The study also looked at trends in smoking, vaping and drinking alcohol among the three age groups.
It found two-fifths of girls in England and Scotland have vaped by the age of 15. That is higher than in other countries such as France, Austria, Germany, Albania, Spain, Canada and Norway.
The study found 40% of 15-year-old girls in Scotland, and 33% of boys have used an electronic cigarette.
Of those, 30% of girls said their use was in the 30 days prior to the 2022 survey, while for boys the figure was 20%.
“Vaping in the UK is higher than the average across all the countries that took part in the survey as a whole,” said Dr Inchley.
“Steep increases in vaping among young people in the UK threaten to reverse some of the positive trends we’ve seen in substance use in recent years with overall declines in alcohol use and cigarette smoking since the 1990s,” she said.
“Rates of vaping have doubled in the last four years among girls in Scotland.
“Vapes are far too readily accessible to young people and the health risks are underestimated. New legislation to ban single use vapes is an important step forward but further action is needed to address these worrying trends,” she added.
