1. Longitudinal Trends in Race/Ethnic Disparities in Leading Health Indicators From Adolescence to Young Adulthood
- Author
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Kim Chantala, Penny Gordon-Larsen, Kathleen Mullan Harris, and J. Richard Udry
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Gerontology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Substance-Related Disorders ,Health Status ,Health Behavior ,Sexually Transmitted Diseases ,Ethnic group ,Poison control ,Ethnic origin ,Motor Activity ,Violence ,Health Services Accessibility ,Insurance Coverage ,Occupational safety and health ,Health care ,medicine ,Health Status Indicators ,Humans ,Longitudinal Studies ,Obesity ,Sex Distribution ,Child ,Insurance, Health ,Depression ,business.industry ,Public health ,Racial Groups ,Smoking ,Health Surveys ,Health indicator ,United States ,Health equity ,Diet ,Mental Health ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,Female ,business - Abstract
Objective:Touseethnicallydiverse,nationaldatatoexaminelongitudinaltrendsinrace/ethnicdisparitiesin20 leadinghealthindicatorsfromHealthyPeople2010across multipledomainsfromadolescencetoyoungadulthood. Much of what is known about health disparities is based oncross-sectionalmeasurescollectedatasingletimepoint. Design, Setting, and Participants: Nationally representative data for more than 14000 adolescents enrolled in wave I (1994-1995) or wave II (1996) of the NationalLongitudinalStudyofAdolescentHealth(AddHealth) andfollowedupintoadulthood(waveIII;2001-2002).We fitlongitudinalregressionmodelstoassessandcontrastthe trend in health indicators among racial/ethnic groups of adolescents as they transition into adulthood. Main Outcome Measures:Diet,inactivity,obesity,tobaccouse,substanceuse,bingedrinking,violence,sexually transmitteddiseases,mentalhealth,andhealthcareaccess. Results: Diet, inactivity, obesity, health care access, substanceuse,andreproductivehealthworsenedwithage.Perceivedhealth,mentalhealth,andexposuretoviolenceimprovedwithage.Onmosthealthindicators,whiteandAsian subjects were at lowest and Native American subjects at highest risk. Although white subjects had more favorable health in adolescence, they experienced greatest declines by young adulthood. No single race/ethnic group consistently leads or falters in health across all indicators. Conclusions: Longitudinal data indicate that, for 15 of 20 indicators, health risk increased and access to health care decreased from the teen and adult years for most US race/ethnic groups. Relative rankings on a diverse range of health indicators (and patterns of change over time) varybysexandrace/ethnicity,causingdisparitiestofluctuate over time. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:74-81
- Published
- 2006