Alcohol and vaping among young people need urgent action

Early onset of alcohol use, and high levels of use among older girls in England, prompts calls for better policy measures to protect children and young people

Alcohol is the most used substance among young people, while vaping is now more common than cigarette smoking, according to a new report coordinated by researchers at the University of Glasgow. 

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, based on 2021-22 data from nearly 280,000 adolescent boys and girls across Europe, Central Asia and Canada, was commissioned by WHO and found that more than half of 15-year-olds in Europe had experimented with alcohol, while one in five had recently used e-cigarettes.

In the UK, declines in smoking in recent decades had stalled, and there was evidence of a small increase in alcohol use among 15-year-old girls in England since 2018. In addition, the study highlights particular risks for older girls around vaping and alcohol use, emphasising the need for targeted prevention strategies. 

Dr Jo Inchley, HBSC International Coordinator, University of Glasgow said: “Vapes are far too readily accessible to young people and the health risks are underestimated. New legislation to ban single use vapes is an important step forward but further action is needed to address these worrying trends.”

Regarding the early onset of alcohol use in England, and high levels of alcohol use among older girls, researchers say the report findings highlighted how available and normalised alcohol is, showing the urgent need for better policy measures to protect children and young people.

Dr Sabina Hulbert, Co-PI for HBSC England, University of Kent said: “English boys and girls aged 11 and 13 are the ones reporting the highest levels of lifetime alcohol consumption in all the countries surveyed. The vast majority of 15 years olds (65% of boys and 74% of girls) report having had access to alcohol, a banned substance responsible for psychological and physiological long-term damages.”

“…we urge our policy makers to make immediate changes to the clearly ineffective measures that are currently in place to protect our young generations from harm.”

Hulbert added, “With figures on the rise, especially for girls, we urge our policy makers to make immediate changes to the clearly ineffective measures that are currently in place to protect our young generations from harm.”

While smoking rates have decreased in recent years, the report showed that more than one in five 15 year-old girls have smoked a cigarette in their lifetime and more than one in ten had done so in the last 30 days.

In addition, vaping rates have surpassed rates of cigarette smoking. The report found that e-cigarettes were increasingly popular with young people, with 30% of 15 year-old girls in England and Scotland, and 27% in Wales, having vaped in the last 30 days. Researchers suggest the transition to e-cigarettes from cigarettes highlights an urgent need for more targeted interventions. 

Dr Lucy Webb, Reader, School of Nursing and Public Health, Manchester Metropolitan University said, “[E-cigarettes] may be quite a new phenomenon but the UK regulations are much more lax than for cigarettes and they are marketed in a way that attracts young people, and it may be that access is very easy as there is only lately more enforcement of age limits.” 

Dr Webb added, “It is clear that regulation for e-cigarettes/vapes needs tightening, as does enforcement.” She cited the targeting of young people through flavours and packaging, and “cheap illicit imports” which “appear poorly controlled” as areas to be addressed. “Regulations for alcohol and cigarettes are appropriate and enforced. The same regulations should apply to e-cigarettes.”