Student Surveys Conducted by Industry Leader Pride Surveys Along with Surveys Conducted by Two Additional Organizations Show Large Increases in Vaping by 12th Graders

MARIETTA, Ga., Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Statistics from Pride Surveys, a national leader in student survey data collection, show that vaping increased across the board for all students in grades 6-12 over a two-year period. The largest increase was found amongst 12th-grade students, 32.6% of whom reported using a nicotine vaporizer in the last 30 days, an increase year over year of 10.8% between 2017 and 2018.

These numbers are especially concerning given the CDC's guidance on vaping tobacco products: E-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women, or adults who do not currently use tobacco products. Equally alarming is the current outbreak of identified cases of lung disease related to vaping products.

The Pride Survey and the Pride Survey Plus collected data from 5,306 12th grade students across the country and in communities where there are active community coalitions combating substance use in youth. The data are self-reported statistics from students used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs that are being implemented in the communities and to determine the need for such programs.

The publicly funded Monitoring the Future Survey, the National Youth Tobacco Survey, and the Pride Survey all show similar rates of increase in tobacco vaping. The Monitoring the Future Survey shows a 9.9% increase over the previous year and the National Youth Tobacco Survey shows a 10.8% increase which matched the increase reported by the Pride Survey. Although the surveys are not directly comparable due to differing methodologies, question structure, and cohorts, the similarities in these statistics help validate each other.

"The news about the current health issues and, in some instances, deaths are devastating. The Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition is taking these reports seriously and is currently looking into educational materials and programming that can be distributed/presented to our counties youth in hopes of curbing the appeal of vaping/e-cigarette use," said Jeff Hill, Director, Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition. "The WCSPC feels that by providing access to real-time data and information, we can educate youth on the harms of e-cigarette usage, as well as parents in ways to identify when, how, and if their child may be using these products."

"Here at Pride we have been monitoring e-cigarette use for our customers for the last five years and have seen the numbers explode. We feel it is important to lend our data to the conversation during this 'wild-west' time for vaporizers," said Jay Gleaton, President and CEO of Pride Surveys. "While we are still learning about the impact of vapor on the lungs, we already know about the habit-forming and developmental effects that the chemical nicotine can have on children and young adults' brains."

These survey results come at a time when big tobacco is taking notice of the trends in vaporizer products with the parent company of Marlboro buying a 35 percent stake in the vaping company JUUL for 13 billion dollars.

Pride Surveys has been collecting data on youth substance abuse and behavioral trends since 1982 and providing schools and communities with the ability to perform their own valid and reliable needs assessments tailored to the students in individual school settings.

About Pride Surveys: Pride Surveys was created in 1982 by professors at Georgia State University in Atlanta and Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. Their purpose was to help local schools measure student alcohol, tobacco and other drug use through the use of student surveys. Since then, the survey company has developed a full range of survey products that measure behavior on many crucial issues that can affect learning, such as school climate, family, discipline, safety, substance use, perceptions of harm and more.

For more information on Pride Surveys, visit http://PrideSurveys.com, Facebook and Twitter at @ISAPrideSurveys, and LinkedIn at @Pride Surveys/International Survey Associates.

SOURCE Pride Surveys