Report on Methodology of theYouth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Released

Today, the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) released “Methodology of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System—2013” as a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports.

Report Content:

In 2004, a description of the YRBSS methodology was published. Since 2004, improvements have been made to YRBSS, including increases in coverage and expanded technical assistance. This report describes these changes and updates earlier descriptions of the system, including:

questionnaire content
operational procedures
sampling, weighting, and response rates
data-collection protocols
data-processing procedures
reports and publications
data quality

The report also includes results of methods studies that systematically examined how different survey procedures affect prevalence estimates.

YRBSS Background:

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), established in 1991, monitors six categories of priority health-risk behaviors among youths and young adults: 1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; 2) sexual behaviors that contribute to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy; 3) tobacco use; 4) alcohol and other drug use; 5) unhealthy dietary behaviors; and 6) physical inactivity. In addition, YRBSS monitors the prevalence of obesity and asthma among this population.

For more information about the YRBSS: