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Date: 10/18/2022
WHATELY – Kat Allen had both unsettling news and upbeat developments to report from the recent student health survey at nine area schools, including Frontier Regional School District (FRSD).
“What we have seen is a steep reduction in drug and alcohol use,” Allen said, “and unfortunately, especially in the last 10 years, an increase in symptoms of depression and anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.”
Allen, coordinator for Communities that Care Coalition (CCC), which conducted the survey, informed the School Committee that 67 percent of students are anxious most days, with 43 percent too anxious to carry out usual activities. While suicidal thoughts have increased, planning and attempts are only a little higher. 25 percent of students admitted a frequent difficulty in controlling their anger, a symptom of frustration and depression.
Forty-two percent of students are too depressed to follow the daily routine.
The coronavirus pandemic played a role in the difficult emotions students feel, but it wasn’t as influential as its cultural impact would suggest. Only 39 percent said their anxiety was increased by fears of getting COVID-19 or having the sickness in their family.
According to Allen, “The COVID[-19] pandemic only exacerbated what was already happening. There seems to be a move toward less in person interaction and more online interaction.” Time in front of monitors contributed to a big drop in risky behaviors like drinking and driving. “Those have been largely replaced by depression, anxiety, loneliness [and] isolation disorders. The [coronavirus] pandemic just pushed us farther down that road.”
Social media itself may be an addiction. Almost half of all students reported heavy social media use, with a third claiming they’d like to use it less. 13 percent of students want to get off social media but worry they’ll be left out. Almost 66 percent of students reported surfing the web more than three hours a day, though Allen recommended no more than two hours of recreational screen time daily.
A nice surprise Allen gleaned from the survey? Alcohol use among students is no longer the norm. For the first time students are reporting they know few kids that drink. Alcohol use has not returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, which were already lower than many parents thought.
“Parents are often blind to how things have changed,” Allen told the school committee. “Most parents think that drug and alcohol use have gotten worse and worse, since the generations when they were in school. It is absolutely the opposite.”
Alcohol use among students dropped from 49 percent in 2003 to 21 percent this year.
Tobacco use is another bright spot in the survey. Cigarette smoking is all the way down to 2 percent, but has been replaced by vaping, which has additional dangers. Dipping tobacco is also much less of a problem among youth, although there are still pockets, specific groups, that put a chew in their cheek.
“We have something like 2 percent of our youths that are smoking,” Allen said. “Chewing tobacco use … I’m not sure it’s baseball players entirely. They’re using sunflower seeds.”
This 20th year of the student health survey was carried out by Allen’s arm of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG). A total of 1,588 students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades were surveyed in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area. While the survey this year highlighted the epidemic of depression and anxiety it also revealed strongly positive signals about the healthy and supportive behavior of families.
Allen said, “One fascinating and wonderful piece of the data that we have been seeing is improvements in families on things like family attachment and family management, and opportunities for positive involvement in the family.”
The presentation quotes a student who said parents have “a really big impact” on youth mental health and substance use. One positive trend Allen lauds is that parents are setting and enforcing clear and fair rules for their children. That trend has been observed for a decade. Student feelings of family attachment, over the twenty years of health surveys, increased from 48 percent to 58 percent.
Depression and anxiety have increased, but Kat Allen saw a lot to feel good about in the most recent student health survey. The long term increases in positive family interactions have resulted in continued reductions in drug and alcohol use. Risky behaviors with tobacco have declined steadily, and in the case of cigarettes, have become rare among students.
For Allen, it’s all about the family.
“What could be more important than family attachment and family harmony?” she asked. “Those things have improved.”