Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Adolescent Health
CDC's overview topic page on adolescent health, including alcohol, tobacco, and substance use; adolescent injuries; and youth violence.
CDC Teen Pregnancy
This website from CDC provides information and data about teen pregnancy. Sections of the site target resources for parents, guardians, and health care providers. It also includes videos, podcasts, reports, a social media tool kit and other resources focused on teen pregnancy and teen pregnancy prevention.
Health Resources and Services Administration
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
Maternal and Child Health Library
The MCH Library is a virtual guide to MCH information. It offers a combination of MCH information compiled by library staff and pathways to the best MCH information available on other Web sites, from organizations, and in libraries.
Talking with Teens: Conversation Tools
This article from the Office of Adolescent Health provides tips and resources for parents on starting important conversations with their teens and on how to take advantage of teachable moments.
Booklet Series: FASD Prevention
SAMHSA’s FASD Center for Excellence released an updated version of its How To Have a Healthy Baby booklet series. This series provides useful guidance to encourage women to remain alcohol-free during pregnancy. The three-booklet series provides tips for men and women who want to support a healthy pregnancy, and for providers who work with pregnant women. These resources are available in both English and Spanish.
Resources: Serving and Engaging Males and Young Fathers
These resources can help professionals who serve young fathers and their families to reach and engage more young fathers; influence research, practice, and policy to better address the needs of this population; and improve the lives of young fathers and their families:
- Recruiting Young Fathers: Five Things to Know (PDF, 2 pages)
- Retaining Young Fathers: Five Things to Know (PDF, 2 pages)
- Serving Young Fathers: Important Things to Know and How They Make a Difference (PDF, 5 pages)
- Serving Young Fathers: An Assessment and Checklist for Grantee Organizations (PDF, 11 pages)
- Serving Young Fathers: A Workbook of Activities (PDF, 10 pages)
Webcast Archive: Make the Connection: How Positive Youth Development Offers Promise for Teen Health and Teen Pregnancy Prevention
The archive of this OAH webcast, which highlighted the role of positive youth development in the prevention of teen pregnancy and other risky behaviors, is now available for viewing. A resource list (PDF, 4 pages) of suggested readings from the webcast speakers is also available, as well as the archived #TeenPYD Twitter conversation.
YouthBuild
Youthbuild provides an alternative education pathway that encourages youth to obtain a high school diploma or GED, while advancing toward employment while developing leadership skills and serving the community.
Resource: Top 10 Tips for Engaging with Young People
This guide (PDF, 4 pages) advises service providers and others how to engage successfully with youth, using specific examples to illustrate effective (and ineffective) communication.
Resource: SAMHSA’S Youth Engagement Guidance
This resource includes information and tools that can help federal staff and contractors appropriately engage youth before, during, and after government-sponsored events and meetings.
Resource: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Youth Engagement Guidance
This resource guides administrators and prevention professionals on how to appropriately engage youth in government-sponsored events and meetings. Includes resources regarding a youth services approach, youth development, youth leadership, civic engagement, and youth organizing.
Positive Youth Development
This webpage provides a definition of positive youth development, information on the eight key practices organizations can consider when implementing the approach, and resources communities or programs can use to incorporate positive youth development into their work.
Youth Advisory Councils
Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) provide ongoing advice and support to school districts on policies and practices that affect students. This webpage provides a detailed overview of Youth Advisory Councils (YACs). It describes the role YACs play in improving the schools and communities they serve, discusses how they can use data to make decisions and create action plans, and outlines the structure of a YAC.
2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health published 2011 national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Survey results. These results show significant improvements in many health behaviors during the past two decades, as well as new possible risks resulting from an increased use of technology.
58 Million Americans Exposed to Secondhand Smoke: CDC
Despite an overall decline in smoking, 58 million nonsmokers are still being exposed to secondhand smoke, says data from the CDC. 40 percent of children aged 3 to 11 are breathing in secondhand smoke, with 70 percent of black children experiencing exposure.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the world’s largest, ongoing telephone health survey system, tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States yearly since 1984. Currently, data are collected monthly in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs
This publication was designed to help states plan and establish effective tobacco control programs to prevent and reduce tobacco use, including among school age youth. School program activities include implementing CDC's Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction, which call for tobacco-free policies, evidence-based curricula, teacher training, parental involvement, and cessation services; implementing evidence-based curricula identified through CDC's Research to Classroom Project; and linking school-based efforts with local community coalitions and statewide media and educational campaigns.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through partnerships with state health departments and other organizations.
Child Health USA
The Child Health USA Databook is an annual report of the health status, well-being and service needs of America's children and youth. Coalitions, program planners and policy makers can identify national trends by examining and comparing data from one year to the next. Indicators for youth, or adolescents, cover multiple issues, including childbearing, substance abuse, violence, mental health treatment, and mortality from traffic and firearms injuries. The section, Population Characteristics, provides information about poverty status and school dropouts. Each topic includes a written summary and at least one graph that clearly depicts key statistical facts.
Contribution of Excessive Alcohol Consumption to Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost in the United States
This study aimed to update the national estimates of alcohol-attributable deaths (AAD) and years of potential life lost (YPLL) in the United States. The results show that excessive drinking accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults and remains a leading cause of premature mortality nationwide. About 5% of all average annual AAD and 10% of average annual YPLL involved individuals under 21 years of age.
Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. High School Students at Lowest Level in 22 Years
According to the results of the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), rates of cigarette smoking among high school students have dropped (PDF, 1 page) to the lowest levels since the YRBS began in 1991. By achieving a teen smoking rate of 15.7 percent, the United States has met its national Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing adolescent cigarette use to 16 percent or less.
Current Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2011
As illustrated in this report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey reveals that during 2000–2011, there was a linear downward trend observed in the prevalence of current tobacco use, current combustible tobacco use, and current cigarette use among middle and high school students.
Healthy Youth
This Web site provides information on and links to school health strategies, research and evaluation tools, Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, evidence-based guidelines for school health programs, and adolescent and school health program resources and tools.
Guide to Community Preventive Services
The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource listing programs and policies that improve health and prevent disease. The Program Planning Resources section of the site outlines the types of steps that are generally used in program planning, along with selected resources that may be useful at each step.