Startling statistics about the 8th to 9th grade transition
4May 20, 2013 by eimrick
8th to 9th grade is one of the most confusing transitions for parents to address, but by far the most important one they will face with their teenager. Here are some key statistics from a school in our community that surveyed 700 8th grade students and then the same students again when they entered 9th grade. Transitioning from 8th to 9th grade is a scary reality of growing up for many children. Some of these stats will help indicate why.
Here were some key statistics:
600% increase in tobacco use from eighth to ninth grade
Students who perceived that their parents think it is “very wrong” to use tobacco or alcohol were 5-6 times less likely to have used tobacco or alcohol.
Students who perceived that their parents didn’t think that using marijuana was wrong were 19 times more likely to have used marijuana.
There was a 1000% increase in kids being offered, sold, or given drugs on school property between eighth and ninth grade.
There was a 350% increase in the number of kids who had had sexual intercourse between eighth and ninth grades.
The substance abuse risk was significantly lower for kids who were involved in after school activities, engaged in community service, talked with their parents about school and friendships, and felt like they mattered to people.
Girls were much less likely to feel like they mattered (depression, self-harm, suicide) and were much more likely to engage in large amounts of facebook and texting
Students who were left alone for eleven or more hours a week were more than twice as likely to use alcohol, seven times more likely to smoke tobacco, and five times more likely to use marijuana than kids who were more closely monitored.
I beg of youth leaders, parents, pastors and community minded people, help students transition and into their 9th grade year!
WHOA… very interesting! may i ask where the stats were found?
What school and what location of the country are you in? Urban, suburban, rural school? Are sports a large factor in the community? Do families need to pay to play? I am curious about the role of families involved and trying to piece these very startling stats together. Not sure how 350% and 1000% actually can be touted.Thanks.
Thanks for writing. These are not nation wide stats or even state wide statistics, but rather the stats from our own kids in our suburban midwestern community outside of Cleveland, Ohio. From the survey of 700 students, we were able to tally the percentages from 8th grade students taking the survey and then answering the same questions when they hit the 9th grade.
Josh, your comment encouraged me to change the verbiage a bit in the article. Instead of saying “there IS a 1000% increase”, I changed all of those stats to say there “was” so as to indicate that this came from one school and that it doesn’t show nation wide stats.