E. Petridou et al., ADOLESCENTS IN HIGH-RISK TRAJECTORY - CLUSTERING OF RISKY BEHAVIOR AND THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOECONOMIC HEALTH DIFFERENTIALS, Preventive medicine, 26(2), 1997, pp. 215-219
Citations number
56
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Medicine, General & Internal
Background. We have evaluated high-risk behavior of adolescents 12 to
17 years of age on the basis of seven binomial psychosocial variables
in order to assess whether there is a tendency of these variables to c
luster in the same individuals and to identify socioeconomic covariate
s of risky behavior. Methods. Study participants were 547 adolescents
from four high schools in Greece: two in rural areas, one in an upper-
medium socioeconomic class area, and one in a low-to-medium socioecono
mic class area of Athens. Clustering was assessed by evaluating concor
dance of high-risk attributes examined in pairs, and was expressed as
a series of odds ratios (ORs) as well as by factor analysis. Results.
All but one OR were higher than the null value, but they were particul
arly high with respect to smoking and nonuse of safety belts (OR = 3.2
, P < 10(-4)), smoking and binge drinking (OR = 3.3, P < 10(-4)), smok
ing and riding with a drunk driver (OR = 5.3, P = 10(-4)), smoking and
driving under the influence of alcohol (OR = 9.7, P < 10(-4)), nonuse
of oral contraceptives and riding a car with a drunk driver (OR = 15.
4, P = 0.002), and driving under the influence of alcohol and riding w
ith a drunk driver (OR = 18.6, P < 10(-4)). Factor analysis indicated
that risky behavior could be explained in terms of two component facto
rs, namely carelessness in the context of self interest and irresponsi
ble sexual behavior. A composite index integrating information of all
seven high-risk indicators regressed on sociodemographic characteristi
cs showed that risky behavior increased sharply with age and was conce
ntrated strongly in the low-education families and the lower income ar
eas. Conclusions. Several aspects of high-risk behavior tend to aggreg
ate in the same individuals, and the clustering pattern has already be
en developed by late adolescence, mostly among the less privileged fam
ilies and population groups. It appears that socioeconomic class healt
h differentials may have strong roots in late adolescence. (C) 1997 Ac
ademic Press.