Voluntary & anonymous
Students opt in. No identifiers are collected. Schools and parents can opt out.
Methodology
How to read PAYS 2025 responsibly
The Pennsylvania Youth Survey is a powerful planning tool, but every chart on this site comes with caveats. Read these before quoting any number in a report or grant.
How the survey is administered
Grades 6, 8, 10, 12
Fall 2025 administration. 267,379 valid surveys from 1,064 participating schools (74.4% of eligible).
Self-report
All measures are self-reported. Validity checks remove inconsistent or exaggerated responses before publication.
Suppression and small cells
Cells with fewer than 10 students are suppressed
To protect student privacy and avoid unreliable estimates, PAYS reports do not show percentages for cells where fewer than ~10 students responded. On this site, suppressed values appear as "—" or are omitted from a chart entirely. Never infer values from a suppressed cell — combine grades, years, or subgroups instead.
Comparability across years
Item wording can change
Some PAYS items have been re-worded or re-scaled between 2021, 2023, and 2025 (notably screen time and gambling). Trend lines that span an item change are flagged on the relevant pages.
Participating schools change
Statewide participation grew from 64% to 74% of eligible schools between 2023 and 2025. Year-over-year shifts partly reflect a changing school mix, not only behavior change.
Subgroup estimates
Smaller groups carry wider uncertainty
Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender-identity subgroups are reported only when n ≥ 30 for the cell. Treat single-point differences cautiously — confirm with two or more PAYS cycles before acting on a subgroup trend.
What this Explorer is — and isn't
A plain-language companion
This site translates the 2025 statewide profile into decision-support views for coalitions, schools, and funders.
Not a replacement for the official report
For citations and grant applications, reference the official PCCD/DDAP/PDE statewide profile and your county/district report.
Placeholder values where noted
Some figures on this demo are placeholder values; the source line under each chart calls this out where applicable.
No individual-level data
Only aggregate percentages and counts are shown. The underlying microdata stays with PCCD and authorized partners.
Need definitions?
The Glossary defines every term used here — CTC scales, SPF, Tier 1/2/3, suppression, perceived risk, and more.