These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Sexual, assaultive, and suicidal behaviors among urban minority junior high school students.
    Author: Walter HJ, Vaughan RD, Armstrong B, Krakoff RY, Maldonado LM, Tiezzi L, McCarthy JF.
    Journal: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry; 1995 Jan; 34(1):73-80. PubMed ID: 7860462.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: A greater understanding of minority adolescents' involvement in sex and violence is an essential precursor to the development of effective prevention programs targeted at inner-city youths. METHOD: To estimate the prevalence of involvement in sexual, assaultive, and suicidal behaviors and to quantify the relative importance of demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral risk factors for those behaviors, a survey was administered in the spring of 1992 to a sample of 3,738 predominantly Hispanic and African-American students attending four junior high schools in an economically disadvantaged, medically underserved New York City school district. The mean age of participants was 13.5 years; 73.7% were Dominican, 6.9% were other Hispanic, and 10.4% were black. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of males and 7% of females reported involvement in sexual intercourse, 27% of males and 8% of females reported involvement in assaultive behavior and 10% of males and 19% of females reported suicide intentions/attempts. The primary risk factor for sexual intercourse was a belief that involvement in intercourse was common and acceptable among peers. The primary risk factor for assaultive behavior was adverse social circumstances. The primary risk factor for suicide intentions/attempts was symptoms of depression. The risk for involvement in each of the three investigated risk behaviors was substantially increased by involvement in the other two behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive sex and violence prevention programs targeted at urban minority junior high school students and suggest factors that may identify students at highest risk.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]