Superintendent Releases Results of 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Wilmington Superintendent Mary DeLai posted on her blot Saturday the results of the Youth Risk Behavior Study administered last spring to more than 900 Wilmington students in grades seven through 11.

Developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the survey os used to monitor “risky” behaviors among middle school and high school students and is administered to students in districts across the country biannually.

An imporant point from DeLai’s blog post is that the results of this survey are incredibly accurate.

“The survey tool has been shown to be a valid and reliable instrument and our large sample size provides for a high confidence interval and level of statistical precision,” she says in her post. ”In other words, the results accurately depict the behaviors and attitudes of the our students.

DeLai wants parents to know the results are not being shared to cause panic, but rather to highlight how important it is for “all of us to come together to minimize risky behaviors and maximize protective factors for our students.”

While some of the survey results are below, a full presentation will be made at the Oct. 21 School Committee meeting by the firm that administered the survey and collected and analyze the results. The public is invited to that meeting which begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Wilmington High School Large Group Instruction Room.

Here is a look at some of the results of the survey which, DeLai says, confirmed what educators suspected -- a better job needs to be done of supporting students with substance abuse prevention and behavioral needs.

Survey results at the high school level (Grades 9-1) indicate:

• 53.5% have used alcohol at least once in their lifetime
• 30.3% have used marijuana at least once
• 11% have used cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or ecstasy at least once
• 32.2% report having used alcohol in the past 30 days
• 16.6% report having engaged in binge drinking in the past 30 days
• 18.2% have used marijuana over the past 30 days
• Of those students reporting having used alcohol at least once, 75% had their first drink between the ages of 13 and 16 while 21.2% first tried alcohol before the age of 13. For marijuana, the percentages are identical.

Survey results for middle school students (Grades 7-8) show that:

• 24.2% have used alcohol at least once in their lifetime
• 10.4% report having used marijuana at least once
• 4.2% report using prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them at least once
• 12.9% report having used vapor products within the past 30 days

The YRBS also includes questions to assess the sexual behaviors of students. At the high school level:

• 28% of students report that they have had sexual intercourse in their lifetime; for Grade 11 students, 40% of report having had sexual intercourse at least once
• Among those who report having been sexually active, 16% have had sex with two or more people in the past three months
• 31% of students did not use a condom during sexual intercourse

At the middle school level:

• 12.2% of students report having had sexual intercourse at least once in their lifetime
• Of those respondents who report being sexually active, 62% report having had sex with more than two people
• Only 49.1% of those who are sexually active used a condom during their last episode of sexual intercourse

With respect to emotional health, at the high school level:

• 22% of students report having had feelings of sadness or hopelessness for two weeks or more in a row for the past 12 months
• 12.5% of students report having hurt or injured themselves on purpose in the past twelve months
• 11% of students report having seriously considered attempting suicide
• 9.9% of students report having made a suicide plan within the past 12 months
• 7.1% report having attempted suicide in the past 12 months

Among middle school students:

• 21.2% of students surveyed report having seriously considered attempting suicide
• 14% report having made a suicide plan within their lifetime
• 6.6% report having attempted suicide

Read Superintendent DeLai’s full post on her blog >>>