Sociodemographic Correlates of Selected Health Risk Behaviors in a Representative Sample of Australian Young People Richard O. de Visser, Chris E. Rissel, Anthony M. A. Smith, and Juliet Richters To facilitate the development of interventions to reduce health risk behavior among young people, we designed this study to compare risk behavior among young people and older people, to compare risk behavior profiles between young men and women, and to identify sociodemographic correlates of risk behavior among young people. Computer-assisted telephone interviews with a representative sample of 19,307 Aus- tralian men and women (response rate 73.1%) assessed alcohol consumption, ciga- rette smoking, injection drug use, and unprotected intercourse. Respondents aged 16 to 24 reported less healthy behavior than older people. Although men and women aged 16 to 24 had similar profiles of health risk behavior, correlates of these behav- iors differed for men and women. There were few consistent sociodemographic corre- lates of different risk behaviors. The results suggest that young women are now as im- portant a priority as young men for interventions. Young people remain an important target group for health promotion, with nonheterosexual young people a particular high-risk group. Key words: risk behavior, representative sample, adolescent, young adult Binge drinking, tobacco smoking, injection drug use (IDU) and unprotected sex all carry risks of short- and/or long-term harm. Studies of representative sam- ples in Australia, North America, and Europe have re- vealed that 30% to 40% of young people are binge drinkers, approximately 30% smoke, approximately 1% have injected drugs (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2002; Federal, Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health [FPTACPH], 1999; Gore & Drugs Survey Investiga- tors’ Consortium, 1999; Hill, White, & Effendi, 2002; Hillier, de Visser, Kavanagh, & McNair, 2003; Johnston, O’Malley, & Bachman, 2002; Miller & Plant, 1996; Pirkis, Irwin, Brindis, Patton, & Sawyer, 2003; Siahpush & Borland, 2001), and many have un- protected intercourse with casual partners (de Visser, Smith, Rissel, Richters, & Grulich, 2003b; Dubois-Arber & Spencer, 1998; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994). Although young men’s health risk behavior is a perennial cause for concern, there is evidence that young women are increasingly engaging in risk behaviors such as smoking and binge drinking (NSW Health Department, 2004). Concern about young men’s and women’s health risk behaviors creates a need to identify correlates of these behaviors to enable the development of interventions to reduce their negative consequences. In studies of the general population, significant cor- relates of binge drinking and smoking include youth, being male, speaking English (rather than foreign lan- guages in English-speaking nations), having less edu- cation, experiencing greater socioeconomic disadvan- tage, being unemployed, and living outside major cities (AIHW, 2002; Chen et al., 2000; FPTACPH, 1999; Hill, White, & Scollo, 1998; Hill et al., 2002; Johnston et al., 2002; Siahpush & Borland, 2001; Wardle & Steptoe, 2003). Correlates of illicit drug use are generally similar to correlates of drinking and smoking (AIHW, 2002; Chen et al., 2000; Miller & Plant, 1996; Valois, Dunham, Jackson, & Waller, 1999). However, illicit drug use appears to be more common among those in paid work and those living in cities (AIHW, 2002; Siliquini et al., 2001). Among young people, experience of illicit drug use increases with age (Reid, Lynskey, & Copeland, 2000). Use of licit and illicit drugs is more common among homo- 153 International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2006, Vol. 13, No. 2, 153–162 Copyright © 2006 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Richard O. de Visser, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe Uni- versity, Melbourne, Australia; Chris E. Rissel, Central Sydney Area Health Service, and Australian Centre for Health Promotion, Univer- sity of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Anthony M.A. Smith, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University, Mel- bourne, Australia; Juliet Richters, National Centre in HIV Social Re- search, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. This study was supported by funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing; the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation; the health departments of New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia; and the Central Sydney Area Health Service. Thanks to Andrew Grulich for his work on the study. We are grateful that participants shared so freely the sometimes inti- mate aspects of their personal lives. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Richard de Visser, Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer BN1 9QH, United Kingdom. E-mail: R.De-Visser@sus- sex.ac.uk