The Civic Institute and Erie County Health Department in Pennsylvania just released the results of a county-wide survey of middle and high schoolers yesterday.
The creators of the study were concerned about accurate results, so Amy Eisert, the director of the Civic Institute, came up with a solution: "We included trick questions in the survey. One of them was that we listed a make-believe drug and asked students if they ever used it. If they said yes, we tossed out their survey."
Some highlights:
- The number of students who gambled in the last year was down, from 35% two years ago to 29%.
- Students who smoked in the last thirty days declined from 12.4% to 11.5%.
- Binge drinking and marijuana usage also decreased.
However, inhalant usage increased 1%.
The superintendent of Erie Schools, Jim Barker, was not surprised.
He says that the survey "mirrors what's happening in the state and across the nation," and that the report presented "clear reasons why schools, community agencies and parents have to work together" to prevent students from using drugs or alcohol.
Charlotte Berringer, the director of community health for the county Health Department, believes that "reports like this are invaluable because agencies who apply for funding need to show good, hard data. This report will help us put in evidence-based programming to deal with some of these issues."
Hopefully inhalant abuse will be addressed and more education provided in Erie County schools.
From GoErie.com.
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