It’s a dangerous world out there
Comments (...)Editor’s note: This is the first in a multi-part series on the 2011 Illinois Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
From drugs and alcohol to too much TV and not eating enough vegetables — there’s a lot of bad choices to be made.
The Illinois State Board of Education, through its contractor Children’s Memorial Hospital, has just released the results of the 2011 Illinois Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
The YRBS is one part of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to focus the nation on behaviors among youth related to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among both youth and adults, and to assess how these risk behaviors change over time.
The 2011 Survey asked questions about nutrition, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, physical activity, injuries, and sexual behavior resulting in sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and sexual orientation.
The 2011 Illinois YRBS was completed by 1,712 students in 33 public high schools in Illinois, excluding Chicago, during the spring of 2011.
Here are some of the results.
Behaviors that result in
unintentional injuries and violence
When it comes to seat belts, students have been paying attention. Only 5.8 percent of the students said they never or rarely wore a seat belt when riding in a car.
However, 24.5 percent admitted to riding with a driver who had been drinking alcohol during the past 30 days, and 12 had carried a weapon during the past 30 days.
Suicide is also a major concern. Almost 7 percent of the students said they had attempted suicide during the past 12 months, and 14.1 had seriously considered it. The highest percentage of those considering suicide was among the youngest children. Sixteen percent of those 15 or younger had considered suicided, compared to 11 percent of those 18 or older.
Tobacco use
More than 18 percent of the students had smoked cigarettes during the past 30 days. That percentage was 28.7 for students 18 or older, and 12 percent for those 15 or younger. Eleven percent were daily smokers, and 46.8 percent had tried smoking at least once.
This survey seems to indicate smokers are starting younger. Only 8 percent of the students 18 or older said they had smoked a whole cigarette before they were 13 years old. That figure climbed to 11 percent of the students 15 or younger.
Alcohol and other drug use
More than one out of every three students, or 37.6 percent, had drunk alcohol during the past 30 days. More than one out of five, or 22.67 percent, admitted to binge drinking, having five or more drinks within a few hours.
Almost 70 percent had at least one drink during their life.
As with tobacco, this survey seems to indicate drinkers are starting younger. Eleven percent of the students 18 or older had their first drink before they were 13, compared to 19.2 percent of the students 15 or younger.
When it comes to marijuana, 22.7 percent had used it during the past 30 days, and more than one out of three admitted to trying it at least once.
The percentage of students who had ever tried cocaine, sniffing, heroin, methamphetamines, ecstasy or unprescribed steroids were all under 10 percent, but 15.8 percent admitted to using a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription.
More than one in four students said they had been offered an illegal drug by someone on school property in the last year.
See Thursday’s BCR for the statistics on risky sexual, dietary and physical activity behavior among Illinois teens.
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