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A recent survey shows misconceptions about teenagers

The results of a recent survey show that teenagers in Swindon don't drink as much as their peers think.

Swindon Borough Council surveyed 595 Year 9 students in the town as part of a social marketing campaign.

The four schools that took part in the anonymous research were St Joseph's, Dorcan, Highworth Warneford and Swindon Academy.

58% of the 13 and 14 year olds thought their friends drunk at least once a week, but results revealed that actually 83% only drink once a month.

The results also showed that 88% of Year 9s in Swindon never smoke, whereas their peers thought 87% had at least tried smoking, or smoked regularly.

Angela Milliken is from Swindon Healthy schools says that the results show that there are huge misconceptions about the behaviour of teenagers in the area.

She says "it's important to get this message out to schools and parents and make sure that their perceptions of young people are accurate, and actually they're behaving far more positively than many probably imagine".

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