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Pressures of recession having effect on kids’ home lives, experts say
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Enlargeable graphic: Survey results
Related Document (.pdf)
More about the Risk Behavior Survey
What’s next: A meeting to review the results of the Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey will be from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at Silvestri Middle School, 1055 Silverado Ranch Blvd., Las Vegas. For information, call 799-2348.
Is your child experiencing stress? Donna Wilburn, past president of the Nevada Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a clinical supervisor at Heads UP Guidance and Wellness Centers of Nevada, says there are common symptoms when children are experiencing significant stress:
- Irritable or overly emotional, angry outbursts, meltdowns, excessive crying
- Dropping grades or lack of motivation in school
- Withdrawal from pleasant activities, don’t want to participate with family or friends
- Changes in eating or sleeping (much more or much less)
Chronic stress has been shown to be a precursor to depression. Families with children exhibiting such symptoms are encouraged to seek professional help, Wilburn says.
Resources
- The Southern Nevada Health District for help on children’s mental health issues. 759-1270 or gethealthyclarkcounty.org/injury_prev/mental_health.html
- Heads UP Guidance and Wellness Centers of Nevada (fees on sliding scale, Medicaid accepted) 340 N. 11th St., Suite 100, Las Vegas NV 89101. 922-7015
- Nevada Crisis Hotline: (800) 992-5757
- National Suicide Prevention Hotline: (800) 273-TALK (800-273-8255)
Related story
A growing number of Nevada high school students say they are using drugs and alcohol, having sex and struggling with depression — troubling trends that experts say are a direct reflection of the Silver State’s hard times.
A comprehensive biennial survey by the Nevada Education Department shows that after eight years of steady declines, the percentage of teens who say they smoke cigarettes, use marijuana and have had sexual intercourse increased over the past two years. More teens also say they have contemplated suicide and even attempted it.
State education and health officials say the ever-present pressures of adolescence, exacerbated by stresses of the recession, may be to blame.
“The chronic stress that parents have been feeling is now trickling down to the children,” said Donna Wilburn, past president of the Nevada Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
State Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, immediate past president of the Nevada PTA, wondered whether cuts in family services by municipal agencies and nonprofit groups in the wake of the economic crisis might also be a factor.
“When people need the help the most is when we have the hardest time providing it because there isn’t any money,” Denis said. “As the family struggles, so does society.”
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, taken every two years in conjunction with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quizzes students about behaviors and attitudes toward sex, drugs and personal safety. A sample of students is drawn from throughout the state to represent the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of Nevada. Parents must give permission for students to participate, and the responses are kept anonymous. The CDC collects state’ results to compile a portrait of America’s teens, with the 2009 results to be released this summer. The results have typically been consistent with other data on teen behavior and health.
Since 2001, Nevada has been seeing steady decreases in teen smoking, alcohol use and sexual activity — with percentages better than the national average in 2007, the most recent year for which comparison data are available. But the 2009 results have reset the baseline, said Keith Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction.
“We had been seeing some really encouraging trends, and now we’ve slid backward,” Rheault said. “I’ll be even more concerned in 2011 (when the next survey is conducted) if we haven’t done anything to correct and address these issues so that we see some improvement.”
Nevada has one of the nation’s highest suicide rates for both adults and teens. The increase in students reporting they had contemplated or attempted to kill themselves should be considered a serious red flag, Rheault said.
It’s typically left up to individual school districts to interpret local results from the survey and decide how to use the data, Rheault said. But given the “across the board” worsening of the statistics, Rheault said he will ask his staff to meet with local officials to offer support in developing response plans. The State Board of Education is set to review the results at its meeting this week.
However, “there’s only so much that the schools can do,” Rheault said. “A lot of this depends on what’s happening in the students’ home life.”
Among the key findings for Nevada high school students:
• Nearly 40 percent said they had used marijuana, up from 35.3 percent in 2007. And 20 percent said they had used the drug in the 30 days before the survey, an increase of 4.5 percentage points. It was 19.7 percent nationally in 2007.
• Close to half said they had had sexual intercourse, up from 42.8 percent in 2007. Nationally the figure stood at 47 percent two years ago.
And there was a drop in students who said they used condoms during their most recent sexual activity — 63 percent, down from 69 percent. That’s only slightly better than the nationwide average two years ago.
• In 2009, 35.6 percent of students said they had been offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property in the prior year, up from 28.8 percent in 2007. Nationally the figure was 22.3 percent in 2007.
• Eighteen percent of students said they had seriously considered suicide in the prior year, up from 14.3 percent in 2007. The nationwide figure has been steadily declining, and stood at 14.5 percent in 2007.
And the percentage of Nevada students who said they had felt sad or hopeless enough to stop doing regular activities in the prior year increased to 30.3 percent from 26.1 percent, the highest percentage in nine years. Nationally the figure was 28 percent in 2007.
It’s too early to predict whether the latest results are an aberration or the beginning of a downward trend for the state. It might also be that after years of improvement, Nevada’s statistics are settling toward a norm, said Jeremy Arkes, an associate professor of economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. and an adjunct economist for the Rand Corp.
But it’s not unreasonable to conclude that the significant decline in Nevada’s fiscal climate is a factor, Arkes said.
“I’m sure everyone is stressed from property values going down and the unemployment rate,” said Arkes, who specializes in health economics. “The conditions are ripe for increases in risky behaviors.”
In a recent study, Arkes found substance abuse among teens is higher when the economy is weaker, and illicit drugs are easier for them to acquire.
A downturn in the economy often means teens have more time on their hands after losing their after-school jobs. And when young people are bored, they are more likely to engage in risky behavior, he said.
Arkes also wasn’t surprised to see an increase in Nevada students who said they had been offered drugs for sale on their high school campuses. That’s another common occurrence when part-time jobs are harder to find and teens look for ways to support their needs, Arkes said.
There was some good news in the survey:
• More students say they wear seat belts in cars.
• More students are participating in community-service activities.
• Fewer students said they had gambled in the prior 12 months.
• Fewer students said they had been able to purchase alcohol or tobacco products at a store or gas station.
• Fewer students said they had skipped school without permission in the month before the survey.
Those bright spots notwithstanding, Debbie Gant-Reed, crisis-line coordinator for the state’s suicide prevention hotline, said teens are feeling helpless and isolated.
“They don’t have anyone to talk to — their parents are either stressed by the financial crisis or they’re not home at all because they’re working two jobs to make ends meet,” Gant-Reed said. “Some kids feel like their families would be better off without them.”
Wilburn agreed that teens don’t have access to the tools to manage their stress.
“They resort to what’s convenient, and sometimes that’s drugs and alcohol,” Wilburn said. “What worries me is that some parents don’t take the stress their children feel as seriously as they should.”
Research such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is valuable because “it calls attention to the effect things have on kids,” Wilburn said. “If you don’t know to look out for it, you don’t know to get help for it.”
Megan Smith, whose daughter Sarah is a senior at Centennial High, drives home the importance of communication. She said several times in recent years her daughter has come home and reported a schoolmate had committed suicide.
“We try to be very open with her and talk about things — ‘How do you feel? What you do think? Isn’t that sad news?’ ” Smith said. “I don’t think it’s something you can just sweep under the rug. Their feelings are real, and kids need to know they can talk to somebody.”
When talking with other parents who express surprise at the details she’s been able to glean from her daughter and her friends, Smith said she has come to realize that not every household has such clear lines of communication.
“I’m sure I don’t know everything — I’m not naive,” Smith said. “But it’s sad to me that some kids don’t talk to their parents, and some parents don’t talk to their kids.”
As for her daughter, Sarah told the Sun that the increase in risky behavior by teens didn’t surprise her.
Although her own home life is stable, Sarah worries about friends who are having a tougher time.
“I think kids are very worried,” Sarah said. “They see their parents losing jobs and they don’t understand why. For some of them it’s hard not to be able to do as many things as they used to, like going shopping or to the movies.”
Many of her friends are also struggling to find part-time work that doesn’t conflict with school schedules. It used be easier to find jobs with more flexible hours, Sarah said.
At the same time, Sarah said she is trying to focus on the positive such as deciding where she will attend college next year.
“I have to believe things are going to turn around soon,” she said.
The statewide survey results closely match Clark County’s, which also saw increases in the percentages of students who said they were engaging in risky behavior.
The School District uses the findings in part to determine the type of professional development and training that teachers receive to prepare them to handle specific issues.
The district is updating its health curriculum, and the survey results will influence what teachers emphasize with students. (The district’s sex education curriculum remains unchanged — it is abstinence based, although students do learn about contraception.)
This year the district is also putting together a brochure for parents to encourage them to look closely at the survey findings and talk to their children about the tougher topics.
“Not enough families know the information is out there,” said Mary Pike, who oversees the district’s health curriculum. “We’re going to print as many copies of the brochure as we can afford.”
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Having sex is now considered "risky behavior".
Ridiculous.
How about teaching them how to protect themself against disease and pregnancy? Oh that's right Sarah Palin and the mormons don't want that. Palin's kids don't want need help with that stuff. Oh wait.
No rejco the solution is to get the country and its economy back on track so both adults and their children have some sort of future. Our own politicians, Republicans & Democrats, our government have brought us as a nation to our knees with stupid wars, major loss of jobs being shipped to foreign lands, trade imbalances,...and on and on.
The problems we're facing today didn't just happen, poor leadership made it happen and was enhanced during the Bush years. Its our own governments thumb on us each and every day that is holding us back as a country,...this article is a result of it.
Journey -- good point. Wallenstein & Kelly's "Divorce Project" documents this.
"...their parents are either stressed by the financial crisis or they're not home at all because they're working two jobs to make ends meet..."
Promise and spend.
Borrow and spend.
Tax and spend.
Common theme. Government does it, and continues to do it.
Credit cards are nothing more than future "promise" cards. Buy the future, plus interest.
Borrow (housing) money for the next 30 years at prices you couldn't even begin to pay back, even if you tried with all the other expenses that go along with.
No jobs other than casino gigs, and maybe some warehouse and telemarketing jobs. Maybe a few in IT. But you better know somebody or it's the welfare and foodstamps line for you.
Plus all the industrial and manufacturing jobs are in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Maquiladora Mexico, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, etc.
And not one major company would ever even consider relocating a factory back into the U.S., let alone Nevada.
There is not one iota of self-sufficiency taught in government school (commonly known as 'public' school). Not on any government school curriculum successfully is geography, hard sciences, advanced math, and English as a FIRST language, but "social studies" is. Social. Studies. A first order oxymoron.
And there continues to be an idiotic backlash against formal testing as a measure of success.
So. There you have it.
Throw in absentee parents, the "push" for legalized marijuanna use by what I tend to call the "criminally insane" (what these drug-morons won't tell you about weed is that the tetrahydrocannabinol stays in brain cells for up to 6 weeks), along with schools that don't even track attendance, a just re-elected School Board President who along with her TV show hubby who sues her own HOA to get midnight basketball (midnight?) put in above her own neighbor's objections and
voila!
Students with problems that they cannot solve on their own.
(And my tax dollars are being pathetically drained for this mess...)
It is irresponsible for sexuality to be heaped in a category with drug usage.
Poor babies!
Suck it up.
My mother was in her teens during The Great Depression (the real one) and grew up in central Wisconsin where she had a flimsy pair of boots to walk to school in during sub-zero winters. She had two parents and two siblings (although my non-English speaking immigrant grandmother died young when my mother was 16, leaving my grandfather alone to work his small farm.) What they had to eat sometimes makes me wonder how they made it--remember, no welfare then. When I read this article, I just shook my head. What is missing for people today is self-respect and a solid value system. People are too self-centered and dwell on themselves. There is a sense of boredom for teens. I think some teaching about reaching out to others and helping around the house can overcome some of the hards times (that goes for adults as well). The majority of these kids aren't nearly as bad off as those who lived through the Depression or as those who live on so little today in other countries.
When your entertainment choices are Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and the Twilight books, death probably seems like a pretty good choice.
kids nowadays have seven times the dreams of kings and queens throughout history. Ipods, cell phones, malls, walmart, passports, online degrees and 120 mph to the airport, board a jet, take a limo the show. call my agent.
Toys define our culture. It's time to walk to school, talk to neighbors, grow and eat local foods, know your home biome and watershed, listen to grampa, invest in tomorrow with developmental habits and learn to steer away from idle play.
Especially here in Nevada, kids at video games drinkin soda pop are like little toy adults at the casino suckin down cocktails at the table or machine. Another squandered belly-button, sucked into toyland. Doo-dah.
sandy_astroglide
... ran directly over the...
...absolute hilarity of it all
...with both wheels!
What a sugarcoated selection to cut your teeth on:
boys with high voices, vampires, or a black hole...
Where is Jim Morrison?
Poor kids. What's a Paris Hilton compared to a Bob Dylan? or Janis Joplin?
I hear Sunday school enrollment is up.
Why should we be surprised at this. For the last couple of generations we have raised spoiled little ninnies with the blessing of the experts. Self esteem is everything they claimed. Even in their worst behavior don't criticize but find something positive to say. Don't give out grades as bad grades will make them feel bad. Don't let them get a job, give them all the spending money they need. By listening to the experts and treating our little buboos as fragile little vases, we have created self indulgent monsters with too much self esteem and large egos built on a weak foundation. With just a little nudge in the right direction the foundation collapses along with the self esteem and supersize ego leaving a basket case. Time to take the experts out and shoot them and bring back the woodshed. It's time we got back back to the old days when "wait until your father gets home" struck fear in the hearts of kids instead of disrespectful laughter and derision.
When I was in school (1960's - 70's) they still spanked kisd who got out of line at school. Then the kids got spanked again by both parents when they got home. I never got spanked at school. Most kids didn't. Most of us figured out that we had better behave or pay the price at the end of dad's belt or mom's kitchen implements. (Got spanked plenty of times at home). The great majority of us turned out pretty good. Some didn't. Even those who got into some trouble back then (pregnancy, shoplifting, truancy, etc.) learned the hard way and were perfectly decent people after paying the price.
Yes some went to prison or should have, some were murdered, some committed suicide, but those were exceptions to the rule.
Now kids dress like gang members, have tattoos and piercings, act disrespectful.....and wonder why it's hard to find a job!
In my day it was "long hair" that had parents going crazy.....A trip to the barber could change that if it meant getting a job.....Tattoos are far more permanent.
Let me address the "bright spots" in the report:
1:
More students say they wear seat belts in cars.
This is due to the fact that more cars come with seatbelts that automatically trap you when you step in to the car.
2:
More students are participating in community-service activities.
This is due to the fact that Nevadans consider "milling about aimlessly while chewing gum and riding a skateboard or dirtbike" a "community service".
3:
Fewer students said they had gambled in the prior 12 months.
Well DUH - this is because they have no money.
4:
Fewer students said they had been able to purchase alcohol or tobacco products at a store or gas station.
Well DUH - this is because they have no money.
5:
Fewer students said they had skipped school without permission in the month before the survey.
This is because more parents are willing to give their children permission to skip school, since it means they will need less food if they don't get out of bed, and cost them less so they have more money left over for their precious beer, cigarettes and cable porn.
Anyone who has been alive since 1950 can tell you that this country has been in a steady downward spiral. Every decade things get WORSE than the decade before, not better. Expect more of the same going forward.
Im feeling like pooh today, I think I will get high and have sex until I feel better. What a load of crap.
I think someone was abused as a kid and forced into a 12 step program. Not mentioning any names.
rejco as usual is blabbering his idiotic psycho babble so everyone just ignore him, and understand that when the going gets tough, parents must get tougher!
There's a thread in these comments that seems to suggest that the kids are screwed up, but the commenting 'grown-ups' are in fine form. And yet they come across like the last people you'd want your children to become. And if the kids aren't doing well, maybe it's because they see the way our leaders have subverted the promise of America. No wonder they're depressed.
It seems everyone involved in the study forgets what they did when they were teens,I was a teen in the 70s and teens were drinking , smokin....everything not just cigarettes,havin sex, and yes it was risky back then too, wow. The difference is back then when ya got caught you got a butt whoopin, not some bull anylist saying that you were doomed for life. Bring back the butt whoopins and this will not be a problem.
When was I in high school (in the 80's ) where kids were having all this sex? When I went to school,you had to go with a girl exclusively for months to get any. How times have changed.......oh yeah,when i went to school there was no cell phones or internet !
Wizard of OZ Please go back to OZ and stop espousing governmental propaganda. Don't be an ignoramus and delve into subject matter that you have no clue about. Here we go with the lingering THC metabolites. Just because you can spell tetrahydrocannabinol does not mean you know what you are talking about. THC is used-up in the first or second pass through the liver. The leftover THC metabolites then attach themselves, in a very normal way, to fatty deposits, for the body to dispose of later, which is a safe and perfectly natural process.
Many chemicals from foods, herbs, and medicines do this same thing all the time in your body. Most are not dangerous and THC metabolites show less toxic potential than virtually any known metabolic leftovers in your body. This being said by the head one of the U.S. Governments marijuana research programs. Dr. Tod Mikuriya. More and More research backs up this fact. Cannabis is the most benign recreational drug we have including tobacco and alcohol. Caffeine is more addictive than cannabis. But you probably have no problems buying a coke for your kid at MC fattys.
There are plenty of places on the planet where teenagers have it harder then they do in LV. Like Ghana or China, where kids burn our old computers and cell phones to make a little money. How can teenagers be so depressed with the massive amount of entertainment out there? Hundreds of tv channels, DVD's, the internet. etc. When I was in high school there were only around 6 channels to watch on network TV. People talked about the same shows at school (like The Man From UNCLE or Batman) because there weren't that many shows that you could watch. Educators are just making the problem worse when they pressure kids to go to college and get into huge debt. But then I suppose adults don't care what bad advice they give to kids. They just look at them as future consumers.
mrability, every post I read from you is angry, negative, more angry, more negative, even more angry, even more negative.
There's no blame, when things were good in the world, these children were of benefit. They've known nothing else.
Unfortunately, the stresses parents are currently experiencing are passed to their children.