Student / Teen Substance Abuse

• Teens are at enormous risk of drinking and using illegal and prescription drugs.  45% percent of American teenagers ages 12 to17 fall into the high or moderate substance-abuse risk categories.

2006, National Survey

• By the time they graduate high school, more than 2/3 of American teens will have been offered illegal drugs.

2006, National Survey

• Parents have blinders - Only 12 % of parents see drugs as their teen’s greatest concern. BUT more than twice as many teens (27%) say drugs are their greatest concern.

2006, National Survey

• A main area of concern is the continued high rates of nonmedical use of prescription pain killers (i.e., Vicodin® and OxyContin®) in each grade.

National Institute on Drug Abuse's Monitoring the Future

• 50 % of teen partygoers attend parties where drugs and / or alcohol are available.

2006, National Survey

National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XI: Teens and Parents

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

August 2006

Conducted by QEV Analytics, Ltd.

Accompanying Statement by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President

For the past 11 years, CASA has been surveying attitudes of teens and those, like parents, who influence them. Other surveys seek to measure the extent of substance abuse in the population, whereas the CASA back to school survey probes substance abuse risk. We seek to identify factors that increase or diminish the likelihood that a teen will smoke, drink, or use illegal drugs. Armed with this knowledge, we believe that parents can help their teens grow up drug free.

We surveyed 1,297 teens, age 12 to 17 (591 boys, 706 girls) and 562 parents of teens, 84 percent of whom (470) were parents of teens who completed our survey.

The message of this year’s survey is laser sharp: teen drug and alcohol use is a parent problem, not just a teen problem. Too many parents fail to fulfill their responsibility to chaperone their teens’ parties, have no idea how drug and alcohol infested their teens’ world is and are utterly unrealistic about their own conduct with respect to their children. The lack of involvement, denial and self-delusion of these parental palookas put their teens at enormous risk of drinking and using illegal and prescription drugs.

Teen parties are a common part of teen life, and these parties are awash with alcohol and drugs.

One-third of teen partygoers have been to parties where teens were drinking alcohol, smoking pot, or using cocaine, Ecstasy or prescription drugs while a parent was present. By age 17, nearly half (46 percent) of teens have been at such parties where parents were present.

While the presence of parents does not guarantee a substance-free party, it does reduce the likelihood that a teen party will have drugs or alcohol.

Teens who say parents are not present at the parties they attend are 16 times likelier to say alcohol is available, 15 times likelier to say illegal drugs (including marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, prescription drugs) are available, and 29 times likelier to say marijuana is available, compared to teens who say parents are always present at the parties they attend.

Eighty percent of parents believe that neither marijuana nor alcohol is usually available at parties their teens attend. BUT 50 percent of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs (including marijuana), or both are available.

Ninety-eight percent of parents say they are normally present during parties they allow their teens to have at home. BUT a third of teen partygoers (33 percent) report that parents are rarely or never present at parties they attend.

Ninety-nine percent of parents say they would not be willing to serve alcohol at their teen’s party. BUT 28 percent of teen partygoers have been at parties at a home where parents were present and teens were drinking alcohol.

Only 12 percent of parents see drugs as their teen’s greatest concern. BUT more than twice as many teens (27 percent) say drugs are their greatest concern.

The message is loud and clear: parents, wake up and smell the beer and pot! If your teen is having a party at your home, you should not only be there, but also be aware of what is going on. And if your teen attends a party at someone else’s home, you should confirm that the parents will be present and that alcohol and drugs will not. The reality is that even when parents are present at a party, some kids will try to sneak in substances.

There is a special alert in this year’s survey for parents of young teenagers. The transition from age 13 to age 14, often when the shift from middle to high school occurs, is a time of dramatically escalating substance abuse risk.

Compared to 13-year olds, 14-year olds are:

• four times likelier to be offered prescription drugs;  
• three times likelier to be offered Ecstasy;
• three times likelier to be offered marijuana; and
• two times likelier to be offered cocaine.

Fourteen-year olds are also likelier than 13-year olds to attend parties at which parents are present and teens are using drugs or alcohol. Compared to 13-year olds, 14-year olds are:

• almost three times likelier to attend parties where teens are drinking alcohol and parents are present;  
• two times likelier to attend parties where teens are smoking pot and parents are present; and  
• times likelier to attend parties where teens are using other drugs and parents are present.

The move from 13 to 14 is the biggest drug divide of all the teen years.

Risk continues to escalate throughout the teen years such that by the time a teen reaches age 17:

• one in four (26 percent) will know someone their age that was a victim of gun violence;  

• twenty-seven percent will have witnessed drug sales in their neighborhood;  

• more than two-thirds (70 percent) will have been offered an illegal drug; and

• almost half (46 percent) will have attended a party at which teens were drinking alcohol, smoking pot, or using cocaine, Ecstasy or prescription drugs while a parent was at home.

Also troubling is how many of the youngest kids--notably minority children--in our survey are being offered illegal drugs. One in five of the Hispanic and African-American 12- and 13-year olds we surveyed say they have been offered drugs, and this is happening to these kids at three times the rate that it’s happening to white 12- and 13-year olds. Disturbing as this finding is, it does not surprise me, since for so long we have tolerated in places like Harlem, South Central Los Angeles and Southeast Washington open drug bazaars that would be eliminated in minutes if they cropped up on the streets of the Upper East Side, Beverly Hills or Georgetown. It is a shame of our society that any children are offered illegal drugs at such a young age.

Nineteen percent of teens surveyed personally know someone their age who was the victim of gun violence, and they are at twice the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who do not know a victim of gun violence.

This year’s survey also reveals that 19 percent of teens have personally witnessed the sale of drugs in their neighborhood. These teens are at more than two and a half times the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who have not seen the sale of drugs in their neighborhood.

I want to express CASA’s appreciation to Steve Wagner, President of QEV Analytics, Ltd. for his insightful work in analyzing the data. We appreciate the counsel of our survey advisory group members: Timothy Johnson, PhD, Director of the Survey Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Chicago, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Associate Research Professor, School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago; Robert Shapiro, PhD, Professor, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, and Editor of "The Poll Trends"

This year we surveyed 1,297 teens, ages 12 to 17, 591 boys and 706 girls (margin of error +/-3 percent) and 562 parents of teenagers, 470 of whom are parents of teens that completed the survey (margin of error +/-4 percent).

This survey continues an analysis aimed at revealing factors that influence teens’ risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs. Some of these factors--including their family dynamics, their parents’ involvement in their lives, their friends’ substance use, and their school and neighborhood environments--sometimes cluster, such that teens with problems in one area of their life often have problems in others as well. Nevertheless, by identifying individual risk factors, we seek to help parents (and other adults who influence teens) identify the circumstances and situations that affect the risk that a teen will smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.

Drugs are Teens' Number One Concern...

Parental Blinders

Eighty percent of parents believe that neither marijuana nor alcohol is usually available at parties their teens attend. BUT 50 percent of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs (including marijuana) or both are available.

Ninety-eight percent of parents say they are normally present during parties they allow their teens to have at home. BUT a third of teen partygoers report that parents are rarely or never present at the parties they attend.

Ninety-nine percent of parents say they would not be willing to serve alcohol at their teen’s party. BUT 28 percent of teen partygoers have been at parties at a home where parents were present and teens were drinking alcohol.

Drugs are Teens’ Number One Concern; Parents Just Don’t Understand 

This year, as in every year since we began conducting the survey in 1995, more teens (27 percent) report that drugs are their number one concern than any other matter. (Figure 1.A)

Only 12 percent of parents (half as many as the teens) see drugs at the primary problem.

Fourteen-year olds are:

• four times likelier than 13-year olds to be offered prescription drugs (13 percent vs. three percent);

• three times likelier be offered Ecstasy (nine percent vs. three percent);

• three times likelier to be offered marijuana (40 percent vs. 14 percent); and

• two times likelier to be offered cocaine (11 percent vs. five percent).

Fourteen-year olds are also likelier than 13-year olds to attend parties at which parents are present and teens are using drugs or alcohol. Compared to 13-year olds, 14-year olds are:

• almost three times likelier to attend parties where teens are drinking and parents are present;

• two times likelier to attend parties where teens are smoking pot and parents are present; and  

• four times likelier to attend parties where teens are using other drugs and parents are present.

At every age, from 12 to 17, girls have equal or higher substance abuse risk scores compared to boys of the same age.

A Rude Awakening: Age 17 

By the time a teen turns 17:

• one in four will know someone their age that was the victim of gun violence (26 percent);

• twenty-seven percent will have witnessed drug sales in their neighborhood;

• more than two-thirds (70 percent) will have been offered an illegal drug; and

• almost half (46 percent) will have attended a party at which teens were drinking alcohol, smoking pot, or using cocaine, Ecstasy or prescription drugs while a parent was present.

Exposure to Gun Violence and Drug Sales Associated with Higher Teen Substance Abuse Risk

Nineteen percent of teens surveyed personally know someone their age who was the victim of gun violence, and they are at twice the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who do not know a victim of gun violence.

Nineteen percent of teens surveyed have personally witnessed the sale of drugs in their neighborhood. These teens are at more than two and a half times the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who have not seen the sale of drugs in their neighborhood.

Chapter II

How CASA Calculates Teen Substance-Abuse Risk

Through 11 surveys conducted over 12 years, CASA has been surveying public opinion on substance abuse, seeking answers to the question: "Why do some teenagers drink, smoke and use illegal substances while others do not?"

This survey continues an analysis aimed at revealing factors that influence teens’ risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs. Some of these factors--including their family dynamics, their parents’ involvement in their lives, their friends’ substance use, and their school and neighborhood environments--tend to cluster, such that teens with problems in one area of their life often have problems in others as well. Nevertheless, by identifying individual risk factors, we seek to help parents (and other adults who influence teens) better identify those who are most vulnerable to substance abuse, and develop strategies to diminish their risk.

Although this survey includes some questions on substance use, it is not intended to be an epidemiological study of substance abuse.

Therefore, this survey--like any telephone survey asking respondents to self-report proscribed behaviors--presents conservative estimates of the extent of the use of illegal drugs, the consumption of tobacco products and alcohol by teenagers, and other negative behaviors, and over-reports positive behaviors. The parental permission requirement may also contribute to under-reporting.

The CASA strategy for assessing the substance-abuse risk of a teenage respondent is to measure the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs in the teen’s daily life. To measure the respondent’s substance-abuse risk, we use a statistical procedure called factor analysis to combine a teen’s response to eight survey questions (see Table 2.1) yielding a "substance-abuse risk score" for each teen respondent. This risk score then becomes our key dependent variable, the phenomenon we seek to explain by reference to the other responses and characteristics of the teen and his or her parent.

To put this risk score in context, the average risk score for all teens is 1.00; the risk score for a teen who has not tried alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana is 0.41; the risk score for a teen who admits to having tried alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana is 1.09; and the risk score for a teen who admits to having tried all three is 3.22. This risk variable represents our inference of respondent risk, since risk cannot be measured directly in a survey.

Teen Risk Status

Fifty-five percent of American teenagers ages 12 to17 fall into the high (15 percent) or moderate (40 percent) substance-abuse risk categories. Forty-five percent are classified as low risk. These figures are roughly the same as last year (18 percent high risk, 38 percent moderate risk and 44 percent low risk in 2005).

Drugs in Clubs

Twenty percent of teens surveyed go to clubs for music or dancing at least once a monthOne-quarter of them (26 percent) say drugs usually are available at these club events.

Club attendance is associated with elevated substance abuse risk, which increases from 0.89 among teens who do not go to clubs to 1.67 among teens who go five or more times in a typical month.

Illegal and Prescription Drugs All Too Available to Teens

Forty-one percent of 12- to 17-year olds say that they have been offered an illegal drug at some point in their lives.

Among 17-year olds, this figure rises to 70 percent.  

Fourteen percent of 12- to 17-year olds have been offered prescription drugs for non-medical purposes at some point in their lives. Ten percent have been offered cocaine, nine percent Ecstasy, six percent methamphetamine and five percent LSD. (Figure 4.F)

The likelihood that teens will be offered any of these drugs increases as teens get older.

Chapter V

Exposure to Gun Violence and Drug Sales

Knowing a Victim of Gun Violence

One in five teens (19 percent) say they personally know someone their age who was the victim of gun violence, and these teens are at twice the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who do not know someone their age who was the victim of gun violence (risk score of 1.69 vs.

One in four 17-year olds (26 percent) say they personally know someone their age who was the victim of gun violence.

Drug Sales in Neighborhood

One in five teens (19 percent) say they have personally witnessed the sale of drugs in their neighborhood (five percent say this happens "often," six percent say "sometimes," eight percent say "rarely"). These teens are at more than two and a half times the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who say they have not seen the sale of drugs in their neighborhood (risk score of 2.20 vs. 0.85).

Twenty-seven percent of 17-year olds say they have personally witnessed the sale of drugs in their neighborhood.

Chapter VI

Schools

Schools Where Drugs are Used, Kept or Sold

More than half of high school students (51 percent) and one in five middle school students (20 percent) say they attend a school where drugs are used, kept or sold. These numbers represent an improvement from last year’s survey, when 62 percent of high school students and 28 percent of middle school students said they attended drug- infected schools

Teens who say they attend middle schools where drugs are used, kept or sold are at twice the risk of substance abuse compared to teens who attend drug- free middle schools (risk score of 0.86 vs. 0.38). Teen risk is 60 percent greater among high schoolers who say drugs are used, kept or sold at their school: teens who say they attend a drug- free high school have a risk score of 1.08, whereas teens who attend a high school that is not drug free have a risk score of 1.71.

The CASA teen survey has consistently found a relationship between a Parental Separation/Divorce 

For the first time, this year the CASA survey seeks to measure the impact of family structure on the risk of teen substance abuse. Family disruptions such as separation and divorce are associated with higher substance abuse risk. Teens whose parents are separated have the highest average substance abuse risk score (1.58), followed by teens with divorced parents (1.25) and those living with two biological parents (0.88). Teens whose parents have never lived together have virtually the same average risk score (1.20) as teens with divorced parents.

Family Dinners

The number of dinners a teen has with his or her family in a typical week remains a powerful indicator of substance-abuse risk (as first identified by CASA research in 1996). The average risk score of teens having dinner with their family less than three nights in a typical week is 75 percent greater than that of teens having dinner as a family five to seven nights in a typical week (0.82 vs.1.38).

Fifty-eight percent of teens, same as last year, report having dinner with their families five to seven times in a typical week. At the other end of the scale, 24 percent of teens report having dinner less than three times a week with their families, an increase from 15 percent last year.

Religious Service Attendance

Religious service attendance is associated with consistently lower risk scores. The percentage of teens attending religious services on at least a weekly basis remained constant this year at 50 percent (compared to 49 percent in last year’s survey). Teens who never attend religious services in a typical month have an average risk score of 1.43--more than one and a half times the risk of weekly religious service (0.81)attendees

Random Student Drug Testing 

Random drug testing of students participating inextracurricular activities does not violate the Constitution, the Supreme Court on June 27, 2002. Writing for the majority, Justice ClarenceThomas said the random testing policy "reasonably serves the schooldistrict's important interest in detecting and preventing drug useamong its students," and is therefore constitutional.The Fourth Amendment bans"unreasonable searches and seizures." In the case of schoolchildren,Thomas said, it is "reasonable" to balance privacy needs against thecompelling government interest in stopping drug abuse.Thomas conceded that non-athletes have a greater expectation of privacythan student athletes. But he said that fact was not essential inVernonia, and was not the controlling factor in the Oklahoma case.  The testing does not have to be preceded by a finding that drugs are aproblem at a particular school or among a particular group of students.The  decision came out of a case that challenged such a drug testingpolicy at an Oklahoma school. Its provisions will apply nationwide andare expected to encourage school districts across the country to conduct similar programs.A Supreme Court majority ruled in the 1995 Vernonia vs. Acton case thatstudent athletes could be randomly drug tested. In Vernonia, the majority said athletes had already given up their expectation of privacy by participating in sports and changing in locker rooms.

School Administrations Test with Urine ... Despite Obvious Drawbacks

States Requiring Drug Education in Schools

• 14.6 percent of all public / private middle schools and high schools now conduct some type of student drug testing  (11.4% of middle schools and 19.5% of high schools conducted drug testing on students.)

• 84 percent utilize urine -A method that detects the presence of inactive drug metabolites, butdoes not have the ability to determine recent drug use or impairment.-A method that is highly invasive / degrading, - A method that is easilydefeated / cheated by kids.

• 8% use oral fluid / saliva

• Of schools with a drug testing policy
  

56.1%conducted student drug testing randomly among members of specificgroups of students (e.g., athletes, students who participate in otherextracurricular activities, or student drivers)

 63.9% conducted student drug testing when it was suspected that a student was using drugs at school

37.6% had voluntary drug testing for all students

3.6% had voluntary drug testing for specific groups of students

13.4% used some other unspecified criteria.

Yes relatively few States / Schools provide Drug / Alcohol Treatment Services!

State School Drug Treatment Services

Source: Comprehensive results from SHPPS 2006 are published in theJournal of School Health, Volume 77, Number 8, October 2007.  Department of Health and Human Service - CDC  FS AlcoholOrOtherDrugUsePrevention SHPPS2006.pdf