title: Structure of health risk behavior among high school students.
abstract: The authors test the contention of R. Jessor's (1977) problem behavior theory that adolescent health risk behaviors comprise a single behavioral syndrome. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis are used to analyze data from a statewide survey of high school students' (n = 5,537) health risk behaviors. A classical MDS analysis was calculated to test the dimensionality of the behaviors. All indicators supported a multidimensional model. An individual-differences MDS (INDSCAL) analysis revealed that a 4-dimensional solution best fit the data, with gender and racial-ethnic differences emerging in the relative salience of the dimensions. The INDSCAL dimensional coordinates for each health risk behavior were then submitted to a hierarchical cluster analysis technique. Five behavioral clusters were identified, 1 of which included many of the traditional "problem behaviors," such as smoking, unprotected sexual intercourse, and alcohol consumption. These findings support a multidimensional structure underlying adolescent health risk behavior. Implications for theory and prevention of health risk behaviors are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Promotion Research and Development, University of Texas--Houston Health Science Center, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Basen-Engquist
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Edmundson
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Parcel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*