Vaping and dynamic risk construction: Toward a model of adolescent risk-related schema development

Adolescents experience vulnerability because their brains are not fully developed and they have limited knowledge and experience, inhibiting their ability to assess and mitigate risks. Drawing on literature from different disciplines, this paper develops a model that illustrates the dynamic nature of information and experience acquisition and ongoing risk and benefit assessment. New concepts are created to reflect better adolescent risk-related schema: fungibility, fog of vulnerability, and points of tension, all of which are useful in understanding how intentions and in-the-moment decisions are made in the context of vaping.