Youth High-Risk Behaviors: Survey and Results

• NCJ Number: 191141
• Journal: Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 31-46
• Author(s): Patricia Stevens; Janice Griffin
• Date Published: October 2001
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis used data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine juvenile health risk behaviors and the relationship between risk behaviors and family factors.

Abstract

The research examined the link between family composition, number of moves in past year, membership by a family member in a gang, and reports of participation in health risk behaviors. The research also aimed to develop profiles for both a high-risk and a resilient adolescent in this population to inform intervention efforts with detailed information about the onset and types of risk behaviors in which youth were engaged. The participants were a stratified random sample of 674 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in a large urban school district in the west. The students completed the surveys in their classrooms. The data analysis used regression and multivariate techniques. Results revealed that the students engaged in multiple high-risk behaviors and that many behaviors seemed to overlap. High-risk behaviors (carrying a weapon, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, being sexually active, and being involved with gangs) typically occurred together. Some behaviors varied by gender. Students began these behaviors at age 11. In addition, students did not participate on an experimental basis; instead, they engaged in combinations of risk behaviors throughout their teenage development. Findings indicated a crucial age for involvement in risk behaviors, a gradual increase in risk behaviors over time, and gender differences in risk behaviors. Findings also reinforced the urgent need to develop prevention and intervention programs; counselors should become involved at all levels of prevention and intervention programs, educational programs, and social advocacy for these programs. Tables and 36 references (Author abstract modified)