While alcohol use among Iowa’s teens has dropped, the risk of suicide and use of e-cigarettes is climbing. The Iowa Youth Survey is taken anonymously by Iowa’s students in sixth, eighth, and 11th grades. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the 2018 Iowa Youth Survey shows the alcohol use among the state’s 11th graders was down from 2012 by six percent and is at 20.4%. Binge drinking fell from 19.2% in 2012 to 12% last year. Although there was an increase among eighth graders from 5.4% in 2016 to 7.3% in 2018.

There was a 53% increase in the percentage of students having a plan to kill themselves. One in 10 students reported having a plan and 1 in 20 reported a suicide attempt within the past year.

Also, e-cigarette use climbed with 23% of 11th grade students saying they had used e-cigarettes in the past month, along with eight percent of eighth graders and two percent of sixth graders. Specific county results will be released this spring.