The Tennessee Department of Education's office of coordinated school health (CSH) works with every school district in the state to address all aspects of student health, with a special emphasis on reducing Tennessee's childhood obesity rates. Encouraging adequate physical activity and providing physical education for all students are the central…

To assess the prevalence of weight misperception in American adolescents and its association with diet and physical activity behaviors, "Youth Risk Behavior Survey" data were utilized for this study. Based on reported and perceived weight, adolescents in the study were grouped into four categories (true negative [52.4%] = normal body…

Montana is proud to have completed over three decades of participation in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). These results are valuable to educators, school boards, and communities, including parents and students, in understanding the health risks of Montana students, enabling districts to design local health and physical education curriculum…

Background: Exercise reduces the odds of sadness and suicidality in bullied students, but the role of the bullying environment on this relationship remains unknown. Methods: Using combined data from the 2013 and 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 29,207), adjusted logistic regression models estimated odds ratios between exercise, sadness, and…

Background: Sexting, the sharing of sexually suggestive photos, may be a gateway behavior to early sexual activity and increase the likelihood of social ostracism. Methods: Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 6021) data from 2015 among Pennsylvania 9th-12th grade students were used to examine associations between consensual and nonconsensual sexting…

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…

Background: This study examined the association of ever being bullied in school with suicide ideation (ever thinking about killing oneself) and ever seriously making a plan to kill oneself (suicide planning) among rural middle school adolescents. Methods: Using the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Middle School Youth Risk Behavior…

The present study tested the model minority and inferior minority assumptions by examining the relationship between academic performance and measures of behavioral health in a subsample of 3,008 (22%) participants in a nationally representative, multicultural sample of 13,601 students in the 2001 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, comparing Asian…

The authors examined the relationship between adolescents' experiences with violent victimization and academic achievement. Data from the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were analyzed for males (N = 8,537) and females (N = 7,816). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were employed to estimate the relationship between academic achievement and…

Background: This study examined the prevalence of oral sexual activity in rural Midwestern adolescents. We also examined the correlates of a series of risk behaviors with oral sexual activity. Methods: A questionnaire based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System was distributed to 2121 rural middle and high school students in grades 6-12…

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Systems monitor six categories of priority health risk behaviors among youth and young adults: (1) behaviors that contribute to intentional or unintentional injuries; (2) tobacco use (3) alcohol and other drug use; (4) sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases;…

Problem: Priority health-risk behaviors, which are behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults, often are established during childhood and adolescence, extend into adulthood, are interrelated, and are preventable. Reporting Period Covered: January-December 2007. Description of the System: The…

The study examined associations among physical activity, cigarette smoking, body mass index, perceptions of body weight, weight-management goals, and weight-management behaviors of public high school adolescents. The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey provided a cross-sectional sample (n = 3,089) of public high school students in South Carolina.…