CDC Releases the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Results

Health risk behaviors are established during childhood and adolescence and can extend into adulthood. Therefore, encouraging the adoption of healthy behaviors during childhood is easier and more effective than trying to change unhealthy behaviors during adulthood.

In the United States, schools play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of young people and helping them establish lifelong healthy behavior patterns. Each day, the nation's 132,000 schools provide an opportunity for 56 million students to learn about the dangers of unhealthy behaviors and practice the skills that promote healthy behaviors.

Results from the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) indicate the need for continued improvement in reducing youth health risk behaviors. However, significant progress has been made since 1991 in decreasing the percentage of high school students who engage in many risky health behaviors, including rarely or never wearing seatbelts, riding with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and having sexual intercourse with multiple partners.¹

What Is the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)?

The CDC's YRBSS is the only surveillance system designed to monitor a wide range of priority health risk behaviors among representative samples of students at the national, state, and local levels.

National, state, and local surveys are conducted every two years among high school students throughout the United States. These surveys monitor priority health risk behaviors including unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. These surveys also monitor the prevalence of obesity and asthma.

More than 16,000 U.S. high school students participated in the 2009 National YRBS. Parental permission was obtained for students to participate in the survey. Student participation was voluntary, and responses were anonymous. States and cities could modify the questionnaire to meet their needs. The 2009 report includes National YRBS data and data from surveys conducted in 42 states and 20 large urban school districts.

The 2009 YRBS results are now available on the YRBS Web site. Available materials include:

• The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009 MMWR Surveillance Summary
• Trend fact sheets by race/ethnicity
• Comparisons of state or local results with national results
• Enhancements to Youth Online, an interactive data exploration tool
• Public use national data sets and technical documentation
• A tailored YRBS data widget

What Do We Know About Youth Risk Behaviors?

According to the 2009 YRBS, far too many youth are still engaging in health risk behaviors.¹ As a matter of fact, the health risk behaviors adopted in youth contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems in adulthood, specifically tobacco use; unhealthy eating; inadequate physical activity; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that may result in HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy; and behaviors that contribute to unintentional injury and violence. These behaviors are often established during childhood and persist into adult­hood. However, they are largely preventable.

Therefore, school health programs should focus on reducing these health risk behavior areas. Research has shown that school health programs can reduce the prevalence of health risk behaviors among young people and have a positive effect on academic performance. ^2-5 Scientific reviews have documented that school health programs can have positive impacts on educational outcomes, as well as health-risk behaviors and health outcomes. ^6-7 Hence, early intervention can improve long-term outcomes.

What Is CDC Doing to Help Reduce the Prevalence of Health Risk Behaviors Among Students?

CDC works with other federal agencies, national nongovernmental organizations, and state and local departments of education, health, and social services to plan and implement four basic strategies:

• Identify and monitor critical health events and related school policies and programs,
• Synthesize and apply research to increase the effectiveness of interventions,
• Enable relevant constituencies to plan and implement interventions,
• Evaluate the impact of interventions over time.

Collectively, we all have a role to play in ensuring the health of our nation's youth. Families, schools, community organizations, and youth themselves must work together to help address these health risk behaviors.

More Information

• Download the complete surveillance summary [PDF - 3.51 MB] from the CDC Web site.
• Add the YRBS Data Widget to any Web site to display YRBS results from the site you choose for selected behaviors and to provide links to the new and improved Youth Online.
• Learn more about the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).
• Visit CDC's Healthy Youth Web site to learn more about adolescent and school health.
• Learn more about student health and academic achievement.

References

1. CDC. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009 [PDF - 1 MB]. MMWR June 4, 2010; 59 (No.SS-5):1-142. Also available as HTML.
2. Murray NG, Low BJ, Hollis C, Cross AW, Davis SM. Coordinated school health programs and academic achievement: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of School Health 2007;77(9):589–600.
3. Society of State Directors of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Making the connection: Health and student achievement [PPT - 5.2MB].
4. Taras H. Nutrition and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005;75(6):199–213.
5. Taras H. Physical activity and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005;75(6):214–218.
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The association between school based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance [PDF - 22.48 MB]. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2010.
7. Basch, C.E. (2010). Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in Efforts to Close the Achievement Gap [PDF - 675 KB]. Equity Matters: Research Review No. 6. New York: The Campaign for Educational Equity.