More Minn. teens buckled up and sober

Minnesota teens are drinking less and buckling up more.

The 2010 Minnesota Student Survey also found student marijuana use unchanged and more kids planning to attend college since the last survey of sixth-, ninth- and 12th-graders, which has been conducted every three years since 1992.

Smoking and binge drinking also were down from 2007. The percentage of high school seniors who said they'd had five or more drinks in a row during the past two weeks dropped from 29 percent in 2007 to 23.4 this year.

"It seems like a lot of things are trending positively, even though we're probably not satisfied with some of the percentages," said state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "It's still not acceptable to have 23 percent of our 12th-graders binge drinking. We don't want any of our students binge drinking."

Seniors who reported drinking in the past year dropped from 63 percent in 2007 to this year's 55 percent.

Seagren warned that the survey provides only a rough snapshot of teen behavior. For one thing, the schools that participate can change from one survey to the next. Also, because students participate voluntarily and anonymously, there's no way of knowing how accurately they're reporting their own behavior.

"You have to take it with some grains of salt," Seagren said. "Maybe kids are not filling in all the answers to the questions. You might get 100 percent answer one question, and 50 percent answering another. You might have kids faking it and not giving a true answer. There are some limitations to the survey."

"We know that there are still weekend parties that go on," said Apple Valley High School principal Steve Degenaar. And while Apple Valley 10th-grader Rand Silvers said he doesn't see his friends doing drugs, there are lots of students puffing away on cigarettes.

"Once every couple of weeks, I'll walk into the bathroom and get a headache because someone was smoking there," he said. "It's not an epidemic problem, but it's definitely still there."

Making a difference

Still, some school officials think their efforts are paying off.

Imogen Davis, coordinator of drug and alcohol prevention programs for Minnetonka High School and the city of Minnetonka, said school officials have been drumming home a potent message with posters, ads and videos -- that many students believe more of their peers drink than actually do. Once students realize that, it diminishes the alcohol peer-pressure factor, Davis said.

Seagren noted one major disappointment: Marijuana use has remained roughly the same among 12th-graders, at 31 percent.

"A third of our kids are using marijuana," she said. "Many people feel that's a gateway into harder drugs. It may be taking the place of alcohol."

The head of Minnesota's Department of Health voiced tempered optimism on the survey results. "Although we are encouraged by the continued drop in cigarette smoking and alcohol use, we know how quickly these trends can reverse," said Dr. Sanne Magnan, in a prepared statement. The survey is a joint project of the Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, Human Services and Public Safety.

Some of the most pronounced trends involved automobile safety and smoking. Seat-belt use among 12th-graders has climbed from 46 percent in 1998 to 71 percent this year. Among the same age group, 18 percent said they had driven a motor vehicle after drinking or using drugs within the past year, compared with 33 percent in 1995. Cigarette smoking has nosedived since 1995, when 42 percent of 12th-graders said they'd smoked; This year, that figure stood at 19 percent.

That's especially gratifying to Coon Rapids High School principal Jeff McGonigal since it strikes so close to home.

McGonigal thinks more caution among adults has made its way down to teenagers.

"I'd like to think it's a greater awareness of the long-term impact of any chemical," he said. "That kind of modeling is impacting teens, but I don't know; that's really just guessing."

McGonigal said he has no anecdotal evidence or statistics to show how risky teen behavior has trended in his school. He said his school participated in this year's survey.

In areas such as bullying, sex and suicidal thoughts, the percentages haven't changed much since 2007. One notable exception: The number of 12th-grade girls who reported having suicidal thoughts dropped from 32 percent in 2007 to 27 percent this year.

Of the state's 335 school districts, 295 participated, according to the Department of Education. About 71 percent of the total sixth-, ninth- and 12th-grade student enrollment filled out the surveys. Parents were allowed to view the survey beforehand to determine whether their children should participate.