Relationship between school perceptions and health risk behaviors of African American middle school youth.

摘要

In the United States, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among all age groups are related to behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence, tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, sexual behaviors, unhealthy dietary behaviors, physical inactivity, and overweight. National behavioral surveillance data document that high school youth are engaged in health compromising behaviors. Too little is known, however, about the health risk behaviors of middle school students. A growing body of literature is linking health risk behaviors with student perceptions of school. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure students' perceptions of their schools, collect data pertaining to their risky health behaviors, and to examine the relationships between school perceptions and health risk behaviors. Methods. A 112-item paper-and-pencil instrument was administered to a convenience sample of middle school youth attending two middle schools in Richland County School District One (Columbia, SC) to obtain their perceptions of school and their health risk behaviors. Results. Middle school youth are engaging in a variety of health risk behaviors and some behaviors (i.e., tobacco use) are associated with specific school perceptions (i.e., educational attachment). Conclusions. More research is needed to develop reliable and valid measures of school perceptions and the middle school version of the YRBS should be widely adopted.