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Results and Data Requests
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The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, developed by the CDC, monitors priority health behaviors and experiences among students. Boston Public Schools has high school YRBS data going back to 1993.
Boston YRBS data are used to create local and state-level estimates of youth social-emotional well-being, substance use, sexual health, violence, injury, physical activity, nutrition and hunger, and other health risk behaviors. These data are a vital resource to help guide decision-making and resource allocation for effective prevention and control programs for schools and communities.
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When will the 2023 YRBS data become available?
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Results from the 2023 YRBS are available now.
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Boston publications are expected to be released in Summer 2024. Visit the High School YRBS Results and Middle School YRBS Results webpages for previous publications.
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Data are expected to become available to external researchers in Summer 2024. See below, for more information on how to submit a request for Boston YRBS data.
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How do we know that students answer honestly?
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Research indicates that data of this nature may be gathered as credibly from adolescents as from adults. Internal reliability checks help identify the small percentage of students who falsify their answers. To obtain truthful answers, students must perceive the survey as important and know procedures have been developed to protect their privacy and allow for anonymous participation. For more information regarding YRBS methodology visit: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/methods.htm
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What is weighted data?
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Weighting is a mathematical procedure that makes data representative of the entire population from which it was drawn.
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Weighted data ensures that hard-to-reach demographic groups are still considered at an equal proportion to the population and therefore allows us to make more accurate inferences about the population being studied.
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Only surveys with a scientifically drawn sample, appropriate documentation, and no evidence of significant nonresponse bias are weighted.
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Data are weighted to adjust for school and student nonresponse
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Generally, these adjustments are made by applying a weight based on district demographic data provided by BPS.
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BPS has weighted data spanning as far back as 1993.
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What are the limitations of the data?
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YRBS data are not available by zip code, census tract, or school; sample size limitations and confidentiality requirements do not support analyses at these levels.
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Public health surveillance data are collected at the population level and are therefore not meant to be used to connect individuals to services based on survey responses.
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The YRBS questionnaires are not available from the CDC in languages other than English and have only been tested for validity and reliability in English.
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The YRBS is a school-based survey and only youth enrolled in BPS are included in the sample; students that attend private schools, are homeschooled or do not attend any school are not represented.
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The YRBS is self-administered and students must be able to take the survey without assistance from anyone else; students who need assistance because of limited English literacy or because of disability are not represented.
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Accessing Data & Results
For previous Boston YRBS publications and results tables, visit the High School YRBS Results and Middle School YRBS Results webpages.
Visit the Centers for Disease Control’s YRBS webpage for all national, state, and local YRBS data, including Boston high school and middle school YRBS data.
- Youth Online is a web-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data exploration tool. Youth Online lets you create tables and graphs of Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results and compare results from different locations, across health risk behavior topics, and by demographic subgroups.
- YRBS Explorer allows you to explore trends in Youth Risk Behavior Survey questions over time through ready-made charts and graphs. Results can be explored by location, health risk behavior topics, and year.
For organizations looking to conduct in-depth analysis of YRBS data, please review our YRBS Survey Data Request Info and submit a YRBS Data Request Form to our Dat & Evaluation Team.
