We have misread what vaping is. For most young people, it is not a substance use problem. It is an emotional regulation problem wearing a disguise.
Here is what the data keeps revealing to us and what our hearts already know. Young people today are among the most digitally connected generation in human history. Yet they are also among the loneliest. Research from the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that nearly 40% of teenagers reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless, with loneliness identified as a major reason. Some students receive hundreds of notifications a day and still walk into school feeling invisible to the people sitting right next to them.
Some adolescents find relief from loneliness in healthier outlets such as listening to music, playing sports or being creative. Others turn to what is fast and available. Excessive social media scrolling, risky behaviors, unhealthy romantic relationships and substance use, such as vaping, are used to manage the pain of loneliness.
What the data is actually telling us
The U.S. Surgeon General has declared youth vaping a public health epidemic, and e-cigarettes are now the most widely used nicotine product among young people in the United States. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health confirms that nicotine vaping among adolescents aged 12 to 17 has increased significantly in recent years. But the story behind why teens vape points far beyond habit or curiosity. Young people consistently report vaping for stress relief, boredom and a desire to feel something other than what they are already feeling. Nicotine dependence does not drive those motivations. Emotional pain does. This is what coping looks like when young people have no other tools.
How vaping differs from alcohol and marijuana
Courtesy of Shantalea Johns
Shantalea Johns
Teens have always found ways to manage stress through substances. Alcohol and marijuana remain common coping strategies among adolescents. But vaping has shifted the landscape in three significant ways. First, accessibility: E-cigarettes are discreet, nearly odorless and available in flavors engineered to attract youth with no prior history of smoking. Second, speed: Nicotine reaches the brain faster through vaping than through traditional cigarettes, delivering near-immediate emotional relief. Third, normalization: Adolescents consistently overestimate how many peers vape, and that perception alone increases individual risk. Unlike alcohol or marijuana, which still carry visible social stigma in many communities, vaping has become woven into daily school life for many teens without ever raising an alarm.
[Related: Youth mental health is personal. Our solutions need to be systemic.]
What changes when we reframe vaping as coping
When clinicians and schools treat vaping primarily as a nicotine problem, the response is cessation-focused: patches, hotlines and behavior contracts. Those tools miss the core question: What is this young person trying to feel, and what can we offer instead? Reframing vaping as a coping strategy shifts the intervention. It means asking about stress, loneliness and belonging before asking about nicotine. It means building emotional regulation skills alongside health education. Prevention models that ignore emotional skill-building and supportive adult relationships will not create lasting change, regardless of how strong the cessation curriculum is.
What we know works: nature-based programs
When we give young people soil, seeds and a reason to show up, something shifts.
As covered recently in Youth Today, research consistently links time in natural environments to lower stress, stronger emotional regulation and more meaningful social connections. In a community-based program in metro Detroit, young people who had been disengaged from school began showing up out of curiosity about their plants. Attendance improved. Conflicts decreased. Connection became the intervention.
Nature-based programming works because it answers the same need vaping does but without the harm. Young people are looking for relief. Soil, seeds and a caring adult can provide that in ways a brochure never will.
What families can do right now
The most powerful thing a family can offer a young person is the experience of being truly known. Not managed. Not monitored. Known.
Here are five ways to start:
- Create space for conversation. Make room for open, judgment-free discussions about stress, friendships and online experiences. A shared car ride or a few quiet minutes after dinner can open doors a formal conversation never will. Young people do not need a perfect parent. They need a present one.
- Strengthen real-life connections. Prioritize family time, shared meals and activities that foster a sense of belonging. Belonging develops through small, repeated moments of being present and heard by the people who matter most.
- Teach healthy coping skills. Introduce journaling, creative outlets and mindfulness practices such as deep breathing, along with outdoor walks and grounding exercises that have teens notice sights, sounds and textures around them.
- Try gardening together. Planting something, tending to it and watching it grow gives young people a sense of purpose. A container garden on a porch or a community garden plot builds patience, responsibility and connection without a single notification interrupting the moment.
- Set healthy digital boundaries. Establish phone-free times and help teens understand how social media affects their emotions.
A caring adult can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. A single safe space can be the difference between a young person who survives adolescence and one who thrives through it.
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Dr. Shantalea Johns, Ed.D., LMSW, is a professor, licensed therapist, mental health educator and public speaker specializing in adolescent well-being, trauma-informed care and community-based prevention. Learn more at www.shantalea.com.
