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Bullying, drug and alcohol use down among county teens

Mental health among Maui County and Hawaii teens is a concern

A recent survey that studied risk behaviors among Hawaii youth highlighted several areas of improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic, including declining reports of bullying in Maui County as well as use of drugs and alcohol, but mental health remains a concern statewide. 

The Hawaii State Department of Health, Department of Education, and University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Curriculum Research & Development Group recently released high school and middle school data from the 2021 Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey for all the counties, which showed that 14.1 percent of Maui County public school students in grades 9-12 were bullied in 2021 — a downward trend from 2019, when 18.1 percent reported being bullied. 

Additionally, nearly 34 percent of Maui County teens in 2021 reported having used illicit drugs, the second highest rate behind Hawaii island (37.6 percent). The most commonly used drug in Maui County is marijuana (15 percent).

This is still better than 2019 when 49.4 percent of teens on Maui, Molokai and Lanai reported having tried drugs. 

Also in Maui County, 18 percent of high school teens in 2021 reported having had at least one drink of alcohol on at least one day in the past 30 days of the survey, which is much lower than the 27.7 percent reported in 2019.

This is a biennial survey that has tracked data trends since 1991. The Hawaii YRBS regularly monitors the health risk behaviors of public, non-charter school students statewide with more than 11,000 Hawaii students in 6th through 12th grade participating in the 2021 survey. 

Topics covered in the survey include unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy; protective factors; mental health and suicide; dietary behaviors; and physical activity.

Since 2014, e-cigarettes or vaping pens have been the most commonly used tobacco product among high school teens and experimentation with e-cigarettes was increasing in Maui County, with a peak of 58.1 percent in 2019, but dropped in 2021 to 36.6 percent. 

More than half of teens in Maui County or 51.1 percent in 2021 got their vapes in social settings. 

“It should be noted that the pandemic dramatically reduced retail access and social interaction which may influence changes in these risk behaviors,” the report said. “While youth tobacco and marijuana use appear to have declined, one year of data does not constitute a trend, and they remain a priority public health concern.” 

DOH also cautioned that these results from the 2021 YRBS study were collected under “historically different conditions” for public school students who in the previous 12 months were attending school fully or partially online. 

The decline in use of electronic vaping products was also associated with the outbreak of e-cigarette and vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) cases, the report said. 

“Much work still needs to be done to prevent youth at risk of nicotine and other drug addiction,” the report said. 

In particular, when looking at Maui County adolescents in grades 9-12 who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, the rates of illicit drug use skyrockets to 63.6 percent, the highest in the state. 

As compared to 2019, the statewide data shows a slight decline in youth substance use with 3 percent of high school students (a decrease from 5 percent) and 2

percent of middle school students (a decrease from 4 percent) smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days; 15 percent of high school students (a decrease from 31 percent) and 7 percent of middle school students (a decrease from 18 percent) using electronic vapor products in the past 30 days; and 12 percent of high school students (a decrease from 17 percent) and 3 percent of middle school students (a decrease from 7 percent) using marijuana in the past 30 days.

Adolescent mental health continues to remain a concern statewide.

Findings from the 2021 survey, which protects students’ privacy by allowing for anonymous and voluntary participation, show that Maui County had the highest rate of depression among teens, majority being female, with 36.5 percent reporting feeling sad or hopeless most of the time for two weeks or more to the point where a person stops doing usual activities.

Between 2013 and 2019, depression rates continued to rise among teens in Maui County, peaking in 2019 at 37.9 percent. 

Fortunately, the number of public school students in grades 9-12 who seek mental health support is on the rise in Maui County. In 2021, 21.1 percent reported getting help when they feel sad, empty, hopeless, angry or anxious, compared to 20.5 percent in 2019 and 18.8 percent in 2017.

“Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of Hawaii’s children, adolescents, and young adults by supporting the connections between positive health outcomes and academic achievement for the betterment of our students,” said Lola Irvin, Department of Health Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division administrator, in a news release. 

For more information on the Hawaii YRBS, including state and county results from 2021 and previous years, visit  https://hhdw.org/data-sources/youth-risk-behavior-survey and https://www.hawaiihealthmatters.org/

* Staff Writer Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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