Survey Results Show Good and Bad Trends

Drug and alcohol abuse by Benicia youth is on a slow decline but nearly a fifth of ninth-grade and 11th-grade students have considered suicide, a rate that Janice Adams, Benicia Unified School District superintendent,  called "alarming."  These are some of the conclusions of the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS).

The survey shows that the number of seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders who have never had a full drink is on the rise.  Another promising sign is that the number of ninth- and eleventh-graders who never have smoked pot is going up.  

The news isn't so upbeat when it comes to seventh-graders; the number of kids who say they've smoked marijuana has more than doubled from five percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2010.

The survey also looked at student environmental factors such as school safety. When students were asked about school safety, 62 percent of seventh-graders, 59 percent of ninth-graders and 67 percent of 11th-graders said they felt safe or very safe at school. Officials are pleased the trend is toward greater feelings of safety as kids go through high school. When fifth-graders were asked the same question, 84 percent said they feel safe most or all of the time in school.

The CHKS questionnaire is given to students in the  and asks students about their use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The students' school environment and perceptions of that environment also are addressed. Questions in the survey have remained the same for 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2010, allowing the district to assess trends. Adams wrote a report on the survey and compared it with the surveys done in previous years.

Adams said the report is especially important now because it gives the board a chance to see if programs are effective.  With limited resources, Adams said it is important to be able to track efforts so that no funds will go to waste.

"The other purpose is to give us a snapshot in time about particular students we have," said Adams. "We use the results of this information to evaluate programs and interventions that we have done, to see if they are having any impact."

Harassment continues to be an issue with 49 percent of seventh-graders, 40 percent of ninth-graders and 30 percent of 11h-graders reporting harassment because of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical/mental disability or some other reason.

The school board discussed the results of the California Healthy Kids Survey during its meeting Thursday night.

"The reliability level of this survey is extremely high," said Adams.

Though fifth-graders were included in the survey, Adams' analysis focused on primarily on responses from seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders.

Adams pointed out that although alcohol use increases among students as they get older, use has decreased on average since the 2008 study.  Other drugs asked about in the survey include pain killers, which had a slightly higher percentage of use among the students. Fewer students reported using cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin. Students reported using LSD and Ecstasy at a slightly higher rate compared to 2008, but numbers still were relatively low.

 "(The survey results) are extremely important because they're a reflection of our community and what's really happening," said Andre Stewart. "We tend to look at the town in a really ideally beautiful way, but unfortunately, these things are happening right here. So it's kind of scary."

There are many factors that can keep youth from substance abuse. Some addressed in the survey included the presence of "caring relationships with teacher or other adult," which rose in seventh- and eleventh-graders, four and five percent, respectively.  

Also noted was whether a student felt "high expectations from a teacher or other adult";  49 percent of seventh-graders felt this was the case as did 65 percent of 11th- graders.   

Fewer students felt there were "opportunities for meaningful participation in school."  Thirteen percent of seventh-grade students believed this to be true.  At the high school level, 9 percent of ninth-graders and 14 percent of 11th-graders believed it was true.

Though Adams said the term "opportunities for meaningful participation" was a bit ambiguous, she said this finding, too, should be addressed, noting that such opportunities and knowing about them serve as deterrence from risky behavior.

The superintendent said the survey will be shared with schools at the administrative level. School officials can expect to work with the community to improve the findings and increase awareness.