Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110772

Jo Anne Grunbaum, EdD¹, Paula Cuccaro, PhD², Sandra H. Berry, MA³, Melissa Fleschler, PhD⁴, Shelley Kilpatrick, PhD⁵, Eun Young Mun, PhD⁶, and Margit Wiesner, PhD⁶. (1) Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, Mailstop K-33, Atlanta, GA 30341, (2) University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 7000 Fannin, Suite 2632, Houston, TX 77030, 713-500-9684, Paula.M.Cuccaro@uth.tmc.edu, (3) UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, (4) Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, University of Texas-Houston, 7000 Fannin, 26th floor, Houston, TX 77030, (5) Department of Behavioral Sciences, Southwest Baptist Universtiy, 1600 University Ave., Gott Educational Bldg, Office 206, Bolivar, MO 65613, (6) University of Alabama at Birmingham, 912 Bldg., 1530 3rd Avenue, Birmingham, AL 35294

This presentation will describe how data from multiple sources provide both unique and complementary perspectives, thus ensuring a more complete understanding of health determinants. Healthy Passages is a prospective study designed to provide a basis for the development of effective policies and procedures to ensure optimal health and development of youth and adults. A two-stage probability sample was used to identify fifth-grade children in Birmingham, Alabama; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles, California; 650 children were enrolled in Healthy Passages. During home visits, computer-assisted personal- and self-interviews were conducted with each child and a parent. A neighborhood observation of each child's block face was completed by two observers. Complementary data exist for most study domains, including body size, physical activity, health care, concern about terrorism, media usage, school work, religiosity, neighborhood connectedness, exposure to firearms, and parent involvement and monitoring. Complementary data provide a broad perspective (e.g., child data provide prevalence of carrying a gun and where gun was handled while parent data provide prevalence of having a firearm in the house; child and parent data provide perception of neighborhood connection while neighborhood observation provides data on social and physical neighborhood climate) and demonstrate that parent's perception of child's issues is different from the child's perception (e.g., parents underestimate their child's concern over terrorism). This presentation will compare and contrast the unique perspectives provided by complementary data. A broad-based comprehensive assessment is essential to understanding the contribution of multilevel risk and protective factors on health behaviors, health outcomes, and educational outcomes.

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