NCJ Number
224771
Date Published
2008
Length
94 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from the 2007 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), which questions 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade public school students about their use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD); antisocial behavior; and risk and protective factors associated with these behaviors.
Abstract
With few exceptions, in 2007 ATOD use by Pennsylvania youth was lower than ATOD use by youth surveyed by “Monitoring the Future,” a 2007 national representative survey of adolescent drug use. Also, nearly all 2007 PAYS ATOD prevalence rates were lower compared with previous PAYS administrations. In 2007, only 3.3 percent of sixth graders reported using alcohol in the past 30 days. For older Pennsylvania teens, however, 78.4 percent of 12th-graders in Pennsylvania reported lifetime alcohol use compared with 72.2 percent of 12th-graders nationally. In 2007, 6.5 percent of Pennsylvania eight-graders reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row) in the past 30 days compared to 10.3 percent of eighth-graders nationally. Pennsylvania youth had lower lifetime and 30-day rates of cigarette smoking than youth nationally, but had higher lifetime and 30-day rates of smokeless tobacco use than youth nationally. Pennsylvania youth generally had lower lifetime marijuana-use rates than youth nationally in 2007; however, 12th-graders in Pennsylvania had higher 30-day marijuana-use rates than their counterparts nationally. In 2007, Pennsylvania students reported very low levels of participation in the following antisocial behaviors: being arrested, bringing a weapon to school, and attempting to steal a vehicle. In 2007, 10.5 percent of students reported attacking someone with intent to harm them in the past year (the most prevalent antisocial behavior). For the nine protective factor scales, Pennsylvania students had an average score five points higher than the normative average. 26 tables, 18 references, and appended sample descriptions and weighting procedures, overall response rates, survey margin of error, additional prevention planning data, and other resources