But the numbers of middle school students who report using marijuana rose from 6 percent to 8 percent from 2013 to last spring, and the numbers of eighth-graders using alcohol and marijuana top national averages, according to the city’s new 2014-2015 student health survey.
Those figures and much more are included in the 47-page, $10,000 survey, which was commissioned by the city’s School and Health departments and the Healthy Gloucester Collaborative, then compiled by the Social Science Research and Evaluation Inc. (SSRE) of Burlington.
The study, which was voluntary on the part of the students and required clearance from their parents, asked 541 of the 620 students at O’Maley and 652 of the 870 students at Gloucester High last spring about their views on and experience with alcohol, marijuana and other substances, as well as on a number of other social issues.
While some such surveys have raised questions regarding their validity in the past, with concerns students would either exaggerate or fail to answer realistically, this survey is monitored when given even two years through a series of checks that SSRE found to be reliable, with any questions drawing “frivolous” answer being tossed out, according to the agency’s report to city and school officials.
Among the report’s findings: A total of 63 percent of the students surveyed at Gloucester High reported having consumed alcoholic beverages, down from 65.1 percent in 2013, 67.6 percent in 2011, and extending back to 79.8 percent reported in 2003. The percentage, however, rises to 74 percent when surveying only 12th-graders — in this case, the class that graduated last June. Also, more Gloucester High girls than boys said they had been drinking — 66.6 percent to 59.5.
At O’Maley Middle School, 15.3 percent reported they have drunk alcohol, also down from 16.5 percent in 2013. The survey, however, found that 29 percent of eighth-graders had used alcohol, a number higher than the national eighth-grade average of 27 percent.
Essentially the same percentage of Gloucester High students said they had used marijuana, 51.1 percent, as the 52 percent in 2013, and 51 percent in 2011. Yet, only 20.4 percent said they had ever smoked cigarettes, down from 31.4 percent in 2013 and a high of 58 percent in 2003.
Students at O’Maley showed an increased use of marijuana, from 6.3 percent in 2013 to 8.3 percent in 2015, with 9 percent of the boys and 7.67 percent of the O’Maley girls saying they smoked pot. Eighteen percent of the school’s eighth-graders said they had smoked marijuana, more than the national average of 16 percent, according to the SSRE figures.
The numbers of those who have smoked cigarettes also fell at O’Maley from 5.8 percent in 2012 to 4.3 percent this past spring.
The percentage of Gloucester High students who said they had consumed alcohol in the 30 days prior to the survey fell from 42.5 percent to 39.3 while the number admitting to binge drinking over that same time frame — defined as downing five or more drinks in succession — dipped from 29.9 percent to 24.9. In middle school, the number consuming alcohol within 30 days of the survey climbed from 2013 to 5.2 percent this year, though the number of students in sixth through eighth grade admitting to binge drinking fell from 1.9 percent to 1.3 percent.
Amid a growing opioid crisis, the numbers of students who say they have use heroin remained at 0.3 percent in the high school — the same as in 2013 — while no middle school students said they had used heroin, also the same as in 2013.
“That’s obviously a very good sign,” Noreen Burke, the city’s health director, said Monday in reviewing the school-based data. “That shows they’re not using heroin through the age of 18, or until they’re out of school; now, our question is what happens after that.”
Burke, Schools Superintendent Richard Safier and Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Director Joan Whitney all said Monday they view the report as offering generally encouraging signs driven by programs the city and schools have in place, while raising some questions as well.
The increase in marijuana use on the middle school level is “troubling,” Safier said. “Nobody condones it,” he said, “but certainly the message being sent out legally and socially is one such that we should not be surprised,” noting pot’s decriminalization in recent years and a growing push for its full-fledged legalization.
Whitney said the drop in alcohol use can be attributed to a series of programs promoted in and outside the schools by the Healthy Gloucester Collaborative and other programs.
“Certainly, a lot of what we have done has focused on encouraging teen leadership, and encouraging kids to make safe and healthy choices when it comes to substance use,” she said. “A lot of this as very positive, and i think it’s clear we’re taking some very good steps as a community.”
Yet other sections of the survey spotlights how the students who consume alcohol obtain their drinks. It shows a drop in the numbers of high school students who get their booze from third-party adult buyers from 72 percent in 2013 to 57 percent this year, and Whitney noted that may reflect a “partnership” between Healthy Gloucester Collaborative and the city’s Licensing Board in monitoring local liquor stores and restaurants.
Yet that same survey category also found that 11 percent of the high school students said that “a parent or guardian” had provided them with their alcoholic beverages — nearly double the 6 percent who offered that response two years earlier.
“That,” said Safier, “shows us the need for more cultural education and outreach.”
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