Home » What's New

What's New

February 4-8, 2008: Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week

February 4 - 8, 2008 is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, a time when schools, law enforcement, public officials, and others conduct programs and activities for youth that promote awareness and prevention tips, as well as offer suggestions on healthy teen relationships.

The Division for Public Education at the American Bar Association, sponsor of the Week, offers a free online toolkit at the event web site that includes downloadable teen dating facts, warning signs, and prevention recommendations. Another component of the toolkit is "Dating and Violence Should Never be a Couple," a 30-minute DVD featuring teens who candidly discuss the stages of their experience with dating violence - from the warning signs, the escalation of the abuse, and its impact on others to how they got help and ended the relationship. The DVD is available for $4.95, which covers the cost of shipping and handling and includes the Teen Dating Violence poster (16 ½ x 11).

Results of the 2007 Monitoring the Future Study Reveal Gradual Decline in Drug Use

Eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade students across the nation continue to show a gradual decline in reported use of illicit drugs, according to the 33rd Monitoring the Future national survey from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.

Declines were particularly noted among younger students. For example, the proportion of 8th graders using an illicit drug at least once during the year dropped from 24% in 1996 to 13% in 2007. Tenth graders reported a decline from 39% to 28% and 12th graders a decline from 42% to 36% over the same time period.

The drugs for which the largest declines were recorded in 2007 were marijuana and amphetamines, including Ritalin, methamphetamine, and crystal methamphetamine. Marijuana remains the most widely used illicit drug, however. The current prevalence rate for marijuana use is 10%, 25%, and 32% for grades 8, 10, and 12, respectively.

Illicit drugs whose use changed little between 2006 and 2007 include cocaine, crack cocaine, LSD, hallucinogens other than LSD, heroin, and most of the prescription-type psychoactive drugs used without medical supervision, including sedatives, tranquilizers, narcotics other than heroin, OxyContin, and Vicodin. Use of many of these drugs, however, are at rates well below their former peak levels.

The only drug showing an increase in use was MDMA (ecstasy). Ecstasy use dropped greatly in the early 2000's, but has once again begun a slow rise. Students' disapproval of using ecstasy has also declined, particularly among 8th graders. Among 10th graders, 3.5% reported using ecstasy in 2007, as did 4.5% of 12th graders.

A Day in the Life of American Adolescents

A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), A Day in the Life of American Adolescents paints a portrait of substance abuse behavior on an average day among America's teens. Among the key findings: On an average day in 2006:

• 1.2 million adolescents ages 12 to 17 smoked cigarettes, 631,000 drank, and 586,000 used marijuana;
• Nearly 50,000 teens used inhalants, 27,000 used hallucinogens, 13,000 used cocaine, and 3,800 used heroin.
• Over 76,000 received outpatient treatment.
• More than 10,000 were in non-hospital residential treatment.

The report was drawn from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Treatment Episode Data Set and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services.

Popular Recordings Promote Drinking, Drugs and Tobacco

About one-third of popular songs contain some reference to substance abuse, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh who analyzed the lyrics of the 279 most popular songs of 2005. Often, negative consequences of substance use are not mentioned.

Eighty-five percent of rap songs contained a reference to drugs or alcohol, as did 37% of country tunes and 12% of pop music. Examples include:

• Snoop Dogg, "Drop It Like It's Hot," No. 2 rap song: "I roll the best weed 'cause I got it going on."
• Sugarland, "Something More," No. 4 country song: "Yeah, 'cause right now I need some downtime, to drink some red wine and celebrate."
• The Killers, "Mr. Brightside," No. 6 rock song: "Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab, While he's having a smoke and she's taking a drag."

The study was reported at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in November 2007.

Teen Births on the Rise

In 2006, teen births rose 3%, the first rise in prevalence after 14 years of steady decline, according to figures compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There were approximately 435,000 births to girls between 15 and 19, or 41.9 births per 1,000 girls. The largest increase was in the birth rate among African-American teens which increased by 5% to 63.7 births per 1,000 girls. For whites, the birthrate grew by 3% to 26.6 births per 1,000 and for Latinas, by 2% to 83 births per 1,000. A decline was observed only among Asian teens, whose birthrate dropped by 2% to 16.7 births per 1,000.

The teen birthrate hit an all-time low in 2005 at 40.5 births per 1,000 girls. Health officials are uncertain why the 2006 increase occurred and do not yet know if it represents the beginning of a new trend.

Salad Bars in School Cafeterias Promote Healthy Eating

A new study from the University of California, Los Angeles, shows that low-income children in three Los Angeles elementary schools went from eating fruits and vegetables about three times a day to four times a day following introduction of a salad bar in the school cafeteria. Nearly all the increase occurred at lunchtime. The students also consumed about 200 fewer calories a day once the salad bar was available.

The study appears in the December 2007 issue of Public Health Nutrition.