Healthy Adolescents Introduction
The transitional years of adolescence pose special challenges for establishing good health habits. Compared to other states, Colorado’s adolescents score relatively well on nutrition, weight, good mental health and avoiding risky sexual behaviors.
Too many, however, binge drink and smoke, and the number of births to teenage mothers, while lower than in the past, is still higher than in most states. Underlying all this is the same lack of health insurance—11 percent have none—found among younger children. Addressing these issues will enable Colorado’s adolescents to enter adulthood with good health and good health habits.
| Healthy Adolescents: Health Indicators and Rank Among States |
Health Indicator |
Rank
among states |
| 11.2 percent of adolescents are not covered by private or public health insurance |
31
|
| 10.5 percent of adolescents live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level |
|
| 19.2 percent of adolescents ate five or more servings per day of fruits and/or vegetables during the past seven days |
|
| 37.2 percent of adolescents participated in vigorous physical activity on five or more of the past seven days |
|
| 30.6 percent of adolescents had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row on one or more of the past 30 days |
|
| 18.7 percent of adolescents smoked cigarettes on one or more of the past 30 days |
18 |
| 25.0 percent of adolescents felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two consecutive weeks during the past 12 months that they stopped doing some usual activities |
|
| 6.7 percent of adolescents attempted suicide one or more times during the past 12 months |
|
| 29.5 percent of adolescents were sexually active in the past three months |
|
| Among students who had sexual intercourse during the past three months, 69.3 percent reported using a condom during last sexual intercourse |
|
| Teen fertility rate (43.8 births to teen mothers per 1,000 teenage women) |
|
Average Rank |
|
Average Grade |
B- |