9781422273876

behaviors,” including alcohol and drug use, smoking, getting into fights, and sexual activity. Risky behaviors consistently have a correlation with how well students perform at school—that is, with how good their grades are. We should pause for a moment here and point out that grades are not the only measure of success at school. You can make a huge impact on your school by participating in extracurricular activities, for example. You can have a happy social life, and you can be a loyal and dependable friend. Those are forms of success, too. But extracurriculars and socializing can’t be quantified the same way that grades can. Also, given that the main “job” of a student is to learn, it seems fair to look at how much and how well students are doing that job—and that means looking at grades. What the DASH researchers found will probably not shock you. Students who earn primarily As in school have a low level of participation in high-risk behaviors, while students who earn primarily Ds and Fs have a comparatively high level of participation. Failing students are eleven times more likely to have used injectable drugs, for example, and are four times more likely to have had four or more sexual partners. Only about 4 percent of students who receive primarily As had been involved in a fight on school property in the previous year, as opposed to 21 percent of students who receive primarily Ds and Fs. High-risk behaviors also have a correlation with poor psychological health: failing students are twice as likely to report feelings of sadness and helplessness. The goal of DASH research is not to place blame on students who get failing grades. There are many factors that are out of students’ control that have direct impacts on how well they do at school. To take just one example, another

Teen Guides to Health & Wellness: School and Your Health

12