Pennsylvania's adolescents say they're less likely to drink alcohol, do drugs and smoke cigarettes compared to youth in past years, according to surveys completed across the commonwealth last fall.

The most recent Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) report, released earlier this year, includes responses from roughly 263,000 sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders who answered questions about substance use, mental health, their social lives and school safety.

The state funds the questionnaires, which have been administered since 1989, in an effort to help communities address youth "antisocial behavior," according to the report.

Here are key findings from the late 2023 surveys:

Self-reported drinking and marijuana use fell over the previous two years, continuing a decline from 2019.

About 29% of the students surveyed admitted they'd had beer, wine or liquor at some point in their lives, down from 35% in 2021 and 41% in 2019. Nearly 12% said they'd tried marijuana, compared to about 13% in 2021 and 17% in 2019.

A smaller share -- about 6% -- of respondents said they'd smoked cigarettes.

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About 37% of the young people who took the survey reported feeling depressed most days in the previous year, a slightly lower percentage than in the previous two surveys. About 16% of the students said they'd seriously considered suicide during the prior 12 months, a smaller share than in 2021 but about the same as in 2019.

Of the adolescents who said they had attempted suicide, the percentage of those who reported needing medical treatment climbed compared to the two previous surveys.

About a quarter of the students said they had faced bullying in the previous year, with most of those indicating it was a rare occurrence. Much of the reported mistreatment happened at school, but cyberbullying was the second-most common type of harassment, according to the surveys.

Most of these students said the bullying centered on their size or other aspects of their appearance or reported they didn't know why their peers were picking on them.

While most students -- roughly 78% -- said they felt safe at school, others answered that they'd experienced verbal or physical violence. More than 18% reported facing threats while at school, and about 7% said someone had physically attacked them.

About 1.4% of the students surveyed said they'd brought a weapon to school in the previous 12 months.