Psychometric Properties of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey entre Estudiantes Universitarios en Brasil

Considering the importance of health risk behaviors (HRB) and the need for reliable instruments to evaluate them, this study was designed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the items of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in a sample of 902 college students. Convergent validity, criterion, internal consistency, and temporal stability were evaluated. Higher correlations were observed between use of other drugs and use of marijuana ([rho] = 0.537), and alcohol consumption and tobacco use ([rho] = 0.418). Criterion validity was observed, with significant differences between domain scores according to gender. Adequate internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha = 0.770 for overall scale. Most of the domains (82%) showed intraclass correlation coefficient [greater than or equal to] 0.75 and 64.1% of the items showed kappa [greater than or equal to] 0.60. The instrument seems to have indicators of criterion validity, internal consistency and temporal stability with satisfactory levels. We recommend that HRB assessment using YRBS should be performed separately on each domain.