Results from the national school-based 1991 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and progress toward achieving related health objectives for the nation.

Abstract

^NaTIONAL HEALTH OBJECTIVES FOR THE YEAR 2000, pre sented in Healthy People 2000 (1), represent an agenda for improving the nation's health. To achieve those goals, we as a nation must develop, implement, and sustain effective preventive interventions and share responsibility for reducing unnecessary mortality and morbidity. Families, educators, health professionals, the media, and government all have an important role. Among the 300 objectives, 111 focus on adolescents or the school-based programs provided for adolescents (2). Those objectives are included in 19 of the 22 priority areas and in each of the 3 broad categories of preventive actions: health promotion, health protection, and pre ventive services. The YouthRiskBehavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) was developed to focus national attention on priority health risk behaviors among adolescents that contribute to leading causes of mortality and morbidity among youth and adults. Selected data from the surveillance system can be used to help measure progress, particu larly among high school students, toward achieving 26 of the 111 national health objectives that focus on adolescents. The YRBSS is the only ongoing surveil lance system that can provide information about adoles cent health on so many objectives. In this article we describe results from one component of the system, the national, school-based 1991 Youth Risk Behavior Sur vey, and document progress toward achieving 26 na tional health objectives. Results from the 1991 State and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveys have been published previously (3-6).