Office of Public Health Assessment

The YRBSS was developed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1990 to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute markedly to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The YRBSS includes national, state, and local school-based surveys of representative samples of 9th through 12th grade students. These surveys are conducted every two years, usually during the spring semester. Utah has participated in the state survey since it began in 1990.

More information about the YRBSS and the Utah data are available at www.cdc.gov/yrbss. This Web site includes the most recent YRBS questionnaire for surveys of 9th-12th grade students, published reports, national data files and documentation, and Youth Online, which provides interactive access to national, state and local data.

UDOH reports with YRBS data:

• Health Status Update March 2006: Comparison of Selected Child Health Measures
• Health Status Update August 2005: Overweight in Children: A Public Health Epidemic
• Health Status Update March 2004: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, Utah 2003: Violence and Unintentional Injury