Teenagers in better-off areas are more likely to consume alcohol thanks to a "drinking culture" that has developed in some schools, according to a study published today.

Researchers found higher numbers of pupils were drinking at schools where lower proportions of students were eligible for free school meals and from ethnic minorities..

In a report on which young people are most likely to drink and what effect it has on their behaviour, a team from the National Centre for Social Research also discovered that children who are bullied frequently turn to alcohol.

Those who had been bullied in the last year were between up to five times more likely to be drinking on most days than those who had not, a link not highlighted in previous studies and needing further investigation, the researchers said.

Overall, 56% of young people had had an alcoholic drink at the age of 14, and by 17 the figure was 86%, according to statistics from the centre's Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), which has been charting the progress of a 15,500-strong group of young people since 2004.

Young white people were the most likely to have tried drink, followed by mixed-race teenagers and those from black Caribbean backgrounds. Young people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin were the least likely to have done so.

Teenagers with parents who were unemployed, and those whose mothers had no qualifications from the UK, were less likely to have tried drinking than their middle-class counterparts.

"This seems to indicate that young people of very low social position may be less likely to try alcohol, possibly because it is less likely to be available in the home," the researchers said.

They added: "We found that young people who attended schools with a larger proportion of white pupils were more likely to have tried alcohol regardless of their own ethnic group, as were those who attended schools with fewer pupils who received free school meals (FSM), again regardless of their own FSM status.

"These results may indicate the presence of aspects of a 'drinking culture' in some schools, whereby having a higher proportion of individual pupils who drink makes it more likely that those pupils who have characteristics that make them less likely to drink (for example, being from minority ethnic groups) are also more likely to try alcohol."

Girls were more likely to try alcohol than boys. The researchers also found, apparently to their surprise, that young people who played sport or played a musical instrument were slightly more likely to drink than those who did not.

"It therefore appears that taking part in activities that might be considered to be self-developmental does not seem to deter young people from drinking," they said.

A spokesperson at the Department for Education said: "This research proves that alcohol can have a devastating impact on the lives of children and young people and causes much more than just health problems. The number of young people drinking alcohol is falling but it is important that the government looks at what can be done to reduce this further and faster."