Health-Risk Behaviors and Experiences Among Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Adolescents in the United States, 2011-2019.

HISPANIC Americans; AFRICAN Americans; RISK-taking behavior; CONFIDENCE intervals; ALCOHOLISM; CANNABIS (Genus); SUBSTANCE abuse; INTRAVENOUS drug abuse; ASIAN Americans; VIOLENCE; EXPERIENCE; COMPARATIVE studies; SURVEYS; PACIFIC Islanders; PSYCHOLOGY of high school students; QUESTIONNAIRES; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; HEALTH behavior; WHITE people; DRUGS of abuse; WOUNDS & injuries; MINORITY students; ADOLESCENCE

Objectives: Understanding the health-risk behaviors of racial and ethnic groups when disaggregated is an important step in improving the health outcomes of racial and ethnic minority groups. We compared national prevalence estimates for selected health-risk behaviors and experiences of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) students with those of non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic students. Methods: We analyzed data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative survey of US high school students. To generate a sufficient sample of Asian American and NHPI students for analyses, we combined data from 5 survey administrations, conducted in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 (N = 73 074). We calculated the prevalence and 95% CIs; we analyzed data on Asian American and NHPI adolescents separately to unmask important differences. Results: Compared with students of other races and ethnicities, Asian American students had the lowest prevalence of alcohol use (16.7%) and marijuana use (10.3%). In contrast, NHPI students were more likely than Asian American students to participate in several health-risk behaviors and experiences, such as substance use (ranging from 4.8% for ever injecting an illegal drug to 31.5% for current alcohol use), having been in a physical fight (15.4%), and having been threatened or injured with a weapon (11.6%). Differential patterns in the prevalence of ever having missed school due to feeling unsafe among NHPI and Asian American students were observed among male and female students. Conclusion: Further disaggregating racial subgroups within broad categories of Asian American and NHPI populations may reveal differences from overall group prevalence, and additional strategies to identify these differences should be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Public Health Reports is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)