Problems That Concern Teens
High school seniors were polled on selected social problems for the 2002 Monitoring the Future study. More than three-quarters (75.5%) of the respondents said they worried about crime and violence at least sometimes, down from 81% the previous year. (See Table 11.4.) Race relations troubled 46.9% of students, down from 55.6% in 1999. Drug abuse concerned 56.9% of seniors; economic problems worried 47%; pollution worried 44.2%; and hunger and poverty concerned 49.7%. More than a third (35.9%) of students were concerned about nuclear war, up from the previous year but down from 52.4% in 1989.
Violence in Schools
According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school students were less fearful for their safety in 2001 than they had been in previous years. In 2003 5.4% of all students in this age group skipped school at least once in the past thirty days because they were afraid, down from 6.6% in 2001. (See Table 11.5.) Hispanic students were the most likely to not go to school because of safety concerns (9.4%), African-American students were the next most likely (8.4%), and white students were least likely to not go to school because of safety concerns (3.1%). Male
TABLE 11.2
| Public opinion of high school seniors on the performance of selected institutions, 1990–2002 | |||||||||||||
| NOW WE'D LIKE YOU TO MAKE SOME RATINGS OF HOW GOOD OR BAD A JOB YOU FEEL EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS IS DOING FOR THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE…HOW GOOD OR BAD A JOB IS BEING DONE FOR THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE BY…? | |||||||||||||
| (Percent responding "good" or "very good") | |||||||||||||
| Class of 1990 (N=2,600) | class of 1991 (N=2,582) | class of 1992 (N=2,684) | class of 1993 (N=2,773) | class of 1994 (N=2,642) | class of 1995 (N=2,658) | class of 1996 (N=2,455) | class of 1997 (N=2,648) | class of 1998 (N=2,608) | class of 1999 (N=2,357) | class of 2000 (N=2,216) | class of 2001 (N=2,201) | class of 2002 (N=2,250) | |
| Note: Response categories were "very poor," "poor," "fair," "good," "very good," and "no opinion." | |||||||||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 2.70. High School Seniors Reporting Positive Attitudes toward the Performance of Selected Institutions," in Public Attitudes toward Crime and Criminal Justice–Related Topics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2002 http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t270.pdf (accessed September 16,2004) | |||||||||||||
| Large corporations | 38.4% | 36.3% | 31.8% | 31.5% | 34.6% | 37.9% | 36.3% | 35.3% | 43.0% | 42.1% | 43.0% | 39.3% | 38.4% |
| Major labor union | 31.7 | 31.3 | 28.9 | 27.2 | 29.2 | 28.0 | 30.8 | 29.2 | 32.8 | 34.5 | 32.0 | 33.1 | 32.5 |
| The nation's colleges and universities | 73.8 | 70.2 | 67.2 | 61.1 | 67.7 | 66.6 | 70.5 | 65.7 | 70.1 | 72.5 | 71.0 | 71.0 | 69.4 |
| The nation's public schools | 36.1 | 33.6 | 32.5 | 29.0 | 27.2 | 31.8 | 30.6 | 30.0 | 32.2 | 34.1 | 34.7 | 34.5 | 37.7 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 47.0 | 49.2 | 50.3 | 46.9 | 50.3 | 50.2 | 49.0 | 48.3 | 52.6 | 52.4 | 50.1 | 52.1 | 48.8 |
| The national news media (TV, magazines, news services) | 54.7 | 51.1 | 47.9 | 40.5 | 37.9 | 33.1 | 34.5 | 34.8 | 36.1 | 39.8 | 37.6 | 38.8 | 43.0 |
| The President and his administration | 41.8 | 56.8 | 23.8 | 24.9 | 22.1 | 19.7 | 24.0 | 26.8 | 34.1 | 33.3 | 35.7 | 32.8 | 54.0 |
| Congress—that is, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives | 32.9 | 38.3 | 15.9 | 16.6 | 18.8 | 20.6 | 18.1 | 21.7 | 28.7 | 29.9 | 31.4 | 33.0 | 42.2 |
| The U.S. Supreme Court | 40.9 | 44.1 | 35.7 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 29.8 | 30.4 | 30.5 | 36.6 | 38.9 | 38.2 | 37.1 | 41.5 |
| All the courts and the justice system in general | 27.8 | 31.2 | 23.4 | 21.1 | 19.3 | 20.6 | 21.2 | 22.4 | 25.7 | 29.4 | 28.9 | 30.7 | 32.9 |
| The police and other law enforcement agencies | 34.3 | 28.0 | 26.9 | 27.1 | 29.3 | 28.7 | 27.6 | 28.7 | 33.0 | 33.7 | 33.6 | 33.2 | 38.9 |
| The U.S. military | 58.8 | 80.6 | 62.2 | 57.0 | 54.3 | 54.8 | 55.6 | 52.9 | 56.7 | 59.4 | 55.5 | 55.7 | 70.1 |
TABLE 11.3
| Percentage distribution of 12th-graders according to their ratings of school work's meaningfulness, courses' degree of interest, and the importance of their school learning in later life, by sex, high school program, and average grades, 1983, 1990, 1995, and 2000 | |||||||||
| How often school work is meaningful | How interesting most courses are | How important school learing will be in later life | |||||||
| Student characteristics | Seldom or never | sometimes | Often or always | Very or slightly dull | Fairly interesting | Quite or very interesting | Not or slightly important | Fairly important | Quite or very important |
| 1983 | |||||||||
| Total | 18.3 | 41.5 | 40.2 | 19.8 | 45.5 | 34.6 | 19.9 | 29.6 | 50.5 |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 22.2 | 40.9 | 36.8 | 22.7 | 45.1 | 32.2 | 22.4 | 29.5 | 48.1 |
| Female | 14.8 | 41.8 | 43.4 | 17.3 | 45.6 | 37.1 | 17.8 | 29.7 | 52.5 |
| High school program1 | |||||||||
| Academic/college-prep | 13.1 | 41.0 | 45.9 | 18.1 | 42.9 | 39.0 | 16.6 | 29.0 | 54.4 |
| General | 23.4 | 42.6 | 33.9 | 23.1 | 49.3 | 27.5 | 26.5 | 31.2 | 42.3 |
| Vocational/technical | 19.0 | 44.6 | 36.5 | 15.9 | 43.2 | 40.9 | 15.6 | 26.2 | 58.2 |
| Average grades in high school2 | |||||||||
| A's | 11.2 | 36.3 | 52.5 | 14.5 | 37.5 | 48.0 | 14.9 | 26.0 | 59.2 |
| B's | 16.6 | 43.8 | 39.6 | 17.1 | 47.5 | 35.4 | 16.7 | 30.6 | 52.7 |
| C's or D's | 25.5 | 40.8 | 33.7 | 27.9 | 47.8 | 24.2 | 28.9 | 30.6 | 40.4 |
| 1990 | |||||||||
| Total | 20.0 | 44.5 | 35.5 | 24.6 | 46.7 | 28.7 | 20.7 | 32.3 | 47.0 |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 21.1 | 44.9 | 34.1 | 26.4 | 46.1 | 27.4 | 21.6 | 30.7 | 47.7 |
| Female | 18.6 | 44.5 | 36.9 | 22.1 | 47.8 | 30.2 | 19.4 | 34.3 | 46.3 |
| High school program1 | |||||||||
| Academic/college-prep | 17.9 | 46.1 | 35.9 | 22.4 | 48.1 | 29.4 | 18.8 | 34.9 | 46.3 |
| General | 23.1 | 45.7 | 31.2 | 28.8 | 48.0 | 23.2 | 24.5 | 31.9 | 43.6 |
| Vocational/technical | 22.9 | 37.3 | 39.8 | 21.7 | 41.1 | 37.3 | 16.1 | 25.8 | 58.1 |
| Average grades in high school2 | |||||||||
| A's | 18.1 | 41.2 | 40.8 | 19.8 | 45.5 | 34.7 | 17.6 | 30.8 | 51.6 |
| B's | 18.1 | 45.1 | 36.8 | 20.8 | 48.1 | 31.1 | 17.8 | 34.0 | 48.2 |
| C's or D's | 25.3 | 46.3 | 28.5 | 35.6 | 45.8 | 18.6 | 28.8 | 31.0 | 40.1 |
| 1995 | |||||||||
| Total | 23.7 | 45.4 | 30.9 | 29.0 | 47.2 | 23.8 | 23.7 | 34.9 | 41.4 |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 26.6 | 43.7 | 29.7 | 31.4 | 44.0 | 24.6 | 24.5 | 33.1 | 42.3 |
| Female | 20.4 | 47.7 | 31.9 | 26.4 | 50.6 | 23.0 | 22.6 | 37.0 | 40.4 |
| High school program1 | |||||||||
| Academic/college-prep | 20.4 | 46.7 | 33.0 | 25.7 | 47.8 | 26.5 | 20.6 | 36.9 | 42.6 |
| General | 28.4 | 47.3 | 24.4 | 35.1 | 50.5 | 14.4 | 28.9 | 34.2 | 36.9 |
| Vocational/technical | 29.6 | 39.1 | 31.3 | 27.2 | 41.6 | 31.1 | 24.5 | 26.8 | 48.7 |
| Average grades in high school2 | |||||||||
| A's | 18.6 | 44.2 | 37.2 | 22.2 | 48.0 | 29.9 | 20.0 | 35.1 | 44.9 |
| B's | 22.9 | 47.3 | 29.8 | 27.8 | 48.3 | 23.9 | 22.9 | 35.2 | 41.9 |
| C's or D's | 33.0 | 42.7 | 24.2 | 42.2 | 43.6 | 14.2 | 31.4 | 33.9 | 34.7 |
and female students were almost equally likely to skip school because of safety concerns (5.5% of male students and 5.3% of female students). Younger students were more likely to stay away from school because of safety concerns than were older students (6.9% of ninth graders compared with 3.8% of twelfth graders).
According to the survey, in 2003 6.1% of high school students carried a weapon (gun, knife, or club) to school on one of the thirty days preceding the survey. (See Table 11.5.) Males were more likely (8.9%) to have carried a weapon to school than females (3.1%). African-American students (6.9%) were more likely than Hispanic students (6%) and white students (5.5%) to carry a weapon to school.
About one in ten high school seniors (9.2%) reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property one or more times during the twelve months prior to the survey. (See Table 11.5.) Non-Hispanic African-American high school students were more likely to have been threatened or injured (10.9%) than were Hispanic
| 1Respondents in a category labeled "Other/don't know," not shown separately, are included in the totals. | |||||||||
| 2Categories were made from students' reports of their average grade in high school. | |||||||||
| Note: The data do not meet NCES standards for response rates. Percentages may not add to 100.0 due to rounding. | |||||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 18-1. Percentage Distributions of 12th-Graders according to Their Ratings of School Work's Meaningfulness, Courses' Degree of Interest, and the Importance of their School Learning in Later Life, by Sex, High School Program, and Average Grades: 1983, 1990, 1995, and 2000," in "12th-Graders' Effort and Interest in School," The Condition of Education 2002, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, May 2002, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002025 (accessed September 16, 2004) | |||||||||
| 2000 | |||||||||
| Total | 26.6 | 44.9 | 28.5 | 31.9 | 46.9 | 21.2 | 26.5 | 34.3 | 39.2 |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 31.3 | 40.8 | 27.9 | 35.2 | 43.9 | 20.9 | 28.5 | 32.2 | 39.2 |
| Female | 22.4 | 48.9 | 28.7 | 29.0 | 49.3 | 21.7 | 24.9 | 35.9 | 39.3 |
| High school program1 | |||||||||
| Academic/college-prep | 22.2 | 47.9 | 29.9 | 27.6 | 49.2 | 23.3 | 24.1 | 35.9 | 40.0 |
| General | 31.7 | 44.4 | 23.9 | 38.5 | 46.2 | 15.2 | 30.8 | 34.2 | 35.0 |
| Vocational/technical | 31.0 | 38.6 | 30.4 | 31.2 | 40.1 | 28.7 | 23.8 | 33.2 | 43.0 |
| Average grades in high school2 | |||||||||
| A's | 20.7 | 45.0 | 34.3 | 24.1 | 48.3 | 27.7 | 24.8 | 34.4 | 40.8 |
| B's | 27.0 | 47.3 | 25.8 | 31.6 | 48.3 | 20.1 | 25.4 | 35.4 | 39.2 |
| C's or D's | 35.4 | 39.7 | 24.9 | 45.5 | 40.7 | 13.8 | 31.4 | 32.7 | 35.9 |
(9.4%) or non-Hispanic white students (7.8%). Younger students were much more likely than older students to report having been threatened or injured with a weapon at school; more students in ninth grade were threatened or injured (12.1%) than students in grades ten (9.2%), eleven (7.3%), or twelve (6.3%).
Terrorism
The 2003 Teen People poll found that 80% of teens surveyed believed that in their lifetime there will be another terrorist attack in the United States on the scale of the attacks of September 11, 2001. More than half of teens (57%) believed the United States government is prepared for such an attack, and 26% believed that in ten years terrorist attacks and suicide bombings will be the greatest threat to the world.
Substance Abuse
Data from Monitoring the Future, as reported by the BJS, show that starting in 1993 high school seniors' disapproval of marijuana use began to decline. More than two-thirds of students in the class of 1992 (69.9%) expressed disapproval of adults who tried marijuana once or twice. By 2002 only about half of high school seniors (51.6%) expressed disapproval of this behavior. Rates of disapproval of drinking alcohol and taking steroids also declined over the period, while disapproval of smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day remained relatively steady. In 2002 30.8% of high school seniors thought that marijuana use should be made legal, and 29.1% believed it should be considered a crime. According to the Horatio Alger Association 2004 survey, over a third of students (38%) struggled with peer pressure to drink alcohol or use illicit drugs.
Corporations and Government
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, in Source book of Criminal Justice Statistics: 2002, reported that 38.4% of high school seniors in the class of 2002 believed that U.S. corporations were doing a "good" or "very good" job, up from a low of 31.5% in the class of 1994. (See Table 11.2.) During the 1990s high school seniors' approval of most areas of the government declined, but approval ratings in most areas were up in 2002 over the year before, perhaps due to the governmental and military responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2001 32.8% of high school seniors believed that the president and his administration were doing a "good" or "very good" job; in 2002 54% believed the president was doing a good job. In 2002 42.2% approved of the Congress, up significantly from the year before, when only 33% of high school seniors approved of the work Congress was doing. In 2001 55.7% of seniors thought the U.S. military was doing a good job; in 2002 the approval rating was up to 70.1%, the highest approval rating of all rated institutions.
TABLE 11.4
| Public opinion of high school seniors on selected social problems, 1990–2002 | |||||||||||||
| OF ALL THE PROBLEMS FACING THE NATION TODAY, HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORRY ABOUT EACH OF THE FOLLOWING? | |||||||||||||
| (Percent responding "sometimes" or "often") | |||||||||||||
| Class of 1990 (N=2,595) | Class of 1991 (N=2,595) | Class of 1992 (N=2,736) | Class of 1993 (N=2,807) | Class of 1994 (N=2,664) | Class of 1995 (N=2,646) | Class of 1996 (N=2,502) | Class of 1997 (N=2,651) | Class of 1998 (N=2,621) | Class of 1999 (N=2,348) | Class of 2000 (N=2,204) | Class of 2001 (N=2,222) | Class of 2002 (N=2,267) | |
| Note: These data are from a series of nationwide surveys of high school seniors conducted by the Monitoring the Future Project at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research from 1975 through 2002. The survey design is a multistage random sample of high school seniors in public and private schools throughout the continental United States. All percentages reported are based on weighted cases; the Ns that are shown in the tables refer to the number of weighted cases. Response categories were "never," "seldom," "sometimes," and "often." | |||||||||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 2.68. High School Seniors Reporting that They Worry about Selected Social Problems," in Public Attitudes toward Crime and Criminal Justice–Related Topics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2002, http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t268.pdf (accessed September 16, 2004) | |||||||||||||
| Crime and violence | 88.8% | 88.1% | 91.6% | 90.8% | 92.7% | 90.2% | 90.1% | 86.5% | 84.4% | 81.8% | 83.5% | 81.0% | 75.5% |
| Drug abuse | 82.6 | 79.5 | 77.8 | 75.5 | 76.7 | 72.6 | 71.0 | 71.1 | 65.3 | 62.7 | 60.9 | 61.1 | 56.9 |
| Hunger and poverty | 65.9 | 66.4 | 68.1 | 71.1 | 65.7 | 62.3 | 62.6 | 61.1 | 55.5 | 54.5 | 54.4 | 51.3 | 49.7 |
| Chance of nuclear war | 45.1 | 41.5 | 33.4 | 28.8 | 27.9 | 20.0 | 21.6 | 20.4 | 29.0 | 32.1 | 23.7 | 23.9 | 35.9 |
| Economic problems | 56.8 | 63.9 | 70.6 | 71.8 | 62.6 | 55.7 | 57.9 | 51.5 | 47.6 | 44.8 | 45.2 | 47.0 | 47.0 |
| Pollution | 67.2 | 72.1 | 71.9 | 72.8 | 66.5 | 63.6 | 62.9 | 61.6 | 57.1 | 49.8 | 53.3 | 49.6 | 44.2 |
| Race relations | 57.1 | 59.4 | 68.7 | 75.4 | 71.6 | 68.9 | 70.7 | 64.7 | 56.0 | 55.6 | 51.2 | 52.6 | 46.9 |
| Energy shortages | 32.6 | 38.2 | 35.2 | 29.8 | 23.8 | 17.9 | 19.2 | 19.4 | 18.3 | 20.8 | 22.0 | 31.2 | 22.6 |
| Using open land for housing or industry | 33.9 | 33.8 | 34.7 | 32.9 | 32.7 | 28.9 | 32.6 | 32.7 | 30.8 | 27.5 | 32.6 | 30.6 | 28.5 |
| Population growth | 33.0 | 30.6 | 35.2 | 38.9 | 35.4 | 34.9 | 37.4 | 38.2 | 34.8 | 31.7 | 36.3 | 36.7 | 28.3 |
| Urban decay | 20.4 | 21.7 | 25.8 | 25.3 | 25.6 | 23.0 | 25.1 | 22.1 | 18.8 | 17.2 | 20.5 | 20.3 | 15.6 |
TABLE 11.5
| Percentage of high school students who reported violence-related behaviors by sex, race, ethnicity, and grade, 1991–2003 | ||||||||
| 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | ||
| Behavior | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Carried a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club)§ | ||||||||
| Overall | 26.1 | 22.1 | 20.0 | 18.3 | 17.3 | 17.4 | 17.1 | |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | 10.9 | 9.2 | 8.3 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.7 | |
| Male | 40.6 | 34.3 | 31.1 | 27.7 | 28.6 | 29.3 | 26.9 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 25.1 | 20.6 | 18.9 | 17.0 | 16.4 | 17.9 | 16.7 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 32.7 | 28.5 | 21.8 | 21.7 | 17.2 | 15.2 | 17.3 | |
| Hispanic | 25.8 | 24.4 | 24.7 | 23.3 | 18.7 | 16.5 | 16.5 | |
| Grade | ||||||||
| 9th | 27.5 | 25.5 | 22.6 | 22.6 | 17.6 | 19.8 | 18.0 | |
| 10th | 26.8 | 21.4 | 21.1 | 17.4 | 18.7 | 16.7 | 15.9 | |
| 11th | 29.0 | 21.5 | 20.3 | 18.2 | 16.1 | 16.8 | 18.2 | |
| 12th | 21.3 | 19.9 | 16.1 | 15.4 | 15.9 | 15.1 | 15.5 | |
| In a physical fight†† | ||||||||
| Overall | 42.5 | 41.8 | 38.7 | 36.6 | 35.7 | 33.2 | 33.0 | |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | 34.4 | 31.7 | 30.6 | 26.6 | 27.3 | 23.9 | 25.1 | |
| Male | 50.2 | 51.2 | 46.1 | 45.5 | 44.0 | 43.1 | 40.5 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 41.0 | 40.3 | 36.0 | 33.7 | 33.1 | 32.2 | 30.5 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 50.6 | 49.5 | 41.6 | 43.0 | 41.4 | 36.5 | 39.7 | |
| Hispanic | 41.3 | 43.2 | 47.9 | 40.7 | 39.9 | 35.8 | 36.1 | |
| Grade | ||||||||
| 9th | 50.5 | 50.4 | 47.3 | 44.8 | 41.1 | 39.5 | 38.6 | |
| 10th | 43.1 | 42.2 | 40.4 | 40.2 | 37.7 | 34.7 | 33.5 | |
| 11th | 43.0 | 40.5 | 36.9 | 34.2 | 31.3 | 29.1 | 30.9 | |
| 12th | 33.9 | 34.8 | 31.0 | 28.8 | 30.4 | 26.5 | 26.5 | |
| Injured in a physical fight††§§ | ||||||||
| Overall | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.2 | |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.6 | |
| Male | 6.0 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.7 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 2.9 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 6.6 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 5.3 | 5.5 | |
| Hispanic | 4.3 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 5.2 | |
| Grade | ||||||||
| 9th | 5.2 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.0 | |
| 10th | 4.7 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.2 | |
| 11th | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.6 | |
| 12th | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.1 | |
| Carried a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club) on school property§ | ||||||||
| Overall | — | 11.8 | 9.8 | 8.5 | 6.9 | 6.4 | 6.1 | |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | — | 5.1 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.1 | |
| Male | — | 17.9 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 11.0 | 10.2 | 8.9 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | — | 10.9 | 9.0 | 7.8 | 6.4 | 6.1 | 5.5 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | — | 15.0 | 10.3 | 9.2 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 6.9 | |
| Hispanic | — | 13.3 | 14.1 | 10.4 | 7.9 | 6.4 | 6.0 | |
| Grade | ||||||||
| 9th | — | 12.6 | 10.7 | 10.2 | 7.2 | 6.7 | 5.3 | |
| 10th | — | 11.5 | 10.4 | 7.7 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.0 | |
| 11th | — | 11.9 | 10.2 | 9.4 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 6.6 | |
| 12th | — | 10.8 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 6.4 | |
| In a physical fight on school property †† | ||||||||
| Overall | — | 16.2 | 15.5 | 14.8 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 12.8 | |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | — | 8.6 | 9.5 | 8.6 | 9.8 | 7.2 | 8.0 | |
| Male | — | 23.5 | 21.0 | 20.0 | 18.5 | 18.0 | 17.1 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | — | 15.0 | 12.9 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.0 | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | — | 22.0 | 20.3 | 20.7 | 18.7 | 16.8 | 17.1 | |
| Hispanic | — | 17.9 | 21.1 | 19.0 | 15.7 | 14.1 | 16.7 | |
| Grade | ||||||||
| 9th | — | 23.1 | 21.6 | 21.3 | 18.6 | 17.3 | 18.0 | |
| 10th | — | 17.2 | 16.5 | 17.0 | 17.2 | 13.5 | 12.8 | |
| 11th | — | 13.8 | 13.6 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 10.4 | |
| 12th | — | 11.4 | 10.6 | 9.5 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 7.3 | |
TABLE 11.5
| §On ≥ 1 of the 30 days preceding the survey. | |||||||
| †† One or more lines during the 12 months preceding the survey. | |||||||
| §§ Injuries had to be treated by a doctor or nurse. | |||||||
| SOURCE: "Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Violence-Related Behaviors, by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade—Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 1991–2003," in "Violence-Related Behaviors among High School Students—United States, 1991–2003," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 53, no. 29, July 30, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5329a1.htm#tab (accessed September 16, 2004) | |||||||
| Threatened or injured with a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife or club) on school property †† | |||||||
| Overall | — | 7.3 | 8.4 | 7.4 | 7.7 | 8.9 | 9.2 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | — | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 5.8 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Male | — | 9.2 | 10.9 | 10.2 | 9.5 | 11.5 | 11.6 |
| Race/Ethnicity | |||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | — | 6.3 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 7.8 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | — | 11.2 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 7.6 | 9.3 | 10.9 |
| Hispanic | — | 8.6 | 12.4 | 9.0 | 9.8 | 8.9 | 9.4 |
| Grade | |||||||
| 9th | — | 9.4 | 9.6 | 10.1 | 10.5 | 12.7 | 12.1 |
| 10th | — | 7.3 | 9.6 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 9.1 | 9.2 |
| 11th | — | 7.3 | 7.7 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 7.3 |
| 12th | — | 5.5 | 6.7 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 6.3 |
| Did not go to school because of safety concerns§ | |||||||
| Overall | — | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 5.4 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | — | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 7.4 | 5.3 |
| Male | — | 4.3 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 5.5 |
| Race/Ethnicity | |||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | — | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | — | 7.1 | 7.7 | 6.8 | 6.0 | 9.8 | 8.4 |
| Hispanic | — | 10.1 | 8.5 | 7.2 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.4 |
| Grade | |||||||
| 9th | — | 6.1 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 7.0 | 8.8 | 6.9 |
| 10th | — | 5.2 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 5.2 |
| 11th | — | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 4.5 |
| 12th | — | 3.0 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 3.8 |
The Criminal Justice System
In 2002 38.9% of high school seniors believed that police and other law enforcement agencies were doing a "good" or "very good" job, up from the level of confidence seniors expressed the year before (33.2%). (See Table 11.6.) White students (43.5%) were more likely than African-American students (23.7%) to express approval, as were students who had never used illegal drugs (42.4%).
The War in Iraq
According to The State of Our Nation's Youth, 2004–2005, a survey done by the Horatio Alger Association, less than half of students surveyed (44%) believed in 2004 that the United States had been right to go to war in Iraq in March 2003. A third of the students (33%) believed the United States was wrong to go to war, while nearly a quarter (23%) had no opinion. Male students were more likely than female students (53% of males compared with 35% of females) to approve of the war; white students (51%) were much more likely than African-American students (25%) or Hispanic students (29%) to approve of the war. Most students (55%) also expected the United States to institute a military draft, but almost three-quarters (70%) opposed that possibility.
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