Purpose: Immigrant youth face both unique and disproportionate barriers to sexual health. Targeted sexual health education to redress these disparities requires creative and inclusive approaches that consider personal and community challenges and strengths. This study piloted a novel intervention: SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, a theatre-based,…

Background: The comprehensive school health (CSH) framework has four components: social and physical environment; partnerships and services; teaching and learning; and policy. This study examines associations between CSH and student physical activity (PA). Methods: Using 2015/2016 COMPASS study survey data of 37,397 students (grades 9-12) from 80…

Substance use is a frequently cited health risk behavior in the youth gang literature, yet little is known about how substance use patterns vary among gang-involved youth or the social ecological factors that contribute to potential variation. Developing relevant and effective service approaches will require an understanding of this variation and…

Although much is known about health-risk behaviors of adolescents, less is known about their health-promoting behaviors. The purpose of this analysis was to compare health-promoting behaviors in adolescents in Grades 9-12 by gender and ethnicity and explore how these behaviors changed over time. Data were collected from 878 rural adolescents…

In the United States, cigarette use is the leading cause of preventable death, and most adult smokers started before the age of 18 years. Nicotine dependence maintains tobacco use and makes quitting difficult. Despite their relatively short smoking histories, many adolescents who smoke are nicotine dependent, and such dependence can lead to daily…

Mass media interventions are among the strategies recommended for youth cigarette smoking prevention, but little is known about optimal methods for reaching diverse youth audiences. Grades 4 through 12 samples of youth from four states (n = 1,230) rated smoking-prevention messages in classroom settings. Similar proportions of African American,…