Published: August 14, 2008 12:51 pm         

Survey reveals a lot about teens

VANDALIA — There is still a lot of work to be done to educate Fayette County sophomore students when it comes to sex, pregnancy and other similar topics, according to a survey released to the public this week.

The Fayette County Health Department and Fayette Teen Issue Coalition surveyed 168 sophomore students at four Fayette County high schools — Brownstown, St. Elmo, Ramsey and Vandalia.

Questions on the survey involved sexually transmitted diseases, sex, drinking, pregnancy, sexual abuse and mental health issues. Of the 168 students surveyed, 88, or 52.4 percent, were male and 80, or 47.6 percent, were female. Also, 25.6 percent were age 15, 61.9 percent were age 16, 8.9 percent were age 17, 0.6 percent were age 18 and there was missing data for 3 percent.

The teen coalition and health department added new sections to last year’s survey that included questions about mental health and sexual abuse and added some questions about drinking and driving and riding in a vehicle with someone who’s been drinking.

This year reflected some changes in the way high schools students’ families were comprised. Last year, 49.2 percent of the students surveyed lived with both parents, while 53.6 percent of students this year said they live with both parents.

Jessica Wright, teenage pregnancy prevention program coordinator for Fayette County Health Department, sees this as a good change.

“If both parents are in the home, it’s a protective factor against risky behavior,” she said.

Also, included in this year’s survey were choices regarding a student’s living arrangement. Students could indicate they split time between their parents, which 6.5 percent said they did. The other living arrangement choices — living with mother or father only and living with one parent and step-parent — were lower in percentage.

Students also indicated what they were concerned about.

The biggest worries were alcohol and drugs, with 26.8 percent of students indicating this area was a concern, 16.1 percent of students said sex was a concern and 13.7 percent were worried about diseases and pregnancy, peer pressure, popularity and fitting in.

Students also were questioned about sexually transmitted diseases.

For the third year in a row, the students ranked they most often learned about STDs at school and from television, with 96.4 percent saying they learned about them in school and 77.4 percent saying they learned about STDs on television. Doctors didn’t make the top five sources of STD education, coming in at seventh place with 45.8 percent of students choosing physicians as the educational choice. Last year, doctors also were seventh at 53.6 percent. Parents or adult relatives this year were at 48.8 percent, while 64.5 percent of students said they learned from adult relatives last year.

There could be some reasons behind the drop.

According to this year’s survey, 54.2 percent of students stated they had talked to parents or the adult they live with about STDs. Also, Wright stated students may not be learning about STDs from parents or adults they’re living with for various reasons, such as the parent doesn’t have information about STDs or he or she doesn’t realize there’s as many STDs as there are, with 25 different diseases.

Of the students surveyed this year, 40.6 percent stated they are not having sex at the time, with 18.8 percent stating they have sex at least three times a week, 15.6 percent stated they had sex once a month or less. There was a tie at 12.5 percent of students who said they had sex twice a week and students who said they had sex between two and four times a month.

About 61.3 percent of students surveyed stated they never had sexual intercourse. Also, 44 percent of students surveyed said they plan to save sex until marriage. Of those students who did say they did have sex, the majority of them, 14.3 percent, stated the first time they had sex was at 15. Also, the majority of students who had sex said they had one sexual partner, with 41.3 percent, followed by 36.5 percent stating they had two or three sexual partners.

One of the new sections this year centered on student feelings.

According to the survey, 21.4 percent of students surveyed cut or hurt themselves on purpose and 21.4 considered suicide, while 12.5 percent actually planned suicide and 4.8 percent of students actually attempted suicide.

Wright is concerned about the cutting statistics because she said cutting is becoming a huge issue again. She also said the suicide statistics need to be brought to the attention of the community, parents and schools.

On the other hand, 67.9 percent of students feel there are adults they can talk to, 79.8 percent said they feel they are respected by other students, 82.7 percent said they feel teachers respect them and 78.6 percent of students feel safe at school.

Also new to the survey was a question about sexual abuse. About 10.1 percent of students surveyed stated they had been forced to have sexual intercourse. Wright stated the statistic may not be entirely boyfriend-girlfriend related. She said students answering affirmatively to this question may have been considering outside sources, including sexual abuse when they were younger.

On the issue of alcohol use, 69.6 percent they had not ridden in a car in the past 30 days with someone who had been drinking, 58.3 percent said they had not drank alcohol within the past 30 days and 35.1 percent said they had not driven after consuming alcohol within the past 30 days.

To see the complete survey, visit www.ftic.org.

Jackie Gorski can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 136 or at jackie.gorski@effinghamdailynews.com.