Smoke, mirrors and pressure: a reality check on student vaping

A new report by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Life Ed looks at smoking and vaping trends among 28,421 secondary students in 135  schools across New South Wales and South Australia.

The report creates a profile of average use by students in years 7 to 11, looking at data gathered on smoking between 2018 and 2024, with vaping included from 2021.

It shows 16% of year 11 students reported they vaped ‘at least weekly’ compared to 6% who reported smoking cigarettes this frequently.

Girls were more likely than boys to report both trying and weekly use of vapes, and a greater proportion of students in less advantaged schools reported vaping compared to students in more advantaged schools.

While the report includes findings on cigarette and vape use only, the authors share that vaping had the ‘highest rate of self-reported weekly use of the substances students were asked about, surpassing the self-reported rates of alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis and MDMA use’.

The study reveals widespread concern across year levels about being pressured to vape.

Overall, 39% of students held some concern about being pressured to smoke cigarettes in the future. For vaping, this rose to 45%.

This concern is put into perspective with the finding that only 13% of students thought it was ‘okay’ to smoke or vape and around half of all students strongly disagreed that it was okay.

The myth and how to bust it

The report suggests students’ worries about future pressure may be linked to a belief that vaping and smoking is widespread among their peers.

While 75% of students reported that they had never vaped, only 10% thought this was true of their peers.

Ninety per cent of students believed that vaping was a minor, moderate or serious problem in their school.

The gulf between perception and reality highlights an opportunity for intervention, the authors say.

They note that educators play a key role in preventing students feeling or giving in to pressure by creating open, supportive discussions that challenge misconceptions and build confidence for healthier choices.

‘Students can benefit from accurate information about the true prevalence of vaping and smoking among their peers, helping to dispel myths that such behaviours are widespread or acceptable,’ they say.  

New information to fight vaping harm

Student views were sourced from Reality Now, a prevention program implemented by Life Ed in New South Wales and South Australia in partnership with ACER.

The program is delivered in classrooms and captures anonymous real-time responses from secondary students on use of substances, via their digital devices

The facilitators are then able to share the anonymous summarised results during the session, to inform an authentic discussion on harm reduction.

Report authors say policymakers, school leaders, educators, parents and carers all have a role to play in reducing harm from substances – whether that is expanding access to programs like Reality Now, or using its findings for better education.

The long-term study provides new evidence to inform government and education sector responses on an issue that has long been of concern.

A NSW factsheet for teachers that was last updated in 2022 warns that the nicotine in one vape can equal 50 cigarettes, and that young users can be at increased risk of depression and anxiety.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing identified harm to the developing adolescent brain as a direct risk of vaping.

Australian regulations on vaping and e-cigarettes were introduced in 2024 ‘to protect the health of the community, and particularly young people’.

Read the full report

Reality Now: Tobacco and Vaping Report by Tamara Van Der Zant, Terese Hooper, Katherine Dix and Toby Carslake.