title: Adolescents' health status: sex differences among whites and nonwhites.
abstract: This study was designed to determine differences in health between sexes in white and nonwhite adolescents. The data are from the Health Examination Survey's large national sample of 12-17-year-olds. Comparisons are made between males and females for whites and non-whites of their scores on scales constituting different but complementary views of their health. Thus, there were scales of items from (a) a clinical study of each subject, (b) interviews with parents about past and present health, and (c) questionnaires from the youths themselves. To these was added a single rating from a school official on the youth's adjustment at school. Three important findings emerged: (1) the health of white adolescent females was somewhat poorer than that of white males; (2) the health of nonwhite females was poorer than the other three sex-race groups; and (3) the correlation of youths' own rating of their health with estimates from others' including clinicians, showed females to be somewhat more accurate than males.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality; D044469:Racial Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States