Health-Risk Behaviors Among Our Nation's
Youth: United States, 1992
This report presents national estimates
of the prevalence of selected health-risk behaviors among youth ages 12-21 years, by sex,
age, Hispanic origin, and race for youth of non-Hispanic origin. Topics include: cigarette
and other tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual experience, HIV\AIDS education,
runaway and homeless experiences, violence, unintentional injury control, weight control,
and participation in physical activities. Data are from the 1992 National Health Interview
Survey's Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Data Highlights:
About one-half (49.9 percent) of
youth ages 12-21 years had smoked a whole cigarette in their lifetime and another 10.0
percent had taken a few puffs. White youth were more likely to have smoked a whole
cigarette (53.8 percent) than black youth (37.9 percent) or Hispanic youth (45.6 percent).
About two-thirds (67.7 percent)
of our Nation's youth have had at least one drink of alcohol in their lifetime. Drinking
was more prevalent among white adolescents than among black adolescents.
Nearly 8 in 10 (79.1 percent)
black teenagers had been sexually active, compared with 58.2 percent of white teenagers
and 56.5 percent of Hispanic teenagers. Among sexually active youth, 18.8 percent of white
youth had used alcohol or drugs the last time they had sex in contrast with 12.7 percent
of black youth. Females (43.4 percent) were
nearly twice as likely as males (24.1 percent) to think they were overweight. Overall, of
youth who were trying to lose or keep from gaining weight in the past week, 86.3 percent
had exercised and 47.3 percent had dieted. Overall, 97.8 percent of all
teenagers engaged in at least one activity in the past week -- about one-half took part in
5 activities or more. Males were more likely than females to participate in vigorous
exercise 3 or more days per week.