Teen substance abuse by the numbers
Ask Bureau County 10th-graders how many of their classmates drank alcohol in the past month, and they’ll tell you.
One out of every three 10th-graders will say that at least 70 percent of their classmates drank during those 30 days.
They would tell you that, and they would be wrong.
These statistics are part of the Illinois Youth Survey report for 2008. Every two years the Illinois Department of Human Services conducts a survey of school-aged children in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 on their attitudes and behaviors regarding alcohol, tobacco, other drug use, violence, exercise and nutrition.
This spring, more than 600 students in seven Bureau County schools joined with students in more than 1,000 Illinois schools to participate in the survey.
The numbers are sobering.
In the past month, have you used any of the following:
Cigarettes Alcohol Marijuana
Sixth-graders 1% 6% 1%
Eighth-graders 3% 22% 4%
10th-graders 18% 35% 11%
12th-graders 24% 54% 22% As serious as these numbers may appear to many area adults, they would be a surprise to the teens themselves. Teens consistently believe more teens are smoking, drinking and using marijuana than actually are.
For example, according to the survey, 18 percent of the county’s 10th-graders used cigarettes in the last month. But when you asked the 10th-graders how many of their classmates smoked in the last 30 days, the numbers were much higher. In fact, 90 percent of the 10th-graders thought at least 20 percent of their classmates smoked in the previous month, and about one in four thought at least 70 percent of their classmates had smoked.
The teens consistently overestimated the number of their classmates using cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana. One out of every two 10th-graders believed more than 60 percent of their classmates had drunk alcohol in the past month, almost double the actual amount. One out of every three 10th-graders believed more than 40 percent of their classmates had used marijuana in the past month, almost four times the actual amount.
The 12th-graders didn’t guess a whole lot better. More than two out of every three 12th-graders believed that at least 40 percent of their classmates smoked in the previous month, significantly more than the 24 percent who actually did.
They did better on estimating alcohol usage, but still, more than half of the 12th-graders guessed that at least 60 percent of their classmates had drunk alcohol in the last 30 days, more than the actual number. More than half of the 12th-graders also estimated that at least 30 percent of their classmates had smoked marijuana in the past month, again more than the actual number.
The fact that teens consistently assume more of their classmates are using illegal substances is important, said Claudia Bachman, prevention specialist with North Central Behavioral Health Systems.
“What they think is how they’ll behave,” Bachman said. “Perceptions drive behavior.”
Realizing that not as many of their classmates are using the substances would cut back on some teens’ behavior, but the front-line in the war against teen substance abuse is the parents, according to Bureau County Sheriff John Thompson.
“It’s a parenting issue,” Thompson said. “The closer parents stay, the more likely their kids will stay clean.”
Thompson, who found the survey to be an accurate reflection of the situation in Bureau County, said some parents overlook the problem, and think it’s just part of being a teenager.
Thompson said law enforcement plays a role, but it all starts with the parents.
“We’re not the family unit, and we can’t affect the family unit,” Thompson said. “We can’t make kids stay home at night and do their homework.”
This is the final in a multi-part series on the Illinois Youth Survey.
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