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Health Risks and Disparities Experienced by Black
Youth
Health Risk Behaviors Among Black High School Students
Most of the leading causes of illness and premature
death among both black adults and youth are caused by health behaviors
typically established during childhood and adolescence. These include
behaviors that contribute to injury and violence; sexual behaviors that
contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV infection; alcohol and other drug use; unhealthy dietary
behaviors and inadequate physical activity; and tobacco use.
CDC’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors these behaviors
every 2 years among representative samples of 9th through 12th
grade students in public and private schools throughout the United States.1 The following tables highlight data from the 2007 National YRBS that
provide estimates of the percentages of Hispanic, black, and white high
school students who engaged in specific health risk behaviors. The only
behaviors listed are those which black students are significantly more
likely or significantly less likely to engage in, compared with either white
or Hispanic students or both. Percentages for Hispanic or white students
noted in gray are not significantly different from percentages for black
students for that behavior.
Statistical tests are performed to determine whether differences are
significant; when percentages are significantly different, it means
that the differences between the groups most likely reflect true differences
in the populations and are not due to the sampling process. Data on the
percentage of black students who engaged in all the other risk behaviors
measured can be found in the complete report of the Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance — United States, 2007.1
References
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Eaton DK, Kann L, Kinchen S, et. al.
Youth risk behavior surveillance — United States 2007.
MMWR 2007;57(SS-4):1-131.
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