Healthy Youth Surveys are conducted in schools every two years to gather information from students about their alcohol, drug use and other behaviors that impact their health, safety and success.
Survey results involving loneliness in 2023’s HYS show many interesting results, vastly different from the surveys taken in 2010. From sixth, eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students, nearly 14,000 responded out of almost 21,000 and 13,700 surveys were deemed “valid responses” last year.
Some of the results are worth celebrating in the 2023 Healthy Youth Survey: 98-99% of the students answered that in the last month, they had not used the following substances: alcohol, marijuana, E-cigarettes/E-vapes or cigarettes.
“Kids overall … the last 20 years, are turning to drugs and alcohol less than say when I was in high school,” history teacher Marcus Merrifield said.
In the modern world filled with new electronics, students tend to get nervous or anxious and are used to going straight to their phones. Nowadays, phones are slowly replacing drugs and distracting kids from the reality of this world, bringing a new sense of loneliness. Along with phone and social media addictions they are exposed to advertisements for many addictive substances like nicotine and E-Vapes.
“Whenever there’s any feelings of discomfort, your phone comes out so you can disconnect with other people, and not deal with the feelings of feeling awkward. And so in some ways, a phone can kind of replace that drug,” Merrifield said.
During the years 2020-2021, the use of drugs has decreased ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently these results have improved dramatically in the past years. Delaying the start of substance use (even by one year) by young people can decrease substance use for the rest of their lives.
Substance use disorders are caused by multiple factors, including individual personality characteristics, emotional distress, anxiety, social pressures or a person’s genetics.
“Substance use remained lower after the pandemic and stayed that way across the state,” Steve Pitkin, intervention specialist said.
According to the data collected from the Healthy Youth Survey, 30% of 10th graders reported persistent depressive feelings, and 15% reported contemplating suicide. Although these rates have decreased over the years, youth have been struggling with their mental health issues and well-being in the last 20 years: feeling anxious, nervous, on edge, and not being able to stop or control worrying.
“Yes I do, think there are a lot of incidents of it throughout our school, and I think it kind of just reflects more of the mental health issues and that I think they need to rely on more of that stuff,” senior Malia Correia-Boyd said.
When students are having mental health issues, the state wants to know if students have been informed on where to go for help.
“Counselors or you can look on the back of your ID card, and there’s multiple numbers for different scenarios,” junior Axel Rojas.
Posters about coping are hanging in the halls at LSHS to help inform students when and where to get help with mental health issues.
Students can always head to their counselor’s office at any point in the day to get help. Talk to a trusted adult, or contact any of the numbers on the back of your school ID.
