New PRIDE Survey Indicates Overall Drop in Substance Abuse
POSTED: 1:28 p.m. EDT, November 25, 2008
By: FCCPS Communications
Results from the latest Pride Survey of nearly 1,000 Falls Church City students indicate tobacco, alcohol and drug use continues to decline and in all instances abuse levels are far below national averages. While the results paint a positive picture overall of drug and alcohol education efforts, two areas of continuing concern remain. Of the 11th and 12th grade students who responded to the survey, 61 percent reported using alcohol within the past year and one third of those same students reported smoking marijuana at levels above the national average.
“George Mason High School students are drinking to high levels of risk with respect to alcohol use, FCCPS Student Services Coordinator Judy Becker said. “Many students have indicated to me that it is no longer the goal of drinking to get high but to drink until passing out or becoming unconscious.”
Of the high school students who responded that they drink alcohol, 12 percent reported having 5 or more glasses of alcohol within a few hours and usually at home or at a friend’s house during the weekend. The survey indicated that students are least likely to use substances at school, where zero-tolerance expectations and consequences are made very clear, and the rules are strictly enforced.
“Students reported that parents had the lowest disapproval rating for alcohol,” Becker said. “They indicated that 18% of parents did not disapprove of the use of alcohol by high school students. A phrase I hear frequently from parents is that their students ‘work hard, party hard’ and as long as grades are high, and there is no legal involvement, their drinking is acceptable.”
The following shows the percentage of the 980 middle and high school students surveyed who indicated they have used substances in the past year:
|
MEHMS
Grades 6-7 |
National
Average |
|
GMHS
Grades 8-12 |
National
Average |
Tobacco Use |
2.9% |
10.3% |
|
23.5% |
32.3% |
Alcohol Use |
11.3% |
20.3% |
|
37.0% |
53.6% |
Illicit Drug Use |
5.5% |
9.0 % |
|
22.3% |
26.5% |
The survey, which included 123 questions, was conducted on September 28th. Complete survey results are available at www.fccps.org/board/reports/pride
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