PA Youth Survey

The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is a biennial survey of youth in the 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grades. PAYS asks questions about students’ perspectives of their school environment, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors concerning mental health, alcohol, tobacco, other drugs (ATOD), violence, and other health risk behaviors. The survey also collects information about risk factors, which are the conditions that increase the likelihood that a child will develop problem behaviors later in life. It also collects information about protective factors – people or conditions in a community that can buffer youth from risk.

PAYS gathers local data and information needed to identify appropriate prevention and intervention programs to address such problems as mental health concerns, substance use, and violence in our schools and communities. Schools, government agencies, local stakeholders, and community prevention coalitions use PAYS data to assess issues facing youth in a community, identify programming that can be used to address the locally-identified problems, select curricula, and demonstrate the need for funding through grant submissions and presentations to potential funders. It also helps schools, districts, and counties judge the effectiveness of current prevention and intervention efforts and to make appropriate corrections. In addition, PAYS seeks youth input on protective factors or supports in their communities, family lives, and interpersonal relationships that help them succeed in life. Through PAYS data, especially the risks faced by and protections available to youth, communities can utilize a data-driven decision-making process to use limited prevention resources best.

Yes, completely anonymous and confidential. Students who complete the paper-based survey are given a survey booklet containing the question items and a place to record responses. The survey booklet will not contain the student’s name or other identifying information. Before they begin, students must be reminded not to write their name or other identifying information on the booklet. When completing the survey, students will be arranged in the classroom so their responses cannot be seen by the proctor or any of the students’ peers. At the end of the class period, each student will immediately place the survey booklets in an envelope. The envelope will be sealed. Each school's contact will pick up the completed surveys in the sealed envelopes and ship them directly to the PAYS vendor, Bach Harrison, L.L.C., in Salt Lake City, Utah, using a prepaid FedEx Ground label. Students who complete the survey online are given an anonymous link. Online responses do not include the student’s name or other identifying information.

The survey includes questions related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; violent behaviors; mental health; other health risk behaviors; and related risk and protective factors. The survey questions are designed to measure attitudes and behaviors. Unless questions in these topic areas are asked directly, prevention planners cannot know the degree to which the youth in Pennsylvania engage in these health risk behaviors. It is important to remember the survey is anonymous and confidential, so no student’s responses can be connected with that student. Students are informed that they may also skip any questions that they do not feel comfortable answering or that they do not understand. They are also informed that if they have any questions or concerns after taking the survey, they can talk with their school counselor or a trusted adult. Research shows asking youth about these health risk behaviors does not make them more likely to engage in that behavior.

A copy of the questions on the 2025 PAYS can be requested on this website: https://epis.psu.edu/paysquestion 

School PAYS Coordinators will be working with schools to distribute passive parental consent forms (or active consent forms in the event a school chooses that approach). Passive parental consent forms will inform parents and caregivers about the survey and instruct them to PDSD PAYS Coordinator Ryan Snyder to opt their child out of participating in the survey. The School PAYS Coordinator will ensure that students who do not have parental or caregiver permission will not take the survey. If a parent does decline, their child will be allowed to read or participate in some other alternate activity while their classmates are taking the survey. If a school district or school chooses to gather active parental consent, School PAYS Coordinators will work with each school to ensure that parental consent forms are received and that only students with parental consent are given the survey.

The students will be asked to complete a self-administered survey questionnaire during one class period at school, either via paper and pencil or electronically online, as chosen by their school. The student will be asked to read each question and select the answer that most closely matches the way they feel. All questions are self-reported, and no student information can be identified from the completed surveys. PAYS is also available in a Spanish language version. Schools can request copies of the Spanish version from the vendor, Bach-Harrison.

The survey will take approximately 40 minutes to complete and is designed to be administered during a single class period. Although it is expected that the students will have sufficient time to complete the entire survey, they will be informed that they should answer as many questions as possible during the class, but not be concerned if they are not able to finish all of them.

Penn-Delco School District students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 will participate in the 2025 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) during the first two weeks of October.

The School PAYS Coordinator, whom each school’s superintendent selects, will work with school principals to set an appropriate and convenient survey date, develop a passive parental consent process, and distribute and then collect survey materials. The Coordinator can be a school official or a community prevention partner. Schools that have worked with a community or county partner to facilitate PAYS in past administrations are strongly encouraged to do so again.

Summary Reports containing local data will be generated at the state, county, and school levels. School-level reports will be provided to the school district superintendent/senior administrator in hard copy and electronic formats no later than April 30, 2026. State and county level reports will be available on the PAYS website at www.pays.pa.gov. The statewide and county-level reports will contain only aggregate information; individual district results will not be listed separately in these reports. 

PAYS is a holistic approach to learning about students’ attitudes and behaviors that represents the entirety of a student’s environment – the community, their school, their family, and their peers/self. Information gained from participating in the PennsylvaniaYouth Survey (PAYS) allows schools, districts, and communities to receive detailed reports (as described above), and also provide the community with a wealth of data to be used for grant writing, program and school safety planning, as well as targeting interventions to meet a school’s and community’s specific needs. The survey provides information that can be used to identify the incidence of various health risk behaviors.Additionally, by tracking data over multiple PAYS administrations, prevention planners can assess the impact of programs and services over time. Results of the survey are used to determine the need for prevention services and services to support youth in achieving academic and personal goals.