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Executive Summary Foreword Acknowledgments Violent Deaths at School Nonfatal Student Victimization-Student Reports Violence and Crime at School-Public School Reports Nonfatal Teacher Victimization at School-Teacher Reports School Environment Figures Full Report (PDF) (PDF - 1152 KB)
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 17. Students' use of alcoholIn 2001, 47 percent of students in grades 9?12 had at least one drink of alcohol anywhere in the 30 days before being surveyed and 5 percent had at least one drink on school property. The consumption of alcohol by students on school property, a crime in itself, may lead to other crimes and misbehavior on the part of students. It may also lead to a school environment that is harmful to students, teachers, and staff (Fagan and Wilkinson 1998). In the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, students in grades 9?12 were asked whether they had consumed alcohol at all in the past 30 days (referred to as ?anywhere ? in this analysis) and if they had consumed alcohol on school property. In 2001, 47 percent of students had consumed at least one drink of alcohol anywhere in the 30 days before being surveyed, and a smaller percentage (5 percent) had consumed at least one drink on school property (table 17.1). When examining students' reports of drinking between 1993 and 2001, no consistent patterns of increase or decrease were found in the percentage of students who had consumed alcohol, both anywhere and on school property. In every survey year except 1995, males were more likely than females to have used alcohol anywhere (figure 17.1 and table 17.1). Furthermore, in every survey year, males were more likely than females to use alcohol on school property. For example, in 2001, 6 percent of males had reported using alcohol on school property, compared with 4 percent of females. Grade level was positively associated with the likelihood that students reported drinking alcohol anywhere in every survey year: students in higher grades were more likely to report drinking alcohol anywhere than students in lower grades (figure 17.2 and table 17.1). However, no such relationship was found across grade levels for students? reports of drinking alcohol on school property. In 2001, Asian and Black students were less likely to use alcohol anywhere than American Indian, Pacific Islander, White, and Hispanic students. Roughly one-third of Asian (28 percent)and Black (33 percent)students reported using alcohol anywhere, compared with about one-half (between 45 and 52 percent) of students in other racial/ethnic groups. While there also appear to be differences by race/ethnicity in students? use of alcohol on school property, few differences could be detected due to large standard errors associated with these estimates. | ||
