A long-standing assumption about teen vaping has just flipped. Since 2021, girls aged 12 to 17 in the United States have been vaping at higher rates than boys, according to a research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics on 19 October 2026.
How the gender gap flipped
Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina dug through a decade of Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) data, covering 2014 to 2024. The pattern is striking. Boys held the lead from 2014 to 2018. The 2018-2019 JUUL-era surge then closed the gap almost entirely. Rates dropped for both sexes by 2021, but from that point the trends split: girls kept climbing while boys did not.
The numbers behind the alarm
Among older teens aged 15 to 17, regular vaping among girls rose from 4.9% in 2021 to 7.8% in 2024, nearing the 2018-2019 peak. Boys the same age stood at 4.6% in 2024. Among younger teens aged 12 to 14, girls also vaped at higher rates than boys after 2021, though their rate fell in the most recent data.
| Regular vaping, ages 15-17 | 2021 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Girls | 4.9% | 7.8% |
| Boys | not given | 4.6% |
“Even though the rate dropped from 2023 to 2024, it’s still high. There are still a lot of middle school girls vaping,” said biostatistician Naomi Brownstein, one of the study’s authors.
What counts as “vaping” here
The study used a deliberately conservative definition. It focused on “current established” use: regular vapers who had also used an e-cigarette within the past 30 days. “These aren’t youth who simply tried vaping once or twice. We’re talking about adolescents who are regularly using e-cigarettes now,” said lead author Brandon Sanford. The real-world numbers could be higher still, since the measure filters out experimenters.
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The one piece of good news
Traditional cigarette smoking fell to under 0.5% for both sexes, a trend co-author Benjamin Toll described as a “massive public health win.”
Sound the alarm, but keep the boys in view
“We have to sound the alarm bells for girls. But we also need to make sure that we’re addressing the boys, too,” said Toll. “We need both prevention and intervention for these young people who are vaping at alarmingly high rates.”
What the study cannot answer
The research was observational, so it was not designed to explain what is driving the shift. Marketing, social influence, and how teens perceive vaping are all open questions for future work. This is a population study: it shows patterns, not proven causes, and it is general information, not medical advice.
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Source: Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center write-up of the JAMA Pediatrics research letter (19 October 2026).