James G. Ross

TL;DR: The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) as discussed by the authors monitors six categories of priority health risk behaviors among youth and youth adults: behaviors that contribute to unintentional and intentional injuries, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors, dietary behaviors, and physical activity.

TL;DR: Substantial morbidity and social problems among youth also result from unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus infection.

TL;DR: Results from the 2003 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey demonstrate that the majority of risk behaviors associated with these two causes of death are initiated during adolescence, and education and health officials at national, state, and local levels are using these data to improve policies and programs to reduce priority health-risk behaviors among youth.

TL;DR: Overall, students appeared to report health risk behaviors reliably over time, but several items need to be examined further to determine whether they should be revised or deleted in future versions of the YRBS.

TL;DR: The background and rationale for YRBSS is described and a detailed description of the methodologic features of the system is included, including its questionnaire; operational procedures; sampling, weighting, and response rates; data-collection protocols'; data-processing procedures; reports and publications; and data quality.