Dec. 19, 2008 Adolescent health risk behaviors often occur
together, suggesting that youth involvement with one risk
behavior may inform understanding of other risk behaviors, but
in a study to examine the association between involvement in
non-sexual risk behaviors and trends among sexual behaviors,
Mailman School of Public Health researchers found that sexual
behaviors vary considerably between those youth engaged in no
risk health behaviors and those engaged in multiple health risk
behaviors. Despite these differences, trends in sexual risk
behaviors among youth engaged in multiple nonsexual risk
behaviors -- such as smoking and driving while drinking -- and
those engaged in few or no risk sexual behaviors are remarkably
similar. "These analyses suggest caution about assuming that one
can readily improve sexual risk behaviors by targeting other
teen risk behaviors," says John Santelli, MD, MPH, professor and
chair of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family
Health at the Mailman School of Public H