2018 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey

To obtain quality data on youth risk behaviors contributing to leading causes of premature morbidity and mortality, Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) partnered with the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to administer the 2018 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS). The YRBSS is a confidential health behavior survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designed to assess prevalence of health behaviors across six domains: (1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; (2) tobacco use; (3) alcohol and other drug use (including vaping); (4) risky sexual behavior; (5) dietary behaviors and; (6) physical activity. Other health-behaviors, asthma, and obesity are also captured. For the PPS YRBSS, additional validated questions related to food insecurity, housing instability, self-injury, homicide survivorship, social supports, future orientation, and parental monitoring were included, however, state and national comparisons are unavailable. The 2018 YRBSS is the first district-wide health survey conducted in PPS and was funded by the Heinz Endowments and the Grable Foundation.