More Pupils ‘Vaping’ Than Smoking

More Pupils ‘Vaping’ Than Smoking: According to new official figures, more 11-15 year old pupils in England have tried ‘vaping’ – via electronic cigarettes – than have tried smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. The data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre is based on a survey of 6,173 pupils in 210 schools.

More Pupils ‘Vaping’ Than Smoking

More Pupils ‘Vaping’ Than Smoking

According to the figures, only 3% of respondents had tried legal highs.

The data is the latest in a number of studies suggesting that the number of children taking up smoking is falling. In 2003, more than two fifths (42%) of pupils had tried smoking, with the figure falling to 18% this year, the lowest proportion since records started in 1982. According to this years data, a fifth (22%) had vaped at least once.

However, this 22% is split unevenly between those who had smoked cigarettes and those who hadn’t. 89% of those who had tried smoking had tried vaping, whilst only 11% of those who had never tried smoking had tried an e-cigarette.

It should, however, be noted that use of e-cigarettes regularly was limited – only 1% vaped at least once a week, and only 3% reported occasional use.

In 2014, it was reported that 15% of pupils said they had tried drugs at least once, with 6% having taken drugs in the last month. The likelihood of using drugs increased with age – 6% of eleven year olds said they had tried drugs at least once, rising to 24% among fifteen year olds. Cannabis is the drug which pupils are most likely to have taken.

Pupils from black backgrounds were, according to regression analysis, more likely to have taken drugs in the last year then white pupils, although there were no differences between other minority ethnic groups. Pupils who smoked or drank alcohol were more likely to have taken drugs, as were those who had truanted from school. Pupils in the Northwest were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year.


 

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