TABLE 5. Prevalence of selected health risk behaviors and experiences of racism in school among high school students, among Hispanic or Latino, multiracial,* and White* high school students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023†.
| Behavior | Hispanic or Latino* |
Multiracial* |
White* |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ever experienced racism§ |
Never experienced racism§ |
PR** (95% CI) | PD** (%) | Ever experienced racism§ |
Never experienced racism§ |
PR** (95% CI) | PD** (%) | Ever experienced racism§ |
Never experienced racism§ |
PR** (95% CI) | PD** (%) | |
| Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | Prevalence %¶ (95% CI) | |||||||
| Current poor mental health |
36.1 (31.3–41.2) |
19.8 (17.3–22.5) |
1.83†† (1.59–2.10) |
16.3§§ |
39.0 (32.8–45.5) |
20.6 (16.1–26.0) |
1.89†† (1.48–2.41) |
18.4§§ |
36.1 (29.9–42.8) |
30.5 (27.8–33.2) |
1.18 (0.97–1.44) |
5.6 |
| Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness |
58.5 (54.7–62.2) |
32.5 (29.6–35.5) |
1.80†† (1.64–1.99) |
26.0§§ |
53.3 (48.2–58.3) |
30.7 (23.4–39.1) |
1.73†† (1.38–2.18) |
22.6§§ |
55.2 (50.7–59.6) |
36.2 (33.7–38.9) |
1.52†† (1.39–1.66) |
18.9§§ |
| Seriously considered attempting suicide |
26.3 (23.7–29.1) |
12.9 (10.8–15.3) |
2.04†† (1.70–2.45) |
13.5§§ |
30.4 (24.4–37.1) |
14.0 (10.1–19.0) |
2.17†† (1.56–3.02) |
16.4§§ |
32.3 (26.2–39.0) |
19.9 (18.0–21.9) |
1.62†† (1.36–1.94) |
12.4§§ |
| Attempted suicide |
16.7 (13.9–19.9) |
7.0 (5.5–9.0) |
2.37†† (1.81–3.09) |
9.6§§ |
15.3 (11.1–20.8) |
7.6 (4.5–12.6) |
2.02†† (1.13–3.63) |
7.8§§ |
12.9 (9.5–17.3) |
7.0 (5.8–8.5) |
1.84†† (1.35–2.51) |
5.9§§ |
| Current use of any tobacco product |
22.8 (19.2–26.9) |
13.0 (10.9–15.6) |
1.75†† (1.44–2.13) |
9.8§§ |
24.3 (18.7–30.9) |
14.9 (10.4–20.9) |
1.62†† (1.12–2.35) |
9.3§§ |
26.5 (21.9–31.7) |
18.2 (15.6–21.2) |
1.45†† (1.23–1.72) |
8.2§§ |
| Current alcohol use |
27.8 (24.1–31.9) |
15.4 (13.0–18.2) |
1.80†† (1.45–2.24) |
12.4§§ |
24.5 (20.7–28.7) |
20.8 (16.0–26.5) |
1.18 (0.88–1.57) |
3.7 |
32.0 (27.6–36.7) |
24.2 (21.1–27.5) |
1.32†† (1.14–1.53) |
7.8§§ |
| Current marijuana use |
22.4 (18.6–26.7) |
13.3 (11.0–16.0) |
1.68†† (1.37–2.06) |
9.1§§ |
25.9 (20.8–31.7) |
15.6 (11.8–20.3) |
1.66†† (1.27–2.17) |
10.3§§ |
21.9 (16.9–27.8) |
15.9 (13.8–18.4) |
1.37†† (1.12–1.68) |
5.9§§ |
| Current prescription opioid misuse | 9.8 (7.2–13.1) | 3.0 (2.1–4.4) | 3.23†† (1.90–5.47) | 6.7§§ | 8.8 (5.6–13.5) | 3.1 (1.7–5.6) | 2.79†† (1.47–5.29) | 5.6§§ | 8.0 (5.6–11.4) | 2.1 (1.6–2.9) | 3.76†† (2.44–5.79) | 5.9§§ |
Abbreviation: PD = prevalence difference; PR = prevalence ratio.
* Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin might be of any race but are categorized as Hispanic; all racial groups are non-Hispanic.
† N = 20,103 respondents. The total number of students answering each question varied. Data might be missing because 1) the question did not appear in that student’s questionnaire, 2) the student did not answer the question, or 3) the response was set to missing because of an out-of-range response or logical inconsistency. Percentages in each category are calculated on the known data.
§ Experiencing racism was categorized as ever for those who responded “rarely,” “sometimes,” “most of the time,” or “always,” and never for those who responded “never.”
¶ Weighted prevalence estimate.
** PR and PD comparing the prevalence of health risk behaviors and experiences, by ever versus never experiencing racism.
†† Statistically significant; 95% CIs did not include 1.0.
§§ p value for prevalence difference based on t-test analysis with Taylor series linearization (<0.05).