Survey suggests U.S. teens are smoking, fighting, drinking less

N EW YOR K — American teens are smoking less, drinking less and fighting less. But they’re texting behind the wheel and spending a lot of time on video games and computers, according to the government’s latest study of worrisome behaviour.

Generally speaking, the news is good. Most forms of drug use, weapons use and risky sex have been going down since the government started doing the survey every two years in 1991. Teens are wearing bicycle helmets and seatbelts more, too.

“Overall, young people have more healthy behaviours than they did 20 years ago,” said Dr. Stephanie Zaza, who oversees the study at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The results come from a study of 13,000 high school students last spring. Participation was voluntary and required parental permission.

Highlights of the study: SMOKING: Fewer than 16 per cent of the teens smoked a cigarette in the previous month — the lowest level since the government started doing the survey, when the rate was more than 27 per cent. It’s “terrific news for America’s health,” said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Even so, there are still about 2.7 million teens smoking, he said. The survey did not ask about electronic cigarettes, which have exploded in popularity in the past few years.

Meanwhile, more than 23 per cent said they used marijuana in the previous month — up from 15 per cent in 1991. CDC officials said they could not tell whether marijuana or e-cigarettes have replaced traditional cigarettes among teens. FIGHTING: Fights at school fell by half in the past 20 years. And there was a dramatic drop in kids reporting they had been in a fight anywhere in the preceding year — about 25 per cent, down from 33 per cent two years earlier. TEXTING: Among teen drivers, 41 per cent had texted or emailed behind the wheel in the previous month. That figure can’t be compared to the 2011 survey, though, because the CDC changed the question this time. The latest survey gives texting-whiledriving figures for 37 states — ranging from 32 per cent in Massachusetts to 61 per cent in South Dakota. DRINKING: Fewer teens said they drank alcohol. Drinking of soda was down, too. About 35 per cent said they had had booze in the previous month, down from 39 per cent in 2011. About 27 per cent said they drank soda each day. That was only a slight change from 2011 but a sizable drop from 34 per cent in 2007. SEX: The proportion of teens who had sex in the previous three months held steady at about 34 per cent from 2011. Among them, condom use was unchanged at about 60 per cent. SUICIDE: The percentage who attempted suicide in the previous year held steady at about eight per cent. MEDIA USE: TV viewing for three or more hours a day has stalled at around 32 per cent since 2011. But in one of the largest jumps seen in the survey, there was a surge in the proportion of kids who spent three or more hours on an average school day on other kinds of recreational screen time, such as playing video or computer games or using a computer or smartphone for something other than schoolwork. That number rose to 41 per cent, from 31 per cent in 2011.