JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH, vol. 22, n° 3, 1998, pages 209-213, 23 réf., ISSN 1054-139X, USA
Although it is common for adolescents to experiment with several health-risk behaviors before reaching adulthood, little is known about the co-occurrence of these behaviors.
The purposes of this study were to determine the co-occurrence of specific health-risk behaviors among a nationally representative sample of adolescents, and to examine whether the distribution of multiple risk behaviors varies by age, sex, and school enrollment status.
This study analyzed survey data from a United States national probability sample (n=10,645) of youth aged 12-21 years.
Survey items measuring current seat belt use, weapon carrying, tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, and sexual behavior were included in the analysis.
The majority of adolescents aged 12-17 years did not engage in multiple health-risk behaviors.
However, the prevalence of multiple risk behaviors increased dramatically with age.
While only 1 in 12 adolescents aged 12-13 years engaged in two or more of these behaviors, one-third of those aged 14-17 years and half of the college-aged youth (18-21 years) did so.
Male respondents and out-of-school youth aged 14-17 years were more likely to engage in multiple health-risk behaviors than were other respondents.
These results suggest that the likelihood that adolescents engage in multiple health-risk behaviors is related to age and that many adolescents engage in these behaviors serially rather than at the same time.
Mots-clés BDSP : Comportement, Risque, Prise de risque, Adolescent, Homme, Epidémiologie, Etats Unis, Amérique du Nord, Amérique, Age
Mots-clés Pascal : Comportement, Risque, Prise risque, Adolescent, Homme, Epidémiologie, Etats Unis, Amérique du Nord, Amérique, Age
Mots-clés Pascal anglais : Behavior, Risk, Risk taking, Adolescent, Human, Epidemiology, United States, North America, America, Age
Notice produite par :
Inist-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique
Cote : 98-0220987
Code Inist : 002B30A03B. Création : 11/09/1998.