Health stability and change: A study of urban Black youth

Personal interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 536 urban Black youth at two points in their life cycle: first when they were adolescents, aged 12-17, and six to eight years later when they were young adults, aged 18-23. A total of 47 health problems for males, 48 for females, were inquired about each time. Longitudinal analysis was performed to determine the extent of change, the direction of change, and the health problems most subject to change. The number of health problems increased for both sexes, but the increase was significantly greater among males than females. Male and female morbidity count, thus, became nearly equivalent in young adulthood whereas, in adolescence, young women's had exceeded men's. More detailed age analysis revealed that the greatest increase in male's health problems occurred two years behind that for women: for men, between ages 17 and 18; for women between ages 15 and 16. With but few exceptions, the same health problems which dominated in adolescence continued to be most prevalent in young adulthood. Population prevalence rates, however, understate the considerable degree of shift or turnover in individual cases reporting health problems as well as in general health status as measured by the total number of those problems.