Teens turning on to good health

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Jan. 25, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Chris Morris

Nevada’s high school students are being more responsible about their health and well-being, with fewer reporting they smoke, have sex or drink and drive, according to a new survey.

The Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted biennially statewide in grades seven through 12, asks students about their alcohol and tobacco use, personal habits and school safety. Although it’s just one indicator of student behavior, the survey is used as a reference point by counselors, educators and health agencies.

According to survey results, the teen smoking rate has hit a six-year low, with 14 percent of high school students reporting they had smoked in the previous 30 days. By comparison, about 25 percent of high schoolers in 2001 said they’d smoked.

Forty-three percent of high schoolers said they’ve had sexual intercourse — the lowest since 2001, when nearly half of the students said they’d had intercourse. And more students who are sexually active report using condoms — 69 percent compared with 62 percent two years before.

Nine percent of high schoolers reported drinking and driving in the previous 30 days, down from 13 percent in 2001.

The drop in teen smoking in Nevada follows a national trend, said Maria Azzarelli, youth tobacco control educator for the Southern Nevada Health District. Locally, the Clark County School District’s ban on all tobacco products on campuses in 2003 also helped, Azzarelli said.

“What we’re seeing is the results of constant education — not just of students, but of the community as a whole,” Azzarelli said. “We still have a ways to go, but this is certainly encouraging news.”

“It’s just not cool to smoke anymore,” said Cannon Kolb, a junior at Advanced Technologies Academy and a volunteer with XPOZ, the Health District’s anti-smoking initiative for youth. “Kids are getting smarter.”

Students are also holding off longer before drinking. In 2007, about a quarter of high school students said they had taken their first alcoholic drink (beyond a few sips) by the time they were 13, compared with nearly a third of students in 2005.

Smoking also continues its steady decline among middle schoolers. In the most recent poll, 7 percent said they’d smoked in the previous 30 days, compared with 10 percent in 2005 and 13 percent in 2001.

Students also report they are distancing themselves from violence. Fewer students at both the high school and middle school level said they had ever belonged to a gang, and fewer high school students reported carrying weapons to school or engaging in physical fights on campus.

Still, more than a quarter of high school students and 30 percent of middle schoolers said they feel safe at school “only sometimes, rarely or never.”

Other highlights of the report:

• High schoolers who said they had ever used methamphetamine dropped by half, to 6 percent in 2007 from 12 percent in 2005.

• Students reporting they had attempted suicide stayed about the same for high schoolers, just less than 9 percent, while at middle school level it was down to 10 percent from 13 percent.

• More middle schoolers reported they had seriously considered suicide, 22 percent, up from 18 percent in 2005.

Edward Goldman, a district associate superintendent who oversees student discipline, said the middle school years represent a turning point for students — academically, socially and developmentally.

The students “are in the neediest, most vulnerable point of their lives,” Goldman said. “They need role models, and there aren’t enough of them.”

Goldman said middle school success is often a precursor to a successful high school experience. Conversely, students who stray off course in middle school might never be lured back.

The district has put a renewed focus on middle schools in recent years, adding classes in “character education” and assigning School Police officers to more troubled campuses. And a new law requires high schools to set up “freshman academies” to help ease the transition into high school.

Kim Boyle, director of guidance and counseling for the district, said her staff uses the biennial survey results to help evaluate the effectiveness of professional development training and student programs.

With Clark County accounting for 70 percent of Nevada’s student population, the district-level survey results closely mirror the statewide figures. But slightly more Clark County high schoolers reported smoking in the previous 30 days (15 percent compared with 14 percent statewide). And the number of students reporting feeling sad or hopeless enough to stop doing regular activities was also higher in Clark County than in the rest of the state (30 percent compared with 26 percent).

But overall, Boyle said, “we’re seeing some positive growth with our students.”

Schools can bear only a part of the burden, said Dr. Frederick Gillis, executive director of the Center for Independent Living in Las Vegas, a treatment facility for troubled youths.

“The parents and the home environment are essential and a lot of kids are not getting what they need at the outset,” said Gillis, who has treated adolescents locally for nearly 30 years. “Without the social skills they need to survive, students have very little hope.”

With their parents’ permission, students took the survey anonymously in the spring during their health classes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which uses the data, requires a minimum response rate of 60 percent for the results to be considered representative of all high school students in the state. For the 2007 survey, 1,783 students at 86 public Nevada high schools took part, a 63 percent response rate. At the middle school level, 1,767 students at 52 public schools took part, a 71 percent response rate.