Original articlePrevalence of health risk behaviors among Asian American/Pacific Islander high school students
Section snippets
Study population
Data from the national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) conducted in 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1997 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were used for this study. Each YRBS used a three-stage cluster sample design to produce a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9 through 12 in all public, parochial, and private schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia 5, 17, 18, 19.
In the first stage of sampling for each national survey, primary
Results
Of the 52,985 students who participated in the YRBS from 1991 to 1997, 3.5% were AAPI, 14.5% were black, 10.0% were Hispanic, and 72.0% were white. The percentage female ranged from 43.8% among AAPI students to 52.1% among black students, and the percentage male ranged from 47.9% among black students to 56.2% among AAPI students (Table 1). In all four race/ethnic groups, approximately one-fourth of the students were in each of the four grades.
Discussion
This study provides useful information about the prevalence of single and multiple risk behaviors among AAPI students. Overall, our results demonstrate that AAPI students are less likely to engage in most risk behaviors than are white, black, or Hispanic students. Other studies of AAPI students have demonstrated similar findings for cigarette smoking 6, 10, substance use 6, 10, and sexual activity 13, 14, 15, 16. Suzuki et al. (23) report that approximately 40% of high school students in Japan
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2016, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :Compared to White and Asian students, Black, Latino, and Multiracial youth in this study more often reported failing grades, substance use, and violent behavior. This finding parallels the results from other analyses of racial differences in risk behaviors, which generally find that youth of color disproportionately experience negative outcomes related to academics and behavioral health overall (Choi & Lahey, 2006; Grunbaum et al., 2000; Kao & Thompson, 2003; Lee & Rotheram-Borus, 2009; Removed for review, 2014). Theoretical approaches such as the SDM suggest these patterns reflect the disadvantaged social locations of Black, Latino and Multiracial youth relative to White and Asian adolescents (Hawkins & Weis, 1985).