Female Youths and Delinquent Behaviors

The NSDUH Report:  Female Youths and Delinquent Behaviors

• HTML format

• PDF format

Highlights:

• In addition to questions about drug use, SAMHSA's 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health asked youth to report how often they engaged in the following delinquent behaviors in the past year: (a) serious fighting at school or work, (b) taking part in a fight where a group of friends fought against another group, (c) attacking someone with the intent to seriously hurt them, (d) stealing or trying to steal something worth more than $50, (e) selling illegal drugs, or (f) carrying a handgun.

• In 2003, about 2.4 million girls, aged 12 to 17 reported taking part in one or more serious fights at school or work during the past year.

• The proportion of girls increased from 2002 to 2003 who participated in serious fights at school or work during the past year (from 16.2% to 20%) and who participated in a group-against-group fight in the past year (from 13.5% to 16.8%).

• Past year substance use was the most prevalent delinquent behavior among girls aged 12 to 17, with 36.5% (4.5 million) reporting past year alcohol use and 21.9% (2.7 million) reporting past year illicit drug use.

Other reports on delinquent behaviors

Reports on youth

Other topics

Other OAS publications and services

This Short Report, The NSDUH Report:  Female Youths and Delinquent Behaviors, is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use and Health, formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NHSDA/NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   The NHSDA/NSDUH also provides estimates for drug use by state.