FEWER LOCAL TEENS ENGAGE IN DRUGS, SEX, SURVEY SHOWS

Risky behavior in Monroe County is down, often significantly, from past
year.

(Jan. 8, 2000) -- The number of Monroe County teenagers who use illegal
drugs, have sex or smoke cigarettes has declined over the last two years,
according to a new Health Department survey.

However, county officials aren't declaring any victories.

"The fact that we're moving in a positive direction is very, very good
news," said John Ricci, a senior public health educator at the county Health
Department. "But the point where we're at is still troublesome. It's a good
thing we're getting better, but it's not a cause for celebration."

The survey, conducted last spring, quizzed 2,006 high school students about
risky behavior and updated a similar survey from 1997. The students were
selected randomly from across the county.

Fifteen questions on the 92-question survey revealed statistically
significant changes in teen behavior since the 1997 survey. Positive
improvements were seen in the areas of seat belt use, the wearing of bicycle
helmets, drug sales on school grounds, sexual behavior, exercise, drug use,
smoking, carrying a weapon, fighting and considering suicide.

Only the question asking students whether they had ever attempted suicide
changed for the worse: 9.6 percent said "yes" two years ago compared with
12.6 percent last year. The margin of error was 5 percent.

Ricci said the question about smoking showed that improvements still needed
to be made. The number of teens who had smoked cigarettes in the last 30
days dropped from 37.9 percent to 31.4 percent.

A 6 percent drop was nice, Ricci said, but "when one-third of our kids are
smoking, half of whom will probably die from smoking if they become
addicted, it's not a good place to be."

The Health Department conducted the survey with University of Rochester
researchers, using methodology established by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control. Surveys were also done in 1992, 1995 and 1997.

The CDC conducts a similar survey on national and state levels every year.
Ricci said Monroe County may be the only jurisdiction in the United States
to conduct one on the local level.

Most of the questions showed statistically no change in risk activity from
1997 to 1999.

Ricci stressed that the survey did not attempt to determine why teenagers
engaged in a particular activity or what factors might influence a change
from one year to the next. "It reports the data, it doesn't explain the
data," he said.

But, he said, some trends spotted in the survey lend themselves to
hypothesis better than others.

For instance, the four surveys clearly demonstrated declining sexual
activity among teens, at the same time as the county was conducting an
extensive public-awareness campaign promoting abstinence. But he said the
survey didn't provide any clues about why more kids attempted suicide.

John Riley, director of the county Department of Communications, which
administers the "Not Me, Not Now" campaign, said the survey was one of three
indicators his staff used to gauge the campaign's effectiveness. The others
were teen pregnancy rates and another survey geared specifically toward
sexual behavior.

"All three are trending in the right direction," Riley said. "Kids are
waiting longer to become sexually active."

Commenting on the suicide question, Jana Dodson, executive director of the
Center for Youth Services, said her nonprofit agency had seen more mental
health related cases.

"Suicide is usually a sign of depression and is a mental health related
issue," she said. "Mental health services for adolescents in this community
are limited at this point in time."

Ricci said the surveys played a role in public health policy. Officials
could use the data to direct funding to different services, and nonprofit
agencies could use it when they applied for grants from the government or
private foundations.

"It enables us to get a handle on what our kids are doing," Ricci said.
"It's important to know what kids are doing and what the problems are. If
you don't know what's wrong, how do you go about fixing it?"