– A lot of that happens in here.
Sanni Sahlström, Johanne Hafstad and Kornelius Tofteng Olsen show off one of the toilets inside Sommerlyst secondary school in Tromsø. What happens in the toilet is vaping.
Students Johanne Hafstad, Kornelius Tofteng Olsen and Sanni Sahlström say that it is difficult to find anyone at school who has not tried vaping.
Photo: Christian Kråkenes / NRK
The junior high school in Tromsø recently set out to survey the use of e-cigarettes and smoking among students. The survey from UiT – Norway’s Arctic University, to which over 200 of the students responded, shows that every fifth student in the 10th grade vape daily. Almost 40 percent say they have tried or do so regularly.
This does not surprise the students. They believe there may be even more.
The students say that many go into the larger rooms in groups to vape together.
– You most likely won’t find anyone at school who says they haven’t at least tried.
– You sort of join the gang more if you do vaping, says Tofteng Olsen.
Surprisingly large scope
Torkjell Sandanger is professor and head of the Department of Community Medicine at UiT. He has created the survey that Sommerlyst school responded to.
– The survey shows that e-cigarettes are a challenge that we must take seriously.
Torkjell Sandanger, professor and head of the Department of Community Medicine at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, is surprised at the foothold e-cigarettes have gained among young people.
Photo: Christian Kråkenes / NRK
– We are surprised that e-cigarettes and vaping have gained such a large foothold already.
The professor says that there is a slight gender difference between boys and girls. Many girls try it once, before they give it up. But the boys continue to a greater extent.
Sandanger believes that the growing vape trend applies to the whole country.
– I think sommerlyst is well representative of the picture in secondary schools today.
Other surveys show the same.
Increase across the country
NOVA’s Youth Data surveys in Oslo show that vaping among young people has increased considerably in recent years. In the period 2021–2023, the proportion who used e-cigarettes occasionally increased from two to fourteen percent.
National figures from 2022 showed that only 1 per cent of young people used e-cigarettes daily, but the following year there were more than twice as many.
The survey asked 25,000 young people in the capital about their smoking habits.
Researcher at NOVA, Oslo Met, Rikke Tokle, has researched the use of e-cigarettes among young people over several years.
– The figures from Oslo indicate that the use of e-cigarettes has gained a stronger foothold in youth culture.
Rikke Tokle, researcher at Oslo Met, believes that vaping is mainly about belonging and status.
Photo: OsloMet
The researcher sees that the motivation for picking up an e-cigarette is often about belonging and status.
– It’s about standing out from someone, and fitting in with others.
Tokle is excited about how the numbers will look in the future. The next Ungdata survey on smoking habits among young people will come in August. Then 213,000 children from middle school to upper secondary school from 211 municipalities in the country have been invited to participate.
Measures have been introduced at the school
The principal at Sommerlyst school, Merete Dalseth, also hears that several schools are experiencing the same thing.
– When I talk to my colleagues at the other secondary schools, this is something we are seeing trends at the moment.
– One in five is quite a high number, but I am not very surprised, says the principal at Sommerlyst school, Merete Dalseth.
Photo: Christian Kråkenes / NRK
The school has implemented several measures to prevent students from vaping inside the school.
– If we discover that someone is vaping, we contact parents and inform them. We also take in the e-cigarette if we see it.
– After all, we are a school and run classes. It will be important to give young people more information about e-cigarettes and vaping.
Dalseth hopes vaping will be a short-term trend.
Professor Sandanger believes that the young people will put down the e-cigarette as they start upper secondary school and get older.
– The students answer the survey that the use of e-cigarettes is largely linked to social contexts. There has been the greatest fall among those between 16 and 19 years of age.
Easy to obtain
Back at the secondary school in Tromsø, the students believe that it is sad that it has become necessary to introduce measures to crack down on vaping.
– I get worried about how society has become, when so many people are doing it. That these measures have even become necessary, says Kornelius Tofteng Olsen.
Kornelius Tofteng Olsen says that it is very easy to try someone’s e-cigarette if you are tempted.
Photo: Christian Kråkenes / CHRISTIAN KRAKENES
At the same time, the students see that it is very easy to get hold of an e-cigarette if you want to test it.
– Next time you don’t have to ask. People come up to you and ask if you want some.
– So it’s just going into the bathroom at the wrong time?
– Yes, it is not difficult to get hold of.
