America's Unhealthy Young Adults

America's Unhealthy Young Adults

Most of the nation's young adults have at least one unhealthy habit such as smoking, alcohol abuse or being overweight, according to a disturbing study by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

"When they were young teenagers, most of the participants had fairly healthy behaviors. What's really alarming is how rapidly healthy practices declined by the time the participants reached young adulthood," said study project officer Christine Bachrach, chief of NICHD's demographic and behavioral sciences branch.

"These findings underscore the importance of ongoing preventive efforts related to smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption, early in the life course."

The researchers analyzed data from more than 14,000 young adults who were first interviewed from 1994 to 1995 when they were 12 to 19 years of age. They were interviewed again in 2001 and 2002, when they were 19 to 26 years old.

Participants were asked about their diet, inactivity, tobacco use, obesity, substance use, binge drinking, history of violent behavior, reproductive health, mental health and access to health care.

Most bad habits increased sharply as the participants approached young adulthood. For example, only 5 percent of young white women reported no weekly exercise during their adolescent years. But that number had jumped to 46 percent by the time the girls were in early adulthood.

The research also found that Americans are less likely to have access to health care when they reach adulthood than when they were teenagers.

The study is published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

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