Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021

In previous parts of this report, smoking, drinking and different types of drug use have been examined independently of one another. This part looks at the relationships between these behaviours, by comparing prevalence rates and examining overlaps. This part also looks at the impact of covid lockdowns on recent behaviours, and compares attitudes towards smoking, drinking and drug use.

Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and taking drugs all pose significant individual health risks to young people. However, those who engage in more than one of these expose themselves to an increased level of risk¹.

To recap from earlier parts: 

• 12% of pupils had ever smoked. 1% were regular smokers, equivalent to around 35 thousand young people² (confidence interval 22 thousand – 48 thousand). 
   
• 40% had ever drunk alcohol. 9% had drunk alcohol in the last week, equivalent to around 288 thousand young people (confidence interval 244 thousand – 332 thousand).
   
• 18% had ever taken drugs. 6% had taken drugs in the last month, equivalent to around 216 thousand young people (confidence interval 179 thousand – 252 thousand)

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<sup>1. British Medical Association, Board of Science and Education, London (2003): Adolescent Health.
2. Based on Office for National Statistics mid-year 2020 population estimates for 11 to 15 year olds in England.</sup> 

Ever smoked, drunk alcohol or taken drugs

51% of pupils said that they had smoked, drunk alcohol or tried drugs on at least one occasion. This is similar to 2018.

The likelihood of pupils having ever smoked, drunk alcohol or taken drugs increased with age, from 19% of 11 year olds to 74% of 15 year olds.

For more data relating to this section:

Tables 11.1 to 11.4, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021

Overlapping behaviour of having recently smoked, drunk alcohol or taken drugs

1% of pupils had recently smoked, drunk alcohol and taken drugs. 

A further 3% had done any two of these behaviours.

9% had only carried out one of these behaviours, with drinking being the most common. 

88% had not recently exhibited any of these behaviours (not shown on image).

For more data relating to this section:

Table 11.5, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021

Attitudes to people of pupil's own age smoking, drinking alcohol or taking drugs

Pupils were more likely to find one-off experimentation acceptable than regular use.

Pupils were more likely to think that drinking alcohol was OK (53% to try, 27% to do every week), than smoking (23% and 8% respectively). 

Acceptance of e-cigarette use was higher than that of smoking, with 32% saying it was OK to try an e-cigarette, and 20% saying it was OK to use them once a week.

Drug use was the least likely activity to be seen as acceptable; 10% thought it was OK for someone of their own age to try cannabis and 6% thought it OK to take once a week. Levels of approval for sniffing glue and taking cocaine were lower still, with taking cocaine being the lowest.

See parts 3, 7 and 10 for more information on pupil attitudes to smoking, drinking and drug use by age, and over time.

For more data relating to this section:

Tables 11.6 and 11.7, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021

Recent behaviours, by how many times met people outside of home/school in the last four weeks

Pupils who met people outside of home/school more frequently in the previous four weeks were more likely to have exhibited one or more of the behaviours of recently smoking, drinking alcohol or taking drugs.

For those exhibiting one behaviour, it increased from 3% for those who had not met people in the last four weeks to 15% for those who had met people every day. For two behaviours it was an increase from less than 1% to 7%, and for all three behaviours it increased from less than 1% to 4%.

For more data relating to this section

Table 11.8, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2021