Arizona Youth Survey 2010: Inhalant Fact Sheet

The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission’s recently released the results of the Arizona Youth Survey 2010 which surveyed 63,784 students in 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in all 15 state counties.

The accompanying “Inhalant Fact Sheet" includes a number of noteworthy data points:

• For 30-day use, inhalants were the 6th most prevalent drug used by Arizona junior high & high school students


• In 2010, 12.3% of youth reported having used inhalants in their lifetime


• Lifetime inhalant use among youth in Arizona peaked in 2006


• Youth in 10 of Arizona’s 15 counties reported higher lifetime usage rates compared to the state average


• 30-day inhalant use among Arizona youth peaked in 2006 followed by slight decreases in 2008 and 2010


• In 2010, youth in six Arizona counties reported higher 30-day inhalant usage rates compared to the state rate
  


• Greenlee,Mohave, and Cochise counties reported the highest rates of 30-day inhalant use; all three counties’ youth 30-day usage rates were more than 1.5 times higher than the state rate


• Navajo, Graham, La Paz, Santa Cruz and Yavapai counties reported the lowest 30-day inhalant usage rates
  


• Usage rates for inhalants decrease with grade level, indicating that 8th graders
  used inhalants at a higher rate compared to their 10th and 12th grade
  counterparts, 1.9 times and 3.7 times higher statewide, respectively
  


• Between 2008 and 2010, inhalant usage rates increased for the 8th grade population


• inhalant use among males has consistently decreased from 2006 to 2010 while the percentage of females that used inhalants peaked in 2008 and remained the same in 2010
  


• The data also show that females used inhalants at a rate 1.6 times higher than males in 2010


• Inhalant use among Native American youth has consistently increased since 2004


• Native American adolescents reported the highest usage rates compared to any other racial group


• Asian and Black youth also reported increased usage rates between 2008 and 2010, 61.1% & 28% higher in 2008 than 2010, respectively


• In 2010, Hispanic youth reported higher inhalant use compared to Non-Hispanic youth.


• In Arizona according to this data, inhalant use is most prevalent among younger females, Native Americans and Hispanic youth.