Student survey sees risky use of Internet

Confirming fears of parents, educators, and law enforcement officials, 15 percent of high school students who answered a local youth risk survey said they have met in person someone whom they initially had contact with over the Internet.

And nearly a quarter reported giving out personal information in cyberspace for reasons other than purchasing goods.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone said results of the survey, administered last March by Emerson Hospital, show that "the Internet presents growing dangers to our children."

"This is a major challenge for law enforcement because of the complex investigative issues, the constant evolution of technology, and the virtual prevalence and anonymity of the Internet," said Leone.

The survey, which covers a wide array of risky behaviors, was administered to more than 8,000 sixth- and eighth-graders and high school students in nine districts north and west of Boston. The hospital provided overall results this month; individual districts were scheduled to release their results at local meetings this week and in coming weeks.

The survey, which is given and compiled by Northeast Health Resources of Haverhill, has been conducted every other year since 2000 to measure student participation in risky activities. Internet security questions were asked for the first time last spring in response to growing concern over the lack of care youngsters take when they go online.

The survey results also show slight drops in behaviors such as alcohol use, bullying, tobacco use, and attempted suicide from 2004 to 2006, especially among eighth-graders. Answers to questions on sexual behavior remained steady.

For example, the percentage of eighth-graders who said they had been bullied dropped from 27 percent to 22 percent. The number of eighth-graders who said they had seriously considered suicide dropped from 15 to 10 percent. There were also drops in smoking and alcohol use. High school students who have tried smoking dropped from 34 to 29 percent. High school students who had participated in binge drinking dropped from 27 to 24 percent.

The students who participated in the survey are from Acton, Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, Boxborough, Concord, Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, Groton-Dunstable, Littleton, Maynard, and Westford.

The local results on Internet habits are comparable to conclusions reached in a national study conducted by Cox Communications in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last spring.

That study found that 45 percent of students surveyed had been asked for personal information on the Internet by someone they didn't know, and 14 percent met face to face with a person they had known only through the Internet.

Leone said it is critical for parents and educators to continue to teach children about the dangers of the Internet while collaborating with law enforcement on new ways to protect students.

And Kathy Bowen, health education coordinator for the Concord-Carlisle schools, said the Internet results raise a red flag that shouldn't be ignored. The regional district and the Concord school district were scheduled to release local survey results Tuesday of this week.

"We now know how prevalent it is," Bowen said. "The question now is do we need to do more than we're doing to impact the decisions kids are making. It's a wonderful resource, but it is a double-edged sword."

Community groups and school districts use the information from such surveys to develop programs and curriculums geared toward reducing risky behaviors.

"We really try to take the survey apart and see what we've done for curriculum and see if there's been an impact," said Bowen. "We tend to have a sense from state trends what might be happening. This survey helps us understand what is happening."

Judy Robinson, health coordinator for the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, said the survey results show the district is making "good progress" in dealing with some risky behaviors, but "there are still areas we want to focus on."

Robinson said that she was particularly pleased with the drinking and cigarette results but that it's important not to let up in those two areas.

"We've seen some steady downward trend around alcohol use," said Robinson, who is also the coordinator of the Groton-Dunstable Coalition, a nonprofit group formed after the first Emerson survey. "It's the drug of choice among teen-agers and the one that causes the most problems in their lives. It's very heartening to see."

The survey is similar to one distributed by the state that samples 51 districts.

The Emerson survey is given to every student in the participating districts. The 2006 survey was administered to 5,412 high school students, 1,452 in eighth grade, and 1,374 in sixth grade. The survey had 68 questions for sixth-graders, 92 for eighth-graders, and 133 for high school students. It is voluntary and anonymous. Parents can exempt children from taking it.

John Lyons, the K-12 curriculum coordinator for the Westford public schools, said his district saw drastic changes this time around.

"I've never seen the number of significant reductions in risky behaviors across the board in all three survey groups in my 12 to 15 years of doing this," Lyons said. "The number of reductions are remarkable, and the trends are all moving in the right direction."

Lyons said trying to get any change in risky behaviors is difficult enough but there were significant drops in alcohol and tobacco use from two years ago.

Bowen said that on average most of the numbers are encouraging. However, there are some alarming trends when the numbers are broken down by age group. For example, alcohol use overall is down in the district, but not among 10th-graders.

Overall, alcohol and marijuana use are the biggest problems the district faces, Bowen said.

Christine Schuster, president and chief executive officer of Emerson Hospital, said the survey results prove that proactive health curriculums promote positive changes in student behavior.

"As a parent myself, I understand the concern of helping to guide young people as they navigate through new technologies like the Internet," Schuster said. "We believe that by gathering data directly from within our communities, we can help to create the most effective educational programs and classroom instruction to give both parents and children the best community-based prevention and intervention initiatives possible."

Emerson puts out a booklet for parents, "Red Flags and Resources." The booklet is designed to help parents identify warning signs of risky behavior in youths and to help them find support.

Copies of the book are available by calling 978-287-3085.