Hawaii student
health survey seeks
support from parents

Isle students are surveyed
annually on risks to their health

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By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com

A new pamphlet highlighting the results of recent student surveys on health-related behavior, from substance abuse to physical fights, will soon be sent home with all 100,000 public school students in sixth to 12th grades.

State officials are also appealing to parents to complete consent cards allowing their children to participate in the surveys this year.

It is vital that students take part to ensure that survey results are valid and that funding for health programs goes where it is most needed, officials said.

The "Hawaii School Health Surveys 2000-2002" pamphlet, being delivered to public schools in the next two weeks, reports on the results of three surveys administered anonymously to students. Findings include:

>> In 2002 the percentage of students reporting that they had ever tried methamphetamine was half the rate in 1989.

>> In 2001 a quarter of high school students and a third of middle school students reported having been in a physical fight on or off campus in the previous year.

>> Rates of alcohol use are at an all-time low for all grades.

>> Use of the drug Ecstasy is rising among secondary school students.

>> One-third of high school students report ever having had sex.

>> Nine percent of high school students said they drove after drinking, down from 14 percent in 1999.

"Some highlighted findings show improvement over previous results, but there's still much work to do," said Dr. Chiyome Fukino, state director of health. "It is critical that we monitor this activity and the attitudes our children have toward these issues so we can effectively address them and work to reduce risk factors that lead to these behaviors."

Many prevention and treatment programs depend on the data from these surveys, conducted by the Department of Health in collaboration with the Department of Education. Parent/guardian permission cards for the surveys were sent home with students in grades six to 12 at the start of the school year.

The surveys include questions about alcohol, tobacco and drug use; nutrition; physical activity; injuries; and sexual activity.

Students with permission to participate will be randomly assigned one of the three surveys: the "Hawaii Student Alcohol and Other Drug Use Survey," the "Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey" and the "Hawaii Youth Tobacco Survey."

The pamphlet highlighting recent findings and all three reports are available on the Department of Health Web site at www.hawaii.gov/doh.