Data and Documentation

At a glance

  • National, state, and district Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) datasets and documentation can be downloaded from this page.
  • The datasets are available in two file formats: Access and ASCII.
  • YRBSS data are used by health departments, educators, lawmakers, doctors, and community organizations.
  • The Access and ASCII data can be downloaded and used as is.
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National datasets & documentation

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National YRBSS Datasets and Documentation by Year
View/download national YRBSS datasets and documentation by year.

Combined high school

Combined middle school

Dataset file formats

Using ASCII files

  1. Save the ASCII data file to a folder on your computer.
  2. Specify column locations for each variable as needed by the software you are using.

Note: SAS and SPSS programs need to be used to convert ASCII into SAS and SPSS datasets. How to use the ASCII data varies from one software package to another. Column positions for each variable usually have to be specified. Column positions for each variable can be found in the documentation for each year's data. Consult your software documentation for more information.

Using Access files

  1. Save the Access file to a folder on your computer.
  2. Uncompress the Access file.

Note: The file is stored in compressed form to improve download time; it will need to be uncompressed before it can be used. See file formats help for more information on uncompressing the file.

Using SAS files

  1. Save the SAS Format Program, SAS Input Program, and the ASCII data files to a folder on your computer.
  2. Open the SAS Format Program in SAS and edit it according to the instructions included in the comments in the program.
  3. Run the program. This will create a permanent format library in the folder specified in the SAS program.
  4. Open the SAS Input Program in SAS and edit it according to the instructions included in the comments in the program.
  5. Run the program. This will read the ASCII data file and convert it into a permanent SAS dataset for the particular year in the folder specified in the SAS program.

Note: Each year of YRBSS data should go in its own folder because each year has its own format library. Format libraries are not comparable across years.

The SAS format library contains the formats used to make SAS output more readable. Formats are linked to the data so that results are displayed as words ("Male" or "Female," for instance) instead of numbers (1 or 2). The SAS YRBSS data file is designed to use its companion format library.

The following example SAS program shows how to use the format library. It assumes that both the data file and the format library are in "c:data." Note that the program contains two libname statements. The first libname statement indicates where the data file is located; the second libname statement indicates where the format library is located.

libname mydata 'c:data'; /* tells SAS

where the data are */
libname library 'c:data'; /* tells SAS

where the formats are */

proc freq data=mydata.yrbs2005;
tables q2;

run;

Using the format library is recommended but technically is optional. If you do not want to use the format library, include the following statement at the start of your SAS program:

options nofmterr; /* tells SAS to not

look for formats */

Please note that each year of YRBSS data has its own format library. Format libraries are not the same across years of data.

For further information on using format libraries, please consult your SAS documentation.

Using SPSS Files:

  1. Save the SPSS syntax file and the ASCII data files to a folder on your computer.
  2. Open the SPSS syntax file in SPSS and edit it according to the instructions included in the comments in the file.
  3. Run the syntax file. This will read the ASCII data file and convert it into a permanent SPSS data file that includes labels and formats.

Additional resources

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YRBSS Data Request Form
The form in this page should only be used for data that are not available on the website.
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YRBSS Methods
Learn more about YRBSS survey methodology, documentation, and guidances.
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Content Source:
Division of Adolescent and School Health; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion