NCJ Number
236782
Date Published
2011
Length
176 pages
Annotation
In accordance with a statutory mandate, the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission reports on a 2010 statewide survey that measured the prevalence and frequency of substance abuse by youth, as well as their attitudes toward substance abuse.
Abstract
The survey was administered to a statewide sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students attending public and charter middle and high schools throughout the State. It was conducted between January and April 2010. This report presents findings from the past three administrations of the survey. The survey found that alcohol is still the most common substance used by Arizona students. In the past month, 31.9 percent of students used alcohol, and 58.2 percent had used alcohol in their lifetimes. Lifetime use of alcohol in all grades has significantly decreased since the 2008 survey. Looking at 2010 results compared to 2006 results, 30-day alcohol use has declined 2.2 percent in the 8th grade, 4.5 percent in the 10th grade, and 2.0 percent in the 12th grade. Cigarettes and marijuana was the second and third most used substances by Arizona youth in 2010. For cigarette use, 14.7 percent of respondents used cigarettes in the past month, and 34 percent used cigarettes in their lifetimes. For marijuana, 14.l8 percent of survey participants indicated they had used marijuana at least once in the past 30 days, and 29.9 percent indicated use during their lifetimes. Prescription drugs were the fourth most used substance by Arizona youth in 2010; 10.4 percent of youth indicated use of any type of prescription drugs at least once in the past month, and 21.5 percent reported use at least once in their lifetimes. Risk and protective factors for substance abuse and other youth problem behaviors are identified for the domains of community, family, school, and peer/individual characteristics. 33 tables, 28 figures, and appended survey, risk and protective factors, frequency and percentage for each survey response category, data for participating counties, reports of boys compared to girls, and changes in question wording from previous surveys