How Are You Helping Young People Quit Vaping in Your Community?

E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students in the United States, impacting approximately 1.63 million youth and teens according to the CDC.

We know that many of these young people want to quit vaping—67% of those young people who vape have tried to quit in the last year. But they feel alone in the quitting process, isolated from their peers who continue to vape. Calling a quitline feels too formal, and they worry that their parents might find out they’re vaping.

QUITTING SUPPORT DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE:

Young people need a vaping cessation program designed specifically for them. In partnership with UCSF and Hopelab, we developed Quit the Hit, a social-first intervention hosted on Instagram through coach-led group chats, offering personalized, supportive help to quit vaping. 

NPR's Life Kit podcast highlighted Quit the Hit as an effective tool for helping teens quit vaping. The podcast featured Quit the Hit alum Serena Clark, who found the program's peer support crucial to quitting after struggling with text-based options.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR CHANGE OUTCOMES ACROSS STATES: 

Over the past two years, Quit the Hit has helped more than 4,400 young people from California (San Diego), Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Carolina quit vaping. The program has achieved significant behavior change, including:

• 55% decrease in past 30-day vape use among participants
• 31% increase in the number of participants who had high expectations of quitting vaping
• 88% of participants reported taking action on the suggestions and quit tips provided

Would you like to learn more about how to help young people in your community quit vaping? We’d love to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate to contact our team.

LEARN MORE AT THE 2025 AGENTS OF CHANGE SUMMIT:

Join us at the 2025 Agents of Change Summit, held February 24-25, 2025, in San Diego, CA, to learn more about Quit the Hit from co-creator Dr. Pam Ling. She’ll take to the mainstage to deliver a keynote address describing the research behind this intervention and how to create social-media-based interventions that uniquely appeal to young people.