How Are the Children?

A Year in Prevention

 

The traditional greeting that passed between Masai warriors: "Kasserian Ingera" means, "And how are the children?"

Reviewing the annual reports on drug use by youth gives us one way to determine “how are the children”. Monitoring the Future (MTF), the most significant national survey, reported the following findings:

Marijuana use, which had been rising among teens for the past two years, continued to rise in 2010 in all prevalence periods for all three grades. This stands in stark contrast to the long, gradual decline that had been occurring over the preceding decade. Of relevance, perceived risk for marijuana has been falling in recent years. Of particular relevance, daily marijuana use increased significantly in all three grades in 2010; and stands at 1.2%, 3.3%, and 6.1% in grades 8, 10, and 12. In other words, nearly one in sixteen high school seniors today is a current daily, or near-daily, marijuana user.

After a decline of several years in perceived risk for ecstasy, which we had been warning could presage a rebound in use, its use does now appear to be rebounding.

Alcohol (still the #1 drug of choice of youth) use, including binge drinking, continued its longer term decline among teens. Among 12th graders in 1980, 41% admitted to having five or more drinks in a row (binge drinking) on at least one occasion in the two weeks prior to the survey. This statistic fell to 28% by 1992, prior to the rebound in the 1990s, but has now fallen further reaching 23% in 2010—a marked improvement. [30-day prevalence (regular use) of alcohol among Texas youth ranges from 15% at 7th grade to 43% at 12th.)

After decelerating considerably in recent years, the long-term decline in cigarette use, which began in the mid-1990s, came to a halt in the lower grades in 2010. Indeed, both 8th and 10th graders showed evidence of an increase in smoking in 2010, though the increases did not reach statistical significance.

The misuse of psychotherapeutic prescription drugs (amphetamines, sedatives, tranquilizers, and narcotics other than heroin) has become a more important part of the nation’s drug problem in recent years, in part because the use of most of these classes of drugs continued to increase beyond the point at which most illegal drugs ended their rise in the late 1990s, and in part because use of most of those same illegal drugs has declined appreciably since then. The proportion of 12th graders in 2010 reporting use of any of these prescription drugs without medical supervision in the prior year was 15.0%, up slightly from 14.4% in 2009 but a bit lower than in 2005, when it was 17.1%. Lifetime prevalence for the use of any of these drugs without medical supervision in 2010 was 21.6%.

Comparing the national data to the 2010 Texas Survey of Student Drug Use reveals very similar trends. Both surveys are conducted in even years and reported in odd numbered years. In Texas, students are surveyed at every grade level from 4^th through 6^th (Elementary School Survey) and 7^th through 12^th (Secondary School Survey). See links to resources below.

The standard Masai response, “All the children are well,” reflects cultural norms that prioritize protecting the young and powerless; that keep in mind the responsibility of all in the community, parents and non-parents, to assure peace and security by first and foremost caring for the children.

We cannot yet say “All the children are well,” when one-fifth to one-third of all children begin drug use that will likely impact them for the rest of their lives. The good news is the steady decline of youth drug use over the last three decades.

BACODA provides opportunities and resources to individuals, parents, schools, and communities to learn effective ways to address substance use and abuse issues. BACODA Blogs keep you up to date on prevention trends and effective prevention strategies. Stay tuned in 2012 so we can together say, “Yes, the children are well”.

MONITORING THE FUTURE NATIONAL RESULTS ON ADOLESCENT DRUG USE: Overview of Key Findings, 2010 www.monitoringthefuture.org 

Texas Department of State Health Services

Texas Drug Facts Among Youth 2010 (PDF)

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/sa/research/schoolsurveys.shtm