The results of the 2015-16 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) for Ventura County were released in December of 2016 and they show many positive trends for local students. The use of alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes is down; drinking and driving is less prevalent; and fewer students report being bullied. However, the survey does illuminate some challenges facing some Ventura County kids. Hispanic students report feeling less safe at school and less connected to their schools than their white classmates.

View highlights for Ventura County and download the results below.

Alcohol

• Lifetime alcohol use by ninth and eleventh graders has declined by 20 percentage points over the past eight years.
• Binge drinking by eleventh graders has declined by 12 percentage points over the past eight years.

Tobacco

• Lifetime cigarette use by ninth graders has declined by 13 percentage points over the past eight years.
• Lifetime cigarette use by eleventh graders has declined by 18 percentage points over the past eight years.
• 25 percent of ninth graders report having used an e-cigarette, which is down three percentage points from two years earlier.
• 37 percent of eleventh graders report having used an e-cigarette, which is up one percentage point from two years earlier.

Marijuana 

• Lifetime marijuana use by ninth graders has declined by 12 percentage points over the past four years.
• Lifetime marijuana use by eleventh graders has declined by nine percentage points over the past four years.
• Marijuana use among ninth and eleventh graders is increasing statewide, but declining in Ventura County.

Bullying and Sexual Harassment

• Bullying is declining for seventh, ninth and eleventh graders.
• More male students than female students say they have been bullied.
• More white students than Hispanic students say they have been sexually harassed.

School Safety

• The percentage of students who say they feel safe at school is increasing for seventh graders but declining for eleventh graders.
• White female students feel the safest at school and Hispanic male students feel the least safe.  

School Connectedness

• The percentage of students feeling connected to their school has increased since 2006.
• Hispanic students feel less connected to their schools than white students.
• The percentage of students who feel adults at school care about them is increasing for seventh graders but declining for eleventh graders.