Fewer schoolchildren are drinking or using drugs but the number of young smokers remains unchanged, according to a survey released today.
The national poll for the Information Centre for health and social care (IC) found the number of pupils who said they had never drunk alcohol had risen from 39% in 2003 to 45% in 2006.
One in five (21%) of 11 to 15-year-olds said they drank alcohol in the previous week, down from 26% in 2001.
But among the pupils who had drunk in the last seven days, the average weekly consumption had increased to 11.4 units, up from 10.4 units in 2000.
Those who had increased their drinking the most appeared to be those aged 11 to 13, whose consumption had almost doubled to 10.1 units in 2006 from 5.6 units in 2001.
The IC questioned 8,200 pupils from 288 schools in England in the autumn term of 2006 for the annual survey.
One in five pupils said they had been drunk in the week before the survey was taken.
The pupils' experience of drinking tended to reflect their families' attitudes, the IC said.
More than half of pupils (53%) thought their parents did not mind them drinking, as long as they didn't drink too much. A very small proportion (2%) said their parents let them drink as much as they liked.
And many said they had been given the alcohol either by a friend (26%), or a parent (23%).
The number of pupils who had never smoked was 61%, while those who smoked at least once a week remained steady at 9% since 2003.
Of those who smoked, 69% said they would find it hard to give up for a week and 77% said they would struggle to kick the habit altogether.
About 43% said they wanted to quit smoking.
About 65% of smokers said they usually bought cigarettes from shops, despite all those surveyed being under the minimum legal age.
The level of drug use among those questioned had fallen, with 17% reporting taking drugs in the last year, down from 20% in 2001.
The report also revealed 35% had been offered drugs, down from 42% in 2001.
Pupils who had played truant or been excluded from school were more likely to be regular smokers or to have taken drugs.
Tim Straughan, acting chief executive for the IC, said: "The report shows that more schoolchildren are choosing a cleaner lifestyle and are abstaining from drink and drugs. This is good news for the health of young people.
"However the figures also reveal that drinking, drugs and smoking continue to play an important role in the lives of a significant number of young people and that there may be links between these behaviours and truancy rates.
"The figures also show that smoking rates amongst young people have not come down in recent years. We hope that government, the NHS, schools and others with a role to play in improving the health of young people will find these survey results useful both as indictors of progress and to help inform future work in these areas."
Deborah Cameron, chief executive of the charity Addaction, said: "It is clear from these latest figures that young people who are drinking underage are drinking more than ever before. The increase in girls drinking is particularly worrying.
"We don't fully realise the damage alcohol is doing to our kids. It has got to the stage where those young people who are drinking alcohol are drinking over the recommended safe limit for adult women.
"The problem is that alcohol is ridiculously cheap - in many places cheaper than bottled water - and too easy for children to get hold of.
"Yes, we need to stop promotions of alcohol in supermarkets and keep up pressure on shops to prevent underage sales, but as we know many teenagers are getting alcohol from their parents, we also have to ask whether families are as aware as they should be of the risks of heavy drinking for children and young people.
"As drink fuels a high proportion of teenage crime and treating alcohol-related disease is an increasing financial burden on the NHS, we cannot afford to ignore this problem."
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