Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Research, Practice, and Advocacy Tools

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was first developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1990 to assess the health risk behaviors of youth and adults in the United States. Since 2017, the YRBS optional question list has included two questions pertaining to homelessness. Researchers, educators, and advocates have used the data from these questions to guide their work, expose severely disproportionate health risks of high school students experiencing homelessness, and advocate for better policies and practices.

SchoolHouse Connection Research

New CDC Data Show Higher Health Risks for High School Students Experiencing Homelessness. On April 28th, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released data from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which monitors health-related behaviors among students in grades 9–12 enrolled in U.S. public and private schools. For the first time, the nationally representative 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey included an item assessing “housing stability,” or nighttime residence on its standard questionnaire. This question mirrors the McKinney-Vento Act’s education definition of homelessness, and includes youth staying with others because they had to leave their home or their parents or guardians could not afford housing, as well as those in shelters, hotels/motels, and unsheltered situations.
Risk and Resilience: Differences in Risk Factors and Health Outcomes Between Homeless and Non-Homeless Students in 2017 YRBS Data. Broadly, our findings demonstrate that young people experience homelessness at an even higher rate than currently measured by the United States Department of Education. The YRBS indicates that 4.9% of students surveyed in the 17 states experienced homelessness at some point during the 2016-2017 school year, while public schools reported only 2.57% of their students as experiencing homelessness. The significant under-identification indicated by the YRBS means as many as one million students experiencing homelessness are not receiving the services that are their right under federal law.

Other Research

Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness, “The Health and Well-Being of Homeless High School Students.” National Data App.
Eric Rice, Anamika Barman-Adhikari, Harmony Rhoades, Hailey Winetrobe, Anthony Fulginiti, Roee Astor, Jorge Montoya, Aaron Plant, and Timothy Kordic,^“Homelessness experiences, sexual orientation, and sexual risk taking among high school students in Los Angeles,” J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jun; 52(6):773-8.
J.J. Cutuli, “Homelessness in High School: Population-Representative Rates of Self-Reported Homelessness, Resilience, and Risk in Philadelphia,” Social Work Research 42, no. 3 (September 2018): 159–168.
J.M. Armstrong, C.R. Owens, and M.E. Haskett, “Mental Health of Homeless Youth: Moderation by Peer Victimization and Teacher Support,” Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 49, 681–687 (2018).
Montana Office of Public Instruction, “2019 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Homeless Report,” August 2019.
Staci Perlman, Joe Willard, Janette E. Herbers, J.J. Cutuli, and Karin M. Eyrich Garg, “Youth Homelessness: Prevalence and Mental Health Correlates,” Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research 5, no. 3 (Fall 2014): 361-377.