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. 2013 Aug;50(8):1067-79.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.10.012. Epub 2012 Nov 21.

Health-risk behaviors among a sample of US pre-adolescents: types, frequency, and predictive factors

Susan K Riesch  1 , Karen Kedrowski, Roger L Brown, Barbara Myers Temkin, Kevin Wang, Jeffrey Henriques, Gloria Jacobson, Nina Giustino-Kluba
Affiliations

Health-risk behaviors among a sample of US pre-adolescents: types, frequency, and predictive factors

Susan K Riesch et al. Int J Nurs Stud. 2013 Aug.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Children as young as 10 years old report curiosity and participation in health-risk behaviors, yet most studies focus upon adolescent samples.

Objective: To document the types and frequencies of health risk behavior among pre-adolescents and to examine the child, family, and environment factors that predict them.

Method: A sample of 297 pre-adolescents (mean age=10.5, SD=0.6) from two Midwestern US cities and their parents (child-parent dyads) provided data about demographic characteristics, health risk behavior participation, child self-esteem, child pubertal development, child and adult perception of their neighborhood, and parent monitoring. Their participation was at intake to a 5-year clustered randomized controlled trial.

Results: Pre-adolescents participated in an average of 3.7 health-risk behaviors (SD=2.0), primarily those that lead to unintentional (helmet and seatbelt use) and intentional (feeling unsafe, having something stolen, and physical fighting) injury. Factors predictive of unintentional injury risk behavior were self-esteem, pubertal development, parent monitoring, and parent perception of the neighborhood environment. Boys were 1.8 times less likely than girls to use helmets and seatbelts. Pre-adolescents whose parents were not partnered were 2.8 times more likely than pre-adolescents whose parents were partnered to report intentional risk behavior.

Recommendations: These data demonstrate trends that cannot be ignored. We recommend, focused specifically upon boys and non-partnered families that (a) developmentally appropriate, appealing prevention messages be developed and delivered for parents and pre-adolescents and community interventions targeting both parent and pre-adolescent together be provided to help them establish and monitor behavioral expectations and (b) organized nursing endorse policy in the US and globally that assures adequate family environments for children.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual Model for Predicting Health-risk Behaviors in Late Childhood *Reflect the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorization Model is reprinted with Permission John Wiley and Sons 8-1-10
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Probit Statistical Model for Predicting Health-risk Behaviors in Late Childhood
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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