By JAN HOFFMAN
© 2018 New York Times News Service
One in 7 high school students reported misusing prescription opioids, one of several disturbing results in a nationwide survey of teenagers that revealed a growing sense of fear and despair among youth in the United States.
Nationally, 1 in 5 students reported being bullied at school; 1 in 10 female students and 1 in 28 male students reported having been physically forced to have sex.
“An adolescent’s world can be bleak,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the survey and analyzed the data. “But having a high proportion of students report they had persistent feelings of hopelessness and 17 percent considering suicide is deeply disturbing.”
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is given every two years to nearly 15,000 students in high schools in 39 states, and poses questions about a wide array of attitudes and activities.
The report did offer some encouraging trends, suggesting that the overall picture for adolescents is a nuanced one. Compared to a decade ago, fewer students reported having had sex, drinking alcohol or using drugs like cocaine, heroin or marijuana.
Because this was the first time that the question about prescription opioids had been given, the researchers who compiled the report could not say whether the 1 in 7 (or 14 percent) figure represented an increase or decrease.
Although health disparities still remain among races, some sexual risk behaviors are decreasing across the board.
Risky behaviors were disproportionately higher among gay and bisexual teenagers.
Their sense of emotional and physical safety is becoming only more threatened. In the 2015 survey, three times as many lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers reported having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse as their heterosexual peers. This year, four times as many indicated that they had been raped.
Geography also had an effect on results.
