Past Results

1.      How wrong does your parent/guardian(s) feel it would be for you to drink, smoke or use marijuana

As expected, the younger the age group, the more the students perceive their parents think it would be wrong to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use marijuana. Across all age groups, males and females, alcohol was seen as the “least wrong” and marijuana was seen as the “most wrong.” Consistently boys, in all three grades, thought their parents would be less critical if they drank, smoked or used marijuana. However, it should be emphasized that relatively few respondents stated that their parents thought it would not be wrong at all to use one of these three substances. For alcohol use, 12.% of 12^th graders (10.9% female and 13.9% male) stated their parents would not think it at all wrong; for cigarette use, 12.5% of 10^th grade boys and 13.9% of 12^th grade boys said their parents would not think it at all wrong; for cigarette use; and for marijuana use, 17.1% of 12^th grade boys stated their parents would not think it at all wrong.

2.      In the past month, how many days did you drink, smoke or use marijuana and how much 

The vast majority of students, across all grades, did not use any substances in the past month. The younger the student the less like to use – alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana. Interestingly, for cigarette smoking, the same proportion of 10^th and 12^th graders did not smoke at all. However, considerably more 10^th graders stated they smoked everyday; yet, 10^th graders also stated they smoke fewer cigarettes per day than 12^th graders. Also among 10^th and 12^th graders more boys smoke than girls. Similar findings are found for alcohol use: 25% of 12^th grade boys stated they drank on six or more days during the past month compared to 10.9% of 12^th grade girls; and nearly half (47.2%) of 12^th grade boys said on those days they did drink, they had six or more compared to 26.1% of 12^th grade girls. Marijuana shows the same pattern: the older the student the more likely he/she is to use; and boys are more like to use than girls.

3.      How old were YOU when you first tried cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana

Approximately four-fifths of all 8^th graders, males and females, stated they had never tried any of the three substances. Yet a greater proportion of 10^th graders reported trying cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana before the age of 10 than did 12^th graders. By far, however, for 10^th and 12^th graders, students reported first trying one of these substances prior to the age of 16. This would seem to confirm the research suggesting that the longer we can delay drug use the better.