Youth ATOD Survey 2013 Combined Report A Summary of Key Findings

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1 Youth ATOD Survey 2013 Combined Report A Summary of Key Findings for Laredo Independent School District and United Independent School District Laredo, Texas Survey Administration: Fall 2012 & Spring 2013

2 Basic Demographic Data on Survey Respondents A total of 2,033 middle school and high school students in the Laredo and United Independent School Districts participated in the 2013 comprehensive survey of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use. A little more than a third (36.1%) of the survey participants were students in the Laredo Independent School District (L.I.S.D.) and a little less than two-thirds (63.9%) were students in the United Independent School District (U.I.S.D.). Across the two school districts, a little less than one-half of the survey participants who reported grade level (49.0%) were students in middle school (n=968), while just a little more than one-half of the students (51.0%) were in high school (n=1006). The gender distribution of the participants who responded to this demographic question was approximately evenly split between 49.1% males and 50.9% females. The youth ranged in age from 10 to 19 with an average age of years (sd = 2.12). The most frequently occurring age (mode) was 14. Of the total number of participants, 78.2% indicated their ethnicity to be Hispanic or Latino American, nearly ten percent (9.9%) said they were White, and 2.7% indicated that they were Black or African American. Five percent of the youth respondents did not provide a response to this demographic question.

3 Summary and Conclusions Tobacco A fourth (25.5%) of all students surveyed in the two Laredo school districts reported having smoked cigarettes at least once or more in their lifetimes, and 6.9% indicated having used smokeless tobacco at some point in their lives. The average age that students began smoking was years, with 26.0% of students indicating that they had used cigarettes at some point in their lives on this particular survey item. More than half (53.0%) of all the students felt there was great risk if they smoked one or more packs of cigarettes per day, and more than one-half (55.6%) thought it was very wrong for someone their age to smoke cigarettes. Despite the fact that more than three-quarters (76.1%) of the students thought that their parents would consider cigarette smoking to be very wrong, a little less than a quarter (23.0%) of the students indicated that that they would likely smoke cigarettes at some point in their lives. More than a third (36.2%) of the students believed that cigarettes were easy to get, while less than two-thirds (63.8%) of the students believed that it was hard to obtain cigarettes. In regards to tobacco use, boys were more likely than girls to have smoked cigarettes at some point in their lives, and the boys were more likely than girls to have used smokeless tobacco at some point. Alcohol When asked if they had ever had more than just a few sips of alcohol to drink, about one-half (46.4%) of the students surveyed in the two public school districts of Laredo reported that they had taken a drink of alcohol, and 44.9% indicated that they had consumed alcohol on more than a couple of occasions in their lifetimes. The average age for students to begin drinking alcohol was years; with 42.8% of students indicating that they had consumed alcohol at some point in their lives on this particular survey item.

4 One-third (35.6%) of the students perceived great risk associated with the daily use of alcohol, and 44.1% reported that they thought it was very wrong for someone their age to use alcohol regularly. Even though two-thirds (65.8%) of the students thought their parents would consider it very wrong for them to drink alcohol regularly, more than a quarter (28.3%) of the students reported that if they knew they could avoid getting caught, they would get drunk. More than a third (38.2%) of the students reported that it was easy to obtain alcohol, and they indicated that their parents attitudes were the least condemning of alcohol, as compared to all other substances. Although there were no statistically significant gender differences in lifetime use of alcohol, males were significantly younger than females the first time they drank alcohol. Marijuana More than one-fifth (21.9%) of the 2,033 students surveyed in the two Laredo public school districts reported using marijuana at least once or more in their lifetimes. The average age of the first use of marijuana was years, with 20.7% of students indicating that they had used marijuana at some point in their lives on this particular survey item. The average age of onset for marijuana use is older than the age for first use of alcohol and tobacco. About one-half (45.3%) of the students indicated that they felt there was great risk associated with regular use of marijuana, but only a quarter (28.2%) felt there was great risk involved in using marijuana once or twice. About three-fifths (61.1%) of the students thought it was very wrong to smoke marijuana; and 82.8% indicated that that have made a final decision to avoid marijuana. One-third (35.0%) of the students said that it was easy to obtain marijuana, and 82.0% said that their parents would consider marijuana use as very wrong.

5 About three-quarters (77.2%) of the students indicated that they are committed to living drug-free lives, and 74.8% have personally pledged to not use marijuana or other drugs. In regards to gender differences, males were more likely than their female classmates to have used marijuana at some point in their lifetimes.