Abstract
The purpose of this article was to review the studies on youth risk behaviors reported at the 20th IUHPE World Conference from three viewpoints - focus on actual trends, factors related to risk behaviors and evaluation of interventions - in order to develop suggestions for future studies on risk behaviors in Japan and overseas.
The main findings were as follows.
1) It is urgently necessary to carry out nationwide surveys to understand trends in youth risk behaviors in Japan. Furthermore, the establishment of a system to enable subsequent nationwide surveys is necessary.
2) Clarification of the factors related to risk behaviors of youth from a wider perspective will continue to be required in the future. Furthermore, the promotion of studies to construct a comprehensive model of the structural factors related to risk behaviors is also desired.
3) Results from studies evaluating interventions related to youth risk behaviors are being steadily reported. More persuasive study results are expected through implementation of experimental designs and long-term follow-up evaluations.
