The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) supports legislation banning the importation, manufacture and supply of non-therapeutic e-cigarettes, introduced to parliament today by Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon. Mark Butler.

A recent report authored by AIFS researchers shows vaping is on the rise and associated with a range of mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression and stress.

The paper highlights concerning risks to youth wellbeing linked with vaping – including its association with anxiety disorders, higher perceived stress levels, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in adolescents.

According to Australian research cited in the report, the number of 14–17 year old Australians who vape has risen almost 12 fold in just 4 years (from fewer than 1% in 2018 to 11.8% in 2022).

Research Fellow at AIFS, Dr Mandy Truong, said until the link between vaping and mental health is better understood, reducing young people’s access to e-cigarettes is a positive move.

‘We can’t say that for every teen who uses e-cigarettes, their mental health will suffer as a result – but we do know that having depressive symptoms makes you more likely to use e-cigarettes and vice-versa – so there is a strong association there,’ Dr Truong said.

‘While we work to better understand that link, and vaping rates are rapidly rising, a ban on selling e-cigarettes is the right thing to do for young people.’

To better understand the impact of vaping, AIFS is currently undertaking research using data from its two long-running longitudinal studies – Ten To Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health, and Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The Ten To Men study on vaping is expected to be published in coming months.