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Quick Stats on Male Adolescents
Alcohol
- Between 1995 and 1996, the percentage of 8th-graders reporting daily
use of alcohol increased from 0.7% to 1.0%. In addition, the number
of 8th-graders reporting having "been drunk" in the past month increased
from 8.3% in 1995 to 9.6% in 1996. [MTFS]
- Nearly one-third (32.4%) of students first drank alcohol (other than
a few sips) before 13 years of age. Overall, male students (38.6%) were
significantly more likely to have tried alcohol before 13 years of age.
[YRBS]
- Nationwide, 32.6% of students have had five or more drinks of alcohol
on at least one occasion during the last 30 days. Overall, male students
(36.2%) were significantly more likely than female students (28.6%)
to report episodic heavy drinking. [YRBS]
- In 1996, 15.6% of 8th grade students reported binge drinking, while
nearly twice this percentage reported binge drinking in the 12th grade.
[Trends in the Well-being of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department
of Health and Human Services 1997]
- In 1995, 43% of males and 40% of females reported driving after drinking
alcohol or riding with someone who had been drinking. [Trends in the
Well-being of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health
and Human Services 1997]
Tobacco
- In 1995, nearly 1 out of 10 adolescent males at age 12 (9.2%) was
a current smoker. [MTFS]
- Adolescent males and adolescent females share many of the same personal
and social-environmental reasons for smoking, such as low self-esteem,
risk-taking, lower socioeconomic status, and smoking by parents, siblings
and friends. However, adolescent males smoke more to relieve stress
and to "get along" in life, while, adolescent females appear to smoke
more for social reasons. [Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS)]
- Unlike cigarette smoking, male students are significantly more likely
to use smokeless tobacco than are female students, with 20% of males
and only 2% of females reporting smokeless tobacco use in 1995. [Trends
in the Well-being of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of
Health and Human Services 1997]
- A Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers of Disease Control
and Prevention finds that 31% of high school adolescent males have smoked
a cigar one or more times in the previous 30 days. [Source: "Teen Tobacco
Use," USA TODAY, February 24, 1999, p. A1].
Drugs
- Since 1991, past-month marijuana use among 8th grade adolescent males
rose from 3.8% to 9.8% in 1995. [MTFS]
- Students in junior high (grades 6-8) reported statistically significant
increases in monthly use of uppers, downers, hallucinogens, and heroin.
One-tenth (11%) of junior high students, mostly age 11 are current monthly
drug users. [PRIDE Survey].
- Nationwide, 3.7% of students had used steroids without a physician's
prescription during their lifetime. Overall, male students (4.9%) were
significantly more likely than female students (2.4%) to have used steroids.
[YRBS]
- Males are somewhat more likely than female students to report using
inhalants, hallucinogens, and cocaine. The largest gender difference
is seen in marijuana use and is most apparent in the upper grade levels.
Among eighth grade students, 9.8% of males and 8.2% of females reported
marijuana use within the preceding 30 days of the survey in 1995. In
the 10th grade, males reported marijuana use 4 percentage points higher
than that of females. This gender gap increases to 7 percentage points
among high school seniors. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children
and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
Violence
- Among students nationwide, 38.7% had been in a physical fight during
the 12 months preceding the survey. Overall, male students (46.1%) were
significantly more likely than female students (30.6%) to have been
in a physical fight. [YRBS]
- Among 9th grade students, 33.8% of adolescent males say they carried
a weapon (e.g., gun, knife, or club) in the previous month, compared
with 9.3% of girls. [YRBS]
- Male Students (10.9%) were significantly more likely than female
students (5.8%) to have been threatened or injured with a weapon on
school property. [YRBS]
- Violent crime arrest rates climb quickly and steadily with age for
young men, from 153 per 100,000 for 10-12 year olds to 2,042 per 100,000
among 18 year olds in 1994. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children
and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
- Among youth ages 12 to 17, rates of victimization for violent crimes
(e.g., simple and aggravated assaults, rape, and robbery) rose from
79 to 99 per thousand between 1980 and 1990. Rates continued to increase
to a high of 123 per thousand in 1993 before declining to 118 per thousand
in 1994. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children and Youth,
1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation,
Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
- Adolescent males are considerably more likely than adolescent females
to be victims of violent crimes. In 1994, 141 per thousand adolescent
males ages 12 to 17 were victims of violent crimes compared to 95 per
thousand adolescent females. [Trends in the Well-being of America's
Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services
1997]
- The rate of death from homicide for teens ages 15 through 19 more
than doubled between 1970 and 1994, increasing from 8.1 per 100 thousand
in 1970 to 20.3 per 100 thousand in 1994. [Trends in the Well-being
of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human
Services 1997]
Child Abuse
- In 1994, males represented 47% of the total number of substantiated
child maltreatment cases. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children
and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
- Adolescent males are at greater risk of emotional neglect and serious
injury than adolescent females. [National Incidence Study of Child Abuse
and Neglect, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, HHS, 1996]
Suicide
- Suicide is a major cause of death among American youth. Attempted
suicide has been related to mental health problems including depression
and adjustment or stress reactions, as well as to substance abuse. [Trends
in the Well-being of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of
Health and Human Services 1997]
- Male teens are more likely to commit suicide than female teens. The
suicide rate for white males ages 15 through 19 was 18.7 per 100 thousand
in 1994, more than five times the rate of 3.5 per 100 thousand for white
females. The suicide rate for black males ages 15 through 19 is 16.6
deaths per 100 thousand, compared to 2.4 per 100 thousand for black
females in this age group. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children
and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
Sexual Behavior
- The percentage of students nationwide who had initiated sexual intercourse
before 13 years of age was 9.0%. Overall, male students (12.7%) were
significantly more likely than female students (4.9%) to have initiated
sexual intercourse before 13 years of age. [YRBS]
- Over the last three decades, the age of first intercourse has declined.
Higher proportions of adolescent adolescent males and females reported
being sexually experienced at each age between the ages of fifteen and
twenty in 1988 than in the early 1970's. In 1988, 33% of adolescent
males and 27% of adolescent females had intercourse by their fifteenth
birthday. [Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Great Transitions:
Preparing Adolescents for a New Century, 1995]
- The percentage of students nationwide who had had sexual intercourse
during their lifetime with four or more sex partners was 17.8%. Overall,
male students (20.9%) were significantly more likely than female students
(14.4%) to have had four or more sex partners in their lifetime. [YRBS]
- Nationwide, among students who are currently sexually active, one-fourth
(24.8%) reported that they had used alcohol or drugs at last sexual
intercourse. Overall, male students (32.8%) were significantly more
likely than female students (16.8%) to report this behavior. [YRBS]
- In 1995, 61% of males reported using a condom at last intercourse
vs. 49% of females. [Trends in the Well-being of America's Children
and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services 1997]
HIV/AIDS [Office of National AIDS Policy, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention]
- A recent report to the President showed that, on average, at least
one American teenager is becoming infected with HIV every hour of every
day. AIDS is the number one cause of death in Americans 25 to 44. Most
of them were infected when they were in their teens or early twenties.
Social Development and Adult Guidance A significant number of 12- to
14-year-olds are home alone for more than two hours each school day,
and they spend even more time without adult guidance on weekends, holidays,
and during the summer months. Moreover, young adolescents from all economic
strata often find themselves alone with few adults to turn to and no
safe places to go. [Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Great
Transitions: Preparing Adolescents for a New Century, 1995]
- Extensive television watching is negatively related to children's
and youth's academic attainment. For example, children and adolescents
in grades 4, 8, and 11 who watch five or more hours of television per
day have on average substantially lower test scores than other children.
[Trends in the Well-being of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department
of Health and Human Services 1997]
- In general, larger proportions of adolescent males than females are
watching television for long periods of time. This gender difference
is particularly notable among younger students. In 1994, 23% of 9-year-old
adolescent males watched television for six or more hours per day, compared
to 16% of adolescent females in that age group. [Trends in the Well-being
of America's Children and Youth, 1997 edition. Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human
Services 1997]
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