Socioeconomic factors and health risk behaviors among adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To examine relationships between a wide range of socioeconomic factors, race/ethnicity, and adolescent risk behaviors.


METHODS
The Youth Asset Study (N = 1111) was used to examine multivariate relationships between sexual initiation, alcohol use, tobacco use, and drug use and 8 socioeconomic factors.


RESULTS
Socioeconomic factors beyond income and parental education (eg, wealth) were associated with some health behaviors depending upon gender. However, we did not find that a wider range of factors helped us better understand racial/ethnic disparities.


CONCLUSIONS
Even the more comprehensive set of socioeconomic factors considered may not accurately capture the underlying construct of adolescent SES.
School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-0358, USA. ccubbin@austin.utexas.edu
Catherine
C
Cubbin
Sara K
SK
Vesely
Paula A
PA
Braveman
Roy F
RF
Oman
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology