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Issue 15 | February 15, 2011 |
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| Violence Prevention News |
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Adolescent and Young Adult Victims of Cyber Bullying at Increased Risk of Suicide: Female Youth Especially at Risk
Results released from the National Annenberg Survey of Youth reveal that 1 out of 7 or 14% of adolescents and young adults have experienced being a victim of cyber bullying. Those who experience cyber bullying report higher rates of thinking seriously about suicide in the past year. The rate of suicidal ideation among victims of cyber bullying was about 4 times higher than among youth who had not had the experience (27.4% vs. 7.5%).
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| Substance Abuse Prevention News |
Monitoring the Future Survey Finds Increased Marijuana Use Among 8th, 10th, and 12th Graders
The 2010 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, released today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan, showed an increase in marijuana use rates among all grades measured in the survey – 8th, 10th and 12th graders. Particularly concerning are that more youth report smoking marijuana on a daily basis, with 6.1% of high school seniors, 3.3% of 10th graders, and 1.2% of 8th graders reporting daily use, compared to last year's rates of 5.2%, 2.8%, and 1.0%, respectively. Among 12th graders it was at its highest point since the early 1980's. The perceived risk of regular marijuana use also declined among 10th and 12th graders, suggesting that marijuana use among youth may continue its upward trend.
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Underage Drinking-Related Emergency Department Visits Increase More Than 250% on New Year's Day
Hospital emergency department visits involving underage drinking increased more than 250% on New Year's Day, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The brief study shows that on New Year's Day 2009, there were an estimated 1,980 emergency department visits involving underage drinking, compared to 546 such visits on an average day that year--a 263% increase.
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| Product Highlight |
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| Upcoming Events |
| National Association of Secondary School Principals
When: February 24 – 27, 2011
Where: Moscone Center,
San Francisco, CA
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| News and Notes |
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To purchase these and other prevention products, visit hazelden.org/bookstore or call 800-328-9000.
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Adolescent and Young Adult Victims of Cyber Bullying at Increased Risk of Suicide: Female Youth Especially at Risk
Results released from the National Annenberg Survey of Youth reveal that 1 out of 7 or 14% of adolescents and young adults have experienced being a victim of cyber bullying. Those who experience cyber bullying report higher rates of thinking seriously about suicide in the past year. The rate of suicidal ideation among victims of cyber bullying was about 4 times higher than among youth who had not had the experience (27.4% vs. 7.5%).
The results come from telephone interviews with nearly 600 young people ages 14 to 22 in a nationally representative sample. The survey defined cyber bullying as occurring "when someone repeatedly makes fun of another person online or repeatedly picks on another person through email or text messaging or when someone posts something online like an embarrassing photo about another person they don't like."
Although some prior studies report a strong association between having been bullied online and suicidal ideation, the association between the two has rarely been examined in college age youth. Prior studies of adolescents also indicate that victims of cyber bullying are more likely to experience symptoms of depression than non-victims and even more than victims of other forms of bullying. The Annenberg research also found that victims of cyber bullying were more likely to experience symptoms of depression in the past year, such as sadness and hopelessness, than non-victims.
"The APPC research suggests that rates of victimization from cyber bullying have doubled in the past several years compared to other earlier studies," said Dr. Madelyn Gould of Columbia University, who reviewed the findings. "Greater efforts will be needed to educate youth about the hazards of this form of bullying and to help young people cope with such abuses."
Gender Differences
The APPC findings also show more strongly than past research that female youth are at high risk of being the targets of cyber bullying. The rates of victimization for females were more than twice as high as for males among both high school (18% vs. 7%) and college age (22% vs. 10%) youth.
"While these results do not show that cyber bullying is the cause of suicidal tendencies in young people," noted Dan Romer, Director of the Adolescent Communication Institute that conducted the survey, "they clearly show that youth who are victims of it are also at increased risk of both depression and suicide. As a result, even if the victims were already depressed or suicidal, experiencing cyber bullying could only make a bad situation worse."
Perpetrators of Cyber Bullying
Smaller percentages of young people in the survey admitted to having cyber bullied others online. Approximately 8% reported such activity. However, unlike prior studies, we found no clear pattern of gender differences for cyber bullying. For adolescents in the high school age range, females were more likely to report cyber bullying another person (10% vs. 4%). However, this pattern was reversed for older youth, where males were more likely to report perpetrating cyber bullying (11% vs. 6%).
As has been found in other studies of bullying, those who engage in this practice are more likely to experience bouts of depression themselves. This was true for all ages and both genders. Also consistent with prior research, those who both engage in bullying and are its target are at increased risk of depressive symptoms; however, there were too few respondents who reported this pattern to draw firm conclusions. Also not surprisingly, the APPC findings indicate that the higher rates of depressive symptoms are associated with higher rates of suicidal ideation.
The findings clearly indicate that those who perpetrate cyber bullying are as troubled on average as those who are victims of their attacks. This suggests that school-based efforts to reduce cyber bullying may be more effective if they focus on youth who already experience symptoms of depression.
SOURCE: “National Annenberg Survey of Youth,” Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Monitoring the Future Survey Finds Increased Marijuana Use Among 8th, 10th, and 12th Graders
The 2010 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, released today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan, showed an increase in marijuana use rates among all grades measured in the survey--8th, 10th and 12th graders. Particularly concerning are that more youth report smoking marijuana on a daily basis, with 6.1% of high school seniors, 3.3% of 10th graders, and 1.2% of 8th graders reporting daily use, compared to last year's rates of 5.2%, 2.8%, and 1.0%, respectively. Among 12th graders it was at its highest point since the early 1980's. The perceived risk of regular marijuana use also declined among 10th and 12th graders, suggesting that marijuana use among youth may continue its upward trend.
Another drug that showed an increase in use was Ecstasy, despite having been on a downward trend for the past several years. Equally concerning is that steady declines in cigarette smoking appear to have stalled in all three grades after several years of improvement on most measures.
"The 2010 Monitoring the Future survey findings are extremely disturbing but not surprising, since last year's survey showed a softening of attitudes about marijuana use. And with states debating measures to legalize marijuana or allow marijuana for so called medical purposes, it's no wonder more young people are daily pot smokers," said CADCA Chairman and CEO General Arthur T. Dean. "Let's take this as a wake up call and invest in comprehensive drug prevention programs that show results, like the Drug Free Communities program."
"The Drug Free Communities (DFC) Program, which funds local, grassroots community coalitions across the country, is one of those programs. Thanks to the DFC program, there are hundreds of community coalitions developing and implementing strategies to tackle local substance abuse problems, getting at the root causes of drug use in their communities."
According to an independent evaluation of the Drug Free Communities Support Program, the prevalence of 30-day use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana was lower for high school students in DFC-funded communities than among a nationally representative sample of high school students taking the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The evaluation also found that the DFC program is responsible for a reduction of 181,000 youth using alcohol, a reduction of 200,000 youth using tobacco, and a reduction of nearly 115,000 youth using marijuana.
During a press conference in Washington, D.C., Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called the results disappointing, noting that the increased marijuana rates are due largely to the mixed messages youth are receiving around marijuana legalization and medical marijuana.
"All this talk about marijuana being medicine is incorrect and it's sending youth the wrong message. We need parents and other adults who influence children as full partners in teaching young people about the risks and harms associated with drug use, including marijuana," he said.
After marijuana, prescription and over-the-counter medications account for most of the top drugs abused by 12th graders in the past year. Among 12th graders, past year non-medical use of Vicodin decreased from 9.7% to 8%. However, past year abuse of OxyContin remains unchanged across the three grades and has increased in 10th graders over the past 5 years. When asked about ways to address prescription drug abuse, ONDCP Director Kerlikowske pointed to the DFC program as something that can make a real difference in tackling this and other drug problems.
On a positive note, the survey showed that alcohol use has continued to decline among high school seniors, with past year use falling from 43.5% to 41.2% and alcohol binge drinking declining from 25.2% to 23.2%.
SOURCE: Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America
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Underage Drinking-Related Emergency Department Visits Increase More Than 250% on New Year’s Day
Although Hospital emergency department visits involving underage drinking increased more than 250% on New Year's Day, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The brief study shows that on New Year's Day 2009, there were an estimated 1,980 emergency department visits involving underage drinking, compared to 546 such visits on an average day that year--a 263% increase.
The New Year's Day underage drinking admission levels even surpassed other national holiday levels, which past SAMHSA studies have revealed often far exceed normal daily rates. For example, the 2009 New Year's Day estimate was 191% higher than the Memorial Day level (676) and 110% higher than the Fourth of July level (942).
"This stunning increase in underage drinking related emergency room visits on New Year's Day should be a wake up call to parents, community leaders and all caring adults about the potential risks our young people face for alcohol-related accidents, injuries and death during this time of year," said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. "Parents, clergy, coaches, teachers and other role models must do everything they can to positively influence young people including talking with them early and often about the many health dangers underage drinking poses to their physical and emotional health and wellbeing."
"This very troubling finding is in line with what we already know about the increase in alcohol-related problems during the winter holidays," says Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. "For example, during Christmas and New Year's, two to three times more people die in alcohol-related crashes than during comparable periods the rest of the year. And 40% of traffic fatalities during these holidays involve a driver who is alcohol-impaired, compared to 28% for the rest of December."
SOURCE: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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