THE BASICS

Watch for the Camera!
Throughout this issue you will see the camera symbol, which denotes the subject of a future issue of the Snapshot.

In addition to the subjects identified, a special issue on youth gangs will be completed.

A Note About the Data
In order to be current and present, most of the data in this report is from 2005. However, to be comprehensive, the most recent set of information is used when needed.

Contact Us

Ali Anfinson
Department of Education
651-582-8452
Allison.Anfinson@state.mn.us

Danette Buskovick
Department of Public Safety
651-201-7309 Danette.Buskovick@state.mn.us

In this Issue...

Demographics

Criminal Justice

Education

Graduation Rates

Out of School Time and Youth

Youth Use of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

Health

Mental Health

Homeless Youth

Child Maltreatment

Youth Employment

FLASHBULBS--Highlights from the Data

Demographics

• Eleven percent of Minnesota’s population is comprised of youth between 10 and 17 years old with almost equal numbers of boys and girls. ¹

• While Minnesota remains less racially diverse than the national average, the state’s diversity is growing and young people in Minnesota are more diverse than the older population. ²

• Compared to the United States as a whole, Minnesota youth are faring quite well:
• The percentage of Minnesota youth living in poverty (12%) is less than the national average (19%).
• There are fewer children living in households where no parent has a full-time, year round job (27% Minnesota vs. 34% nationwide).
• The median income for Minnesota families with children is $65,000, as compared to the United States median family income of $53,000.

• Despite this, more Minnesota youth are in female-headed households receiving child support (42% Minnesota vs. 35% nationwide). While a marginal difference only, there are more Minnesota youth in low-income households where housing costs exceed 30 percent of the household income (66% Minnesota vs. 65% nationwide), and this percentage has been steadily increasing during the past five years (59 percent in 2001 to 66 percent in 2005).

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Criminal Justice

In 2005:

• A total of 50,592 arrests were made of youth between 10 and 17 years old ³.  Two-thirds (66%) of these youth were male. Twenty-one percent of these arrests were for part I offenses ⁴, 63 percent for part II offenses, and 16 percent for status offenses.  Overall, juvenile arrests have decreased by 30 percent since 1999.

• There were a total of 14,312 juveniles on probation across Minnesota. Seventy-three percent were male, over half (55%) were white and almost all (95%) were non-Hispanic. Twenty-one percent were on probation for status offenses, while about one in ten each were on probation for assault (12%), disturbing the peace (11%), or theft (8%).

• Despite overall youth decreases in arrest and probation rates, these rates have increased for African American youth in Minnesota.

• There are currently 328 inmates in Minnesota’s correctional facilities certified as adults at sentencing ⁵. Eleven of them are under 18.

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Education

• During the 2005-2006 school year, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) reported that a total of 826,610 youth were enrolled in 335 public school districts, 137 charter schools, and 121 Alternative Learning Centers; and 82,258 youth were enrolled in 494 private schools.

• Approximately 13 percent of students received Special Educational Services, 30 percent were eligible for free or reduced lunches and 7 percent had limited English proficiency. 

• According to the 2004 Minnesota Student Survey, 9th grade students stated the following regarding school climate:
• 74 percent stated that they like school.
• 58 percent indicated that all or most of the students in their school are friendly and 37% claimed that all or most of their teachers are interested in them as a person.
• 36 percent of the students reported that teachers or other adults at school care about them quite a bit or very much.
• 60 percent stated that most or all of their teachers show respect for students.
• 93 percent  reported that they feel safe going to and from school, and almost as many students (89%) stated that they feel safe at school.
• In the 12 months prior to the survey, 61 percent of students had been insulted, 27 percent had been threatened and 45 percent had been pushed, shoved or grabbed.

• MDE collects data from school districts regarding out of school suspensions/removal and expulsions. Districts determine the type of incidents that warrant either a removal or expulsion based on their local school policies. During the 2005-2006 school year:
• The most common incident types were disruptive, disorderly conduct or insubordination (30%), fighting (21%), assault (8%), other major offenses (5%) and verbal abuse (5%).
• Most disciplinary incidents did NOT involve a weapon (98%) However, when a weapon was involved, the most commonly used weapon was a knife (67% of the weapon incidents).
• The majority of offenses were committed by students in the junior high grade levels (grades 7, 8 and 9 comprised 40 percent of the offenses) followed by students in grades 10 and 11 (23%).
• Special Education students committed approximately 40 percent of the disciplinary incidents.

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Graduation Rates

• In Minnesota, approximately 73 percent of all attending seniors graduated in the 2005-2006 school year.  Despite the relatively high rate of graduation, only 39 percent of the Latino/Hispanic students, 40 percent of the American Indian students, 38 percent of the Black students and 68 percent of the Asian/Pacific Islander students graduated on time, in comparison to 80 percent of white students.

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Out of School Time and Youth

• America After 3 PM ⁶ survey states nationally, in the hours after school:
• One quarter of youth are responsible for taking care of themselves. 
• Black and Hispanic youth spend significantly more time (8 hours per week) unsupervised.
• Older youth are more likely to be unsupervised (6-8 grades 34%, 9-12 grades 51%).
• Approximately one quarter of  these youth would likely participate in an after school program if one was available in their community.

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Youth use of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

• Overall, the percentage of Minnesota kids using tobacco and kids who report ever trying tobacco is decreasing ⁷.

• While the overall rate of alcohol use has been decreasing since the early 1990s, alcohol use is widespread among Minnesota’s 9th graders; 43 percent report alcohol use one or more times in the past 12 months and 15 percent report drinking five or more drinks in a row during a two week period. ⁸ By the time these students are in 12th grade the rates rise to 63 percent using alcohol and 30 percent binge drinking.

• Seventeen percent of 9th grade students report having used marijuana in the past 12 months, down from a peak in 1998 of 24 percent. Other than marijuana, Minnesota 9th grade students most frequently report using someone else’s prescription drugs (8%). Four percent also report using methamphetamine in the past 12 months ⁹.

• According to the Minnesota Department of Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program (SDFSC) ¹⁰:
• 90 percent of all public schools are receiving funds directed toward programs for alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and/or violence prevention and intervention.
• Approximately 60 percent of Minnesota students are receiving services and/or programming related to the SDFSC program.  The majority of those students are in elementary grade levels.
• 81 percent of the schools have Pre-Assessment Teams to assess and address the chemical health needs of students.
• 60 percent of these schools report making progress toward a goal of changing alcohol and drug behaviors or attitudes, and/or violence behavior or attitudes.
  

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Health

• The rate of exercise for Minnesota’s youth has remained stable since the early 1990s; about half of 9th graders report 30 minutes of exercise for five out of seven days. This rate decreases as students age; 37 percent of 12th graders report 30 minutes for at least five of the last seven days.

• Very few of Minnesota’s students report getting five or more servings of fruits and vegetables, and this trend has been stable since the 1990s; about two in ten (21%)  6th graders eat enough fruits and veggies, while 15 percent of the 9th graders and 13 percent of the 12th graders get five servings a day.

• The prevalence of obesity among U.S. children and adolescents has quadrupled among 6-11 year olds and more than tripled for 12-19 year olds between 1971-74 and 1999-2002. ¹¹  In the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health, African American and Hispanic children were more likely than white children to be overweight or obese.   According to the same survey, 24% of Minnesota youth ages 10-17 are either overweight or obese.

• Since 1990, the number of births to teen parents has decreased by 27 percent. In 2004, there were 26.7 teen births per 1,000, which is among the lowest in the country and far below the overall United States average of 41.2 teen births per 1,000. While the rate of teen birth to girls of color has decreased overall, it is still higher than the national average. This trend is not true for Hispanic/Latina girls whose teen birth rate has increased by 24 percent ¹².

• Minnesota has the 4th lowest rate of children with asthma problems in the nation, with six percent of youth under 18 having an asthma diagnosis or receiving treatment. ¹³

• The majority of children 17 and younger in Minnesota have health insurance (six percent overall are not insured), however 16 percent of Minnesota’s children living in poverty do not have health insurance, which ranks Minnesota 20th in the nation ¹⁴.  Additionally, about three in ten youth did not have a preventative medical check-up in previous year ¹⁵.

• In 2005, youth ages 5-24 comprised 31 percent of homicides (2nd largest age category, surpassed only by 24-44 yrs olds), 19 percent of all suicides, and 13 percent of fatal unintentional injuries. ¹⁶
  

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Mental Health ¹⁷

• An estimated 91,000 children in Minnesota need treatment for emotional disturbances, which is a mental health problem that has become long lasting and interferes significantly with the child’s functioning at home and in school.

• Annually, 42,660 children receive publicly funded mental health services in Minnesota. Most of these services are community- and home-based services such as case management, day treatment, home-based therapies and outpatient therapy.
  

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Homeless Youth

• Across Minnesota, on any given night, approximately 550 to 650 youth are homeless and unaccompanied by a parent or guardian ¹⁸. The average age of these youth is 16, and about two in ten of the young homeless girls report having children. Not surprisingly, these youth are dealing with multiple difficulties including mental health issues, parental neglect and abuse and prior systems involvement including the juvenile justice system and foster care.

• In Minnesota, some school districts report the number of youth classified as homeless. In the 2005-2006 school year, 117 districts across the state reported serving 2,387 homeless students. Of the identified homeless students, 92 were identified as migrant students, 478 as special education students, 366 as English Language Learners (ELL), and 52 as being gifted.
  

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Child Maltreatment ¹⁹

• In 2006, almost 7,000 children were abused and neglected. The median age of maltreated children is six, and about 10 percent reported being of Hispanic ethnicity. A total of 48 children suffered life-threatening injuries and 19 children died from maltreatment.

• In 2006 ²⁰, counties determined that:
• 76 percent of maltreatment victims suffered from neglect.
• 17 percent of those maltreated were physically abused.
• 13 percent of all victims suffered sexual abuse.

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Youth Employment

• During the mid- and late-1990s, the labor force participation rate of 16- to 19-year olds showed over-the-year declines during July, historically the month with the highest number of youth in the labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the labor force participation rate of 16- to 19-year olds was 53.7 percent in July 2003 – the lowest it's been since the BLS began tracking these data in 1948. ²¹
• The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development provide youth programs funded under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Minnesota Youth Program (MYP). These programs work with youth service providers, parents, schools, social services and other partners to meet the varied needs of youth, including those aging out of foster care, with disabilities, children of incarcerated parents, dropouts and potential dropouts, migrant youth, Native American and homeless youth.  In 2005-2006, the following can be said about the Youth Employment and Training Programs ²²:
• 3,071 youth were involved in the program
  statewide.
• Of the identified at-risk groups, nine percent were foster children, six percent were pregnant or parenting youth, 56 percent were youth with a disability, 17 percent were juvenile offenders and 31 percent were youth whose families were receiving public assistance.

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FLASHBULBS
Highlights from the Data

This first Snapshot shows that:

• On a whole, Minnesota is experiencing a growing level of diversity for which only continued increases are predicted.
• Youth in poverty are more likely to not have adequate nutrition or receive preventative medical check-ups.
• Youth are disproportionately represented as victims of violent crime with almost one third of all homicide victims being young adults.

At first glance as a state, Minnesota is serving its youth quite well.  But with further analysis, it becomes clear that youth of color are struggling and Minnesota’s systems are failing them.  For example:

• African American youth are only 5 percent of the youth population from ages 10-17 years, but represent 22 percent of juvenile arrests, 41 percent of the school discipline reports, 22 percent of child maltreatment cases and have a graduation rate of 38 percent.
• American Indian youth are 1 percent of the youth population from ages 10-17 years, but represent 3 percent of youth arrests, 6 percent of school discipline reports, 9 percent of child maltreatment cases and have a graduation rate of 40 percent.
• Hispanic youth account for 4 percent of the youth population aged 10-17 years, but represent 7 percent of the school discipline reports, have a graduation rate of 39 percent and are the only population that had an increase in teen births.

It is important to note that race and ethnicity information is not presented to highlight “faults” with particular youth, but to highlight how current systems, policies and programs in Minnesota are not adequately serving all youth.  As can be seen, the topic of racial disparities among youth deserves further analysis.  A future Snapshot will be dedicated to this topic area.

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Footnotes

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