Target to reduce smoking among young people met - youth drinking also declines
Finnish young people smoke and consume alcohol and drink to the point of intoxication less frequently than before. However, experimentation with snus and electronic cigarettes has increased among the young. Tobacco and alcohol are not part of the everyday lives of children under the age of 13. This is some of the information that emerges in the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey for 2015.
Finland has achieved the target set in the Health 2015 public health programme, which was set in 2001, to reduce the proportion of Finns aged 16 to 18 would smoke to 15 per cent by 2015. Now 14 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls aged 16-18 smoke daily. In 2001 31 per cent of both boys and girls smoked daily. Another positive development is that only one in five 14-year-olds have tried tobacco, while in 2001 more than half had done so.
However, there has been an increase in experimentation with and use of snus in the past ten years, in spite of the prohibition to sell snus. Use and experimentation with snus is most frequent among boys aged 18. When snus is included, the figures for daily use of tobacco products among those aged 16 to 18 rise to 18 per cent for boys and 14 per cent for girls.
About a third of young people have seen tobacco products on display in shops, kiosks, or service stations, down from more than two thirds in 2013. The ban on having tobacco products on display took effect in 2012. With the ban, and instructions for tougher enforcement of age limits, the purchase of tobacco by under-age youth from kiosks, stores, and service stations also declined between 2011 and 2015.
An increasing number of young people are living in homes where the parents have not smoked during their children’s lifetime. Of all young people 21 per cent said that their father smokes and 14 per cent said that their mother smokes. Home smoking rules have not changed much since 2005. Smoking is still permitted in one in five homes in some places, or sometimes. Allowing smoking in the family car has also not significantly changed since 2009; nearly 90 per cent say that smoking is not allowed in the car.
Most 12-year-olds know what electronic cigarettes are. Experimentation with e-cigarettes has increased, but only a small proportion, mainly 18-year-olds, use them daily (3.5 per cent of boys, 0.6 per cent of girls). About half of those experimenting with, or using electronic cigarettes use liquid containing nicotine in them. Only 12 per cent to 13 per cent reported that the reason that they used electronic cigarettes was to stop smoking. For the most part, adolescents wanted to use a new product or follow a model established by friends.
Drinking declines
The proportion of young people who abstain from alcohol has increased since 2000 and has continued to rise since 2013. The proportion of frequent drinkers - those who consume alcohol at least once a week - declined since 2009 and the decline has continued in the past two years. Boys aged 18 have decreased their use of alcohol in general, as well as consumption to the point of intoxication. However, it appears that the falling trend in drinking among 18-year-old girls has stopped.
Legislative change leads to less visibility of alcohol advertising
The proportion of young people who report having seen alcoholic beverages being advertised has declined from 73 per cent in 2013 to 66 per cent in 2015. The proportion of those who have seen advertisements on television had declined from 60 per cent to 44 per cent and young people noticed advertising in newspapers and magazines less frequently than before. Young people see the greatest amount of advertising on the internet and on television. An amendment to the Alcohol Act imposed new restrictions on advertising from the beginning of 2015.
Responding to the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey were 7,412 young people aged 12-18. The study, conducted by the University of Tampere and funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, has been conducted every second year since 1977.
Further information
Professor Arja Rimpelä, University of Tampere, tel. +358 50 569 8285, arja.rimpela@uta.fi
Researcher Jaana M. Kinnunen, University of Tampere, tel. +358 40 190 1667, jaana.m.kinnunen@staff.uta.fi
University lecturer Pirjo Lindfors, University of Tampere, tel. +358 40 190 1688, pirjo.lindfors@uta.fi
Expert Hanna Ollila, National Institute for Health and Welfare, tel. +358 29 524 8617, firstname.lastname@thl.fi
Ministerial Adviser Meri Paavola, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tel. +358 2951 63343, firstname.lastname@stm.fi