‘What’s Up With Our Kids’ held at CHS Oct. 18
By: John Tredrea
More than 70 percent of Hopewell Valley’s sixth- through 12th-graders say their families provide them with a lot of love and support one of several factors that social science experts say reduces the odds these young people will engage in risky behaviors like drug and alcohol use.
This was one of the findings of a local survey conducted by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Search Institute which was discussed at a public forum "What’s Up With Our Kids?" held Oct. 18 at Central High School.
The public meeting was spearheaded by the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance, which is leading a broad-based coalition of community groups and individuals in what is known as the Healthy Youth, Healthy Communities Initiative. The initiative follows a program established, and used nationwide, by Search Institute.
Search and the Alliance say that efforts toward a healthier community must be as clearly articulated, focused and inclusive as possible and that they must pay particular attention to young people.
Search’s philosophy and method are straightforward and detailed. Based on their examination of social science research, Search has identified 40 "assets" that, Search says, contribute to healthy youth. Without healthy youth, the reasoning continues, a healthy community cannot be. Also identified by Search are 24 risk-taking behaviors. The more assets a youth has working for him or herself, the less likely it is he or she will engage in risk-taking behaviors, Search says.
Search has administered confidential surveys to about 1 million youths of middle school and high school age nationwide. Students in Hopewell Valley were surveyed this year, and five years ago as well, by Search.
The survey asks students about assets and risk-taking behaviors in their own lives. Assets covered by the survey include family support, support from adults outside the family, parental involvement in schooling, positive peer influence, creative activities, reading for pleasure, knowing how to plan ahead and make choices, ability to resist negative peer pressure, having high self-esteem and optimism about the future.
Among the 24 risk-taking behaviors addressed by Search surveys are binge drinking, smoking, use of illicit drugs, drinking and driving, shoplifting, trouble with police, hitting someone, use of a weapon, skipping school, gambling, eating disorders and attempted suicide.
With Hopewell Valley being no exception, Search says its surveys have shown that the more assets a student has in his or her corner, the less likely it is he or she will engage in risk-taking behavior. As it does everywhere, Search has quantified this trend in the Valley. Based on the results of the survey administered to Hopewell Valley high school and middle school students, Search says a HoVal teen or preteen with 0 to 10 assets will, on average, engage in nine of the 24 risk-taking behaviors. With 11 to 20 assets, the average number of risk-taking behaviors drops by nearly half to 4.6 on average. With 21 to 20 assets, it drops to an average of 2.1. With 31-40 assets, it drops to only .5, Search said.
All 1,587 students in grades six-12 were surveyed in Hopewell Valley by Search. Examples of the survey’s findings on assets include:
70 percent of the Valley students said their family life provided high levels of love and support.
49 percent said they received support from three or more non-parents or adults.
28 percent said their parents were actively involved in their schooling.
24 percent said they perceived that their community values youth.
39 percent said their family has clear rules and consequences for not following, and monitors the young person’s whereabouts.
65 percent said they did at least one hour of homework a day.
43 percent said they felt it was important for a young person not to be sexually active or take alcohol and drugs.
52 percent said they tried to settle conflicts non-violently.
52 percent said they had high self esteem.
71 percent were optimistic about the future.
Search say positive assets promote eight "thriving indicators," including school success, informal helping, valuing diversity, maintaining good health, exhibiting leadership, resisting danger, impulse control and overcoming adversity. In Hopewell Valley, students with 0-10 assets reported, on average, having 2.9 thriving indicators at work in their lives. With 11-20 assets, it was 4.1 indicators. With 21-30, it was 5.2. With 31-40, it was 6.1 thriving indicators.
A broad spectrum of Valley residents of all ages already has begun the process of deciding how to use the information from the Search survey to create a better community. On Oct. 5, teams of students from Timberlane and Central High School discussed the data in depth at a conference facility provided by Merrill Lynch at its Southfields office park in southern Hopewell Township. The evening of Oct. 18, the survey was summarized and discussed at a public meeting at the high school auditorium.
On Oct. 19 and 20, 52 adults and 27 students participated in a "Vision to Action" planning retreat, held at the township municipal services building. Jim Conway of Search described the retreat as "an intergenerational event that involves everyone … on those days, the goal is to come up with a five-year vision of where we want to go as a community, and what we have to do to get there. And, the goal is to make us more developmentally attentive to the needs of young people."
The survey, Tim Duffy of Search says, shows us "reality as reflected by the youth in our community. Our youth has been honest with us. Our charge is to listen to that honesty and respond to it as constructively as we can."
Mr. Conway said the intended "thrust" of the survey is "not prevention per se, but to use the findings of the survey as a community resource to be developed. It’s young people saying: ‘this is what my life is like.’ It becomes a tool for the community to build around."
Findings of the survey can be surprising. "In one town, over 80 percent of the students said they would like to provide community service," Mr. Duffy said. "That surprised me, and some people in that town. I think the expectation was they would say they wanted more recreational opportunities. Having information like that is to have an opportunity you can act on. You can’t act on it if you don’t know about it."
In another town, the findings of the survey moved a school parent who was a professional musician to start a music club for local youths "with strict behavioral limits, a great sound system, a fog machine … It was very successful," Mr. Duffy said.
During the retreat, Mr. Conway said, the Valley began grappling with the question of "how can we begin to do the outreach needed to implement the vision we have of where we want our community to go, now that we’ve seen what our youth has told us in the survey."

