Three surveys provide comprehensive coverage of the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco by American youth, as well as their attitudes about using these substances. The surveys presented in this chapter include: These three surveys collect self-reported data—that is, behavior reported by the students themselves. Therefore, the data should be used as indicators primarily to identify perceived …
In 2003 approximately 75% of high school students had consumed at least one alcoholic drink in their lifetime, according to the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report—United States 2003. (See Table 6.1.) Nearly 45% had consumed alcohol at least once in the thirty days prior to the survey. Slightly more than 28% were current episodic heavy drinkers (having five or more drinks o…
The results of the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance offered insight into current tobacco use by high school students. The report showed that 27.5% of high school students were current tobacco users in 2003. (See Table 5.2 in Chapter 5.) Prevalence of current use was lowest in ninth grade, and it increased through grades ten, eleven, and twelve. Males were more likely to be current tobacco use…
Results from the Monitoring the Future 2003 survey offer other insights into teenage use of alcohol and tobacco. In general, the older the students, the more likely they are to consume alcohol and tobacco. Just under half (47.5%) of high school seniors had consumed alcohol in the previous month, while 35.4% of tenth graders and 19.7% of eighth graders had done so in 2003. (See Table 6.3.) About on…
There are a number of reasons why teenagers start using alcohol and tobacco. It may be to appear cool or rebellious, or they may succumb to peer pressure. Young women may be particularly susceptible to these pressures, according to some researchers. Author and lecturer Shannon McLinden points out that girls go through a tremendous emotional and hormonal change around the time they enter seventh gr…
According to the 2003 Monitoring the Future survey, the percentage of eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders who perceived smoking a pack or more of cigarettes a day as harmful had increased substantially since 1991. (See Table 6.5 and Table 6.6.) The perceived risk of smoking grew most between 1999 and 2000. This increase came on the heels of the $206 billion settlement between the states' att…
In 2003 a total of 7,884 drivers aged fifteen to twenty were involved in fatal crashes, a 5% increase from the 7,484 involved in 1993. Thirty-one of the drivers fifteen to twenty years of age who were killed in crashes were intoxicated, according to Traffic Safety Facts 2003—Young Drivers (Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). For young male drivers, fatalities dr…
The likelihood of future health problems due to the use of tobacco, especially cigarettes, is a matter of great concern. According to the CDC of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the 2004 Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking, the use of smokeless tobacco and smoking are both closely associated with health problems such as heart disease, lung…
The sale of alcohol to persons under the age of twenty-one and tobacco to persons under the age of eighteen is illegal. However, results of surveys cited in this chapter show that an overwhelming majority of young people reported that both were readily available to them. According to the 2003-2004 PRIDE survey, 34.2% of junior high students and 68.9% of high school students found it fairly easy or…
The 2003 Monitoring the Future survey questioned college students and other young adults (ages nineteen to twenty-eight) not in college about various risk behaviors. From 1991 to 2003 a higher percentage of college students and young adults consistently reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks) than did younger survey participants. In 2003 college students report…
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