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Citation |
Rutman S, Park A, Castor M, Taualii M, Forquera R. Matern. Child Health J. 2008; 12(1): 76-81. |
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Affiliation |
Urban Indian Health Institute, Seattle Indian Health Board, P.O. Box 3364, Seattle, WA, 98114, USA, shirar@uihi.org. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2008, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
18483839 |
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Abstract |
Objective To examine the prevalence of health risk-behaviors among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth in urban areas. Methods Data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) for the years 1997-2003 were used for the analyses (Urban sample = 52,364). The YRBS is a self-report questionnaire administered to a sample of 9th-12th grade students intended to monitor health risk-behaviors."Urban"is defined as areas within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Whites are used as the comparison group for the examination of AI/AN estimates. Results Urban AI/AN youth represented 1% of the urban sample (N = 513). The presence of a number of risk-behaviors were at least threefold higher in AI/AN compared to white youth in urban areas, including suicidal behaviors, feeling unsafe at school and needing medical treatment from a fight. Other factors were over twofold higher among AI/AN, including sexual behaviors, illegal drug use, violence at school, and experiences of rape, assault and pregnancy. Conclusions The higher prevalence of health risk-behaviors in urban AI/AN compared to white youth reflects a need for interventions focused on urban AI/AN youth. Language: en |