ABSTRACT
Adolescence is increasingly recognized as a separate life stage where the health risks, in mortality and in morbidity, merit and indeed require distinct attention. Much of public and professional concern about adolescent health has been directed at socially deviant behavior—early fertility, drinking, and use of other drugs. Even within the subjective or ontological domain, health was recognized to be a multidimensional experience. More particularly, the four self-reported indicators of health status which form the keystone for this analysis of adolescent health indicators are: Morbidity; attitude; functional limitation; and disability. Health by any criterion and, specifically, self-perceived and self-reported health studied, is conceived as a multidimensional domain. Multiple-item indicators generally are recognized as having greater reliability than single items. A multiple-indicator approach to health status was considered better than any single indicator in providing a more representative and more reliable measure.
