Do schools in the suburbs promote safer behavior than schools in cities? According to data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the incidence of sexual activity, drug-alcohol use and abuse, delinquent behavior, and violence, are just as common in suburban high schools as in urban ones. In fact, teens in suburban schools sometimes engage in more of these activities than do teens in city schools.

According to Dr. Jay Greene, who analyzed the national health data for his 2004 Manhattan Institute study “Sex, Drugs, and Delinquency in Urban and Suburban Public Schools,” parents cannot trust that suburban schools provide a safe haven for their adolescents. Students in ninth through 12th grades, regardless of geographic setting, are indulging in activities that in the past have been associated almost exclusively with “problem” city schools and hard-core delinquency. “There may have been a time when suburban schools really were a safe haven from the rise of these so-called ‘urban’ problems,” Greens said. “But if there ever was such a time, it’s gone.”

North Carolina teens’ activity, particularly sexual activity, recently came under scrutiny by the national Centers for Disease Control. The CDC used a different methodology than Greene’s; the results were featured in The News & Observer of Raleigh.

Of 51 North Carolina high schools surveyed by CDC last year, 60 percent, or 1,532 of the 2,553 teens questioned, had already engaged in sexual activity. More than 23 percent had had more than four sexual partners, 18 percent had used drugs, and more than 8 percent of boys and girls together had engaged in sex that resulted in pregnancy. More than 75 percent claimed to use a birth-control method, mostly condoms.

Due to measurement, timing, and definitional differences, the CDC results are not strictly comparable to Greene’s Manhattan Institute study.

Greene’s “Sex, Drugs, and Delinquency” survey asked questions about a number of separate sexual activities, including sexual intercourse, genital touching, whether or not sex occurred in the context of a romantic relationship, anal sex, and sexually transmitted diseases. There is little room for ambiguity. Questions that ask about a sex act include a brief, specific description. The descriptive language effectively precludes differences of opinion, interpretation, or argument about whether a behavior meets some “threshold” level.

Researchers discovered few difference between the sexual experiences of urban and suburban high school students. The percentage of students that reported having sexual intercourse by the ninth grade was 31.4 percent for urban students, and 36.6 percent for suburban ones. By the time students reached the 12th grade, 66.9 percent of urban students had engaged in male-female intercourse, while 64.8 percent of suburban ones had. On average, about 50 percent of both groups had engaged in sex before exiting high school.

The Greene survey also shows that on average, one- third of all teens attending public high schools have had sex with someone outside of what they consider to be a romantic relationship. As teens move through high school, the percentage that have “casual sex” rises dramatically from a low of 18 percent for ninth-grade urbanites, to almost 39 percent by graduation.

Suburban students apparently enter with more sexual experience, or acquire it more rapidly. More than 26 percent of suburban ninth-graders report that they have had casual sex, climbing to 43 percent by the time they are seniors in high school.

The consequences of early sexual activity show up in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions. Venereal disease and pregnancy are slightly higher among urban students who have had sex. Almost 15 percent of them have had a sexually transmitted disease by the 12th grade, compared to 8 percent of suburban students.

Pregnancy rates for sexually active girls are nearly 30 percent in city schools by the 12th grade, and about 21 percent in the suburbs. Nearly identical percentages abort the pregnancy — 3 to 4 percent of both groups
Drug use, at least as an experiment, occurs with 40 to 45 percent of all teens in public high schools. Urban teens are a little more likely to experiment with drugs. Even so, teens living in the suburbs use drugs more often during the school day.

Suburban teens are much more likely — 47 vs. 28 percent — to drive while high on drugs. They are also more likely to drive while drunk, according to survey responses.

Incidents of physical fighting, deliberate property damage, carrying or use of weapons (including in school), and shoplifting decline from ninth to 12th grade, the study shows. Urban teens in all grades engage in these activities somewhat more frequently than their suburban counterparts. Urban teens are also more likely to become runaways.

The MI study demonstrates that raising teens in the suburbs won’t shelter them from “urban” problems. According to Greene, “the comforting outward signs of order and decency in suburban public schools” isn’t justified by significant differences in the numbers.

Palasek is assistant editor of Carolina Journal.