Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People surveys began in 1982, under the name Smoking among Secondary Schoolchildren. The series initially aimed to provide national estimates of the proportion of secondary schoolchildren aged 11-15 who smoked, and to describe their smoking behaviour. Similar surveys were carried out every two years until 1998 to monitor trends in the prevalence of cigarette smoking. The survey then moved to an annual cycle, and questions on alcohol consumption and drug use were included. The name of the series changed to Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young Teenagers to reflect this widened focus. In 2000, the series title changed, to Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People. NHS Digital (formerly the Information Centre for Health and Social Care) took over from the Department of Health as sponsors and publishers of the survey series from 2005. From 2014 onwards, the series changed to a biennial one, with no survey taking place in 2015, 2017 or 2019.In some years, the surveys have been carried out in Scotland and Wales as well as England, to provide separate national estimates for these countries. In 2002, following a review of Scotland's future information needs in relation to drug misuse among schoolchildren, a separate Scottish series, Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) was established by the Scottish Executive.
For the 1998 survey, the coverage of smoking issues was further reduced, in order to include a number of questions about drug use. Questions about the smoking behaviour of family members were dropped from the English survey in order to accommodate these, but were still asked in Scotland, where the drug use questions were restricted to actual drug use only. The questions dropped from the English survey were, however, included in the corresponding HEA Teenage Smoking Attitudes Survey, 1998 (held at the Archive under SN 4120). A new Scottish file with a number of extra schedule variables and derived variables was deposited in October 2000 to replace the original. Please see read file for further details.
Main Topics:
There are two datasets for this study, one for England and one for Scotland. The datasets include variables from the questionnaire, diary and cotinine analysis. Topics covered in the questionnaire include: demographic details, smoking behaviour, the purchase of cigarettes in shops and other outlets, parental attitudes to smoking, family smoking behaviour (asked in Scotland only), alcohol use and consumption in previous week, actual drug use (both surveys), attitudes to drug use (asked in England only), and health education lessons at school. For the diary, pupils were asked to record by retrospective recall all cigarettes smoked in the previous seven days.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Self-completion
Clinical measurements
Diaries
Saliva specimen
