Study Links Vaping to Juvenile Delinquency
According to a new study from the University of Texas at San Antonio, teenagers who vape have a higher risk of engaging in criminal activities like violence and property theft.
It turns out that vaping isn’t only extremely hazardous to your health, but it can turn you into a juvenile delinquent as well. At least that seems to be the conclusion of a new study conducted by UTSA criminal justice professor, Dylan Jackson. Using a nationally representative sample of 8th and 10th graders, he found that vaping – both nicotine-containing e-liquid and drugs like marijuana – was associated with a higher delinquency rate.
“The findings suggest that there may be something criminogenic about vaping among adolescents, but that the strength of the relationship between vaping and delinquency is contingent on what is being vaped, with marijuana vaping being most heavily correlated with delinquency,” the authors wrote.
Jackson explained the association between vaping and higher juvenile delinquency by suggesting that the ability to conceal an illegal substance, like nicotine or cannabis – in an inconspicuous vaping device to reduce detection and apprehension may embolden teenagers to engage in more serious delinquent behaviours. He also ranked these behaviours in four categories of delinquency:
– violent delinquency including fighting at school, engaging in a gang fight, causing injury to another or carrying a weapon to school;
– property delinquency such as stealing an item or damaging school property;
– “other” types of delinquency such as trespassing or running away from home;
– some combination of the behaviours mentioned above.
Apparently, the study also found that teens who vape marijuana are at a significantly higher risk of violent and property offenses than those who consume the drug through traditional means. There’s something about vaping that makes these kids go crazy, I guess…
“Our hope is that this research will lead to the recognition among policymakers, practitioners, and parents that the growing trend of adolescent vaping is not simply “unhealthy” — or worse, an innocuous pastime — but that it may in fact be a red flag or an early marker of risk pertaining to violence, property offending, and other acts of misconduct,” Jackson said.
Like most studies that put vaping in a negative light, this research has been picked up by various mainstream and medical news sites and used to scaremonger the public. That wouldn’t be a problem if the authors actually proved any causality, but that’s not the case here. Basically, they just looked at vaping and delinquent activity, eliminated other factors that could influence the teens’ behaviour and established an association.
I wonder how many of the teens analyzed for this study prefer the color black over white, maybe that could have something to do with their delinquent tendencies too, you never know…
The things that pass as scientific research these days just blow my mind!
