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'Tween survey: Sex at 13...
ne in five public school kids in Cambridge have had sexual intercourse by the eighth grade, while one in four in that grade admit to drinking alcohol, according to just-released health survey results.
Citywide, the number of middle school students who reported drinking climbed slightly this year, as did the number of kids in sixth, seventh and eighth grades who reported having intercourse.
At the same time, only half of these students surveyed said they've talked to their parents about substance use, down slightly from 2003. One-third of the respondents said they have talked to their parents about sex.
Nationally, the numbers of teens age 15 to 19 participating in these activities are decreasing, according to surveys by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Michigan, leaving some officials here eyeing Cambridge's numbers.
"The fact is, we're no longer declining and the rest of the country is," said Chuck Klevgaard, the director of the Cambridge Prevention Coalition, referring to the drinking statistics. "And that concerns us."
Each year, the CPC, the Cambridge Public Health Department and the Cambridge Public Schools give students a health survey. The survey alternates every year between middle school and the high school.
Students participate on an anonymous and voluntary basis, and the survey asks students about mental health, substance use, sexual behavior and violence, among other things. Last March marked the fifth time middle school students were surveyed in Cambridge.
While some numbers are up since the last survey in 2003, percentages of students using alcohol or drugs have decreased since the first survey in 1997. Marijuana use among middle schoolers has remained level for the past two surveys, at close to 6.5 percent, although the number of kids reporting they have used inhalants, 6 percent, has increased slightly. That increase is on par with national trends.
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