UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

This report presents information about the health of California’s adolescents, ranging from contextual factors – such as adult supervision and parental monitoring – to specific adolescent health behaviors, and their access and utilization of health care. Together, this information provides a comprehensive look at key issues that influence adolescent health and the subsequent health of adults. We begin with background information about the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). We then discuss findings from CHIS 2001 in our major topic areas: adult supervision and parental monitoring; risky and protective behaviors; and health care access and utilization. We conclude with policy implications. For each of these major topic areas, we highlight significant disparities among different groups of adolescents, including differences by gender, income and race/ethnicity. These disparities are important to note because, although often interrelated, race/ethnicity and income exert independent influences on adolescent health measures.6, 7 Reflecting the important changes that accompany adolescent development, data are also presented by age, differentiating younger (ages 12-14) from older adolescents (ages 15-17).