taking up the habit.

According to a2024 study, “When young adults switch to disposables, their e-cigarette dependence and use of sweet-flavored e-liquids increase.” The U.K. is one of the many countries around the world introducing restrictions on the sale of single-use vapes to tackle the “youth vaping epidemic.” 

In the U.S., states like Alabama are limiting advertisements that target young people, introducing mandatory attendance to an in-person vaping awareness, education, and prevention class if anybody under 19 is caught vaping to lower the numbers of youth vapers.

While e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product by U.S. youth, with 1.63 million youth reporting the use of e-cigarettes in 2024, youth vaping numbers are in decline, according to the FDA. 

According to anew study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the main factor to this decline is “The Real Cost” E-cigarette Prevention Campaign the FDA has been running since 2018.

The campaign has “prevented an estimated 444,252 (95% CI: 73,639–814,866) U.S. youth aged 11–18 from initiating e-cigarettes between 2023 and 2024,” contributing to the nearly 70% decline in e-cigarette use among American youth since 2019. 

The study concluded, “Youth with higher exposure to “The Real Cost” E-cigarette Prevention Campaign ads were less likely to initiate e-cigarettes during the study period. These findings indicate that the campaign has contributed to recent declines in e-cigarette use among U.S. youth.” 

Another2022 study found that “vaping prevention advertisements from the FDA Real Cost campaign led to lower adolescent susceptibility to vaping and had beneficial spillover effects on cigarette smoking outcomes. Tobacco prevention campaigns can help reduce youth tobacco use.” 

The limitation of studies like these is that they are self-reporting. Oftentimes, young people will underreport vaping for several reasons that range from embarrassment to a fear of being found out, even if the surveys are anonymous.

A2019 study compared self-reported use of tobacco, e-cigarettes, and marijuana versus urinary biomarkers. The results were interesting, finding “40% who reported using nicotine-free products had cotinine >10 ng/mL.” This evidence either suggests the young people taking part didn’t know they were consuming nicotine or didn’t want to disclose this information in the original survey.