A surprising investigation in the state of Ohio in the United States, to say the least. According to the Ohio Department of Health, there are higher rates of e-cigarette use among LGBT teens (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender) than among heterosexual youth.
A BIG SUCCESS OF THE E-CIGARETTE IN THE OHIO LGBT COMMUNITY
This is a somewhat special investigation that comes straight from the Ohio Department of Health. Indeed, according to this survey, teenagers in Ohio who describe themselves as gay or bisexual are more frequent users of e-cigarettes than their heterosexual counterparts. In any case, this is what emerges from the surveys " Ohio Healthy Youth Environments Conducted during the 2016-2017 school year by the Ohio Department of Health.
According to this survey, adolescents who describe themselves as transgender (non-conforming to gender) are much more likely to use electronic cigarettes than their male and female counterparts. According to the survey, there are twice as high rates of vaping among transgender teens.
« Transgender teens use e-cigarettes to cope with the stress and anxiety they feel about social stigma" , said Jackson Siegel, Youth Program Coordinator, LGTB Community Center, Greater Cleveland.
Transgender youth try to find a community where they feel accepted and engage in risky behaviors to be part of a peer group, said Siegel. " They have the desire to belong to a community, to a group“, He declares.
According to Jackson Siegel there are more and more adult e-cigarette users who come to the LGTB Community Center. About a third of the teenagers he works with at the center are smokers or vapers.
The center is in the process of reorganizing its health information to include information on the effects of electronic cigarettes on health. " New program will tell teens that the sooner they start using nicotine, the harder it will be to get rid of it Added Siegel.
