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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
John Jasek, MPA, Tod Mijanovich, MPA, and Beth Weitzman, PhD. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, Center for Health and Public Service Research, 726 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003, 212-998-7528, john.jasek@nyu.edu
The presentation will focus on teens’ perceptions of the extent of drug and alcohol use among their peers and peer attitudes regarding the acceptable age to initiate alcohol and drug use. In addition, it will address perceptions of likely parental response to alcohol and drug use and other risk-taking behaviors, such as sexual activity. Data will be drawn from the Survey of Adults and Youth (SAY), a telephone household survey of parents and youth. The survey is one component of the evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Urban Health Initiative (UHI), a multi-million dollar, ten-year effort to improve the health and safety of youth in five disadvantaged U.S. cities. The SAY sample is geographically rich, comprised of parent and teen respondents from 15 U.S. cities (the five UHI program cities and ten comparison cities) and their surrounding suburbs, as well as national urban and suburban samples. More than 5,000 youth were interviewed at baseline (1998-1999). The survey revealed that teens throughout America—regardless of race or income—felt that drug and alcohol use was common and tolerated by peers, although their parents would likely disapprove. Round 2 of SAY, which is being fielded from Sept. 2001 through June 2002, features additional questions regarding risk-taking behaviors. Controls for age, race, gender, and income level will be applied where appropriate to help ascertain the impact of urban locale. As regions struggle to maximize the efficacy of limited prevention funding, these findings can inform new avenues for intervention in urban areas.
Learning Objectives: As a result of this session, participants will be able to
Keywords: Adolescent Health, Survey
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.