Disparities in safety belt use by sexual orientation identity among US high school students

S.L. Reisner, A. Van Wagenen, A. Gordon and J.P. Calzo

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 2, 311-318

Abstract: Objectives. We examined associations between adolescents' safety belt use and sexual orientation identity. Methods. We pooled data from the 2005 and 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (n = 26 468 weighted; mean age = 15.9 years; 35.4% White, 24.7% Black, 23.5% Latino, 16.4% other). We compared lesbian and gay (1.2%), bisexual (3.5%), and unsure (2.6%) youths with heterosexuals (92.7%) on a binary indicator of passenger safety belt use. We stratified weighted multivariable logistic regression models by sex and adjusted for survey wave and sampling design. Results. Overall, 12.6% of high school students reported "rarely" or "never" wearing safety belts. Sexual minority youths had increased odds of reporting nonuse relative to heterosexuals (48% higher for male bisexuals, 85% for lesbians, 46% for female bisexuals, and 51% for female unsure youths; P > .05), after adjustment for demographic (age, race/ethnicity), individual (body mass index, depression, bullying, binge drinking, riding with a drunk driver, academic achievement), and contextual (living in jurisdictions with secondary or primary safety belt laws, percentage below poverty, percentage same-sex households) risk factors. Conclusions. Public health interventions should address sexual orientation identity disparities in safety belt use.

Keywords: adolescent; age; article; binge drinking; depression; ethnology; female; health behavior; high risk behavior; human; male; prevalence; seatbelt; sex difference; sexuality; socioeconomics; statistics; United States; utilization review, Adolescent; Age Factors; Binge Drinking; Depression; Female; Health Behavior; Humans; Male; Prevalence; Risk-Taking; Seat Belts; Sex Factors; Sexuality; Socioeconomic Factors; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301745

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2013.301745_0

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301745

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().