GRANITE FALLS — Students in the Yellow Medicine County area are experiencing high levels of anger, anxiety and stress, Rochelle Peterson told the Yellow Medicine County commissioners Tuesday.

Peterson is the executive director of PACT (Putting All Communities Together) for Families.

She brought with her a printed report which also showed that the use/abuse of e-cigarettes, tobacco use, marijuana and alcohol use had all increased in youth in seventh, ninth and 11th grades.

E-cigarette use is up from last year. Peterson’s report showed that 6.3 percent of the youth surveyed reported using e-cigarettes in the last 30 days (prior to survey) where as the 3.5 reported the same in 2016.

Tobacco use was up, with 5.5 percent of youth reporting using tobacco in the last 30 days where as 4.6 percent of the youth reported in 2016.

Alcohol use was up, with 9.8 percent of youth reporting using alcohol within 30 days of the survey as opposed to 8.1 percent of youth in 2016.

Marijuana use was up, with 4.4 percent of youth reporting using it in the last 30 days (prior to survey) as opposed to the 3.1 percent reporting the same in 2016.

Stress, hopelessness or sadness for two or more weeks in a row was up from 13.7 percent to 20.2 percent.

Difficulty controlling anger was up from 14.1 percent in 2016 to 15.2 percent in 2017. Anxiety experienced most of the time was up from 33.2 percent in 2016 to 39.3 percent in 2017

Fear of being bullied went up from 6.5 percent in 2016 to 9.7 percent in 2017.

Markers going down from 2016 to 2017 was suicide and sexual activity. Sexual activity among youth was reported to have dropped from 15.9 percent to 14.9 percent. Youth who considered suicide in the past 12 months went down from 11 percent to 10.1 percent,” Peterson’s report said.

Feeling safe at school was another. Youth reporting feeling safe at school went from 89.4 percent in 2016 to 93.5 percent.

Peterson told the board that the counties that still had chemical coalitions were actually staying at lower levels than Yellow Medicine County, but whether or not the increases in YMC youth chemical usage were related to the lack of a chemical coalition was not confirmed.

What she did know was that the return on investment for early childhood prevention programs was good.

“The social return on investment is a powerful way of identifying what real costs are saved by making investments in children and families as opposed to the concept of paying for services, particularly in the 2- to 5-year-old age group,” Peterson said in her report. “Other tangible benefits are realized beyond the actual dollars and cents that may accrue as profit and these are the overwhelming advantages to such programming.”

Prevention programs build resiliency and protective factors in youth, families and communities. Intervention activities decrease use of drugs and alcohol, lower the crime rates, keep people out of prison and lower youth pregnancy rates. Treatment programming leads to healing, developing coping skills and reduces the generational patterns of abuse and poverty, Peterson said.

Another topic Peterson shared with the commissioners was the Talking is Teaching Campaign. Peterson said that 2018 grants for the five-county collaborative area, of which Yellow Medicine County is a member, have been used to purchase poster boards and window clings. These items have been presented to grocery stores, clinics, community centers, family services, libraries and WIC (Women, Infants and Children) clinics.

New parent letters and gift bags sent out to all parents with children born in 2018 received this resource information on how to communicate with your children.

“Don’t just give them your cell phone to play with at the grocery store, talk to them,” she said as an example.

There also were signs posted in two different parks in the county reminding parents to communicate with their kids.

“We bought 500 resource guides for schools, public health clinics and to give to parents,” Peterson said.

When Peterson had completed her report, YMC Administrator Peg Heglund asked if Peterson was able to get more “longitudinal” information, to go back 10 years. Peterson said she would look into that.