Poll suggests Naperville teens’ choices healthier

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Updated: September 28, 2011 12:18AM

There’s some good news in the war on teen smoking and alcohol use.

According to recently released results of a longitudinal survey done collaboratively by local school districts and community organizations, Naperville teens continue to exhibit sound judgment when it comes to tobacco and alcohol consumption.

The yearly Power of Choice social norms project, which gauges high school students’ decision making, has seen a decline in the number of kids who reported recently smoking or drinking. During the past seven years, the segment of students who said they had been cigarette-free for a year went up by nearly 10 percent, while those saying they hadn’t had any alcohol in the past 12 months increased by 13 percent.

Less dramatic, but still encouraging, are figures showing the number of teens acknowledging marijuana use in both time spans has gone down by about 2 percent. The survey has asked that question for only the past two years.

Claudia Evenson is an assessment specialist with the Rosecrance drug addiction treatment center, which has offices in Naperville and four other locations in metropolitan Chicago. She has some ideas about the positive alcohol and tobacco numbers.

“One of the differences we see in parents in DuPage is a much greater awareness of the signs and symptoms of experimenting with drugs,” said Evenson, formerly CEO at Linden Oaks at Edward. “And the school staffs do one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen of helping parents.”

A 30-year veteran of the addiction treatment profession and an adherent to the it-takes-a-village philosophy, Evenson is impressed by the Power of Choice project, a cooperative effort of NCO Youth & Family Services, Naperville School District 203, Indian Prairie School District 204, the Naperville Police Department, DuPage County Health Department, Linden Oaks at Edward, Heritage YMCA Group, KidsMatter and District 203 and 204 parents.

Karen Jarczyk, prevention director at NCO, thinks it has helped for kids to know there are plenty of them who choose to say no.

“I think the main focus of the campaign has been about educating students about the reality,” Jarczyk said.

For a long time, she said, prevention efforts unintentionally conveyed the idea — through marketing materials urging kids to forge their own path while showing the masses heading down the wrong one — that sobriety is unique.

“Unfortunately, that set us up with a false perception that everybody uses,” Jarczyk said.

Rather than focusing on kids who smoke and abuse alcohol and other drugs, Power of Choice puts the spotlight on those who don’t.

“It’s about the quiet health that goes on from day to day, that those kids are making healthy choices,” Jarczyk said.

She is careful to add, however, that nobody is suggesting teens aren’t making unhealthy choices sometimes, too.

“It’s important for parents and the community to support both groups of kids,” she said.

For more information, visit www.thepowerofchoice.info.