Ask for help with youth vaping
Give your child a calm way to reliable information and professional support.
Not ratedgeneral health evidence
Start with the time you have
1 minute
Come up with one neutral question about vaping that asks what your child thinks.
5 minutes
Read the CDC parent guide and choose one question for a healthcare professional.
15 minutes
Prepare a supportive conversation and, if needed, request advice from your child's clinician.
How sure the science is
Not rated, general health evidence
No pooled trials to rate. This rests on single studies, expert consensus or clinical practice. Measured in the general population; we say so because ADHD trials of this do not exist or are too small.
General CDC youth vaping guidance with ADHD nicotine-risk context; no formal certainty rating for this prevention conversation.
The number, drawn
Ask a healthcare professional about help if your child vapes
Why it matters
General CDC guidance warns that nicotine addiction can affect concentration and sleep, and recommends supportive conversations with young people. ADHD is associated with higher rates of smoking and substance problems, although older nicotine studies do not measure modern vaping specifically. A conversation can open the door to help, without treating nicotine as an attention aid.
How to do it
- Pick a calm moment and ask what your child knows or has noticed about vaping.
- Listen without criticising, and ask what they'd like to know.
- Ask a healthcare professional for reliable information and help if your child already vapes.
If your child uses nicotine, ask their healthcare professional about appropriate support. Treatment choices for young people need individual advice.
Putting it into practice
In real life
- Ask what your child thinks when you pass a vape display together.
- Offer a conversation with a school nurse or clinician if your child would rather talk privately.
Watch out for
- Common mistakeA lecture can shut the conversation down. Listen first and keep it open.
- Common mistakeAssuming older smoking-risk estimates describe vaping precisely overstates the evidence, so avoid quoting them as vaping odds.
Trusted guides
How we rated it
- Evidence grade
- B Trials in ADHD with low certainty, or strong general health evidence with a sourced reason it matters more with ADHD.
- The number
- Ask a healthcare professional about help if your child vapes (CDC, 2024)
- Benefit
- 63/100 The benefit score is an editorial prioritization for the general list, weighted by certainty. It is not a prediction of what will happen for you.
- Effort
- Some effort
Sources
- Tier 1 guidelineProtecting Youth From the Harms of VapingCDC, 2024
- Tier 2 studyThe impacts associated with having ADHD: an umbrella reviewFrontiers in Psychiatry, 2024
General information about ADHD, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Tailoring changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess you. Medication decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.