[Cigarette, alcohol and drug use in 12 to 13-year-old adolescents--an anonymous survey of 2,979 students].

A total of 2,979 schoolboys and schoolgirls attending different types of German schools during their seventh year of school attendance (which begins at the age of six) were investigated by means of an anonymous questionnaire in two medium-sized German cities and their suburbs, in respect of smoking behaviour and consumption of drugs and alcoholic beverages. The proportion of schoolboys and schoolgirls smoking at least once or twice a week depended on the type of school: pupils of high schools (linguistic branch, known as "Gymnasium" in Germany) had a quota of 2.7%, whereas there were 14.3% smokers among those attending a category of public school termed "Hauptschule" (a kind of school with elementary and continuing education and a total of nine years' school attendance) and 5.6% smokers among the so-called "Realschüler" (a kind of grammar school stressing practical subjects with a total of 10 years of school attendance) and 8.2% among pupils attending a kind of integrated grammar-cum-"Hauptschule" with an alternative-choice 9-year or 10-year schedule (so-called "Gesamtschule"). A similar distribution was seen in respect of alcohol and drug consumption. Schoolboys and schoolgirls smoking at least once or twice a week will also be drinking a glass of beer per week six times as often as non-smoking pupils. In respect of wine the ratio is 4:1 and in respect of brandy 7:1. Smokers among the pupils have been trying out drugs at least once, six times as often as non-smokers. Results are statistically highly significant (p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)