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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler showed results Monday on a newly published survey of the state’s high school students and the results showed substantial drops in tobacco use, binge drinking and prescription drug abuse.

Students surveyed said they were more apt to wear seat belts; less likely to drink and drive or ride with a driver who had been drinking; or talk on a cell phone or message while driving. These findings come from the newest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is voluntarily taken in the spring of odd-numbered years by students in grades seven through 12. Answers are anonymous and cannot be traced back to them.

The survey said 27 percent of the North Dakota high school students who took part in the survey reported feeling “sad or hopeless” almost every day for two or more weeks in the past year.
Fourteen percent said they had planned a suicide attempt in the past year, and 9 percent said they had attempted to kill themselves at least once in the last year.