Teenage girls are still more likely to smoke than boys

School truants are much more likely to be regular smokers, drink alcohol and take illegal drugs, says a survey.

The survey, Smoking, Drinking and Drug Misuse Among Young People in England in 2002, commissioned by the Department of Health, shows that missing school can have serious long-term health implications.

Truancy has proved to be a stubborn problem to tackle, with the government failing to meet its own targets, despite a series of high-profile initiatives.

And while the government has highlighted the strong link between truancy and juvenile crime - this survey shows that it also has links with health and the use of illegal drugs.

Among the 11 to 15 year olds who play truant, over a third had become regular smokers. Pupils who did not play truant were six times less likely to be smokers.

The overall proportion of children who smoke is similar to the survey results from the previous year - with girls once again more likely to smoke than boys.

Under-age drinking

More than half the pupils who played truant claimed to have drunk alcohol in the previous week - with 18% of the non-truants saying that they had been drinking that week.

The oldest pupils in the sample, the 15 year olds, were much more likely to be drinking alcohol than the younger pupils - and their average weekly intake was 10 units, typically of beer, cider or alcopops

There was also a big difference between truants and non-truants in whether they used illegal drugs, with 35% of truants saying that they had used drugs in the previous month, compared with 6% of the non-truants.

The overall figures for children's drug use showed a slight decline on last year, reflecting a reduction in the number of girls who said they were experimenting with drugs.

The most commonly used drug was cannabis, with a small number saying that they had taken heroin or cocaine.

The research involved questioning 10,000 pupils in 321 English schools last autumn.