Most of the parents and students gathered in the Catalina Foothills High School auditorium on Feb. 28 were shocked when they heard that at least two-thirds of middle and high school students in the district say they abstain from drugs and alcohol.
Most of them — especially the students — were certain more than half of teens frequently get drunk, smoke and use illegal drugs. Their presumptions were detailed in the results of a survey students at the district's two middle schools and the high school took last fall.
The survey asked them about their own drug use and their perception of drug use among their peers.
H. Wesley Perkins, the survey's creator and a sociology professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York, presented the data to the 300 people assembled at the high school last week.
In that survey, middle school students said they believe 50 percent of their classmates have never had an alcoholic drink. High school students said only 4 percent of their peers are completely alcohol-free.
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In reality, about 85 percent of middle-school students and half of high school students in the district say they have never consumed alcohol. Larger percentages of students — 96 percent and 80 percent, respectively — say they have never used marijuana.
Gasps from the audience could be heard as bar graphs representing the data were shown in the school's auditorium.
Perkins has given the survey to students ranging from sixth grade to college across the country for 20 years, and he said the overperception of bad behavior among peers increases with age and is consistent across the country.
"This is not something unusual," Perkins said. "This is something we see time and time again."
The Catalina Foothills School District Governing Board first saw the data at a Feb. 13 meeting. Last week's forum was the community's first official opportunity to view the results.
Senior Katelyn Thompson said the data surprised her. She said she was one of the students who grossly overperceived the amount of alcohol consumption among her classmates in the survey.
"It was based on what I hear at school," she said.
Sophomore Omar Talleb, on the other hand, wasn't surprised.
"It restated what I already knew," he said.
The survey and last week's forum were the district's most recent attempts to curb drug and alcohol abuse.
In September 2005, three girls were arrested for heroin possession at the high school, resulting in a drug sting across Tucson. Since then, the district's goal has been to show that good behavior is the norm and to discover what can be done to keep kids from drugs and alcohol.
In his presentation, Perkins told teachers and parents that using scare tactics is not the right way to keep kids from engaging in bad behavior. That includes posters and messages that reinforce the misperception or saying that any consumption of alcohol or drugs will lead to death or major disease.
"It's taken as a false message because it doesn't happen to the majority," he said.
Some of the strategies Perkins highlighted as effective include:
● Positive media campaigns, including posters, commercials and fliers;
● Workshops for target risk groups;
● Counseling and classroom instruction.
Many of these strategies are already in place or are in the works in the district, which is preparing to start a print campaign that would include passing out fliers and stickers at sporting events. The district also plans to distribute brochures with results from the survey.
Parent Catherine Mackey said those solutions could help address the problem.
"I came in with a real negative attitude about it," said Mackey, the mother of sophomore Chloe Mackey. "But it seemed pretty straightforward, and I think it could work."
Thompson, 18, said the student body is likely to accept the concept that many fewer students are engaged in drug and alcohol use.
"Now they'll believe it," she said, "but (in 2005) when there were the drug busts, it would have been hard to believe no one was doing it."
