Prevalence of substance use in high school students from the United States

Substance use and abuse have become a rising epidemic all around the United States. Using the data of the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), this study examined the prevalence of substance use in high school students in the United States. This study hoped to find answers to three questions: 1) Are there gender differences in substance use among high school students in the United States? 2) Are there grade level differences in the substance use? And 3) Are there race differences in substance use? Data for the study included responses from 13,583 students on the 2013 YRBS that were publicly available at the Centers for Disease and Control website. In general, results of chi-Square (chi^2) tests indicated significant grade level and race differences in smoking, alcohol drinking, and drug use. Gender differences in substance use were generally not apparent