Reporting back to the community: Findings with Mercer Island students

1. Reporting back to the community: Findings with Mercer Island students

2. Demographics • Middle school Ethnicity: 72.1% Caucasian, 17.0% Asian, 2.4% Hispanic, .5% African-American, 5.1% Bi-/Multi-racial, 2.6% other Mothers’ education: 44.1% college degree 36.5% graduate degree Fathers’ education: 36% with college degree 43.7% with graduate degree Marital status: 81.7% parents currently married

3. Demographics (Cont’d) • High school Ethnicity: 69.7% Caucasian, 15.4% Asian, 2.5% Hispanic, 1.6% African-American, 6.6% Bi-/Multi-racial, 4.2% other Mothers’ education: 40.5% college degree 41.4% with graduate degree Fathers’ education: 31.9% college degree 52.3% with graduate degree Marital status: 72.4% parents currently married

4. Procedures • Students saw brief videotape • explaining goals of research • clarifying that participation in no way required • assuring anonymity of responses •  Parents sent letters • explaining the study • providing opportunity to deny consent • Data collection • participation rates ~ 85% • in classrooms via paper-and-pen survey • no personally identifying information asked • completed surveys sealed in manila envelopes

5. Substance use

6. Prevalence of Cigarette Use

7. Prevalence of Cigarette Use

8. Prevalence of Cigarette Use

9. Prevalence of Cigarette Use by Gender

10. Prevalence of Alcohol Use

11. Prevalence of Alcohol Use

12. Prevalence of Alcohol Use

13. Prevalence of Alcohol Use by Gender

14. Prevalence of Marijuana Use

15. Prevalence of Marijuana Use

16. Prevalence of Marijuana Use

17. Prevalence of Marijuana Use by Gender

18. Summary • Middle school substance use is below the national norm • Substance use significantly greater among high school students • Marijuana use among high-school students is significantly higher than national norm • Particularly, cigarette and marijuana use is problematic among high-school boys • Alcohol consumption is similar to the national norm

19. PREDICTORS EXAMINED Parent-child relationship • Closeness: Feelings of trust, open communication • Involvement: In child’s activities/ interests, eating dinner together • Perceived criticism: For “less than perfect” performance • Monitoring: “Really know”, “Try to know”

20. Containment Parents differ in how seriously they react when they discover types of rule-breaking behaviors among their teenage children. Reactions can range from simply talking about the incident or giving warnings for the future, to revoking privileges that are very important to the person. For each of the following items, please indicate how serious the consequences from your parents would be, if they found out you’d done the behavior in question. Substance use Delinquent behavior Rudeness / unkindness Academic indolence

21. PREDICTORS EXAMINED Peer relationships: Quality of close friendships • Support, respect, trust • Conflict, disagreements, quarrels

22. Envy of peers • Sometimes, even good friends can feel envious or jealous of each other. For each of the following, please indicate how much it would it bother you, or make you feel envious, if your friends … • had better SAT scores than you • got a very fancy car as a gift from their parents • were better liked by other kids than you • Academics • Possessions • Popularity

23. Protective factors associated with low substance use: High-school students • Males • Close parent-child relationship • Perceived consequences for substance use • High parental involvement

24. Protective factors associated with low substance use: High-school students • Females • Perceived consequences for substance use • High parental involvement • Few negative interactions (low conflict) with closest friends

25. Internalizing problems(e.g., depression, anxiety, somatic problems)

26. Internalizing problems: National norms

27. Internalizing Problems relative to national norms

28. Internalizing Problems relative to national norms

29. Internalizing Problems relative to national norms

30. Externalizing behaviors(e.g., delinquent, rule-breaking behaviors)

31. Externalizing problems: National norms

32. Externalizing Problems relative to national norms

33. Externalizing Problems relative to national norms

34. Externalizing Problems relative to national norms

35. Percent of middle school students with problems “Much Above Average”

36. Percent of middle school students with problems “Much Above Average”

37. Percent of middle school students with problems “Much Above Average”

38. Percent of middle school students with problems “Much Above Average”

39. Percent of high school students with problems “Much Above Average”

40. Percent of high school students with problems “Much Above Average”

41. Percent of high school students with problems “Much Above Average”

42. Percent of high school students with problems “Much Above Average”

43. Summary of Findings • Middle school • Average “score” or levels of problems for whole school are like national levels • But relatively high proportion of boys reported clinical levels of • anxious/depressed & • thought problems

44. Summary of Findings • High school • Average levels of internalizing problems elevated among MI girls • Average levels of externalizing problems elevated among MI boys and girls

45. Summary of Findings • High school: Proportions with clinical levels of problems • Rule-breaking: high among both boys and girls • Girls: high on all internalizing subscales • Boys: high on anxious/depressed, thought problems, and attention problems

46. Factors associated with low internalizing problems • Males • Close parent-child relationship • High parent involvement • More serious parental consequences for delinquency • Few negative interactions with closest friends • Low peer envy

47. Factors associated with low internalizing problems • Females • Good parent-child relationship • High parental involvement • Few negative interactions with closest friends • Low peer envy

48. Factors associated with low externalizing problems • For both males and females • Good parent-child relationship • High parental involvement • High perceived consequences for substance use • Low negative interactions with closest friends • Low peer envy

49. Non-suicidal Self-injury (NSSI)

50. Prevalence • 29.4% of high school students reported more than one incident of NSSI (compared to 15.9% NESSY) • Among girls, self-hitting, cutting, and body-picking were most prevalent • Among boys, self-hitting, body-picking, and self-biting were most prevalent