Teachers’ Consensus: Youth Addiction to Vaping and Gaming Is Widespread

A new study from the University of Georgia published in the International Journal of Consulting Development highlights that while addictive behaviors often develop during adolescence and can lead to mental and physical health issues, most high school counselors report a lack of information on two addictive behaviors—vaping and internet gaming.

The lead researcher, Amanda Giordano, an associate professor at UGA's Mary Frances Early College of Education, said, "School counselors recognize this as a problem, but as an industry, we seem to not be providing the necessary training to equip them to address it. They are seeking their own continuing education and self-study to learn how to meet these needs."

Students who vape are exposed to various substances, including nicotine or marijuana, with risks of lung damage, headaches, nausea, and more.

In recent years, the proportion of non-smoking adolescents who vape has increased, with 41% of teens having vaped nicotine e-cigarettes at some point in their lives, and 26.2% having vaped marijuana e-cigarettes.

Giordano stated, "These data are very concerning because as a society, we are trying to reduce youth use of combustible tobacco products. Now, with the emergence of e-cigarettes, we are seeing these numbers rise again. Moreover, adolescents who vape may be exposed to higher concentrations of THC than traditional marijuana smoking. Given what we see in our research, it is very concerning that adolescents are accessing high-potency marijuana products."

Internet gaming disorder was officially recognized by the World Health Organization in 2019 as a behavioral addiction used for emotional regulation. In addition to high engagement behavior, gaming disorder is characterized by loss of control, compulsive behavior, continued participation despite negative consequences, and craving the behavior when not engaged.

Gaming disorder affects a large number of adolescents globally and is associated with a range of consequences, including depression, anxiety, impaired cognitive control, family conflict, and poor diet.

Supporting School Counselors
After analyzing data from 221 high school counselors in New York, Georgia, and Washington, Giordano found that 81% of participants reported working with at least one student with gaming issues in the past year.

Similarly, 81.4% of counselors worked with at least one student with vaping-related issues in the past year, while 70.1% reported an increase in gaming issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, only 24.4% of school counselors felt they had at least moderate competence in addressing gaming-related issues, while 37.1% felt they had at least moderate competence in addressing vaping-related issues.

Giordano said, "These data are striking because they confirm that the vast majority of high school counselors will be dealing with vaping and gaming issues in their work. This information itself speaks to the prevalence of these issues among students and the training needs of school counselors. We need to ensure that future school counselors have access to addiction counseling courses, and we need to support those already in the field."

To prepare school counselors, Giordano stated that training programs should ensure that topics on recognizing and addressing addictive behaviors are included in program curricula or presented in mandatory standalone courses.

Giordano said, "As educators, we need to ensure that we address these issues in the graduate programs for school counselors. I firmly believe that all counselors are addiction counselors—school counselors are in a unique position to intervene in adolescent addictive behaviors."

Prevention Programs in Schools
The study also found that school counselors ranked mental health issues, poor academic performance, suicidal ideation, trauma, cyberbullying, and non-suicidal self-injury as more concerning than behavioral addictions (such as gaming).

The diversity of these issues highlights the importance of school counselors and the critical work they do with students.

Despite other issues being more concerning to participants, the prevalence of vaping and gaming addiction indicates that school counselors need to implement prevention and early intervention measures, which may include campus programs targeting vaping, such as CATCH My Breath and smokeSCREEN.

For gaming addiction, school counselors might consider developing new classroom curricula centered around internet gaming and providing education on the risks associated with compulsive gaming, such as poor academic performance, sleep deprivation, and higher rates of school violence.

These courses can help students understand what gaming addiction is, what warning signs may appear if they lose control over gaming, and when to seek help.

Giordano said, "Currently, many are discussing advocacy regarding children's and adolescents' use of digital media. I believe the risks of gaming addiction are an important part of this discussion. Data from school counselors is a powerful advocacy tool that emphasizes the need to take technology-based addictive behaviors seriously and commit to prevention. We know what is happening, so now we can consider what we need to do to support school counselors and high school students involved in these addictive behaviors."#p#分页标题#e#