When you don’t want to hear the answer to a question, you probably shouldn’t ask it. That’s a lesson that the California Healthy Kids Survey should consider, now that it has released the finding of its new poll of 6,200 fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders.
When you don’t want to hear the answer to a question, you probably shouldn’t ask it. That’s a lesson that the California Healthy Kids Survey should consider, now that it has released the finding of its new poll of 6,200 fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders. True, more local adolescents now think that alcohol and marijuana are dangerous than did in 2005. But that isn’t preventing their reckless behavior. Throughout the county, 36 percent of high school freshmen reported getting sick from binge drinking, up from 29 percent. Over a quarter of those same students reported using marijuana in the last 30 days, up from 18 percent in 2005. Cigarette use is also on the rise, compared to 2007, even though here too, more students realize that it is dangerous.
The good news is that soda-drinking has declined among this age group, though some argue that this is only because it is no longer stocked in school vending machines. In order to get a can of pop, students have to break a sweat and walk to the nearest bodega. That could interfere with the 2 hours a day that 88 percent of students spend watching TV or playing video games every day—considerably less than the 75 percent, who do a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise at least three times a week. No wonder obesity rates are fairly constant.
Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel
