Youth Risk Behavior

Another United States HHS survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, and is also an in-school survey that collects data from students in grades 9-12. YRBS began in 1990 and has been conducted twice-yearly since 1991. The results of the YRBS are difficult to interpret strictly in terms of Ecstasy use, however, because they only ask questions regarding illicit... 

Table 2.14, Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States 1992-2002, deaths from drug use, injecting drug users with AIDS, drug-related emergency room visits, tuberculosis among injecting drug users. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, school drop-out rate...

Tuberculosis decreased among injecting drug users. Decreases in some youth risk behaviors. No other data to support target... 

Center for Disease Control, 2005. Youth risk behavior surveillance survey. http //www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/about yrbss.htm. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000). 1999 youth risk behavior surveillance system. Accessed May 4, 2012. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtnil/ss4905al.htm. 

For a summary of individual and environmental risk factors and protective factors in aggressive behavior in youth, see Tables 50.02a and 50.2b. 

TABLE 50.2a Risk Factors and Protective Factors for Aggressive Behavior in Youth Individual Factors... 

High levels of aggression have been reported in adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) (Knox et al., 2000). Delinquent youth and youth with CD have high rates of affective illness (Puig-Antich 1987 Pliszka et al., 2000). Children and adolescents suffering from both MDD and antisocial behavior are at highest risk for suicidal acts (Brent et al., 1993). 

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the surgeon general s report on youth violence, which indicated several risk factors (both personal and social) that predict youth violence. In the primary grades, risk factors included 1) being male 2) substance abuse 3) aggression 4) low intelligence 5) antisocial parents 6) poverty 7) psychological conditions such as hyperactivity 8) weak social ties 9) antisocial behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and peers 10) exposure to TV violence 11) poor school performance 12) abusive parents ... 

In addition to the importance of staffing trained mental health professionals within schools, teachers and staff also need to have training to be able to respond to the mental health needs of their students, from basic classroom management and discipline strategies to working with troubled youth and responding to disruptive behavior, as well as suicide risk identification and intervention. At any time, a... 

Prospectively studied children in the Pittsburgh Youth Study at high risk of delinquency (N = 503) Antisocial behavior and delinquency, tested at 7 and 11 years old Pb in tibia, XRF analysis, 7 and 11 years Parental and teacher reports of delinquency and aggressive behavior related to bone Pb Needleman etal. (1996)... 

Youth prevention services are targeted to prevent youth behavioral and mental problems in advance or to address them in the early stages of development. Specifically, it is known that effective prevention services can reduce delinquency, aggression, violence, bullying, and substance abuse in the youth population (Chilenski et al. 2007). Increased effectiveness of prevention services could potentially lower the risk of substance abuse (tobacco, alcohol, drugs) among youths through better social and emotional health. 

There is considerable evidence that children s schooling plays a critical role in their adjustment. For example, children evidencing disruptive behavior disorders are at high risk for poor school adjustment (Willcutt Pennington, 2000), and low participation in academic tasks is predictive of oppositional behavior (Finn Cox, 1992). Intensive educational interventions have been shown to reduce aggression as a function of increased achievement (Kellam et al., 1998). In addition, in a study of urban, African American families, academic self-esteem and academic achievement were protective factors for negative life events and for youth perceptions of family conflicts (Spencer et al., 1993). Thus, success in school is clearly associated... 

Tolan, P. H., Gorman-Smith, D., Huesmann, L. R., Zelli, A. (1997). Assessing family process to explain risk for antisocial behavior and depression among urban youth. Psychological Assessment, 9,212-223. 

It is estimated that between 15 and 20% of children in the United States have a significant ongoing need for health care (Newacheck et al., 1998). In order to clearly define the group of children and youth discussed in this paper, the term children with special health care needs as defined by the Federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health will be used. Children with special health care needs are those who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition, and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally (American Academy of Pediatrics (aap), 1993). This definition includes children with chronic illness that is defined as a condition that lasts at least 3 months and requires extensive hospitalization or in-home health services (aap, 1993). 

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