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Publication - Research and analysis

Life at age 14: initial findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study

Published
15 February 2022
Directorate
Children and Families Directorate
Topic
Arts, culture and sport, Children and families, Education, +2 more … Health and social care, Work and skills
ISBN
9781802018240

Growing Up in Scotland is a longitudinal study following the lives of young people. The report is based on data collected in 2019/20, when participants were 14 years, from 2,943 families. The report presents high level findings relating to young people’s experiences across a range of life domains.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

6. Risky behaviours

This section presents findings on the prevalence and frequency of smoking, alcohol and drug use, as well as anti-social behaviours.

6.1 Smoking, drinking and drug use – young person

Young people were asked whether they had ever tried a cigarette (even if it was only a single puff), ever tried vaping, ever drunk alcohol (even a sip), and whether they had tried cannabis or any other drugs. As shown in Figure 34, just over half said they had tried alcohol, whilst around one in five said they had tried smoking a cigarette or vape. Only a small minority said they had tried cannabis or other drugs.

Figure 34 – Whether young people had tried smoking, drinking alcohol or drugs [19]
This chart shows the proportions of whether young people had ever tried smoking cigarettes, vaping, drinking alcohol, cannabis, or other drugs. Over half (54.9%) of young people said they had ever tried drinking alcohol, whilst 21.5% said they had tried vaping. 16.7% of young people had ever tried a cigarette, 7.9% had ever tried cannabis, and 2.0% had ever tried other drugs.

Base: All young people (2797)

Boys were more likely to say they had tried an e-cigarette or vape (23.6%, compared with 19.4% of girls) and cannabis (9.3%, compared with 6.3% of girls).

Those in SIMD quintile 3 were more likely to say they had tried an e-cigarette or vape than those in higher quintiles (27.2%, compared with 18.7% of quintile 4 and 18.3% of quintile 5). Those in SIMD quintile 3 were also more likely to say they had tried cannabis (12%, compared with 5.6% of those in quintile 4 and 5.9% of those in quintile 5).

6.1.1 Smoking and vaping – young person

Those who had ever tried a cigarette were asked how often they smoked now. As shown in Figure 35, many young people had not continued smoking: the majority said they did not smoke now, whilst 19% of those that did smoked 'every day' or 'at least once a week' (3.2% of all young people).

Figure 35 – How often young people (who had tried a cigarette) smoked now
This figure shows the proportions of how often young people who had tried a cigarette were smoking now. 69.1% of young people said they did not smoke now, and 12.0% smoked less than once a week.

Base: All young people who ever smoked (441)

Young people who said they had ever smoked a cigarette (at the Sweep 10 interview) were asked how old they were when they first smoked a whole cigarette (that is not just a puff). Half (50.3%) said they were 13 years or older, whilst just over one third (34.6%) said they had never smoked a whole cigarette, 13.3% said they were 11 or 12 years and a very small proportion (1.9%) had first smoked a whole cigarette when they were 10 years or younger.

6.1.2 Alcohol use – young person

Those who said they had ever had an alcoholic drink (at the Sweep 10 interview) were asked how old they were when they first did so. Over three quarters (77.8%) said they were 13 years or older when they first had an alcoholic drink; a small proportion (3.8%) said they were 10 years or younger, whilst the remainder (18.3%) were aged 11 or 12.

Girls were more likely to say they had their first alcoholic drink at an older age; 80.4% of girls said they were age 13 or over, compared to 74.6% of boys.

Those who had ever had an alcoholic drink were asked on how many days they had drunk alcohol in the last 30 days. As shown in Figure 36, over half of young people said they had not drunk alcohol in the last 30 days, while a small minority (6.6%) said they had drunk alcohol on six or more days.

Base: All young people who ever drank alcohol (1529)

Figure 36 – How many days young people had drunk alcohol in the past 30 days
This chart shows how many days young people who had ever tried alcohol had drunk alcohol in the past 30 days. 28.4% of young people said they had drunk alcohol on 1-2 days in the past 30 days, whilst 10.6% had drunk alcohol on 3-5 days.

Base: All young people who ever smoked (441)

Disabled young people were less likely to say they had not drunk alcohol in the past 30 days (61.0%) compared to non-disabled young people (53.5%).

Young people in SIMD quintile 1 were more likely to say they had not drunk alcohol in the past 30 days than those in quintile 5 (62.4%, compared to 48.3%).

Young people who had ever had an alcoholic drink were also asked whether they had 'ever had so much alcohol that they were really drunk'; around one quarter (24.1%) answered 'yes'.

6.1.3 Cannabis and other drugs – young person

Those who had ever tried cannabis were asked how often they had used cannabis. Two out of five said they used cannabis only once, whilst one in five (19.4%) used it once a week or more often.

Figure 37 – How often young people (who had tried cannabis) use cannabis
This chart shows the proportions of how often young people who had ever tried cannabis had used cannabis. 14.4% of young people had used cannabis sometimes but did not use it anymore, whilst 12.0% used it a few times a year.

Base: All young people who ever tried cannabis (191)

Young people were asked if they ever tried any drugs other than cannabis[20] – a very small proportion (2%) said they had done so. Of those, just under half (47.6%) said they had used other drugs only once or used them before but not anymore. Around one in ten (9.2%) said they used other drugs at least once a weak or most days[21].

6.2 Anti-social behaviour – parent/main carer and young person

Parents were asked whether their child had been in trouble with the police since the last interview; 2.3% reported that they had.

Young people were asked how many times they had engaged in any of the behaviours shown in Figure 38 in the last year. Seven out of ten young people (69.2%) said they had not engaged in any of these behaviours. The most commonly named behaviours were 'hit, kicked or punched someone' and 'been rowdy or rude in a public'.

Figure 38 – Whether young people had engaged in anti-social behaviours shown
This chart shows the proportions of whether young people had engaged in any of nine different anti-social behaviours. 17.1% of young people had hit, kicked, or punched someone, 14.0% had been rowdy or rude in a public, and 10.0% had stolen money or other things. Between 0.7%–5.9% had taken something from a shop or a store (5.9%), deliberately damaged or destroyed property (3.8%), written things or sprayed paint on property (3.8%), carried a knife or weapon (1.5%), used force, threats or a weapon (1.1%), and broken into a locked place to steal something (0.7%).

Base: All young people (2633-2638)

As shown in Figure 39, boys were more likely than girls to say they had engaged in all of the anti-social behaviours shown, although the majority (60.5%) had not engaged in any of these behaviours (77.8% of girls had not engaged).

Figure 39 – Whether young people had engaged in anti-social behaviours shown by gender
This chart shows the proportions of whether girls and boys had engaged in any of nine different anti-social behaviours. Higher proportions of boys had engaged in any of the anti-social behaviours than girls. For instance, boys were more likely to say they had hit, kicked or punched someone (25.0%, compared with 9.5% of girls) and to say they had been rowdy or rude in a public (17.4%, compared with 10.8% of girls).

Base: Boys (1297-1300), Girls (1324-1326)

Disabled young people were more likely to say they had carried a knife or weapon (3.7%, compared with 1.2% of non-disabled young people) and had broken into a place to steal (1.8%, compared with 0.5%).

Contact

Email: GUS@gov.scot

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