Kearny High School SADD

 Some Facts and statistics for your knowledge:

• It is estimated that 24,560 lives have been saved by minimum drinking age laws since 1975.
  
  
• In 2005, an estimated 906 lives were saved by minimum drinking age laws.
  
  
• During the last 30 days, 28.5% of high school students nationwide had ridden one or more times in a car or other vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol.
  
  
• In 2005, 39% of fatal crashes (all age groups) involved alcohol. The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than three times higher at night than during the day (59% vs. 18%).
  
  
  
• In 2005, 30% of all fatal crashes (all age groups) during the week were alcohol-related, compared to 52% on weekends.
  

Traffic Safety

• A total of 43,200 people died on the nation’s highways in 2005. Fifty-five percent (55%) of passenger vehicle occupants who died were not wearing seat belts.
  
  
  
• In 2005, 3,467 15- to 20-year-old drivers were killed and an additional 281,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes.
  
  
  
• Persons ages 16-20 years old had the highest fatality and injury rates per 100,000 population.
  
  
• Nationwide, 10.2% of students had rarely or never worn a seat belt when riding in a car driven by someone else. Overall, the prevalence of having rarely or never worn a seat belt was higher among male (12.5%) than female (7.8%) students.
  
  
  
• Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes.
  
  
  
• Nearly 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.
  
  
  
• The most common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones. Talking or listening on a hand-held device increased the risk of a crash or near-crash 1.3 times. Dialing a hand-held device increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by almost three times.
  

Tobacco

• Half (50%) of American young people have tried cigarettes by 12th grade.
  

• Of 12th graders, 21.6% report any past month smoking.
   

• Of 8th graders, 25% have tried cigarettes.
  

• Young adults ages 18-25 had the highest rate of current use of a tobacco product, 44.3%.
  

• Nationwide, 15.2% of the 19.1% students who reported current cigarette use and were under 18 years old usually got their own cigarettes by buying them in a store or gas station during the last 30 days.
  

• Among the 12.9% of students nationwide who tried to buy cigarettes in a store during the 30 days preceding the survey, 48.5% of students were not asked to show proof of age.
  

Drug Use

• Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the nation. (14.6 million past month users).
  
• In 2005, 9.9% of youths ages 12-17 were current illicit drug users: 6.8% used marijuana, 3.3% used prescription drugs for nonmedicinal purposes, 1.2% used inhalants, 0.8% used hallucinogens, and 0.6% used cocaine.
  
• The percentage of past month marijuana users ages 12-17 who used marijuana 20 or more days in the past month declined from 28.1% in 2004 to 23.1% in 2005.
  
• The rate of current marijuana use among youths ages 12-17 declined from 7.6% in 2004 to 6.8% in 2005.
  
• Half of teens (50%) have tried an illicit drug by the time they finish high school.
  
• Two fifths of 8th graders (41%) and almost three fourths of all 10th graders (73%) consider marijuana easily accessible; compare these figures with the percentage of 12th graders – 86%.
  
• In 2005, 15.5% of youths ages 12-17 indicated that they had been approached by someone selling drugs in the past month. Youth who reported being approached by someone selling drugs were more likely to have used an illicit drug in their lifetime (61.3% vs. 21.5%), in the past year (51.2% vs. 14.1%) and in the past month (32.6% vs. 5.8%).
  
• Youths ages 12-17 who believed their parents would strongly disapprove of their using a particular substance were less likely to use that substance than were youths who believed their parents would somewhat disapprove or neither approve nor disapprove 
• Nationwide, 25.4% of students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug by someone on school property during the 12 months preceding the survey.
  
• Sixty-two percent (62%) of the nation’s high schoolers – some 10.6 million – and 28% of middle schoolers (2.4 million) will go to schools where drugs are used, kept, or sold.
  
• Twenty-three percent (23%) of teens know a friend or classmate who has used Ecstasy.
  
• Twenty-six percent (26%) of teens know a friend or classmate who has abused prescription drugs.
  
• Marijuana is reported by 23% of teens to be easier to buy than cigarettes or beer.
  

Exposure to Prevention Programming

• Approximately one in eight youths ages 12-17 (11.7%) reported in 2005 that participating in drug, tobacco, or alcohol prevention programs outside of school in the past year. The prevalence of past month alcohol use was lower among youths who reported participating in these programs, 14.0%, than among youths who did not, 16.9%.
  

• In 2005, 59.8% of youths ages 12-17 reported that they had talked at least once in the past year with at least one of their parents about the dangers of drug, tobacco, or alcohol use.
  

• Almost four fifths (77.9%) of youths ages 12-17 enrolled in school reported in 2005 they had seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages at school in the past year. Past month use of an illicit drug was lower for youths exposed to such messages (9.2%) than for youths not reporting such exposure (13.2%).
  

• In 2005, there were 877,000 persons age 12 or older who had used inhalants for the first time within the past 12 months; 72.3% were under age 18 when they first used.
  

• Nationwide, 2.4% of high school students had used heroin one or more times during their life.
  
• Nationwide, 6.3% of high school students had used Ecstasy one or more times during their life.
  
  

Violence

• In 2005, 23.4% of youths ages 12-17 reported that, in the past year, they had gotten into a serious fight at school or work.
  
• In 2005, 7.4% of youths ages 12-17 reported that, in at least one instance, they had attacked others with intent to seriously hurt them.
  
• Nationwide, 18.5% of high school students had carried a weapon (gun, knife, or club) one or more days in the last 30 days. The prevalence of having carried a weapon was higher among male (29.8%) than female (7.1%) students.
  
• During the past year, 9.2% of students nationwide had been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend (dating violence).
  
• During the past year, 7.9% of students nationwide had been threatened or injured with a weapon (gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times.
  
• Nationwide, 6.0% of students had not gone to school on 1 or more days of the last 30 days because they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.
  

Mental Health

• In 2005, there were 3.4 million youths ages 12-17 years old (13.7% of 12- to 17-year-olds) who had at least one Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in their lifetime and 2.2 million youths (8.8%) who had MDE during the past year.
  
• The rate of MDE in the past year was higher for adolescent females (13.3%) than for adolescent males (4.5%).
  
• The occurrence of major depressive episode in the past year among youths ages 12-17 was associated with a higher prevalence of illicit drug or alcohol dependence or abuse (19.8%).
  
• Nationwide, 16.9% of high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year. Overall, the prevalence of having seriously considered attempting suicide was higher among female (21.8%) than male (12.0%) students.
  
• Nationwide, 8.4% of high school students had actually attempted suicide one or more times during the past year. Overall, the prevalence of having actually attempted suicide was higher among female (10.8%) than male (6.0%) students.
  

Eating Disorders

• Nationwide, 12.3% of high school students had gone without eating for 24 hours or more to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight during the last 30 days.
  
• During the last 30 days, 6.3% of students nationwide had taken diet pills, powders, or liquids without a doctor’s advice to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight.
   
• Nationwide, 4.5% of students had vomited or taken laxatives to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight during the last 30 days. Overall the prevalence of having vomited or taken laxatives to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight was higher among female (6.2%) than male (2.8%) students.
   
• Approximately 1-2% of late adolescent or adult women suffer from bulimia.
  
• One percent (1%) of female adolescents suffer from anorexia. In other words, 1 out of every 100 young women between 10-20 years old is starving herself, sometimes to death.
  
• Four percent (4%), or 4 out of 100, college-age women have bulimia.
  
• About 50% of people who have been anorexic develop bulimia or bulimic patterns.
  
• About 31% of American teenage girls and 28% of boys are somewhat overweight.
  
• An additional 15% of American teen girls and nearly 14% of teen boys are obese.
  

Sexual Activity

• Currently 46.8% of all high school students report they have had sexual intercourse. The percentage of high school students who have had sex decreased 13.3% between 1991 and 2005 (54% to 46.8%).
  

• Nationwide, 6.2% of high school students had had sexual intercourse for the first time before age 13. Overall, the prevalence of having had sexual intercourse before age 13 was higher among male (8.8%) than female (3.7%) students.
  

• Nationwide, 14.3% of high school students had had sexual intercourse with four or more persons during their life. Overall, the prevalence of having had sexual intercourse with four or more persons was higher among male (16.5%) than female (12.0%) students.
  

• Among the 33.9% of currently sexually active students nationwide, 62.8% reported that either they or their partner had used a condom during last sexual intercourse. Overall, the prevalence of having used a condom during last sexual intercourse was higher among male (70.0%) than female (55.9%) students.
  

• Among the 33.9% of currently sexually active high school students nationwide, 23.3% had drunk alcohol or used drugs before their last sexual intercourse.
  

• Fifty-two percent (52%) of teens report that they have sexually active friends.
   

• Youth exposed to sexual content on television were more likely to overestimate the frequency of sexual activity among peers and more likely to have more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex.
  

Teen Pregnancy

• Three in ten teenage girls (31%) become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 – more than 750,000 teen pregnancies a year. Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended and 81% are to unmarried teens.
  
  
  
• The U.S. teen pregnancy rate for teens ages 15-19 decreased 36% between 1990 and 2002.
  
  
  
• Despite impressive declines over the past decade, the United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the Western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually.
  

• About one in ten girls who first has sex before age 15 describes it as involuntary.
  
  

• A majority of both girls and boys who are sexually active wish they had waited. Of those who have had sex, more than one half of teen boys (55%) and the majority of teen girls (70%) said they wish they had waited longer to have sex.
  

STDs

• Nineteen (19) million new STD infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24.
  

• One in two sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25.
  

• Forty percent (40%) of older adolescents surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation incorrectly believe that the contraceptive “pill” and “shot” protect against STDs and HIV.
  

• Some young people, including those who had abstinence education, consider oral and anal sex to be abstinent behaviors and do not realize these behaviors present risks of STD transmission.
  

• Adolescents believed they are tested during routine medical examinations for major STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV, hepatitis B, herpes, HPV, syphilis, and trichomoniasis.
  

HIV/AIDS

• Nationwide, 87.9% of high school students had ever been taught about AIDS or HIV infection in school.
  

• Half of all new HIV infections occur among adolescents.
  

• In 2004, an estimated 4,883 people ages 13-24 received a diagnosis of HIV infection or AIDS, representing about 13% of the people given a diagnosis that year.
   

• African-Americans were disproportionately affected by HIV infection, accounting for 55% of all HIV infections reported among young persons ages 13-24.
  

• An estimated 232 young people with AIDS died in 2004.
   

• In 2004, an estimated 7,761 young people were living with AIDS, a 42% increase since 2000, when 5,457 young people were living with AIDS.
  

Here are loads of hot lines and websites that can help with the certain situations listed: