Teen Vaping May Increase Nicotine-Seeking Later in Life, Study Finds

Nicotine exposure from vaping during adolescence may have lasting effects on nicotine-seeking behavior, according to a new study involving rats by researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Psychopharmacology, raise potential concerns for the more than 1.4 million U.S. middle and high school students who reported using e-cigarettes in 2025.

For the study, researchers exposed rats to nicotine vapor early in life and monitored their reward-seeking behavior both shortly after exposure and later when the animals reached adulthood. The researchers found that early exposure significantly affected the brain’s reward system and that rats exposed to nicotine continued showing “nicotine-seeking behaviors” as adults, including after “extended periods of abstinence.”

Ian Mendez, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Texas at El Paso and one of the study’s authors, said the research indicates that the impact of nicotine exposure during youth may persist rather than simply disappearing over time. “The effects of early nicotine vapor exposure don’t simply fade with time,” Mendez said in a Wednesday press release, adding that teenagers could potentially be “carrying the habit into adulthood.”

The latest data from the Food and Drug Administration’s National Youth Tobacco Survey show that approximately 1.44 million middle and high school students used vapes to consume tobacco in 2025. Around 2 million students reported using tobacco in any form, making e-cigarettes and vapes the most commonly used tobacco products among teenagers.

Among young people who reported vaping, roughly one in four said they used e-cigarettes every day. Flavored products remained particularly popular, with 89.4% of youth vape users reporting that they used flavored products, most commonly flavors such as fruit, dessert and mint.

At the same time, the number of teenagers reporting vape use has fallen in recent years. About 2.13 million adolescents reported vaping in 2023, compared with 1.63 million in 2024 and approximately 1.44 million in 2025, according to National Youth Tobacco Survey results. The decline indicates that the rapid growth in youth vaping may have begun to level off.

Researchers cautioned that the long-term consequences of vaping for humans remain uncertain. E-cigarettes were first introduced to the U.S. market in 2007, meaning there has been limited time to study their effects across an entire lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to warn that tobacco products are not safe and that nicotine is highly addictive and can produce both addiction and withdrawal symptoms.

The University of Texas at El Paso researchers said additional research is needed to better understand the consequences of nicotine exposure beginning during adolescence. The study authors warned that failing to understand the combined health risks associated with vaping that starts in adolescence and continues into adulthood could contribute to higher rates of nicotine dependence, preventable deaths and healthcare costs.