Pubdate: Mon, 15 May 2000 Source: Foster's Daily Democrat (NH) Copyright: 2000 Geo. J. Foster Co. Contact: 333 Central Ave., Dover, NH 03820 Website: http//www.fosters.com/ Author: Michael Gillis RESULTS OF DOVER TEEN ASSESSMENT SURVEY TO BE MADE PUBLIC WEDNESDAY DOVER , On Wednesday, members of the Drug Free Dover Coalition will release the results of the controversial Teen Assessment Project survey. The public meeting will be held at the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital auditorium at 7 p.m. The survey, which was conducted last November on more than 1,600 middle and high school pupils, posed detailed questions about sex, drugs, alcohol and a host of social issues, including depression. Officials have been awaiting the results to underline areas of concern and map out prevention strategies. Dover police Capt. Dana Mitchell said the purpose of Wednesday night's meeting is twofoldfirst to release the information and then to gauge the community's response. "We're really excited about the chance of getting the information out," he said. The first meeting, Mitchell added, will likely be a general overview of the results. From there, Mitchell hopes parents and community leaders will join forces with the Drug Free Dover Coalition. Mitchell intends Wednesday's meeting to be the first of many. He pointed out that the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, which conducted the grant-funded survey, will help the city "follow through" with the findings over the next several months, which will include a series of newsletters. Mitchell says alcohol will likely be a catalyst for immediate attention, and expects a subcommittee to be formed to address the problem. Although officials have refused to release any of the TAP survey results until Wednesday, Foster's Daily Democrat obtained a draft copy of the executive summary last month. "The Teen Assessment Project (TAP) survey found that many local youth use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs," the summary reads. Alcohol is clearly the most abused drug, according to the results61 percent of students say they have used alcohol at some time, or 34 percent of middle-school pupils and 71 percent of high-school students. About 41 percent of high school students and 12 percent of middle-school pupils indicated they use alcohol once a month or more often. Weekly use reaches 17 percent for high school students and 6 percent for middle-school pupils. In addition, 66 percent of all pupils surveyed claim alcohol is "easy" or "very easy" to get. "Binge drinking" among high school students , five drinks at once , peaks at 41 percent, almost 10 percent higher than the national average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dover's seniors are binge drinking at an even higher rate of 51 percent. Of all students surveyed, 39 percent have used marijuana at some time. For middle-school pupils, the figure is 17 percent. At the high school level, the figure shoots up to 47 percent, 21 percent higher than the national average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, Dover's anti-smoking efforts seem to be working. Only 25 percent of high school students indicated they smoke monthly or more often, 11 percent less than the national average. Middle-schoolers hit 8 percent for monthly tobacco use. On sex, 32 percent of pupils surveyed say they have had sexual intercourse. For middle-schoolers, the figure is 13 percent and for high school students, it reaches 39 percent, 9 percent less than the national average. However, 57 percent of seniors indicated they have had sexual intercourse. Of Dover students who are sexually active, 53 percent use some form of birth control, according to the summary results. A clear majority of pupils , 67 percent , say they have been depressed or sad during the past month. Seventy-seven percent of females reported recent depression or sadness, while 57 percent of males did. Eighteen percent of pupils reported serious thoughts of suicide, while another 18 percent said they have made plans to kill themselves. Perhaps more alarming is that 12 percent say they have attempted suicide, a figure that rises to 15 percent for females. The national average is 8 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students also indicated that they are spending little time discussing these sensitive issues with their parents. Coalition and UNH Cooperative Extension members will be available to answer any questions on Wednesday, Mitchell stressed. The entire results , nearly 200 pages of data , should be available for review Wednesday night, Mitchell said. UNH is contracted to provide 50 copies of the results, he added, some of which will be filed at the Dover Public Library and the middle and high schools. In addition, Mitchell said he intends to post the results online, either on the UNH Web site or the city's. Most important to the coalition, Mitchell said, is that the results "galvanize" the community into action. "It's important to us that this doesn't become one of those surveys that ends up on someone's shelf and collects dust," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart