smoking and young people
In Wales, 7% of 15-16 year olds still smoke on a regular basis. 1 Around 3,000 children in Wales take up smoking every year and 3 out of 4 of those children will go on to be long-term smokers.
Smoking is an addiction of childhood, a recent ASH Wales survey of adults found 77% of current smokers tried their first cigarette before the age of 18.2
The latest survey of just under 125,000 11-16 year olds in Wales, shows children from more deprived backgrounds were almost twice as likely to smoke and to try smoking much younger, than those from more affluent families.
The younger the age of uptake of smoking, the greater the harm is likely to be. Research shows the earlier children become regular smokers and persist in the habit as adults, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer or heart disease, which often lead to early death.
Health Impact
Teenage brains are more sensitive to nicotine and young people can become addicted to nicotine much sooner than adults. The younger they start smoking, the more likely they are to become addicted to nicotine and turn into lifetime smokers.4
Lung development is affected, increasing the risk of COPD in later life. In addition, people who start smoking before the age of 15 have a higher risk of lung cancer than those who start later even after the amount smoked is taken into account.5
Children who smoke are two to six times more susceptible to coughs and increased phlegm, wheeziness and shortness of breath than those who do not smoke.6
ASH Wales spoke to Abi and Sophie from Bridgend who started smoking at the ages of 14 and 12, Read their smoking story here.
Why Are Young People Smoking?
Parental smoking – Children are highly influenced by what goes on around them. A child with two parents who smoke is three times more likely to take up the habit. Children with one parent who smoked were further found to be 70% more likely to start smoking.7
Peer influence – Friends have a significant influence over teenage behaviour, fitting in and acceptance within peer groups has been cited as a primary factor in the likelihood of teenage smoking.
Availability – Illegal tobacco is sold at pocket money prices and young smokers are more likely to be offered illegal tobacco than adults. 73% of young people say they have been offered it, compared to 45% of adults.
Attractiveness – Smoking remains common in entertainment media viewed on screen by young people including prime time TV, videos and films.
What are we calling for?
- Raising the Age of Sale from 18 to 21 (taking smoking away from school settings completely)
- Tailored support programme for Pupil Referral Units and further education colleges and an extension of smokefree polices for higher education settings
- A national education programme with a new approach to prevention and the impact of smoking – including smoking during pregnancy
- An enforcement and media campaign to crack down on the illegal sale of tobacco to under 18’s
- The full implementation of the Public Health Wales Act (2017) including making it illegal to hand over tobacco products to under 18’s and the setting up of a retail register for Wales
- A cross governmental approach to address the co use of tobacco and cannabis, given the strong links between the two substances.
Further Reading
1 Student Health and Wellbeing In Wales Report 2021/22
3 Going smoke-free: the medical case for clean air in the home, at work – RCP London
4 The Dynamic Effects of Nicotine on the Developing Brain (nih.gov)
5 Child uptake of smoking by area across the UK | Thorax (bmj.com)
6 Breaking the cycle of children’s exposure to tobacco smoke. (cabdirect.org)
