ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

The ASH Year 10 Snapshot surveys 20,000–30,000 students every year – one of the largest independent youth smoking and vaping surveys in the world. It uses robust and validated measures, and is conducted to a high methodological standard that has been subject to peer review and ethics approval.

The data has integrity, is trusted and is therefore used extensively by government, DHBs, policy-makers, researchers and schools.

Frequent and consistent surveying allow good measurement of trends and the large sample allows detailed sub-sample analysis, along with the ability to provide results to individual schools.

The Survey is one of the largest youth smoking and vaping surveys in the world.

It began in 1992 and has been running annually since 1999. (It was not able to be carried out in 2020 because of COVID-19.)

It is a census style survey – all New Zealand schools with Year 10 students are invited to participate (other than distance education). The answers given by students are confidential. But each participating school is provided with information on smoking and vaping that is relevant to their school and how they compare with trends nationally. This informs evidence-based responses for them to effectively deal with any issues.

The ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey is funded by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, as part of the New Zealand Youth Tobacco Monitor (NZYTM).

Sally Wong is the lead researcher for the ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey. She has been leading the Survey on behalf of ASH since 2015.

The NZYTM Expert Advisory Group provides expert advice and input into the Survey.

2025 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

The 2025 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey will be held in Term 2, between 19 May to 27 June 2025. Invitations will be sent to Principals via mail at the end of March. If you did not receive one, please email Sally Wong at [email protected]

2025 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey information sheets

Information for schools

Information for people who work with schools

Information for researchers

2024 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

We would like to thank the schools, teachers, and students for their valuable time and effort in taking part in the 2024 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey.

Schools should have now received their results via email. If you did not, please email Sally Wong at [email protected].

Media release (December 2024)

2024 Topline Youth Smoking and Vaping

2024 Information and Methods

Current Topics

There are some questions in the ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey that remain constant and others vary from year to year.

Topics covered in the 2024 ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

Methods

The ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey is a paper-based survey, available in English and Te Reo Māori. Consent for participation by schools is provided by principals on behalf of schools and students are given the opportunity to opt out at the time of survey. Typically, 20,000–30,000 students participate in the Survey each year, comprising 35–50% of the Year 10 population. Non-response mainly occurs at school level.

The Survey is carried out during Term 2 during class time and is administered by school staff. All responses are anonymous, and the information collected is confidential.

Completed questionnaires are returned to ASH via courier, where they are checked. Spoiled or incomplete questionnaires are removed, then surveys are sent to the data entry provided for scanning.

Only questionnaires with valid answers to age, gender, ethnicity, and smoking status are included for analysis. Ethnicity is coded using prioritised ethnicity classification (Ministry of Health, 2017). For comparison to previous years, analysis is restricted to those aged 14- and 15-years-old.

All waves of the survey have been approved by the Multiregional Health and Disability Ethics Committee (MEC/07/10/141).

About the Expert Advisory Group

The NZYTM Expert Advisory Group provides expert advice and input into the ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey. It includes academics and researchers who specialise in public health, smoking and vaping, addictions, and youth health research.

To find out about the members of the Expert Advisory Group, click HERE.

Research using the ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

Because of the longevity, size and reliability of the ASH Year 10 Survey, it is often used for further research.

To find out more about the research undertaken, click HERE.

Using the ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey

The results of the Survey provide the most up to date, comprehensive and reliable information about youth smoking and vaping. The latest results can be viewed in the Latest Resources section below.

If you are a participating school, we will have provided you with information directly to you, about what’s going on in your school. If you have not received that information, please contact us directly.

ASH encourages researchers to use the Survey to better understand youth smoking and vaping.