From out of, and into, the mouths of babes

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Still think underage drinking isn’t a problem in Bureau County?

Take a look at some of these statistics.

Only 69 percent of Bureau County sixth-graders think it would be very hard to get alcohol, a number that drops to 29 percent of eighth-graders, 15 percent of 10th-graders, and only 8 percent of 12th-graders. More than one third of those high school seniors say it would be sort of easy, and another third claims it’s very easy to get alcohol.

Or how about this?

Almost 10 percent of the county’s eighth-graders claim to drink alcoholic beverages regularly, or at least once or twice a month, and more than 50 percent have had more than a few sips of alcohol. In high school, 30 percent of area 10th-graders claim they drink regularly, and the number climbs to 52 percent for high school seniors.

Think these statistics are the inflated fears of a bunch of worrywarts?

No, those numbers come from the mouths of area youth instead.

Those statistics are part of the mind-numbing 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.

The test is free but not mandatory, so local school officials make the decision whether to participate.

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. Claudia Bachman, prevention specialist with North Central Behavioral Health Systems, wishes the number was higher.

“We try to get them all,” Bachman said. “But some schools say they’re too busy.”

Participation is confidential, and the identity of the individual students is not collected of revealed. Also, while the results for individual schools are used for county totals, individual school data are shared only with representative administrators at the participating schools.

The survey is scientifically designed to weed out those students who do not respond truthfully. Bachman said some questions are asked several different ways, and if the answers are not consistent, the survey is thrown out, resulting in a survey that’s about 95 percent accurate.

Unfortunately, if the numbers are accurate, there’s much to be concerned about.

Among the county’s sixth-graders, 20 percent claim drinking on at least one occasion in the past year. That figure climbs to 42 percent of all eighth-graders, and 56 percent of all 10th-graders. More than 70 percent of 12th-graders claim to have drunk alcohol at least once in the last year, and almost 20 percent claim to have drunk alcohol on more than 40 occasions.

Binge drinking, or drinking five or more alcoholic drinks in a row, is another problem. Three percent of the county’s sixth-graders admit to binge drinking once in the previous two weeks. That number climbs rapidly, and by 12th grade, more than 40 percent of the students claim to have been binge drinking in the past two weeks, and 3 percent claim it happened 10 or more times.

Drinking can affect more than just the drinker. More than 10 percent of area 10th-graders admit to driving while drinking at least once in the past year, and 2 percent say it happened six or more times. Almost 30 percent of the 12th-graders say it happened at least once, and 7 percent say it happened six or more times.

But drinking isn’t the only thing on some area teens’ minds. Read Thursday’s BCR for more results from the Illinois Youth Survey.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.