Drinking remains a problem for nearly one in five 10th-graders both in Snohomish County and across Washington, who report having five or more drinks in a row at least once in a two-week period.
More than one-quarter of seniors locally and statewide said they had participated in the same drinking behavior.
And 18 percent of local sophomores and 21 percent of seniors said they had been drunk or high at school in the past year.
These findings come from a survey of Washington students who were questioned about risky behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, involvement with gangs and problems with depression.
More than 210,000 public school students, including nearly 11,000 in Snohomish County, participated in the survey. Students in grades six, eight, 10 and 12 participate in the voluntary, anonymous study conducted every two years by the state Department of Health.
When local seniors were asked if they had talked with their parents about why they should not drink, 44 percent of students said they had not, said Jane Ballard, an epidemiologist with the Snohomish Health District.
Some local school districts say they have received their survey results, but have not yet had a chance to dig into the numbers and study the trends.
Information from the surveys is useful in several ways, district officials said.
It allows schools to see whether they are making progress in curtailing risky behaviors and identifying areas of growing concern on and off campus, said Mary Waggoner, an Everett School District spokeswoman.
“It can be a thermometer of what is out there in society,” Waggoner said.
Everett and other districts, such as Granite Falls, also use the data from the surveys to apply for grants that help address alcohol, drug or other youth health issues.
Granite Falls, for instance, has used the survey information to land at least four grants in recent years, including one that provides adult mentors for school-age children and another that teaches skills to elementary and middle school students about making good life choices, said Kathy Grant, a school district spokeswoman.
Despite heavy reported use of alcohol among some Snohomish County teens, more than two-thirds of 10th-graders and 55 percent of seniors reported that they had not had any alcoholic beverages in previous 30 days.
Depression is an issue faced by a significant number of local students — more than a quarter of eighth-graders, 32 percent of tenth-graders and 30 percent of seniors.
And about 16 percent of students in grades eight, 10 and 12 said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Parents and other adults who work with young people are often hesitant to ask teens whether they’ve ever considered hurting themselves, fearful that it will somehow trigger a suicide attempt, said Dr. Leslie Walker, an adolescent medicine specialist at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“For kids, you have to be very direct when you’re asking that question,” she said.
If so, teens will often answer truthfully, she said.
Students don’t always display depression in terms of being sad, Walker said. Sometimes it’s expressed as anger or by fighting.
One thing parents can do is try to remove from their homes any weapons or powerful prescriptions that could be used to commit suicide, Walker said. “Sometimes it can be a real impulsive act.”
Herald reporter Eric Stevick also contributed to this report.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486, salyer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
