Study: Teens are drinking less, texting more

March 11, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — American teens are smoking less, drinking
less and fighting less. But they’re texting behind the wheel and
spending a lot of time on video games and computers, according to the
government’s latest study of worrisome behavior.
Generally
speaking, the news is good. Most forms of drug use, weapons use and
risky sex have been going down since the government started doing the
survey every two years in 1991. Teens are wearing bicycle helmets and
seat belts more, too.
"Overall, young people have more healthy
behaviors than they did 20 years ago," said Dr. Stephanie Zaza, who
oversees the study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
results come from a study of 13,000 U.S. high school students last
spring. Participation was voluntary and required parental permission,
but responses were anonymous.
Highlights of the study, released Thursday:
SMOKING
Fewer
than 16 percent of the teens smoked a cigarette in the previous month —
the lowest level since the government started doing the survey, when
the rate was more than 27 percent. Another CDC study had already put the
teen smoking rate below 16 percent, but experts tend to treat this
survey’s result as the official number. It’s "terrific news for
America’s health," said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids. Even so, there are still about 2.7 million teens
smoking, he said.
The survey did not ask about electronic cigarettes, which have exploded in popularity in the past few
years.
Meanwhile,
more than 23 percent of teens said they used marijuana in the previous
month — up from 15 percent in 1991. CDC officials said they could not
tell whether marijuana or e-cigarettes have replaced traditional
cigarettes among teens.
FIGHTING
Fights at school fell by
half in the past 20 years. And there was a dramatic drop in kids
reporting they had been in a fight anywhere in the preceding year —
about 25 percent, down from 33 percent two years earlier. The addition
of more guards and other security measures may be a factor, said school
violence expert Todd DeMitchell of the University of New Hampshire.
TEXTING
Among
teen drivers, 41 percent had texted or emailed behind the wheel in the
previous month. That figure can’t be compared to the 2011 survey,
though, because the CDC changed the question this time. The latest
survey gives texting-while-driving figures for 37 states — ranging from
32 percent in Massachusetts to 61 percent in South Dakota.
DRINKING
Fewer
teens said they drank alcohol. Drinking of soda was down, too. About 35
percent said they had had booze in the previous month, down from 39
percent in 2011. About 27 percent said they drank soda each day. That
was only a slight change from 2011 but a sizable drop from 34 percent in
2007.
SEX
The proportion of teens who had sex in the
previous three months held steady at about 34 percent from 2011. Among
them, condom use was unchanged at about 60 percent.
SUICIDE
The percentage who attempted suicide in the previous year held steady at about 8 percent.
MEDIA USE
TV
viewing for three or more hours a day has stalled at around 32 percent
since 2011. But in one of the largest jumps seen in the survey, there
was a surge in the proportion of kids who spent three or more hours on
an average school day on other kinds of recreational screen time, such
as playing video or computer games or using a computer or smartphone for
something other than schoolwork. That number rose to 41 percent, from
31 percent in 2011.
Health experts advise that teens get no more
than two hours of recreational screen time a day, and that includes all
screens — including Xboxes, smartphones and televisions.
Although
video-gaming is up, particularly among teen boys, some researchers
believe most of the screen-time increase is due to social media use. And
it’s probably not a good thing, they say.
Through texts and
social media, young people are doing more communicating and living in an
online world in which it’s easier to think they’re the center of the
universe, said Marina Krcmar, a Wake Forest University professor who
studies teen screen time. That can lead to a form of extended
adolescence, she said.
It can also distract youngsters from schoolwork, exercise and other healthy activities, she said.
___
Online:
CDC study: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm

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