Does Being Old for Grade in High School Predicts Sexual Risk Behaviors, Beyond Grade-Level Effects?

The prevalence of adolescent risk behaviors varies by age and grade level in school, both of which are proxies for physical and social development. Adjusting for both age and grade would be ideal but is ill advised because of collinearity. We developed a variable to assess “relative age” (i.e., old for grade vs. age normative) and estimated grade and old-for-grade status in association with sexual risk behaviors.

Source: Journal of Adolescent Health - October 29, 2020 Category: Child Development Authors: Ming Ma, Ashley Brooks-Russell, Sad é Orejobi, Renee M. Johnson Tags: Adolescent health brief Source Type: research