Vaping and smoking among Scottish adolescents – results from the ASH Smokefree GB Youth survey 2026

Key findings - Experiences and views

Reasons for vaping

Curiosity is the main driver of ever use of vapes, with the largest proportion of those who have tried vaping saying they “just wanted to give it a try” (46.9%). Other key reasons for trying vapes include peer influence (18.5%) and the appeal of flavours (8.8%) (see Figure 6). These were also the top three reasons in 2024 and 2025.

Among current users, the most commonly reported reason for using vapes was peer influence, cited by 12 of the 46 current vapers. This was followed by the appeal of flavours (9 respondents) and curiosity (7 respondents).

Addiction and perceptions of harm

Similar to 2024 and 2025, most current vapers considered themselves addicted. Of the 46 current vapers, 20 said they were a little addicted and 7 reported being very addicted, compared to 17 who said they were not.

Of all respondents who had heard of vapes, 13.6% believed that vaping is more harmful than smoking cigarettes, while 45.2% thought vaping is about the same level of harm. 27.3% identified vaping as less harmful than smoking. These findings are consistent with results from 2024 and 2025.

All 11–17-year-olds were asked which health conditions they believe can be caused by smoking. The most commonly identified conditions were lung or respiratory diseases (87.0%) and cancer (86.2%), followed by heart disease (64.9%). Only a small proportion said they did not know (4.2%) or believed that none of these conditions were caused by smoking (1.8%). Full results are shown in Figure 7.

Respondents who had tried smoking were also asked how worried they were about the impact of smoking on their health. Around half (50.7%) reported being worried; however, a similar proportion (49.3%) said they were not worried.

All respondents were asked whether they believe cigarette filters protect smokers from health risks. Just over half (51.9%) said that filters provide little or no protection, while only 0.5% believed they provide a lot or complete protection. A substantial proportion (41.5%) said they did not know.

Quitting smoking

Current smokers were asked about their willingness to quit smoking. Results are reported below but they should be interpreted with caution due to the small base.

Around half (12 out of 23) said that they want to stop smoking, including 4 respondents who indicated they really want to quit. There were 7 respondents who said they think they should stop smoking but don’t really want to, and 1 respondent who said that they don’t want to ever stop smoking.

In addition, 75.6% of ever smokers (N=120) agreed that, if they could go back in time, they would not have started smoking, an increase from 58.2% in 2024.

Non-nicotine drug use in vapes

In 2026, 16- and 17-year-olds who had ever vaped (N=37) were asked whether they had used a non-nicotine substance in a vape during the past 12 months. Eighteen respondents reported having done so. Substances used included alcohol (n=11), caffeine (n=9), THC or cannabis (n=7), CBD or cannabidiol (n=2), and synthetic cannabinoids such as Spice (n=1).

Of the 18 respondents who reported using a non-nicotine substance in a vape, 6 said they had been unaware that the vape contained substances other than nicotine before using it, while 5 said they had known and a further 4 reported that they sometimes knew and sometimes didn’t know.

Second-hand smoke

As in 2024 and 2025, only a small number of adolescents reported being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Overall, 6.0% said that people are allowed to smoke inside their home/house. This is similar to 2024 (8.9%) and 2025 (6.7%).

In addition, 7.0% reported having travelled in a car where someone was smoking, a decrease from 2024 (11.5%) and 2025 (14%). Exposure was typically occasional (5.2%), rather than occurring most days or every day (1.8%).

In 2026, respondents were asked about the places where they had come into contact with other people’s tobacco smoke in the past three months. The most commonly reported location was while waiting for public transport (53.1%), followed by parks (39.2%), when out socialising (28.4%), at school, college or university (24.2%) and in other people’s homes (16.6%).

Views on policy options

Similar to 2025, the majority of adolescents supported policy measures aimed at reducing vaping: 80.9% supported a ban of bright colours, cartoon characters and names of sweets on vape packaging; 80.2% supported a ban of advertising and promotion of vapes at point of sale (at the till, in store and as people enter shops); and 73.4% supported restrictions on how flavours can be described (e.g. ‘Lemon & Lime’ permitted, but not ‘Lemon & Lime Lolly’) (see Figure 8).

Current vapers were asked how their behaviour would change if only tobacco, menthol and mint flavours were available. The majority said they would continue vaping (30 out of 46), while just under a third (10 out of 46) said they would stop vaping altogether. Among those who said they would continue to vape (N=30), 16 said they would continue to vape using the available flavours and 7 reported they would try to obtain other flavours illegally.

As in previous years, just under half of all respondents (43.3%) said the Government’s efforts to limit tobacco smoking are not enough. The proportion of those who felt the Government is doing about the right amount was 21.6%.

As in 2025, there was broad support for banning smoking in various public spaces: in children’s play areas (94.6%, an increase from 91.9% in 2025), on school grounds (94.1%, an increase from 91.1% in 2025), on hospital grounds (89.3%), in public transport waiting areas (86.5%), on further education college grounds (78.6%), on university and college ground (76.6%), in the outdoor seating areas of all restaurants, pubs and cafes (77.8%, an increase from 71.7% in 2025), in all parks (73.3%) and on all beaches (70.5%).

Respondents were also asked to what extent they liked or disliked when there is tobacco smoke in the outdoor seating areas of pubs, cafes and restaurants. Overall, 82.8% reported disliking it, with 64.5% saying that they disliked it a lot, up from 55.3% in 2025.

Support for other measures was also high: 84.8% supported banning smoking in all cars and 77.4% supported printing health warnings on individual cigarette sticks to encourage smokers to quit. These figures are similar to those reported in 2024 and 2025.

Figure 9 presents the leading policy options supported by adolescents, i.e. those receiving over 80% support.