A third of teenage girls smoke, UK

UK - Almost a third of 15 and 16-year-old girls are smokers, according to a new study.

Boys are less likely to smoke cigarettes but 16 per cent of the same age group still regularly partake in the habit.

The findings have led researchers from Leeds University to call for improved education for young people about the dangers of smoking.

Dr Mark Conner monitored young people over a six-year period in an effort to establish whether warnings about smoking had any effect.

An original study of 1,500 youngsters between 11 and 14 in 1998 concluded that giving health warnings to young people did reduce the likelihood of them taking up the habit.

But returning to the same group of teenagers after two years, researchers found that those with smoking education were just as likely to smoke as those with none.

"From the results of our study, the pointers to someone in the first year of secondary school taking up smoking by the age of 15-16 are being a girl and having smoked when they were younger," Dr Conner concluded.

"For those who were non-smokers at age 13-14, pupils most likely to take up the habit by age 15-16 were those with a more positive attitude towards smoking, who lived with smokers and had more friends who smoked than didn't. And, again, being a girl."