Comparing health risk behaviors of Franklin County youth with their national and statewide counterparts: An ecological study in the state of Kentucky
-
2018-03-30 https://doi.org/10.14419/ijh.v6i1.9333 -
Abstract
While national surveillance studies have stratified high school students’ health behavior outcomes, few ecological data sets have been explored, collected, and analyzed on the unique health problems of minority children. An area for which limited data on minority youth has been collected is Franklin County, home of the state capital of Kentucky. In the current study, we use baseline data collected in 2015 from students attending two high schools that were sites for Kentucky State University’s Youth Empowerment Project. We hypothesize that youth who reside in Franklin County would report lower maladjusted behaviors than their national and statewide counterparts in the same year of observation. Data analyses confirm that compared to their national- and state-level counterparts, Franklin County high school students were less likely to report riding with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, engaging in sexual intercourse, drinking alcohol before sexual intercourse, and experiencing non-condom use when engaged in sexual intercourse, forced sexual intercourse, dating violence, cyber bullying, suicidal ideation, and drug use. These findings suggest that Franklin County high school students may be exposed to environmental variables that may be preventive to maladjusted behaviors.
-
References
[1] Allen, T. D. (2007). Katrina: Race, class, and poverty: Reflections and analysis. Journal of Black Studies, 37(4), 466–468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934706296184.
[2] Brener, N. D., et al. (2004). Methodology of the youth risk behavior surveillance system. MMWR. Recommendations and reports: Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports/Centers for Disease Control, 53(RR–12), 1–13.
[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). High School YRBS Participation History & Data Quality, 1991–2015. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/participation.htm.
[4] Costello, E. J., Keeler, G. P., & Angold, A. (2001). Poverty, race/ethnicity, and psychiatric disorder: A study of rural children. American Journal of Public Health, 91(9), 1494–1498. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.91.9.1494.
[5] Dawkins, C. J., Shen, Q., & Sanchez, T. W. (2005). Race, space, and unemployment duration. Journal of Urban Economics, 58(1), 91–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2005.02.001.
[6] Fromme, K., Corbin, W. R., & Kruse, M. I. (2008). Behavioral risks during the transition from high school to college. Developmental psychology, 44(5), 1497. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012614.
[7] Kahn, L. (2016). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2015. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 65. (6) 1-174. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6506a1.
[8] Kalousova, L. & Danziger, S. (2013). Racial disparities in economic well-being in the Detroit metropolitan area after the great recession. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series.
[9] McLoyd, V. C., Jayaratne, T. E., Ceballo, R., & Borquez, J. (1994). Unemployment and work interruption among African American single mothers: Effects on parenting and adolescent socioemotional functioning. Child Development, 65(2), 562–589. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131402.
[10] Ornelas, I. J., Amell, J., Tran, A. N., Royster, M., Armstrong-Brown, J., & Eng, E. (2009). Understanding African American men’s perceptions of racism, male gender socialization, and social capital through PhotoVoice. Qualitative Health Research, 19(4), 552 –565. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732309332104.
[11] Peters, R. J., Meshack, A., Amos, C., Scott-Gurnell, K., Savage, C., & Ford, K. (2010). The association of drug use and post-traumatic stress reactions due to Hurricane Ike among Fifth Ward Houstonian youth. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 9(2), 143–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332641003772702.
[12] Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2015). County Health Rankings. Retrieved from:
[13] http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/kentucky/2015/rankings/franklin/county/factors/4/snapshot.
[14] Robinson, K. L., Price, J. H., Thompson, C. L., & Schmalzried, H. D. (1998). Rural junior high school students’ risk factors for and perceptions of teenâ€age parenthood. Journal of School Health, 68(8), 334–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.1998.tb00596.x.
[15] Ross, C. (2000). Neighborhood disadvantage and adult depression. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 177–187. https://doi.org/10.2307/2676304.
[16] Ross, C., & Mirowsky, J. (2001). Neighborhood disadvantage, disorder, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 258–276. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090214.
[17] Steptoe, A., & Feldman, P. J. (2001). Neighborhood problems as sources of chronic stress: Development of a measure of neighborhood problems, and associations with socioeconomic status and health. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23(3), 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2303_5.
[18] United States Census Bureau. Quick Facts: Franklin County, Kentucky. (2016). retrieved from: http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/21073.
[19] Walston, H., Meshack, A., & Peters, R. J. (2017). Intervention methodologies targeting vulnerable youth in Frankfort, Kentucky: Measuring developmental assets. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 5(9). https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v5i8.2429.
[20] Williams, D. & Mohammed, S. (2010). Discrimination and racial disparities in health: Evidence and needed research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-008-9185-0.
[21] Williams, D. (2012). Race, ethnicity and crime: Alternate perspectives. New York, NY: Algora Publishing.
-
Downloads
-
How to Cite
Walston, H., Meshack, A., Latham, T., Peters III, R., Gans, T., Peters, A., & Majid, W. (2018). Comparing health risk behaviors of Franklin County youth with their national and statewide counterparts: An ecological study in the state of Kentucky. International Journal of Health, 6(1), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijh.v6i1.9333Received date: 2018-01-31
Accepted date: 2018-03-05
Published date: 2018-03-30