BWC Parent Survey Responses

To follow-up on data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBS) administered to Middle and High School students Spring 2021, BWC created and distributed a survey for parents of Middle and High School students in March 2022. The survey received 295 responses.

Parents responded to questions relating to their opinions and perceptions of teen use of marijuana, alcohol, nicotine, and prescription drugs as well as mental health issues.

See the highlights below and the full survey responses here.

“How often do you talk to your kids about the risks of…”

Open-Ended Question: “If you ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ talk about drugs and alcohol with your child(ren), what has been helpful?“

•Honest & open communication, listening to child (60 responses)

•Using media, current events, real-life examples (52)

•Talking about the risks/facts (52)

•Talk about what peers are doing (5)

•Children bring up the conversation (4)

•School started the education/conversation (3)

•We started when they were young (2)

•They are too young to talk (2)

•We get support from other parents (2)

•We talk about safe consumption (2)

•Other (15)

Open-Ended Question: “If you ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ talk about drugs and alcohol with your child(ren), how come?“

•They talk about it at school (21 responses)

•They’re not interested in using (21)

•I don’t know what to say (19)

•I talk about other substance, but haven’t talked about prescription drugs (17)

•They’re too young (14)

•My kids won’t talk to me (12)

•I haven’t thought about it (9)

•There’s no time (8)

•It hasn’t come up (5)

•We don’t talk about it often, but we’ve talked about it enough (3)

•Other (6)

“Under what circumstance would allow your high school kid(s) to drink alcohol with their friends?”

“Under which circumstance would you allow your high school kid(s) to use marijuana with their friends?”

“How often do you have conversations with your child(ren) about [mental health, e.g., anxiety, depression]?”

“What are you most concerned about with regards to your child’s mental health?”

Stay tuned for BWC’s parent workshops in the upcoming year to address parents’ concerns expressed on this survey!