In the United States, nearly two-thirds of all deaths among young people aged 10-14 years result from only five causes: motor-vehicle crashes (23.4%), other unintentional injuries (15.7%), cancer (12.5%), suicide (7.2%), and homicide (5.2%). Across all age groups in the United States, the leading causes of illness and death are related to the…

Examines the prevalence of self-reported enrollment, attendance, and participation in school physical education, noting dietary patterns among students in grades 9-12 from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Percentages of students participating varied significantly. Males participated and exercised more than females. Very few students…

The evolution of the family concerns health educators because family environment has been consistently linked to development of various addictions and negative behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, workaholism, excessive exercise, sexual promiscuity, vandalism, youth crime, and violence and abuse. It is recognized that a…

The health conditions and health status of Hispanic Americans will assume increased importance as their population increases. The goal of this book of charts is to present data from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES) on Puerto Ricans. The Puerto Rican HHANES sampling procedure is a multi-stage probability sample of…

The use of licit and illicit drugs by American young people has been a source of major policy and public health concerns for the United States since the mid-1960s. The use of these substances is a leading cause of eventual disease and death in the population, but it also contributes in important ways to mortality and morbidity during adolescence. …

To monitor priority health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). The YRBSS includes national, state, territorial, and local school-based surveys of high school students in grades 9-12. In addition, some states, territories,…

Numerous theories have attempted to explain possible factors relating to an individual's propensity for engaging or failing to engage in preventative health behaviors. The Health Locus of Control (HLOC) is now considered to be an important variable for understanding an individual's likelihood for following health promoting behaviors. This paper…

This report presents data on U.S. births using information from the birth certificates of the 3.96 million births in 1999. Data are presented for maternal demographics (age, live-birth order, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, and educational attainment); maternal characteristics (medical risk factors, weight gain, tobacco use, and alcohol…

Many young people in the District of Columbia are failing to make a successful transition to adulthood. Their challenges include poor preparation for the high-skills labor market and long-standing health problems. Recent District government efforts have centered around school reform and early childhood, but these areas are not sufficient to…

Intended to inform policymaking in the public and private sectors, this booklet compiles secondary data for 59 health status indicators. The book provides both graphical and textual summaries of data and addresses long-term trends where applicable. Data are presented for the target populations of Title V funding: infants, children, adolescents,…

To examine changes in tobacco use among high school students in Alabama from 1995 to 1999, Alabama Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS) survey data were analyzed. The survey has been used since 1990 to examine the health practices of adolescents and to monitor priority health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of…

This youth risk behavior survey was completed by 7,667 students at 127 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) middle schools. The document is organized around the six categories of behavior that contribute substantially to the leading causes of death, illness, and social problems in the United States: unintentional and intentional injuries; tobacco use;…

This KIDS COUNT report presents statistics highlighting challenges faced by newborns and their parents in major urban areas. Data came from birth certificates. Overall, children living in central cities are far more likely to experience six risks associated with negative child outcomes, and when those six factors are used collectively to determine…

The Healthy for Life (HFL) program was an efficacy test of an adolescent health promotion program designed specifically for use with middle school students. Four conceptually distinct, but inter-related, components were designed to influence young adolescents in school, with their peers, in their families, and in the communities. HFL was unique in…

There is limited information on how communication barriers impact on the health of deaf individuals. The present article describes the development of a standardized interview tool to collect health-related information from deaf adults via face-to-face interviews in American Sign Language (ASL). Questions were selected largely from existing…