Page 2 - Quotes from Surveys

A HIGH SCHOOL BYRON SHIRE  March 2008

(Results from two other local High Schools surveyed were not able to be analysed prior to the Forum but will be posted when available)

Four hundred and twenty high school students from years 8 to 12 were given a one page survey to fill in about their drug and alcohol usage.  The surveys were completed in the classrooms and handed back.  Students were assured that the surveys were completely anonymous. 

The main objective of the survey was to obtain an overview of the drug and alcohol habits of this group of teenagers.  It is accepted that the accuracy of the information obtained in this way depends on the co-operation and honesty of the teenagers regarding their drug and alcohol use. It can be reasonably assumed that there will be some degree of under-reporting and there were certainly a couple of wild over-reportings (1 000 gallons!) which were discounted.  However, the sample is sufficiently large to show some interesting trends.

Alcohol Use

Sixty percent (251) of the teenagers said they use alcohol and from looking at their comments and stated use, twenty percent of the whole sample (83 teenagers) indicated that there could well be some problem with alcohol, in terms of the amounts that they are drinking, their attitudes to drinking or their frequency, or on the grounds that they rated themselves as being ‘unsafe’ or borderline ‘unsafe’.

Typical responses among this 20% (83) were:

Some drink anytime or every day.  Some say that they drink lots or too much, or till they get drunk or unconscious, or as much as they can, or whatever they feel like.  Some drink the whole ‘sack’ (carton of cheap wine) or 10 beers, or spirits because they make you drunk faster.  One drinks because ‘I don’t know what else to do.’

Let’s take a closer look at this group of 83, who may well be engaging in unsafe drinking.  Girls and boys are equally represented but the largest cluster for girls is at age 15 and the largest cluster for boys is at age 17. This group of 83 teenagers is made up of 14% of all the 13 year olds, 16% of all the 14 year olds, 23% of all the 15 year olds, 23% of all the 16 year olds and 38% of all the 17 year olds.  Except for the peak of 15 year old girls, it would appear that ‘unsafe’ drinking patterns increase with age.

Drug Use

One seventh of the teenagers (61) said they used drugs.  Of these only two indicated that they do not also use alcohol.  It would appear that the teenagers who use drugs also drink, but that the majority of teenagers who drink do not use drugs.

Not all of the 61 gave details of their drug use, but the most commonly used drug is cannabis (21) followed by ecstasy (9), with a few mentions of coke, meth and ice.  Some stated that they used a variety of drugs eg cannabis and other drugs, or a mix of drugs eg cannabis and alcohol together.  Some used whatever they could get at the time.

A small sample of these drug users indicated ‘unsafe’ or problematic use eg by reporting that they use ‘till I pass out’, take joints and ecstasy together, take ‘as much as I can get’ take half a tablet at school or ecstasy in the mornings.

This sample is too small to obtain significant breakdown by age, but the boys outnumber the girls 3 to 1. 

So what? 

Forty percent of the high school students said that they did not drink alcohol and 85% of them say that they do not take drugs.  It may well be worth looking at this more closely.  Their reasons are in the survey, but we ran out of time. 

From this self reported survey, it seems that there could well be more teenagers with unsafe drinking habits at this school than the total number of teenagers who admit to taking illicit drugs.

It would be interesting to attempt some degree of verification by face to face interviews with teachers, school councillors, local drug and alcohol workers, youth workers and suppliers.  It would also be interesting to look at the reasons that the teenagers give for their abstinence.

Of the 251 high school students who drink alcohol, only 9 are 18 years old.  Where do the other 242 get it?  Presumably some of them drink at home or out with adults but this still leaves a lot of teenagers who are able to purchase alcohol in our community.

Report compiled by Sandra Heilpern