Ask for help with youth vaping
Not ratedgeneral health evidence
Give your child a calm way to reliable information and professional support.
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.
- 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 An editorial priority for the general list, weighted by certainty. It does not predict 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.