Social and Mental Health - Tarrant County
Social and Mental Health - Tarrant County
Social and Mental Health - Tarrant County
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<strong>Tarrant</strong> <strong>County</strong> Community <strong>Health</strong> Report 2003<br />
Domain VI. <strong>Social</strong> & <strong>Mental</strong> <strong>Health</strong><br />
Indicator VI-3.<br />
Substance Abuse<br />
Substance use <strong>and</strong> abuse<br />
An important goal of the United States policy for reducing substance abuse is to increase the<br />
percentage of young people who reach adulthood without using illicit drugs or alcohol.<br />
Strengthening the ability of children <strong>and</strong> teenagers to reject all such substances is an important <strong>and</strong><br />
critical element in substance abuse prevention because the acquired skills <strong>and</strong> attitudes can carry<br />
over into adulthood, long after family constraints <strong>and</strong> other influences have lost their<br />
effectiveness. 1<br />
The 2000 Texas school survey of substance use among secondary school students revealed that the<br />
average age of first use of alcohol in <strong>Tarrant</strong> <strong>County</strong> was about two years younger than the average<br />
age for Texas (Table 19). The number of students from the school districts that agreed to<br />
participate in the 2001 survey was not sufficient to show a trend in alcohol usage by young people.<br />
Table 19: Average age of first use of alcohol<br />
<strong>Tarrant</strong> Texas U.S.<br />
2000 11.6 13.8 NA<br />
NA: Data not available<br />
Data Source: Challenge Inc., <strong>Tarrant</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Texas School Survey of Drug <strong>and</strong> Alcohol Use, 2000<br />
1. http://www.healthypeople.gov/Document/HTML/Volume2/26Substance.htm<br />
Monitoring & Assessment Project 140
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