Extra Curricular Activities and Its Effects on Drug and Alcohol Use

I believe that extra-curricular activities have an effect on teenage drug and alcohol use. I feel that the more extra-curricular activities people are involved in, whether those activities are clubs, sports, dance, hanging out with friends, community service, etc. that those people are less likely to use drugs and alcohol. However, the people who are not really involved in extra-curricular activities are more likely to use drugs and alcohol. The more activities and less free times a person has in their day, I believe affects whether or not they are going to experiment and use drugs or alcohol. If a person is busy with work, friends, clubs and, school their priorities are more in order and they do not have much leisure time, therefore, they are more likely to stay away from addictive substances. If a person has more free time in their day, they are more likely to use drugs and alcohol and experiment with them considering there is nothing else to occupy their time and they have the time to partake in these illicit activities.

Sampling plan:

It is impossible to sample every student in East Islip High School, therefore I surveyed 100 students from the school for my final survey. I broke it up into groups of 25 students per grade. I surveyed 25 students from the 9th grade student body, 25 students from the 10th grade student body, 25 students from the 11th grade student body, and 25 students from the 12th grade student body. Since 25 can not be split evenly to survey between males and females, I survey either 13 males and 12 females or 12 males and 13 females to keep things predominantly equal for surveying purposes. I distributed the survey to many different social groups and tried not to stay within one social group. This way there would be a wide variety of answers and not just the same answers coming from the same type of group. This I hoped would aide in helping to prove my hypothesis that I was sampling. I also knew it would be the fairest and most equal means of surveying. I feel that the way that this sampling procedure was broken down helps to truly represent the student body of East Islip High School.

Results of Survey:

According to the survey, the amount of extra curricular activities and clubs people are involved in do have an influence on their drug and alcohol use. 47% of the upper-class men of the 50 that were surveyed said that they played a sport, 53% of them had mostly A’s, and 46% of them spent over an hour on their school work per night. To dedicate yourself to a sport and to get good grades takes much time in itself. 67% of the upper-class men were also involved in clubs and 53% of them claimed to not have much free time in their day. This all has an effect on their drug and alcohol use. Due to the fact that they do not have much free time in their day and can not sit around and become bored, 76% of the upper-class men did not do drugs, and 41% of them did not drink. Out of the 50 lower-class men that I surveyed, 57% of them played a sport and 77% of them had grades that were mostly A’s, which came from dedicating themselves to more than an hour of school work per night. 45% of the lower-class men were involved in clubs and 13% of them had a job. Dedicating themselves to these activities, grades, jobs, and sports influenced the lower-class men. This was shown by the results of the survey that 91% of them lower-class men did not do drugs and that 87% of them do not drink.

Comparing statistics:

According to http://alcoholselfhelpnews.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/teen-drug-use-and-extracurricular-activities/, extra-curricular activities do have an effect on teenage drug and alcohol use. The website says, “The latest findings from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that 22.4 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 (89.3 percent) participate in extracurricular activities and that those who participate in these activities are less likely to have used alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drugs…” Also according to United States Department of Education. No Child Left Behind: The facts about 21st Century Learning, students who spend no time in extracurricular activities are 49% more likely to use drugs. East Islip and the USA are both on the predominantly same level when it comes to the statistics of extra-curricular activities and its effect on drug and alcohol use. Teenagers in today’s society benefit greatly from extra-curricular activities such as jobs, sports, clubs, hanging out with friends, school work etc.. The reason being is that today’s youth needs to constantly be busy, the reason being is that if they are not then they are more likely to experiment and use drugs and alcohol because they are bored and feel that is all they can do to occupy their time. As my hypothesis said and these statewide statistics prove, the less leisure time and more extra-curricular activities teenagers are involved in does play an effect on their drug and alcohol use.

Reaction:

Basically, the results of my survey did in turn prove my hypothesis. I feel that the trend is completely accurate. Not all students who are involved in any extra-curricular activities are going to stay away from drugs and alcohol. The reason being is their peers around them. Teenagers are greatly influenced by their peers. Therefore, the peers that are involved in these extra-curricular activities with them and that they hang out with during these activities are most likely to be the peers that they become friends with and who may or may not influence them to partake in illicit activities such as drug and alcohol use. Teenagers will still be teenagers and still experiment with drugs and alcohol no matter the amount of clubs and activities they are involved in. However, I do feel that more activities and less leisure time is beneficial to teenagers. The less free time teenagers have is more beneficial for them because then they do not have the time to experiment or use drugs and alcohol. Also, certain extra-curricular activities that teenagers are involved in, for example sports, prevent them from using drugs. Random drug tests are administered to make sure athletes do not use drugs and remain the best athletes they can be. If an athlete is found to be using drugs they will be kicked off the team. All these things are a factor into preventing teenage drug and alcohol use.