Vaping and smoking among Scottish adolescents

Methodology

The ASH Smokefree GB Youth Survey is an annual survey of a representative sample (by age, gender, social grade and region) of 11-18 year olds in Great Britain. The survey has been running since 2013. It is carried out online by YouGov, and is commissioned by ASH (England)^[1] and funded by a combination of the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Up to 2023, the Scotland sample consisted of about 200 young people. In 2024, the Scottish Government purchased a booster sample to provide more robust analysis. This is intended to contribute to tracking and reporting towards vaping/smoking targets outlined in the Tobacco and Vaping Framework.

Fieldwork was undertaken between 21^st March and 18^th April 2024.

Since 2021, ASH (England) focussed their data analysis on 11-17 year olds to present a picture of underage use. This report aligns with that approach and presents analysis of the data for Scottish adolescents aged 11-17 (677 participants).

The analyses are based on data weighted to be representative by age and gender of all children age 11-17 years in Scotland. Unweighted sample sizes for all weighted estimates are reported in tables and figures.

Commentary in the report highlights differences that are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (p<0.05), unless otherwise described or indicated in the tables. Statistical significance is not intended to imply substantive importance. For some results, percentages may not total 100% due to rounding or to the multiple-choice format of the question.

For accessibility purposes, some of the charts do not present options with very low percentages and where they do not add to insights.

This report makes reference to ‘current use’ to describe the sum of regular (once a week or more) and occasional use, and to ‘ever use’ to describe the sum of both current use and any use in the past.