Survey: Only half of students feel they matter to the community

Only about half of secondary school students surveyed by the Public School System feel that they matter to the community.

PSS science program director Jackie Quitugua cited in her presentation last week that 55 percent of high school students and 56.6 percent of middle school students “agree or strongly agree that they feel like they matter to people in their community.”

The data was taken from the result of the 2003 PSS Youth Risk Behaviors Survey which was administered to 2,177 high school students and 1,543 junior high school students.

The survey also showed that high school students feel more confident about their decision-making than middle school students.

The survey said that 66 percent of middle school students agree or strongly agree that they are good at making decisions and following through on them. The number is bigger in high school at 72 percent.

Survey results also showed that less high school students feel their teachers are concerned about them and that their parents love them compared with middle school students.

As to whether their teachers “really care about them and give them a lot of encouragement,” 72 percent of middle school students said they agree or strongly agree. The percentage is down with high school students at 59.8 percent.

Eighty-three percent of middle school students and 80.9 percent high school students agree or strongly agree that their parents have clear rules and standards for their behavior.

About 84 percent middle school students also agree that their families love them and give them help and support when they need it. The percentage is down to 81 percent in high school students.

The PSS called on the community, especially the parents and guardians, to be aware of their children’s “risk behaviors,” including their sexual practices.

“This is everyone’s responsibility. These are all our children. We need to be aware of their sexual orientation and how to effectively address their concerns,” said Quitugua.

She said there remains a big concern on this issue when it comes to the high school level.

“We’re most concerned about the high school,” said Quitugua.

YRBS surveys in 2001 and 2003 showed that secondary students have been engaging in pre-marital sex, with some of them doing it before age 11 and 13.

Some of them had had sex with four or more partners.

In 2001, 41 percent of students said they used condom in their last intercourse.

In 2003, 53.6 percent of students said they used condom in their last sexual intercourse.

CNMI YRBS is a component of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which was designed to focus the nation on youth behaviors among youth related to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in both young and adult, and to assess how these risk behaviors change over time.

The surveillance system measures behaviors that fall into six categories: Behavior that result in unintentional injuries and violence, tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, sexual behaviors that result in HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, dietary behavior, and physical activity.