Background: Few studies have attempted to define clusters of chronic disease predictors with additional focus on racial/ethnic differences. The purpose of this study was to highlight differences in predictors of chronic diseases among American high school students by identifying subgroups using latent class analysis (LCA). Methods: The chronic…

Adolescents often practice unhealthy behaviors to lose weight or keep from gaining weight. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) of various health risk behaviors since 1991 using U.S. representative samples of high school students and is therefore best for us to identify risk/preventive…

This study purpose was to investigate sex differences in multilevel factors associated with smoking experimentation and age of initiation among Korean adolescents. Based on the ecological model, this cross-sectional study used data from the 2016 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (N = 65,528). Among 33,803 males (51.6%) and 31,725 females…

Background: Depression continues to be a public health crisis for young adults. For high school students, past research has identified trauma as a significant predictor of depression. Congruent with the theory of cumulative stress, the present study hypothesized that the effect of sexual assault on depression would be stronger among lesbian, gay,…

Objective: To examine prospective associations between physical and mental self-rated health (SRH), college generation status and college adjustment among first-year college students. Participants and methods: Eighty-seven first-year college students (41 first-generation college students) reported their SRH when starting college, and then,…

This study aimed to explore the role of school engagement and the mediation effect of acculturation in predicting 1.5 and second-generation migrant adolescents' mental health and risk behaviors. Participants included 448 seventh to tenth grade Israeli students (mean age 14.50, 53% boys): 128 non-Jewish 1.5 generation migrant adolescents (children…

This study examined the association between various types of peer-directed violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 15,425 high school students completed the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. All types of peer victimization (bullying, physical violence, and dating violence) were found to…

About 35% of healthy weight adolescent females describe themselves as overweight, and 66% report planning to lose weight. Body weight dissatisfaction is associated with unhealthy weight loss practices including diet pill/powder/liquid (PPL) use. Few studies have examined diet PPL use in healthy weight adolescent females; therefore, Youth Risk…

Black students are much more likely to be disciplined using out-of-school suspensions (OSS) compared with White students. One often-cited hypothesis, though relatively untested, is the role of misconduct and students attitudes that support deviant behavior. The differential involvement hypothesis suggests that disproportionate sanctioning may…

Background: This study investigated the relationship between school connectedness and health risk behaviors, specifically, substance abuse, violence-related behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, and suicidal ideation among school-going adolescents. School connectedness was understood to encompass a range of aspects pertaining to a learner's sense of…

A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to predict high school students' cigarette smoking behavior from selected predictors from 2009 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. The specific target student behavior of interest was frequent cigarette use. Five predictor variables included in the model were: a) race, b) frequency of…

This study examined the extent to which violent behavior and peer victimization were associated with suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts in a nationally representative sample of 11,113 adolescents who completed the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Boys were more likely to be involved in physical fighting and weapon carrying, whereas girls were…

This study compares the prevalence of drinking behaviors and violence (fighting, weapon carrying, being threatened and feeling unsafe) among Hawaiian, other Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Caucasian students, using data collected from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Hawaii in 1997 and 1999 (N = 2,146). Native Hawaiians and…

Determined predictors of and prevalence rates for U.S. high school students who carried weapons, were threatened or injured with weapons, or were involved in fighting on school property from 1993 to 1995. Youth Risk Behavior Survey data indicated that gender, race, and grade predicted school-related violence. Males, minorities, and younger…