In 2014, almost three-quarters of students who were surveyed said e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes. (AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

A majority of U.S. middle and high schoolers say that e-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes and that such products as smokeless tobacco and cigars fall somewhere in between, according to national surveys.

They’re not necessarily wrong, but that comes with caveats, experts say.

“E-cigarette safety continues to be debated by public health experts,” said Stephen M. Amrock of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, lead author of a study that analyzed attitudes about e-cigarettes.

“U.S. youth may not be wrong that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, but such a view captures only half the story,” Amrock said by email. “Less harmful does not equate with no harm.”

Researchers used data from the 2012 and 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of children in grades 6 to 12. The surveys included questions about various tobacco products, asking participants’ perceptions of their harm and addictiveness.

In 2014, almost three-quarters said e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, while only 26 percent said the same for cigars and 20 percent said the same for smokeless tobacco. Regarding addictiveness, almost half said e-cigarettes are less addictive than cigarettes, compared with 14 percent for smokeless tobacco and 31.5 percent for cigars.

Users rated each product less harmful and addictive than did nonusers. Boys, Hispanic students and those living with a user of one of the products also were more likely to rate them less harmful or addictive.

Between 2012 and 2014, more surveyed students thought they were able to assess the relative harm of e-cigarettes and increasingly believed them to be less harmful than cigarettes, according to the results, which appear in the journal Pediatrics.

“Even over the past few years, our research captures a shift in children’s thinking about e-cigarettes,” Amrock said. “This comes at a time that e-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth,” he added.

“Children who believe e-cigarettes are safer are more likely to use e-cigarettes,” he noted.

The Food and Drug Administration recently began to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco, but those regulations have only partly taken hold, Amrock said.