SWYS 2001 News - Teens Have High Self Esteem, Depression Still A Concern

Southwest Wisconsin teens who are satisfied with themselves

More than 85% of teens in southwest Wisconsin are satisfied with themselves and have a positive attitude most of the time. Nine out of 10 teens reported that if they had a personal problem, they would have someone to talk to. Almost 75% of teens who reported being very sad or depressed all of the time have considered suicide.

Those are among the findings of the Southwest Wisconsin Youth Survey (SWYS) survey conducted by 19 of 31 school districts in the Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) District 3 as reported by UW-Extension. More than 5,700 students in grades 7 through 12 in the school districts of Argyle, Barneveld, Benton, Belmont, Black Hawk, Cassville, Darlington, Dodgeville, Iowa-Grant, Lancaster, Mineral Point, Pecatonica, Platteville, Potosi, River Ridge, River Valley, Seneca, Shullsburg and Southwestern completed the survey in September of 2001. UW-Extension faculty in Grant, Iowa and Lafayette counties are involved in processing and presenting the findings.

"When asked about being satisfied with myself and taking a positive attitude toward myself, the male students were more likely to strongly agree with the statement, regardless of the grade level, than their female counterparts", according to Iowa County Family Living Agent Ruth Schriefer. "Although 80% of the female students agreed with the statement, 89% of the males felt more confident about their self image. The ninth and tenth grade girls were the least confident about their self image."

Interim Grant County Family Living Agent Christina Kenney reports that most students had someone to talk to about personal problems. "The students had many people to choose from in the survey and friends topped the list of whom teens would most likely talk to with 40% of the males and 56% of the females choosing friends first. The second most common choice was parents with about 21% of the teens choosing them. Males and females differed on their third choice with 9% of females choosing to talk to a sibling while 16% of males reporting that they wouldn't talk to anyone."

The survey presented several questions related to depression and males tended to report feeling less depressed than females. "While 44% of the males report never feeling sad or depressed in the month before the survey, only 24% of the females never had that feeling", says Deb Ivey, Iowa County 4-H Youth Development Agent. "More than one third of females in seventh grade report not feeling sad or depressed, but more than 75% of eighth through twelfth grade females report feeling depressed or very sad anywhere from once in the past month to all of the time in the past month. About half of the seventh and eighth grade boys did not feel sad or depressed in the month prior to the survey while about 60% of the older males did feel some sadness or depression."

Tom Schmitz, Grant/Lafayette County Youth Development Educator reviewed the suicide questions in the survey. "Overall, 80% of the teens had not thought about suicide in the month prior to the survey", according to Schmitz. "Of the students who thought about suicide, most did not talk about it to another person and those that did talk about it, chose to talk to a friend. Of the students surveyed, 14% have made a plan at some point to commit suicide and 9% report that they have tried to kill themselves." Although the survey did not ask about the suicide methods or the how serious the attempt was, all attempts need to be taken seriously.

The SWYS survey was funded in large part by the Grant County Tobacco-Free Coalition, the Lafayette County Tobacco-Free Coalition and the Iowa County Tobacco Coalition. Other funders included Lafayette County Families First, participating school districts, the Department of Transportation, United Way of Iowa County, Iowa County Family Preservation and Support, UW-Extension Southern District Resource Management Team, the Biddick Foundation the Alliant Foundation, and the Iowa County Domestic Violence Task Force.

A full report on the SWYS survey results is due out this spring. Schmitz, Kenney, Ivey and Schriefer are also giving community presentations on the data. For more information on the survey contact your local school district, Schmitz and Kenney at 723-2125 or Ivey and Schriefer at 935-0391.

Return to 2001 News Releases

Tom Schmitz, Grant/Lafayette County Youth Development Educator
Youth and Agriculture Center P.O. Box 31, Lancaster, WI 53813
Phone: 608-723-2125   Fax: 608:723-4315   
E-mail: thomas.schmitz@ces.uwex.edu