Schools
Survey: Pennsbury Students Drink Less
According to a 2009 local survey, students from the Pennsbury School District have a lower than average rate for alcohol abuse.
According to the 2009 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) students from the Pennsbury School District have a lower than average rate for alcohol abuse.
The study, conducted by The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania and the United Way of Bucks County, reported its findings earlier this month at a stakeholders meeting. The report's findings showed a drop across the board from previous identical surveys conducted in 2005 and 2007 on alcohol abuse in the area.
The survey found a nearly 30 percent decline in 10th graders who reported they ever had an alcoholic drink in their lifetime. According to the survey, 49.4 percent of 10th graders said that they have had at least one drink. In 2005, the amount of tenth graders whom admitted to having an alcoholic drink was 78.1 percent, the survey said.
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Pennsbury students also trended lower then a similar national survey, "Monitoring the Future." The national survey, when fielding the same question, found that almost 60 percent of tenth graders nationally reported having used alcohol within their lifetime.
Likewise, 15.5 percent of eighth grade students from the school district reported consuming alcoholic beverages within the past month. The national average is roughly the same, hovering at just over 17 percent.
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Pennsbury parents, according to a similar survey, "PRIDE", said they are optimistic about their child's ability to stay away from alcohol abuse -- 89 percent of the students parents said that they believed their child has never used alcohol.
In the same survey, parents across the board said they believed it was far too easy to get alcohol in the township. When it came to hard liquor, only approximately 13 percent of parents said it was impossible for underage drinkers to obtain. Approximately 30 percent said it was not only obtainable, but fairly easy.
The Pennsbury LYFT United Way of Bucks County is a non-profit community coalition paid for by funded grants from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the mission to help reduce youth substance abuse in the local Lower Makefield, Yardley Borough, Falls Township and Tullytown Borough communities.
