City Students Found Less Likely

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

October 20, 2004

City Students Found Less Likely to Indulge in Risky Behaviors

By SUSAN SAULNY

Students in New York City public high schools use condoms more consistently than teenagers across the country, and they are less likely to smoke marijuana and binge on alcohol, according to a new city-sponsored survey.

But 25 percent of students in city high schools still engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. And they say that experimentation with drinking or sex often starts before high school, at age 13 or younger.

City health and education officials released these findings along with a host of other details about teenage behavior yesterday in a report based on a survey of almost 7,500 students at randomly selected high schools across the city.

The survey used questions developed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and officials said it was considered among the largest and most extensive survey of its type given to the city's public high school students.

Among the findings: Students in Staten Island are most likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and students in Brooklyn and the Bronx are most likely to have multiple sex partners. Manhattan students are most likely to have considered suicide, and students in Queens, more than in any other borough, consider themselves overweight.

Across the city, 48 percent of high school students report being sexually active, down from 51 percent two years ago.

Dr. Lorna Thorpe, the deputy commissioner of the city's Department of Health, said the 2003 survey reached nearly six times the number of students questioned during the last citywide survey, in 2001. She said there was a desire among health and education officials to gather enough information to be able to break down the results by borough, thereby giving a sense of what problems may be specific to particular areas.

Adrienne Verrilli, the spokeswoman for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a nonprofit advocacy group based in New York, said the findings gave reason to be encouraged as well as reason to be concerned.

"We're able to really see a snapshot of the kids in New York City, and to their credit, they have less sexual activity than in 2001 and their condom use is significantly higher than young people across the nation," Ms. Verrilli said.

But concerning the borough-by-borough breakdowns, she added: "This is a real wake-up call. What's important is that those communities really take a look at themselves and wonder: Are we teaching them to be safe? Are we teaching communication and relationship skills?"

"It's really hard to grasp what's going on," she said.

Dr. Thorpe said she was pleased to see that smoking continued to decline. But she expressed concern that one demographic - white teenage girls - seems unwilling to give up cigarettes.

"For us, one of the most concerning findings is that one in three high school white teenage girls are reporting smoking," Dr. Thorpe said. "It's not definitely known what's triggering the higher smoking rates in this population." By comparison, one in five white boys and one in 10 black girls are smokers.

Dr. Thorpe said the city would convene several focus groups this year to address the issue.

The report concluded that substance abuse programs should begin before high school and that all adolescents should have access to sex education and reproductive health services.