Supporting young people to remain smokefree and vapefree

If we can support young people to be smokefree, they are likely to remain smokefree for life. This is since very few people take up smoking after they reach their 20s.

Young people are leading the way to a Smokefree Aotearoa with around three-quarters of young people never having had a puff of tobacco – 78.6 percent in 2015 compared to 33 percent in 2000.

However youth daily vaping rates have increased – including many young people who have never smoked cigarettes. A recent NZ Health Survey shows:

• Daily vaping amongst 15 to 17-year olds has nearly doubled (8.3 percent in 2021/2022 to 15.4 percent in 2022/2023); and
• More than 1 in 4 of those aged 18 to 24 years vape daily – six times as many as five years ago.

A combination of factors contribute to young people take up smoking or vaping, including:

• Family smoking and vaping: A young person is more likely to start smoking or vaping if family members smoke or vape. If their parents quit, they are also more likely to quit.
• Access to tobacco and vaping products: Young people are more likely to take up smoking or vaping if they can afford to, and if products are easy to get.
• Advertising and promotion: Young people are easily influenced by advertising and seeing smoking or vaping in the media.
• Social groups: Young people who smoke or vape tend to hang out together.  Teenagers are more likely to smoke or vape if their friends do.
• Parental rules: Ensuring that no-one smokes or vapes inside the home or in the car protects children and young people. It helps if parents who smoke or vape openly talk about concerns about their own habit.
• Social norms: It’s hard to be smokefree or vapefree if smoking and vaping is common or normal.

Let’s work to change the social acceptance of smoking and vaping

Creating smokefree and vapefree environments

One way to help achieve the Smokefree 2025 goal is to make more community spaces smokefree.

It’s illegal to smoke or vape in workplaces, hospitals and in or around the grounds of schools and early childhood centres.

Encouraging smokefree and vapefree parks, playgrounds and sports grounds can help stop children starting to smoke or vape. The average age for starting to smoke is around 14 years for Pakeha and around 11 years old for Māori tamariki.

• Find out about Community and Public Health’s work around smokefree public spaces, including the Fresh Air Project.
• Find out about supporting Smokefree at school.

Creating a smokefree and vapefree culture

Parents and caregivers are powerful role models. Kids copy what they see so supporting parents and caregivers to quit is an important part of developing a smokefree and vapefree culture.

Let’s make our children the next generation of non-smokers.

• Find out about the quit services available to those who smoke.
• Read information sheet on reducing vaping harm for young people – for parents, whānau and schools.

Make smoking less appealing

Reducing access to and the appeal of cigarettes and vapes will lower the chances of a young person starting to smoke. The following current actions aim to reduce the appeal of smoking and vaping:

• plain packaging ensures that tobacco is not displayed in an attractive way;
• raising taxes to make tobacco less affordable;
• banning vaping devices with cartoons or toys on their packaging – from 21st March 2024.
• only allowing generic names to describe vape flavours to be used, such as ‘orange’ or ‘berry’ –  from 21st March 2024;
• banning disposable single-use vapes – from 1st October 2024.

Documents

• ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey (annual).
• The ARFNZ/SPANZ vaping in NZ youth survey (Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ and Secondary Principals’ Association of NZ 2021).
• The marketing of energy drinks and vaping: Thinking critically about how marketing of energy drinks and vaping products affects the wellbeing of young people (Tūturu 2020).
• Susceptibility to smoking among 14 and 15-year-olds (Health Promotion Agency 2020).
• Youth19 Rangatahi Smart Survey Initial Findings: Substance Use (University of Auckland 2020).
• Youth19 Vaping Fact Sheet (University of Auckland 2020).

• Smoking and vaping behaviours among 14 and 15-year-olds: Results from the 2018 Youth Insights Survey (Health Promotion Agency 2020).
• Substance use behaviour among 14 and 15-year-olds: Results from a nationally representative survey (Health Promotion Agency 2020).
• Problem Substance Use Among New Zealand Secondary Schools Students: Findings from the Youth’12 National Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey (University of Auckland 2014).
• Tobacco Use 2012/13: New Zealand Health Survey (Ministry of Health 2013).
• Young people’s perceived access to tobacco (Health Promotion Agency 2013).

Downloads

Download or order smokefree resources from the Community Health Information Centre.

• Vaping facts – also available in Te Reo Māori.
• Time to Quit.
• Me Mutu Tātou/ Let’s All Quit.
• A Guide to Making you Home and Car Smokefree.

Links

• Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
• Health New Zealand.
• TUA chatbots available 24/7 to support young tāne and wahine who want to stop smoking (Hāpai te Hauora).
• Don’t Get Sucked In (Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of NZ).
• Smokefree at school.
• World Smokefree May.

Protect Your Breath youth vaping harm campaign

This campaign is designed to get Aotearoa’s youth thinking about their vaping.

“The campaign’s desired effect is to get young people to think critically about their decisions to use vaping products. The great thing about this campaign is that it has been designed by youth for youth,” says Hayden McRobbie – Regional Director of the National Public Health Service.

Protect your Breath has been co-designed with the Hā Collective, a group of young people, schools and experts to explore ways to reduce the harms of youth vaping.

A website for parents has also been developed to support the campaign and provides resources supporting conversations with young people to make critical decisions about their use of vaping products.

Protect your Breath will aim to provoke conversations and encourage people to consider the impact of vaping on themselves and their communities.

• Find out more about the Protect Your Breath campaign.
• Follow Protect You Breath on Instagram.