Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lynn Agre, MPH, School of Social Work, Rutgers University, 640 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, 7324453079, agre@rci.rutgers.edu

This paper demonstrates the propensity for risk activity occurs during the early years of adolescence, which can in turn determine deleterious health behavior, or co-morbid substance use and sexual behavior into adulthood. The data are abstracted from the National Survey on Youth-Young Adult 1998, 2000 and 2002 waves. The distinction between those who self-rate as high risk takers versus low risk takers emerges most significantly in the younger teen years. This contrast is first revealed using chi-square analysis in the 1998 cohort, average age 16.5 years. Life table analysis then illustrates how the probability of individuals who continue to engage in alcohol and drug use more than one time per month differs between those who perceive themselves as high risk takers versus low risk takers. During mid-adolescence in the 2000 cohort, the contrast between sustained high and low risk taking narrows. But in later adolescence, as evidenced by the hazard curves, the distinction in the high and low risk self-appraised groups again widens in the 2002 cohort, suggesting that high risk takers in late adolescence may continue to engage in health risk behaviors concomitant with substance use and sexual behavior in subsequent years. Longitudinal regression analysis reveals that the protective effect of mother's education can reduce the likelihood of health risk behaviors in adolescence, if sustained maternal support persists throughout those critical years. The implication for later-life adult health outcomes is discussed with respect to the overall life course and mental health and well-being, such as self-esteem, mastery and depression.

Learning Objectives: