SMOKING REPORT (2015)

Views on smoking and its effects
Pupils were given a series of statements about smoking and asked the extent to which
they agreed or disagreed with each 10 .
There were very high levels of agreement with statements about the negative health
effects of smoking. Non-smokers were somewhat more likely to agree than regular
smokers, but the levels of agreement between the two groups were still very high (Figure
4.2).
Pupils were much less likely to agree with positive statements about smoking. Also, there
was more of a difference between non-smokers and regular smokers in relation to these
statements, with regular smokers being much more likely to agree (Figure 4.3).
There were very few gender differences.
Figure 4.2 Proportion of 15 year olds who ‘strongly agree’ or ‘tend to agree’ with statements
about the negative effects of smoking, by smoking status (2015)
Q. Please read the following statements about smoking and say if you agree or disagree with each
one.
Base: 15 year old non-smokers (9,890), 15 year old regular smokers (762)
10 Results from previous waves are not completely comparable due to the addition of a ‘don’t
know’ option in 2015 and other changes in previous waves.
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