CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio's gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender teens have substantially higher rates of e-cigarette use than straight youth, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio teens who described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual were far more likely to say they had vaped or smoked in the past 30 days than their straight or questioning counterparts in surveys taken during the 2016-2017 school year. That's according to a Ohio Healthy Youth Environments Survey conducted by the Ohio Department of Health.
Those who described themselves as transgender or gender nonconforming were far more likely to vape or smoke than their male and female peers. Transgender teens used e-cigarettes at twice the rate of males or females, according to the survey.
Transgender teens use e-cigarettes and smoke traditional cigarettes to cope with the stress and anxiety they feel when faced with social stigma, said Jackson Siegel, youth program coordinator for the LGTB Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
Transgender youth are trying to find a community where they feel accepted, and will pick up risky behaviors to be part of a peer group, Siegel explained.
"They have a desire to belong somewhere," he said.
Siegel sees more vaping among the adults who come to the LGTB Community Center. About a third of the teens he works with at the center smoke traditional and e-cigarettes.
The center is revamping its health education series to include information about the health effects of e-cigarettes. The new program will tell teens that the earlier they start consuming nicotine, the harder it will be give it up later in life, Siegel said.