Researchers: E-cigarettes may lead teens to smoking
E-cigarettes may be leading a generation of Scots schoolchildren into smoking, new research suggests.
Teenage non-smokers are over three times as likely to try cigarettes if they have tried the electronic versions beforehand.
It has been claimed that e-cigarettes help existing users to “break the habit” and do not act as a gateway for young users. Now a unique long-term study of Scots schoolchildren has sounded alarm bells, raising fears the e-cigarettes could provide an easy introduction to cigarettes.
The investigation into smoking attitudes and behaviours of young people interviewed over 2,000 youngsters aged from 11 to 18.
Cigarette smoking among youngsters in Scotland has been dropping – to just 7% among 15 year olds.
But the use of e-cigarettes has more than doubled to one-in-four Scottish teenagers.
Led by Dr Catherine Best of Stirling University, the research found significant links. It said: “E-cigarette use remained a predictor of cigarette experimentation. Young never-smokers who try e-cigarettes are at elevated risk of initiating smoking, compared with young never-smokers who do not try e-cigarettes.
“Importantly, there was also an interaction between smoking susceptibility and e-cigarette use, and also between e-cigarette use and having friends who smoked.”