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YRBS Data Release Notes


General Release Notes

2021 YRBS

Users should be aware that the 2021 data may be different from previous years for a few reasons. This is the first assessment since the pandemic and students likely had very different experiences in the past two years than previous cohorts. The survey was administered in the fall instead of the spring. Therefore, the students were younger and earlier in their school year, which may affect their experiences. When asked about the previous 12 months, it is likely that a good portion of those months involved full or partial online schooling. This difference in environment may also affect their responses.

The timing of the survey administration may also affect cross-year comparisons. Usually the cohort in 6th grade in one administration will be in 8th grade at the next, then 10th and 12th. However, students in 6th grade in spring 2019 were in 9th grade by fall 2021. So, the middle school cohort, in particular, is entirely new in 2021. Students who were in 9th grade in spring 2019 would be first semester 12th graders in 2021.

Race/Ethnicity Data

HHDW has been working on standardizing the category descriptions across data sets. As part of this standardization the category for "White" has been made the standard category title, replacing "Caucasian" in some data sets. Also, a standard description of "American Indian or Alaska Native" has been set to replace a variety of category names. See the table below for the updated mapping of Program Race/Ethnicity, DOH Race/Ethnicity and Census Race.

Sexual Orientation

The sexual orientation question changed in 2021 and is no longer comparable to previous years or trendable. We have included the new mapping in the HHDW Sexual and Gender Minority Documentation document and will be releasing the new variables with the 2023 data once 2 years of data are available. Since the 2023 survey is currently underway, we anticipate release of the 2023 data in early 2024.

New YRBS indicators in 2021

There are several new indicators available:

2019 YRBS


In 2019, we retired indicators based on questions that had not been asked since 2011. If you are interested in data only collected prior to 2011 please contact profiles@hhdw.org.

A new Demographics category

We introduced a new demographics category in this release. This section allows users to view detailed information about the YRBS population.

New dimensions are now available


New YRBS indicators in 2019

There are several new indicators available:

2015 YRBS


In accordance with recent legislation, there was a change in survey implementation in 2015 whereby student participation changed from active parental consent to active parental refusal. This change yielded greater participation among middle and high school students.


2011 YRBS


While the YRBS has always collected data from schools across Hawaiʻi, the sampling frame was increased in this survey year to yield county-level estimates for middle school and high school. School and student participation in Hawaiʻi County high schools did not meet the minimum participation requirement (60%) to allow for weighting of the high school data. Therefore, high school level data is available for the state only for 2011. High school county level data is not available until 2013. Middle school county level data is available starting in 2011.


All Years

For more information on the number of students surveyed each year and links to the survey instruments, please click here.

Health indicators are created after a question has been included in at least 2 survey administrations. Survey items do not have to be asked on consecutive administrations to create a health indicator. Health indicators are retired when their underlying questions have not been asked for 4 administrations.

Race/Ethnicity Data

Students are asked two questions to ascertain their race/ethnicity:
These questions are used to create the Race/ Ethnicity classifications. In HHDW, the most granular level is the program race/ethnicity (PRG) which rolls up into the DOH standard race/ethnicity (DOH), which rolls up into Census race reporting categories (Census). The table below illustrates how the data is aggregated.

Race/Ethnicity Classifications
Source Race/EthnicityProgram Race/Ethnicity (PRG)DOH Race/Ethnicity (DOH)Census Race (Census)
Am Indian/ Alaska NativeAmerican Indian or Alaska NativeAmerican Indian or Alaska NativeAmerican Indian or Alaska Native
Black or African AmericanBlackBlackBlack or African American
FilipinoFilipinoFilipinoAsian
Hispanic/ LatinoOtherOtherOther
JapaneseJapaneseJapaneseAsian
Multiple - non-HispanicOtherOtherOther
Other AsianOther AsianOther AsianAsian
Other Pacific IslanderOther Pacific IslanderOther Pacific IslanderNative Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
Native Hawaiian/ Part HawaiianHawaiian/ Part HawaiianNative HawaiianNative Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
WhiteWhiteWhiteWhite


Cell Suppression

According to CDC guidelines, a minimum of 100 students must answer a question in order for it to be reported. Where the number of students is below 100, ** will appear in the data table and no data will be displayed for that cell in the chart. We suggest that you aggregate years or reduce the number of filters to achieve a reportable result.

Documentation

Documentation is available here to describe how we collect and map race/ethnicity, geography, and sexual orientation.

HHDW Race/Ethnicity Documentation

HHDW Geography Documentation

HHDW Sexual and Gender Minority Documentation