BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
EDISON – Members of the Edison Board of Education were briefed on the results of an Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Edison Municipal Alliance offering data on student suicide and depression rates, drug abuse, violence and sexual experience.
Lisa Gulla, the program coordinator for Substance Abuse Resource Center of the Edison Department of Health and Human Services, said that the report, while showing increases in many of the above areas, was an inherently positive report showing that the programs put in place by the district are working.
“I see it as extremely positive,” Gulla said.
The last such survey conducted by the Municipal Alliance in 1998 provided the basis by which the numbers had differed. Gulla listed how the numbers had changed, citing small increases in most areas that changed, and in some cases, sharp declines.
The key component in the areas that have increased are not necessarily things that Edison is deficient at, according to Gulla. They are simply a sign of the times.
The data Gulla was comparing the new survey to was pre-9/11.
In that time period, the country has lived under heightened intuitive risk. The numbers, Gulla said, reflect those societal changes, and since the first survey was done before 9/11, the post-9/11 world may have influenced the students.
“There have been a lot of life changes in the last seven years,” Gulla said. “We do see an increase, but we don’t know how much of that is a trend. It’s because we didn’t have the data for the last seven years.”
Gulla said that the intention was to complete a survey like this every five years. Unfortunately, she said, it was difficult getting approval for the survey when the time came in 2003.
The report surveyed ninth- and 10th-graders at the township’s two high schools. The participation rate in the survey was 81 percent of the available pool of students. Some students opted out of taking the survey immediately, and others opted out on the day it was administered.
According to the report, 79 percent of the students surveyed were involved in some sort of extracurricular activity. Gulla said that the report’s more positive outlook is thanks, in part, to the participation rate among the students.
“We’re spending money on sports programs and after-school programs, and it’s for reasons like this,” Gulla said of the relatively low growth in problem areas the report has shown.
Superintendent of Schools Carol Toth said that the participation rate was very telling.
“Keeping them engaged, keeping them involved is a key component,” Toth said.
According to Gulla, the report asked students about suicide and found that while the instances of suicide ideations has decreased, the attempt of suicide has increased by 1.5 percent, which Gulla said was slightly higher than the national average. Gulla credits increased crisis counseling in the schools.
“They were able to impact students who were more fence-sitters about it,” Gulla said. “However, when we get to students who have attempted suicide, there we have a slight increase and that’s an issue of concern.”
Gulla said that the rate of hospitalizations for those who have attempted suicide has decreased.
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According to the report, 22 percent of students surveyed have said they have had some physical abuse. It showed a slight increase from the 1998 survey, specifically in abuse levels from peers and gangs.
Gulla said that 53 percent of students were aware of a gang presence, a 6 percent increase since the 1998 numbers. There is an increase in females participating in gangs.
When asked which gangs the report was speaking of, Gulla said that there is not one specific gang or group of gangs but simply groups from in and outside of the school that are recruiting in Edison.
The report identifies two different types of gangs: the more formalized gangs that are common in urban areas and the informal gangs, those made up of kids acting like they are in a gang.
She said that the process for dealing these “wannabe” gang members is the same as the genuine article.
“If they are a wannabe,” Gulla said, “you have to treat them that way because they are going to act that way.”
The report suggests that there is a 2 percent increase in concern for their own safety.
The instances of substance abuse have also gone down, according to Gulla. The use of marijuana has gone down 6 percent and the use of alcohol 3 percent, and students are starting to use these substances at an older age than previously studied. The use of cocaine is at 7 percent and the use of heroine has decreased but is still higher than the national average.
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Assistant Superintendent Rose Trafficante said that the information given in the survey is trend data, meaning it is students talking about themselves and is not black-and-white statistics. What it does do, she said, is show that the programs in existence are working and that the amount of money being spent on these programs is at least justified.
“I think when we look at the effectiveness of counselors and educating children, and working on decision-making skills, refusal skills, that came out loud and clear in the survey,” Trafficante said.
In terms of the places where the numbers have increased, Trafficante said that the district would be interested in looking at the policies, revising them and sharing them with principals and teachers.
Trafficante said there was nothing in the survey that “shocked or surprised” the administration, but it provided a way for the administration to take a step back from the day-to-day and look at the overall picture.
“When you’re working in the day-to-day mix of the school day and the lives of the kids, do you have the luxury to stop and say, ‘Hey, is this getting better or worse,” Trafficante said. “So, I would like to be able to sit with the principals and have Lisa [Gulla] back.”