US Study Finds Regular Vaping Now Higher Among Teenage Girls

A decade-long US study found that regular vaping among girls aged 15 to 17 rose to 7.8% in 2024, compared with 4.6% of boys in the same age group. The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, show that youth vaping remains a concern despite a sharp decline in adolescent cigarette smoking.

Researchers analysed data collected from 2014 to 2024 for the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a nationally representative study of tobacco use in the US. The analysis covered adolescents aged 12 to 17 and tracked smoking and vaping patterns by age and gender.

The researchers counted “current established” use: participants had to report using a product regularly and within the previous 30 days, rather than having only tried it.

Vaping patterns changed over the decade

From 2014 to 2018, vaping was more common among boys than girls. Use was also consistently higher among older teens aged 15 to 17 than among younger adolescents aged 12 to 14.

Vaping rose sharply among both boys and girls in 2018 and 2019, and the gender gap largely disappeared. The increase coincided with the growing popularity of newer e-cigarettes, including small, pod-based devices such as Juul. Rates then fell by 2021, but subsequent patterns differed by age and gender.

Among 12- to 14-year-olds, vaping rates stayed relatively low and varied from year to year. Girls generally had higher rates than boys after 2021, although the rate among girls declined in the latest data. Naomi Brownstein, a study co-first author and MUSC biostatistician, cautioned that the decline from 2023 to 2024 did not mean the issue had gone away.

The change was more pronounced among older teens. Regular vaping among girls aged 15 to 17 increased from 4.9% in 2021 to 7.8% in 2024, nearing the peak seen during the 2018–2019 rise. In 2024, 4.6% of boys in that age group were regular users. Researchers stressed that vaping among boys remains a public-health concern too.

Cigarette smoking has fallen sharply

The study also found that established cigarette smoking among adolescents dropped substantially over the decade. In the final wave of data, fewer than half of 1% of both boys and girls were established smokers.

The researchers said the changing patterns may suggest that vaping is displacing at least some cigarette smoking among young people. However, they noted that e-cigarettes are not harmless. The article reports that researchers do not yet know their long-term health effects, and that regular vaping can lead to nicotine addiction among adolescents while their brains are still developing.

E-cigarettes can also make it difficult to keep track of use. Unlike a cigarette, a cartridge may provide hundreds or thousands of puffs, and the devices can be concealed. Lead author Brandon Sanford said some patients struggle to say how much they vape because they cannot easily track individual sessions or how long a device lasts.

Researchers say the reasons remain unclear

The study was not designed to explain why vaping rates among girls have risen, and its observational design cannot establish that any one factor caused the change. Researchers said questions remain about possible links to motivations, marketing, social influences and perceptions.

Understanding those factors could help shape prevention messages and cessation programmes, the researchers said. Benjamin Toll, director of the MUSC Health Tobacco Treatment Program and co-director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, also urged people who regularly work with teenagers—including paediatricians, parents and coaches—to remain alert to youth vaping.

The study, “Rates of nicotine use among US female children and adolescents,” was published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.4918.