NCJ Number
226439
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 109-133
Date Published
February 2009
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the factors that influence adolescent self-assessed health.
Abstract
Results indicated that adolescents showed large gender differences in self-reported health that were similar in magnitude to those found in the national sample reported in the Add Health study 2003. Adolescent females reported lower levels of adolescent health than males; the gender effect on self-reported health persisted and even grew in magnitude as other covariates for developmental factors were entered into the model. For most racial and ethnic groups, it was shown that both among males and females, the race ethnicity effect disappeared when family background variables were introduced, suggesting the differences in self-reported health among adolescents of different ethnic/racial groups are largely mediated by factors pertaining to social class and family stability. However, there is no gender gap in health among adolescents of Southeast Asian origin, with both males and females reporting nearly identical levels of sub-optimal health; assimilation and acculturation effects on self-reported health, at least as measured by generation status and non-English language use in the home were not apparent in this study. Data were collected from 6,853 high school seniors in Washington State between 2000 and 2004. Tables, figure, appendix, and references