Northwest Iowa — The results of the latest survey of kids in sixth, eighth and eleventh grade from across the state of Iowa shows a drop in alcohol use, but an uptick in kids who have had thoughts of suicide.
The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Survey Coordinator, Pat McGovern, says reported alcohol use was down among both middle school and eleventh graders.
The survey is done every two years, polling kids from every corner of Iowa. Looking back to the last couple of surveys, alcohol use among Iowa 11th graders fell from 26-point-four percent in 2012 to 21-point-three percent in 2016. Binge drinking fell more than 11 percentage points from 24 percent in 2012 to 12-point-nine percent in 2016. Eighth graders report alcohol use fell from seven-point-two percent in 2012 to five-point-four percent in 2016. Binge drinking among eight graders went from seven-point-six percent in 2012 to two-point-three percent in 2016. McGovern says drinking among sixth graders is usually low and stayed about the same in this survey. E-cigarettes are also part of the survey.
McGovern says they ask some questions to try and get an idea about what is driving the young people’s use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. He says the responses to those questions caught his attention.
He cites the question about whether it is risky to drink alcohol every day as an example.
One other area where McGovern wants to do more evaluation of the numbers is the amount of students who reported having seriously thought about suicide. The percentage of 11th graders who said they had seriously thought about killing themselves in the last 12 months increased by one-point-seven percent from 2012 to 2016 and among all grades surveyed, thirteen-point-three percent said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year.
McGovern says the job now is for the department to look through and find the areas where they need to focus more attention.
They will be releasing school-by-school and county-by-county data in the coming weeks. For more information about the survey, visit: www.iowayouthsurvey.iowa.gov
