Clean-living teens shun fags, booze and drugs

British teenagers are smoking, drinking and taking drugs less than ever before, according to new figures.

The health and social care information centre released results of its annual survey of school pupils from years 7 to 11.

The results show just 39 per cent of pupils questioned in 2013 had ever had an alcoholic drink – compared with 64 per cent in 1990. Just 20 per cent of pupils said they had ever smoked a cigarette. In 1984 that figure was 56 per cent.

The proportion of pupils who admitted to drinking hovered at around 60 per cent throughout the nineties. But since 2003, the number has decreased dramatically.

Professor Frances Gardner of the University of Oxford studies parenting and antisocial behaviour. She says these results are consistent with other studies that show levels of violence and crime by young people reducing worldwide.

Professor Gardner told Channel 4 News better parenting could be one explanation: “We found there’s quite consistent data showing that parents spend more time with their kids than they used to.

“We also found that kids think their parents have better expectations of them than they used to do.”

Other suggestions for the change are the rise in the use of mobile phones: “young people could be staying at home chatting on their phones rather than being out on the streets” said Professor Gardner.