Around 47 per cent of the student body tried vaping for the first time between ages 12 and 14, says BC Adolescent Health Survey.
The School District 72’s (SD72) superintendent Geoff Manning shared the results of the survey, also known as the McCreary Report, during the school board’s March 12 meeting. The report’s data was collected in 2023 and focuses more on adolescents’ lives outside of school. The report is also specific to School District 72.
Topics covered in the survey included home life, mental health, eating behaviours and body image, substance use, sexual health, and others. The report is done every five years. Students are also allowed to choose multiple answers.
The report says only 35 per cent of the school body has tried vaping.
“The ages are what really sticks out to me, 12, 13, and 14. That’s when they’re first getting into that and you know possibly getting addicted. It does taper off the older they get and that jives with what we’ve talked to our student leadership students about.”
A rather astonishing statistic in the report is that 56 per cent of students vape within five minutes after waking up.
The district has been handing out brochures on vaping with information from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.
“We are trying to get that into our students’ hands as soon as possible,” Manning says.
Tobacco use is much lower, with only 20 per cent of students using it. This excludes ceremonial tobacco. Again, introduction to the substance tended to be lower, with 20 per cent reporting they tried it for the first time at 12. Alcohol use for the first time spiked at ages of 13 (19 per cent) and 14 (22). It, however, should not be surprising that more students have tried alcohol than tobacco or vaping, with 49 per cent of students responding they had tried it beyond just trying a few sips. Cannabis usage was lower than alcohol as well, with 33 per cent.
The survey also revealed that 43 per cent of students experienced verbal sexual harassment and 30 per cent had experienced physical sexual harassment. Discrimination was also a tough one for the district, with 29 per cent of students reporting they experienced it at school, substantially more than anywhere else, including online (17 per cent). The biggest reasons student believed they were being discriminated against were because of their physical appearance, weight, gender/sex, and sexual orientation. Religion was the least, with only 3 per cent.
Around 77 per cent of students in the district have had stable housing, not moving residences at all in the past 12 months. Only 19 per cent moved at least once or twice, with four per cent moving three or more times. Additionally, eight per cent of students reported they had run away from home, six per cent were kicked out and one per cent of the student body was homeless.
The majority of students believe their parents know what they are doing, however, less than half (40 per cent) responded that parents didn’t know what they get up to when they are on the internet.
As for school experience, only 58 per cent of the student body felt they were safe in school, while 15 per cent did not, with 27 per cent in between. On the bright side, 63 per cent said they feel their teachers care about them and 64 per cent also said they feel the staff treats them fairly.
The library is also the safest room in a school, according to students. The rooms that feel the least safe in schools are bathrooms, which only 61 per cent said they felt always safe in, with 18 per cent saying they never felt safe. Changing rooms were also low on the list of safe places. Classrooms and the cafeteria were also deemed safe.
Only 26 per cent of the study body reported a mental health condition (depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, etc), while 11 per cent reported a learning disability.
A further section went into the more specific conditions and/or disabilities that were reported, with anxiety and ADHD/ADD being the most prevalent. The report also that only one in four students believe they are managing their stress poorly. Further, 69 per cent of students who responded, say they did not feel they needed mental health services, 11 per cent were able to get the services they needed, while 20 per cent did not.
However, 59 per cent of those who did not access mental health services did so because they did not want their parents or guardians to know. Another 57 per cent hoped the problem would go away, and another 44 per cent were worried their information would not remain confidential. Unfortunately, 43 per cent also did not know where to go.
The study also found most students either turn to a family member (45 per cent) or a friend (37) for information on how to access information on family health. Only 16 per cent asked a mental health professional, while 15 per cent went to school staff. But it was also reported that 32 per cent of stu
dents don’t know where to go to get mental health information.
“That tells me, from a school district perspective, we need to do a better job of informing our students, especially our secondary and middle school students, where the access points are for this information,”
says Manning. “We think we do a good job, but these stats kind of fly in the face of that a little bit, so we have to keep promoting.”
The report also found fewer students sleep for at least eight hours a night than the 2018 report, and more kids are skipping breakfast.
