Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Spartanburg County Youth Risk Behavior Survey

During fall 2009, the Mary Black Foundation, United Way of the Piedmont, and the USC Upstate Metropolitan Studies Institute (the "Partners") worked together to conduct a survey of youth risk behaviors in Spartanburg County. A total of 414 youth completed the survey.

Background

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is a national school-based survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through state and local education and health agencies. The primary avenue for data collection is through a random selection every two years of junior high and high school across the country. The YRBSS allows the CDC, states, and local communities to monitor priority health risk behaviors and the prevalence of health conditions among youth.

For the past several years, when a school in Spartanburg County was selected through the CDC's random sample, the school districts have declined to participate. Lack of local participation in YRBSS results in a deficiency of local data that can be used to (1) track trends in youth risk behaviors, (2) inform community leaders about needed programs to address the behaviors, (3) evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs, (4) secure regional and national grants that often require information about local teen behaviors, and (5) celebrate success in our community when improvements are seen.

Methodology

Using the 2009 YRBSS survey instrument, the Partners employed a snowball sampling method to reach youth in Spartanburg County. Snowball sampling is a technique where existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances. Thus the sample group appears to grow like a rolling snowball. Members of the Mayor's Service Board, the Youth Advisory Board of SADAC, and Imagine That were trained in the data collection methodology, then distributed, and collected the completed surveys. Youth that completed the survey were informed of the confidential nature of the survey methodology and placed their completed survey in an envelope and sealed it before returning it to his/her peer.

To incentivize participation, after completing a survey, individuals were entered into a drawing to win one of five $100 gift certificates to Wal-Mart. Youth that returned surveys to the Partners received $1 for every completed survey. USC Upstate MSI was responsible for all data entry and analysis.

Limitations

• Sampling -- due to the use of a snowball sample, the data may not represent the entire population of youth in Spartanburg. The findings are only representative of the people surveyed.
• Comparison in the national YRBSS sample -- the Spartanburg sample is older and includes more females.
• Self-reported data -- as with all self-reported data, there is the possibility that respondents do not answer each question accurately.

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