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Pinellas County Schools Health Class Survey

Since 1999, Pinellas County Schools has been surveying health education students with a Health Class Survey.  The middle and high school surveys are anonymous and are only given to students enrolled in 6th Grade Health, 8th Grade Health and the Health Opportunities through Physical Education course in high school.

For the 2011-12 school year, the surveys were completed by health education students between Monday, November 28, 2011 and Friday, December 16, 2011.  For middle schools, 4,749 students participated in the survey.  For high schools, 4,581 students participated in the survey.

Students’ Nutrition Behaviors

Percentage of High School and Middle School Students Eating Breakfast and Lunch on School Days in a Week
ItemsNumber of DaysHigh School
2009
High School
2011
Middle School
2009
Middle School
2011
On the DAYS you got to school, how often do you eat breakfast?026%26%16%18%
116%15%14%15%
2-325%24%24%24%
4-533%35%46%43%
On the DAYS you got to school, how often do you eat lunch?012%11%4%4%
111%10%9%10%
2-329%27%17%17%
4-549%52%70%69%

Key Points for 2011:

  • For middle school student respondents, 57% of students did not have breakfast four to five school days each week.
  • For high school student respondents, 65% of students did not have breakfast four to five school days each week.
  • More student respondents ate lunch, though 31% of middle school student respondents and 48% of high school student respondents didn’t each lunch four to five school days each week.
Percentage of High School and Middle School Students Eating Numbers of Servings from Food Groups
ItemsNumber of DaysHigh
School
2009
High
School
2011
Middle
School
2009
Middle
School
2011
During an average DAY, how many servings of grain or cereal do you eat? (Examples: rice, bread, roll, bagel.)06%8%4%6%
1-243%42%36%41%
3-432%33%36%34%
5-612%11%14%12%
7 or more7%6%10%8%
During an average DAY, how many servings of fruits and vegetables do you eat? 08%8%6%5%
1-246%46%40%38%
3-430%31%34%35%
5-610%9%12%13%
7 or more5%6%9%9%
During an average DAY, how many servings of dairy do you eat? (Examples: carton or glass of milk, yogurt, cottage cheese.)09%8%5%5%
1-225%24%18%19%
3-432%34%34%33%
5-618%19%23%23%
7 or more16%15%21%20%
During an average DAY, how many servings of meat/protein do you eat? (Examples: hamburger, fish, chicken, or protein foods like dried beans.)03%3%2%2%
1-219%18%17%16%
3-434%32%34%34%
5-624%24%25%23%
7 or more20%24%22%24%

Key Points for 2011:

  • The majority of secondary student respondents reported consuming fewer servings of grains, fruits and vegetables, and dairy than is recommended for their age.  A high percentage of these student respondents also reported exceeding the recommended number of servings of meat/proteins.


Students’ Sleep Behaviors

Comparison of the Percentage of Middle School and High School Students Hours of Sleep on School Nights for 2009 and 2011
On an average school night, how much sleep do you get?High
School
2009
High
School
2011
Middle
School
2009
Middle
School
2011
4 hours or less9%8%5%4%
5 hours16%15%5%5%
6 hours26%24%24%9%
7 hours27%28%28%20%
8 hours18%20%20%35%
9 or more hours5%4%4%28%

Key Points for 2011:

  • The high school health survey respondents in Pinellas reported receiving much less sleep than the 8-9 hours recommended for optimal functioning of a teenager (76%).  Because three out of four of our high school students were not receiving enough sleep, they were likely chronically tired, slow to rise in the morning and did not make time to eat.
  • For middle school student respondents, 38% reported receiving less sleep than the 8-9 recommended hours.

 

Alcohol, Drug Use and Suicide Data

ItemsYes Responses
High SchoolMiddle School
During the last 30 days, did you smoke cigarettes?16.30%7.90%
In the last 30 days, did you have at least one drink of alcohol?38.20%15.30%
Have you ever used marijuana?27.40%14.40%
Have you ever sniffed glue?NA10.80%
Have you ever taken a prescription drug (such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, codeine, Adderall, Ritalin or Xanax) without a doctorÕs prescription?16.70%6.80%
Have you ever made a PLAN about how you would kill yourself?16.10%13.00%
Have you ever TRIED to kill yourself?9.90%8.50%

Key Points for 2011 (Note: The data from the Health Class Surveys are self-reported behaviors of only students in Health Education Classes.  These data cannot be interpreted to represent all students or other groups of students within Pinellas):

Compared to the 2010 FYSAS, middle school student respondents reported the following (2010 FYSAS percentage in parentheses):

  • Higher rates of cigarette use (6.6%)
  • Lower rates of alcohol use (17.9%)
  • Higher rates of marijuana use (7.4%)
  • Higher rates of inhalant use (6.1%)

Compared to the 2010 FYSAS, high school students respondents reported the following (2010 FYSAS percentage in parentheses):

  • Higher rates of cigarette use (15.5%)
  • Lower rates of alcohol use (39.6%)
  • Higher rates of marijuana use (20.9%)

The FYSAS separates analgesics, depressants and amphetamines so no comparison is available since the health survey combines all prescription drugs.

Almost 10% of high school and 8.5% of middle school students have tried to kill themselves.

The full report from the Pinellas County Schools can be found in Appendix F.

 

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