Parents are faced with many choices regarding their children on a daily basis.
School, friends, outside activities, athletics – each area comes with its own set of rules and questions. Parents walk a tightrope between being genuinely interested in their child’s life outside the family home and invading personal space.
A recent survey conducted through the California Safe and Healthy Kids program could help shed some light on where local parents, and teachers, should concentrate their efforts.
The Healthy Kids Survey is a comprehensive survey taken every two years by California students in the fifth, seventh, ninth and 11th grades. The survey, which is voluntary and anonymous, allows schools and communities to collect, and then review, student responses to questions regarding behaviors and health risks. It is also designed to provide valid indicators of drug use, violence, crime and physical and mental health.
San Benito County educators recently received the results of the 2005-06 survey, which was given to 2,196 local students, including fifth graders who received parental consent to participate. While numbers rose in some categories, they dropped in others, painting a fairly consistent picture over the last four years, said Kim Dryden, Special Projects Coordinator for the San Benito County Office of Education.
“We definitely have students who are using cigarettes, and to some extent, alcohol and marijuana, and this is always a concern,” Dryden said. “But in general, I think I’m comfortable with California’s results. There were not really any significant changes.”
Any district which receives money through the Safe and Healthy Kids program must participate in the survey, although participation on the part of the students is voluntary. After the surveys are completed, both county-wide results and individual district results are tabulated. This allows local school officials to compare numbers to similar schools statewide, as well as see a potential problem area within a district.
The perception that the most common unhealthy activity among students, especially younger ones, is cigarette smoking, local results from the survey indicate otherwise. Only three percent of ninth and 11th grade students report that they smoke daily; 17 percent of 11th graders report that they have tried cigarettes, as have 16 percent of ninth graders, four percent of seventh graders and four percent of fifth graders.
On the other hand, 94 percent of all grade levels locally believe that cigarette smoking is bad for a person’s health.
A more shady area, and a cause for concern, says Dryden, is the number of students who believe that marijuana and alcohol use are unsafe behaviors. While 91 percent of seventh and 11th graders feel drinking is unhealthy, just 86 percent of ninth graders and 71 percent of fifth graders feel the same way. In the case of marijuana, only 78 percent of fifth graders taking the survey believe that the drug is harmful, as compared to 91 percent of seventh graders, 86 percent of ninth graders and 90 percent of 11th graders.
“It is very interesting to me that when students are asked how harmful these drugs are, cigarettes are always listed as more harmful than the others,” Dryden said. “I think that is a testament to all of the anti-smoking advertisements that are out today. Now we need to concentrate on the other areas, as well. Also, there is a misperception, especially in this county, regarding smokeless tobacco. It’s just has harmful as cigarettes, yet many students believe it is not.”
Drinking is the most common vice among San Benito County students, based on results from the survey. Forty percent of 11th graders report that they have had a whole alcoholic drink, and 22 percent have tried binge drinking, which is categorized on the survey as having five drinks in a row in a single setting. Additionally, 22 percent of 11th graders report being drunk or high on school property, and 40 percent say they have been drunk or sick after drinking.
At the lower grade levels, 31 percent of ninth graders, 17 percent of seventh graders and 26 percent of fifth graders report having had one whole alcoholic drink. Seventeen percent of seventh graders have participated in binge drinking, 16 percent say they have been drunk or high on school property and 28 percent report being drunk or sick after drinking.
The percentage of students using marijuana is not much higher than the percentage of students smoking cigarettes, based on the survey results. Eighteen percent of 11th graders, 16 percent of ninth graders, five percent of seventh graders and just one percent of fifth graders say they have tried marijuana.
Overall, the numbers from the 2005-06 survey are very similar to the results from 2003-04. Slight increases were reported across the board in alcohol and marijuana use, while a slight decrease in the number of students smoking cigarettes was reported; however, only 1,607 students were surveyed in 2003-04.
Another area for concern, according to Dryden, is the percentage of students who say they feel safe at school. The numbers were extremely low across the board – only 12 percent of 11th graders say they feel safe at school. The numbers go up – just slightly – at the lower grade levels, with 14 percent of ninth graders and 16 percent of seventh graders reporting that they feel safe at school.
The feeling of being unsafe may be reflected in another category – the number of reported bullying incidents countywide increased in most grade levels, with 28 percent of 11th, ninth and seventh graders, along with 50 percent of fifth graders, saying they have been bullied or been the victim of a hate crime at school. Among 11th graders, 14 percent say they have been in a fight or are afraid of being beaten at school, and three percent have carried a gun to school.
“It is interesting – and kind of disheartening – to see the number of students who have reported incidents of bullying and harassment going up,” Dryden said. “But on the other hand, I think we are all more aware of how we are treating each other, so that many incidents that might have gone unreported in the past are now being brought to our attention.”
On a more positive note, the percentage of students taking part in healthy behaviors, such as exercising or eating properly, have increased slightly in most grade levels, based on survey results. Fifty-eight percent of 11th graders report that they ate breakfast the day of the survey, while 56 percent of ninth graders, 60 percent of seventh graders and 79 percent of fifth graders report the same thing.
The number of students participating in rigorous exercise at least three days per week increased as well, with 68 percent of 11th graders, 79 percent of ninth graders, 84 percent of seventh graders and 60 percent of fifth graders reporting that they exercised more three days a week.
Complete survey results are available at the San Benito County Office of Education. For more information about the survey, go to www.wested.org

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