More teenagers depressed, engaging in risky behavior

By Emily Richmond

Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010 | 2 a.m.

A growing number of Nevada high school students say they are using drugs and alcohol, having sex and struggling with depression — troubling trends that experts say are a direct reflection of the Silver State’s hard times.

A comprehensive biennial survey by the Nevada Education Department shows that after eight years of steady declines, the percentage of teens who say they smoke cigarettes, use marijuana and have had sexual intercourse increased over the past two years. More teens also say they have contemplated suicide and even attempted it.

State education and health officials say the ever-present pressures of adolescence, exacerbated by stresses of the recession, may be to blame.

“The chronic stress that parents have been feeling is now trickling down to the children,” said Donna Wilburn, past president of the Nevada Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

State Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, immediate past president of the Nevada PTA, wondered whether cuts in family services by municipal agencies and nonprofit groups in the wake of the economic crisis might also be a factor.

“When people need the help the most is when we have the hardest time providing it because there isn’t any money,” Denis said. “As the family struggles, so does society.”

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, taken every two years in conjunction with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quizzes students about behaviors and attitudes toward sex, drugs and personal safety. A sample of students is drawn from throughout the state to represent the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of Nevada. Parents must give permission for students to participate, and the responses are kept anonymous. The CDC collects state’ results to compile a portrait of America’s teens, with the 2009 results to be released this summer. The results have typically been consistent with other data on teen behavior and health.

Since 2001, Nevada has been seeing steady decreases in teen smoking, alcohol use and sexual activity — with percentages better than the national average in 2007, the most recent year for which comparison data are available. But the 2009 results have reset the baseline, said Keith Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction.

“We had been seeing some really encouraging trends, and now we’ve slid backward,” Rheault said. “I’ll be even more concerned in 2011 (when the next survey is conducted) if we haven’t done anything to correct and address these issues so that we see some improvement.”

Nevada has one of the nation’s highest suicide rates for both adults and teens. The increase in students reporting they had contemplated or attempted to kill themselves should be considered a serious red flag, Rheault said.

It’s typically left up to individual school districts to interpret local results from the survey and decide how to use the data, Rheault said. But given the “across the board” worsening of the statistics, Rheault said he will ask his staff to meet with local officials to offer support in developing response plans. The State Board of Education is set to review the results at its meeting this week.

However, “there’s only so much that the schools can do,” Rheault said. “A lot of this depends on what’s happening in the students’ home life.”

Among the key findings for Nevada high school students:

• Nearly 40 percent said they had used marijuana, up from 35.3 percent in 2007. And 20 percent said they had used the drug in the 30 days before the survey, an increase of 4.5 percentage points. It was 19.7 percent nationally in 2007.

• Close to half said they had had sexual intercourse, up from 42.8 percent in 2007. Nationally the figure stood at 47 percent two years ago.

And there was a drop in students who said they used condoms during their most recent sexual activity — 63 percent, down from 69 percent. That’s only slightly better than the nationwide average two years ago.

• In 2009, 35.6 percent of students said they had been offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property in the prior year, up from 28.8 percent in 2007. Nationally the figure was 22.3 percent in 2007.

• Eighteen percent of students said they had seriously considered suicide in the prior year, up from 14.3 percent in 2007. The nationwide figure has been steadily declining, and stood at 14.5 percent in 2007.

And the percentage of Nevada students who said they had felt sad or hopeless enough to stop doing regular activities in the prior year increased to 30.3 percent from 26.1 percent, the highest percentage in nine years. Nationally the figure was 28 percent in 2007.

It’s too early to predict whether the latest results are an aberration or the beginning of a downward trend for the state. It might also be that after years of improvement, Nevada’s statistics are settling toward a norm, said Jeremy Arkes, an associate professor of economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. and an adjunct economist for the Rand Corp.

But it’s not unreasonable to conclude that the significant decline in Nevada’s fiscal climate is a factor, Arkes said.

“I’m sure everyone is stressed from property values going down and the unemployment rate,” said Arkes, who specializes in health economics. “The conditions are ripe for increases in risky behaviors.”

In a recent study, Arkes found substance abuse among teens is higher when the economy is weaker, and illicit drugs are easier for them to acquire.

A downturn in the economy often means teens have more time on their hands after losing their after-school jobs. And when young people are bored, they are more likely to engage in risky behavior, he said.

Arkes also wasn’t surprised to see an increase in Nevada students who said they had been offered drugs for sale on their high school campuses. That’s another common occurrence when part-time jobs are harder to find and teens look for ways to support their needs, Arkes said.

There was some good news in the survey:

• More students say they wear seat belts in cars.

• More students are participating in community-service activities.

• Fewer students said they had gambled in the prior 12 months.

• Fewer students said they had been able to purchase alcohol or tobacco products at a store or gas station.

• Fewer students said they had skipped school without permission in the month before the survey.

Those bright spots notwithstanding, Debbie Gant-Reed, crisis-line coordinator for the state’s suicide prevention hotline, said teens are feeling helpless and isolated.

“They don’t have anyone to talk to — their parents are either stressed by the financial crisis or they’re not home at all because they’re working two jobs to make ends meet,” Gant-Reed said. “Some kids feel like their families would be better off without them.”

Wilburn agreed that teens don’t have access to the tools to manage their stress.

“They resort to what’s convenient, and sometimes that’s drugs and alcohol,” Wilburn said. “What worries me is that some parents don’t take the stress their children feel as seriously as they should.”

Research such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is valuable because “it calls attention to the effect things have on kids,” Wilburn said. “If you don’t know to look out for it, you don’t know to get help for it.”

Megan Smith, whose daughter Sarah is a senior at Centennial High, drives home the importance of communication. She said several times in recent years her daughter has come home and reported a schoolmate had committed suicide.

“We try to be very open with her and talk about things — ‘How do you feel? What you do think? Isn’t that sad news?’ ” Smith said. “I don’t think it’s something you can just sweep under the rug. Their feelings are real, and kids need to know they can talk to somebody.”

When talking with other parents who express surprise at the details she’s been able to glean from her daughter and her friends, Smith said she has come to realize that not every household has such clear lines of communication.

“I’m sure I don’t know everything — I’m not naive,” Smith said. “But it’s sad to me that some kids don’t talk to their parents, and some parents don’t talk to their kids.”

As for her daughter, Sarah told the Sun that the increase in risky behavior by teens didn’t surprise her.

Although her own home life is stable, Sarah worries about friends who are having a tougher time.

“I think kids are very worried,” Sarah said. “They see their parents losing jobs and they don’t understand why. For some of them it’s hard not to be able to do as many things as they used to, like going shopping or to the movies.”

Many of her friends are also struggling to find part-time work that doesn’t conflict with school schedules. It used be easier to find jobs with more flexible hours, Sarah said.

At the same time, Sarah said she is trying to focus on the positive such as deciding where she will attend college next year.

“I have to believe things are going to turn around soon,” she said.

The statewide survey results closely match Clark County’s, which also saw increases in the percentages of students who said they were engaging in risky behavior.

The School District uses the findings in part to determine the type of professional development and training that teachers receive to prepare them to handle specific issues.

The district is updating its health curriculum, and the survey results will influence what teachers emphasize with students. (The district’s sex education curriculum remains unchanged — it is abstinence based, although students do learn about contraception.)

This year the district is also putting together a brochure for parents to encourage them to look closely at the survey findings and talk to their children about the tougher topics.

“Not enough families know the information is out there,” said Mary Pike, who oversees the district’s health curriculum. “We’re going to print as many copies of the brochure as we can afford.”