Young girls drinking, smoking and vaping more than boys by age 15

'Historically, substance use was more common among boys than girls, but the landscape is changing. By age 15, girls not only catch up to but, in some cases, surpass boys'

Alcohol use is widespread amongst young teenagers and e-cigarettes have become more popular than conventional cigarettes, new research has found.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) study also found that girls now equal or surpass boys in rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and e-cigarette use by the age of 15.

These are among the stark findings in the organisation's Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study which monitored the substance use of nearly 280,000 adolescents across Europe, central Asia and Canada in 2021 and 2022.

It has prompted calls for a range of measures to protect the health of adolescents, including an increase of excise taxes; limiting the availability of nicotine and tobacco products and alcohol, and the enforcement of minimum legal ages for buying these products; banning all flavouring agents in all nicotine and tobacco products; and enforcing a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship opportunities on mainstream and social media.

The study found that alcohol is the most frequently consumed substance among adolescents, with 57% of 15-year-olds surveyed having tried alcohol at least once and nearly 40% indicating they have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

Almost one in 10 of all adolescents experienced “significant drunkenness” - being drunk at least twice – in their lifetime but that rate climbs alarmingly from 5% at age 13 to 20% by age 15.

The report shows that e-cigarettes have surpassed conventional cigarettes in popularity, with 32% of 15-year-olds surveyed reporting e-cigarette use at some point and 20% in the past 30 days.

This compares with 25% of 15-year-olds having smoked a conventional cigarette in their lifetime and 15% having smoked a cigarette in the last 30 days.

This transition to e-cigarettes as a more popular choice than conventional cigarettes has prompted calls to prevent harmful product placement in video games, entertainment programmes and other content aimed at young people via multimedia platforms.

The report shows that the percentage of 15-year-olds who have ever used cannabis has fallen from 14% in 2018 to 12% in 2022, with warnings that early cannabis use can lead to dependence and problematic use patterns later in life.

It study also found that the gender gap in substance use has narrowed, prompting calls for targeted prevention strategies.

“Historically, substance use was more common among boys than girls, but the landscape is changing. By age 15, girls not only catch up to but, in some cases, surpass boys.

“This includes cigarette smoking, where a notable difference at age 11 disappears by age 15; e-cigarette usage, with girls outpacing boys, and alcohol consumption, where girls exhibit marginally higher rates.” 

“The widespread use of harmful substances among children in many countries across the European Region – and beyond – is a serious public health threat,” said Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe.