NCJ Number
221177
Date Published
2004
Length
108 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s biannual survey of secondary school students on their behavior, attitudes, and knowledge concerning alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and violence for 2003.
Abstract
Summary results are presented in two areas: strengths to build on and opportunities for improvement. Highlights of survey findings include: (1) in 2003, 25.8 percent of 12th graders reported past-30-day cigarette use, a rate that is 6.1 percentage points lower than in 2001 and 14.6 percentage points lower than in 1997; (2) compared to White students, African-American students reported notably lower rates of alcohol, cigarette, and smokeless tobacco use; (3) reversing a 10 year trend, the prevalence of driving under the influence of marijuana among Pennsylvania 12th graders declined from 24.1 percent in 2001 to 20.3 percent in 2003; (4) prevalence rates for weapons-related antisocial behaviors were very low across all surveyed grades; (5) less than 3.0 percent of students in any of the surveyed grades reported having "been attacked by someone with a weapon on school property”; (6) alcohol was the most frequently used substance among Pennsylvania’s 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students; (7) among 10th and 12th graders, binge drinking was more prevalent than past-30-day tobacco, marijuana, or other illicit drug use; (8) among 12th graders, nearly one out of five reported selling drugs; (9) among 8th and 10th graders, 30.5 and 27.2 percent respectively, reported having been threatened to be hit or beaten up on school property; and (10) between 2001 and 2003, Pennsylvania students reported notably higher levels of risk on the Personal Transitions and Mobility scale and the Community Disorganization scale. The 2003 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), the second wave of the biannual study, was administered to 79,383 public school students in grades 6 through 12. The Communities That Care Youth Survey was adopted as the basis for the PAYS. The findings from the 2003 PAYS build upon the data gathered during the first survey which was administered in 2001. Graphs, references, tables, and appendixes A-E