COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Fewer Ohio teens are abusing
prescription painkillers and using heroin as efforts to address such
abuse appear to be working, according to the state Health Department’s
most recent youth risk survey.
In less welcome news, the survey
also found that nearly one out of every two Ohio teens has texted or
emailed while driving a car, and not enough teens are eating the
recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables and getting enough daily
exercise.
About 13 percent of students reported using prescription
painkillers at least once last year, down from about 21 percent in
2011, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s 2013 Ohio Youth Risk
Behavior Survey.
The survey also found that the number of teens reporting they used heroin had decreased from 3.1 percent
to 2 percent.
About
one in five teens reported that they had recently used marijuana, a
figure unchanged for the past 20 years. Fifteen percent of teens said
they had smoked cigarettes on one or more days in the past month, down
considerably from past years but unchanged since 2011, the study found.
The
study found that 46 percent of teens reported texting or emailing while
driving, a new question asked in 2013. But the number of teens saying
they never or rarely used seatbelts fell below 10 percent, and fewer
than one in five teens had ridden with someone who had been drinking.
Most
teens reported feeling safe at school, though one in five were bullied
on school property in 2013 and 15 percent said they’d been bullied
online.
Fewer than 20 percent of students reported eating fruits
and vegetables five or more times a day, while a quarter said they eat
fast food three or more times a week.
Only one in four students got an hour of physical activity a day and one in three were overweight or
obese.
___
Online: http://1.usa.gov/1ieLHDv
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.