MiCalhoun :: Indicators :: High School Students who Took a Prescription Drug Not Prescribed to Them, Including Painkillers

Red is bad, green is good, blue is not statistically different/neutral.

Compared to Distribution

an indicator guage with the arrow in the green the value is in the best half of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the yellow the value is in the 2nd worst quarter of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the red the value is in the worst quarter of communities.

Compared to Target

green circle with white tick inside it meets target; red circle with white cross inside it does not meet target.

Compared to a Single Value

green diamond with downward arrow inside it lower than the comparison value; red diamond with downward arrow inside it higher than the comparison value; blue diamond with downward arrow inside it not statistically different from comparison value.

Trend

green square outline with upward trending arrow inside it green square outline with downward trending arrow inside it non-significant change over time; green square with upward trending arrow inside it green square with downward trending arrow inside it significant change over time; blue square with equals sign no change over time.

Compared to Prior Value

green triangle with upward trending arrow inside it higher than the previous measurement period; green triangle with downward trending arrow inside it lower than the previous measurement period; blue equals sign no statistically different change from previous measurement period.

green chart bars Significantly better than the overall value

red chart bars Significantly worse than the overall value

light blue chart bars No significant difference with the overall value

gray chart bars No data on significance available

This indicator measures the percentage of high school students who took a prescription drug not prescribed to them, including painkillers, in the past 30 days.

This data was self-reported through the Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth (MiPHY), an online student health survey offered by the Michigan Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to support local and regional needs assessment. The MiPHY provides student results on health risk behaviors including substance use, violence, physical activity, nutrition, sexual behavior, and emotional health in grades 7, 9, and 11. The survey also measures risk and protective factors most predictive of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and violence.

Why is this important?

Prescription drug abuse is when someone takes a medication in an inappropriate way, such as without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or to get high. Prescription drugs can have dangerous short- and long-term health consequences when used incorrectly or by someone other than for whom they were prescribed for. Some of the reasons teens abuse prescription drugs are to get high, to treat pain, or because they think it will help them with school work. Youth who abuse prescription medications are also more likely to report use of other drugs.

MiPHY results, along with other school-reported data, will help schools make data-driven decisions to improve prevention and health promotion programming.

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