It can be difficult to understand how a teenager thinks, but the results of a statewide survey could help shed light on the challenges area youth face and how to better meet their needs.
The Student Health And Risk Prevention Survey is administered every two years, and 1,020 Summit County students in sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades completed the assessment in March. With the results released earlier this month, behavioral health officials hope to use the information about critical topics including mental health, substance abuse and bullying to determine the best community response.
However, less than half of eligible high schoolers in Summit County took part in the survey, possibly because of delayed registration. There must be at least 60% participation for the results to be considered valid and usable by nonprofit organizations seeking to translate the data into funding opportunities.
Still, SHARP Survey Project Manager Mary Johnstun thinks it’s an accurate reflection of area youth.
“Without this data, we would be left in the dark about what students’ needs are on many levels,” she said.
High schoolers in the three Summit County school districts reported using alcohol and binge drinking, marijuana, hallucinogens as well as tobacco and vaping products at higher rates than the rest of Utah. Around 55% of seniors said they’ve consumed alcohol and 46% reported trying cannabis. Meanwhile, the state average for the same grade level was around 19% for each substance.
Students also seemed to indicate a lower perception of risk for engaging in certain behaviors, and they said they felt their parents and peers were slightly less disapproving compared to the rest of the state.
For example, around 80% of seniors said their parents feel it would be “wrong or very wrong” for them to smoke marijuana while almost 94% of 12th graders in the rest of Utah had the same response. Around 65% of respondents consider smoking weed regularly to be a moderate or great risk with 73% of young Utahns holding the same opinion. About 61% of Summit County high schoolers who admitted to consuming alcohol said it was done at their home with their parents’ permission. The figure was 49% statewide.
Local high schoolers said they were less concerned about getting bullied, gun violence, a peer completing suicide, gang activity and earthquakes or fire than the rest of the state, and more worried about students using alcohol or drugs — though seniors had less concern in this area compared to their underclassmen. Most teenagers also said they felt safe at school, with the bathrooms and parking lots noted as the potentially riskiest areas across Utah.
Summit County teenagers were slightly more apathetic about their education than their peers. Students had lower rates of feeling like assigned work is meaningful, enjoying their time at school and finding the future value in what they are learning. However, they were closer aligned with the rest of the state in feeling that their school districts provide a positive and welcoming environment.
“While substance use is higher in Summit County, that isn’t the only measurement of note for the area,” said Johnstun. “There are many areas of strength … in the county — areas in which Summit County youth are scoring higher than the state or nation.”
For instance, local teenagers had lower rates of prescription drug use and abusing related narcotics, stimulants or sedatives, reported needing less high or moderate mental health treatment and had fewer indicators of depression, suicide, self-harm or social isolation. Vaping use has decreased, too. There also weren’t as many outside social factors, such as a parent losing a job or an unreliable internet connection, that contributed to poor health in Summit County youth. Summit County students also had better physical health and higher activity levels.
State officials were pleased to see students report an overall decrease in the use of alcohol, tobacco products, vaping and other substances. E-cigarette usage was around 19% for all high schoolers in the state in 2019, and the number dropped to 15% in 2021 and 12% this year.
“Students need to be given an opportunity to safely and anonymously share what is going on in their lives,” Johnstun said. “SHARP has been providing students with a vehicle to tell us about their needs, their strengths, and their experiences for the past 20 years, and we have been able to listen to student voices to meet them where they are, address their needs with tested effective programs, and ultimately use the feedback to better serve them.”
Johnstun added the information allows health departments and other authorities to support their work with regional and state data. This helps the organizations evaluate progress and programming by tracking trends while determining where to allocate funding.
Officials have often struggled to get parental consent, which is required for a student to participate in the survey. There are some misconceptions about data privacy, though the survey is completely anonymous, as well as unfounded fears that talking to youth about risky behaviors such as using drugs will increase their likelihood of engaging in those activities.
Johnstun will discuss the SHARP Survey data from 5 to 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 6 at the Health Department location in Round Valley. She will go through the data as well as risk and protective factors. The 30-minute presentation will be followed by a question-and answer-session.