Greenwich student survey yields surprising results
By Jo Kroeker Updated 9:43 am EST, Thursday, November 29, 2018
GREENWICH — Substance abuse, cyberbullying, social media use
and the power of parent influence: The town Prevention Council surveyed about
3,000 middle school and high school students on these and other topics earlier
this year.
Results of the survey will be released next week, but some
educators and council members have spoken on its broader themes.
Responses revealed parents have a strong influence on their
children — a surprising finding that could shift how the council’s 32 members,
from education, law enforcement and health sectors, will approach educating
young people, Commissioner of Greenwich Department of Human Services Alan Barry
said Tuesday.
“We focus all of our efforts on the kids,” Barry said. “That
may not be the most effective strategy. It may be more working with the
adults.”
Students said they were almost half as likely to try drugs
if their parents expressed their disapproval of them.
“Parents will be
pleasantly surprised, or interested to learn, that their view of whether or not
they approve of those behaviors has a lot more efficacy than parents believe
they have,” Greenwich Country Day School Upper School Director Anthony Bowes
said earlier this fall after educators saw a preview of the survey results.
The anonymous survey was filled out by students from
Greenwich Public Schools, Greenwich Academy, Brunswick School, Greenwich
Country Day School, Greenwich Catholic School, Stanwich School, Whitby School
and Sacred Heart Greenwich in February. Full results will be revealed Dec. 4.
Despite the positive influence parents can have, many
students still indulge in harmful or risky behaviors, according to preliminary
survey results.
Nearly 5 percent of
eighth-graders smoked an e-cigarette in the last 30 days, according to the
survey. That percentage jumps to 13 percent of ninth-graders, and almost 36
percent of high school seniors reported vaping in the last month.
The data confirmed the
instincts of public and private school administrators. They suspected the rise
of e-cigarette use, and said it shows the importance of managing the transition
from middle school to high school in preventing substance abuse.
“As adults, we have a
sense of when that happens, but that’s a gut feeling based on anecdotes,” Bowes
said. “This is the students self-reporting when they start engaging in those
behaviors.”
Sandrine Utzinger, a school psychologist for Stanwich
School, said she was relieved prescription drug use was low, considering the
nationwide epidemic.
Students are more likely to take stimulants without a
prescription, 6 percent of seniors, than they are to use drugs such as
oxycodone, less than 1 percent.
Alcohol is still the most popular substance of choice. Five
percent of eighth-graders and 14 percent of ninth-graders reported drinking in
the last month, a percentage that increased steadily to 55 percent in senior
year.
Almost 37 percent of
seniors drink at home, and 45 percent drink in other people’s homes.
“It’s always helpful
to see that alcohol remains the biggest risk for kids,” Tom Sullivan, Greenwich
Academy head of upper school, said in response to the preliminary results.
“Certainly, you could see e-cigs were concerning, but it helped us reaffirm our
baseline understanding.”
The survey also
gauged if students feel supported by their communities, loved and accepted by
family and friends, and have opportunities outside of school to develop new
skills and interests with others.
“It’s about how we
value our youth and how our youth feel valued,” said Ingrid Gillespie,
executive director of Communities 4 Action, a regional resource for education
on substance abuse.
Greenwich students
feel supported by their families, but the town can increase and improve its
after-school offerings, she said.
“How students are
using their free time is a critical factor in looking at students’ engagement
in risky behaviors,” Interim Superintendent of Greenwich Public Schools Ralph
Mayo said.
The survey also found
students often feel insecure in their own identities, which Utzinger said did
not surprise her, because children worry about maintaining perfect images on
social media.
“There’s been a rise
in how they feel about themselves and how they compare to that picture or like
they see online,” she said.
If schools teach
students how to view themselves positively and not compare themselves to
others, it will impact which crowds students choose to go with, which will
impact what they expose themselves to and what they will do to fit in, she
said.
Fitting in would
motivate 56 percent of seniors to try a new drug.
Middle school
students said they started drinking and smoking to prepare for high school, and
high schoolers to prepare for college, Barry said.
Bowes said the data
will help Greenwich Country Day as it expands to include students in grades 10
through 12.
“We couldn’t have
gotten this information at a better time,” Bowes said. “We’re going to have to
deal with issues we haven’t had to deal with in the past, and educate kids we
haven’t been responsible for in the past.”
The survey, which
cost $11,000 to administer, was paid for by the Board of Education and
participating Greenwich private schools.
The Prevention
Council will use the data to apply for a $125,000 per year grant from the
federal Department of Health and Human Services Substance to support drug-free
communities.
In the immediate
future, the data will inform the creation of student focus groups and a survey
of adults, Barry said.
“We have to start
thinking outside the box,” he said. “You just can’t say ‘No,’ but also, we’re
seeing the influence adults and parents have.”