Listening Closely to a ‘Youth in Peril’: Broaching a Realm of Neglect in the Literature on Nicotine Vaping through Survey Study of Princeton Freshmen

Abstract

The rapidity with which nicotine vaping (NV) has captivated American consumers, most notably America’s youth, has been met by a lagging and fragmented policy response. The narrative that has thus far defined NV thus far is one of a competition for regulatory preference between NV’s ‘warring demographics in peril’. These demographics are those of a ‘youth in peril’, one susceptible to the contested health hazards of NV, and ‘cigarette users in peril’, a demographic that potentially has much to benefit from NV’s promising capacity to act as a ‘substitute’ to cigarettes. In this context, this thesis conducts a review of the current literature on NV, comparing its focal points to the corresponding areas of emphasis in the literature on cigarettes. Through this comparative assessment, this thesis demonstrates a shortcoming in the NV literature consisting of a neglect for comprehensive perceptional research of the ‘youth in peril’. Despite being so prominent in the regulatory discourse, the latter demographic is absent as a participant in conversations concerning the nuances of NV. This thesis addresses this deficiency in the literature through its own research survey of students in Princeton’s class of 2021. The results of this study serve as the basis for recommendations offered by this thesis to both the medical literature and regulatory realm as they continue to weigh the harms and benefits of NV. Namely, that future discourse on NV should acknowledge the familiarity of the ‘youth in peril’ with the nuances of the regulatory debate, incorporating more comprehensive study of youth opinion in light of its evidenced conversancy in the language of the NV literature.