January 16, 2018
With the results of the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in, students, teachers, administrators and members of the community can gain insight into the lives of Lexington High School students.
According to the Executive Summary of Lexington High School’s survey results, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a survey developed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “monitor health behaviors among middle school and high school students.” The survey covers topics associated with youth health behavior, including substance use, automobile safety, bullying and violence, sexual behavior, suicidal ideation and symptoms of depression and academic stress.
The questions on the YRBS were based on the CDC’s official questionnaire but were further specialized to fit the needs of LHS students. In order to measure behavioral trends over time, the 2017 survey questions were almost identical to those on the 2015 survey.
The survey was administered in February 2017, with 77.4% of the student body’s participation.
“We share some of the results in health class just to show that these behaviors are happening,” Valerie Aloi, a health teacher at LHS, said.
The results are also used to inform the health curriculum and the administration about aspects of students’ lives that need attention, such as academic stress, bullying and mental health issues.
The statistics about drug and alcohol use not only to the types of drugs present at LHS, but also at what age students start using them. While 46.0% of freshmen have consumed alcohol before, the number increases to 66.7% by sophomore year.
“There’s a huge jump between using substances between ninth graders and tenth graders, with alcohol in particular,” Aloi said. “We’re in a curriculum review year, so we’re talking about what kind of education could we do freshman year to help that jump.”
Stress is also a major focus of the YRBS results, seeing as Lexington reportedly has high student stress levels.
“I think it’s really hard for students to find that [healthy] balance, because of the expectations, because of whether those pressures are coming from themselves, … from parents, … from community … or from staff. Wherever they’re emanating from, the pressure to succeed is very high here, and I think the stress level is high,” Dr. Mary Czajkowski, the Superintendent of Lexington Public Schools, said.
Juniors report the highest stress levels with 65.9% of juniors stressed about homework, 66.3% stressed about classes and 74.1% stressed about planning for life after high school.
“From the beginning of the year, everyone is telling you junior year is super stressful. Classes are super hard, you have to take SATs and plan for college. All the talk about it has stressed me out,” Kesinia Sortor, a junior, said.
“When I looked at the YRBS data and looked at the rate of suicide, and the number of students contemplating suicide, it was disturbing, because these are young students that have their full lives ahead of them,” Czajkowski said.
The increased insight into student stress has informed various policies, including the homework policy that was instituted in the 2017-2018 school year.
“When looking at the high amount of student stress, the school committee said, how can we change the homework policy in a way that can make a difference?” Czajkowski said.
The full results of the survey can be viewed at https://lps.lexingtonma.org/cms/lib/MA01001631/Centricity/Domain/547/2017%20YRBS_Executive%20Summary%20-%20High%20School..pdf
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