Girls 'more likely to be depressed'

Teenage girls are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, eat unhealthily, avoid exercise and suffer depression than boys, a report says today.

The study of 1,516 teen-agers, aged 14 or 15, shows that girls engage in significantly more "health-damaging behaviour" than boys.

More than a third of them are also likely to show signs of depression, which is substantially higher than the score for boys, according to the report in the British Medical Journal.

Eight GPs' surgeries in Hertfordshire took part in the study, which aimed to find out whether teenagers' behaviour could be influenced by inviting them for private consultations with a nurse. Questionnaires completed by 970 teenagers showed 23 per cent smoked, 35 per cent had been drunk in the previous three months, 15 per cent had taken drugs, 64 per cent thought they ate unhealthily, 39 per cent took little exercise and 36 per cent showed signs of depression.

About three quarters of the group that saw the nurse indicated at least one behaviour trait they would like to change.

Almost all the teenagers welcomed the chance to discuss their health and said they would recommend the service. But the researchers say the effect of the consultations on teenagers' lifestyles was modest.