Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)

• 2025 High School Questionnaire 
• 2025 Middle School Questionnaire

Yes, most students answer the YRBS truthfully. Here's what we do to make sure students feel comfortable answering honestly and how we check the data. 

Survey procedures are designed to protect the confidentiality of schools and the privacy of students. 

• Students sit as far apart as possible throughout the classroom while taking the survey. Only one question appears on the computer screen at a time.   
• Students are told the importance of providing honest answers, that no one will know how they respond, and how the data will be used to improve programs and policies for students. 
• Survey administrators and classroom teachers are instructed to not wander around the classroom while students are taking the survey.
• Make-ups are done only when the privacy of students can be protected.

The YRBS is designed to protect the privacy of students. 

• No names or other types of personal information are requested. 
• Skip patterns ("if you answered no on this question, skip to the next section") are not used so all students complete the survey in about the same amount of time. 
• Questions are written in a straightforward and direct manner and require only one response. This helps students understand the questions and response options.

Logic within Groups of Questions

Questions on similar topics are grouped together. For example, more students have thought about attempting suicide than have made a plan to attempt suicide. Fewer still have actually attempted suicide, and very few have made a suicide attempt. Questions for this sequence would follow a logical pattern and it would be clear if a student answered unexpectedly.  

Edit Checks

YRBS data are edited for inconsistent responses. 

• More than 150 edit checks are done on each YRBS data set to remove inconsistent responses. For example, students who report a certain behavior on school property also must have reported the same behavior anywhere, or the responses to these two questions will be deleted. Only a very small percentage of responses to each question are identified as inconsistent and removed from the data sets. 
• Though it rarely occurs, questionnaires with only a few valid responses are removed entirely from the data set. 

Comparison of YRBS Data with Other Surveys

• When YRBS results are compared to results from other national, state and district surveys on the same topics, the results are generally quite similar. This holds even when survey administration, sample selection, and question wording are taken into account. 
• YRBS results are consistent with health outcome data. For example, YRBS data from the past decade show a decrease in teens who are sexually active. We're also seeing decreases in teen pregnancies, teen births and sexually transmitted infections. This leads us to believe that students are answering honestly, as what they say is matching health outcomes.
• We expect and see differences among subgroups of students, and these are consistent over time. For example, many behaviors like drug use and sexual experience consistently increase by grade, while others like physical fighting consistently decrease by grade. 

Consistency

YRBS results have been fairly consistent since 1991. While some behaviors has increased or decreased significantly over time, most changes have been gradual, in one direction over time.

Psychometric Studies

CDC has conducted a series of psychometric tests to better understand the quality of the questionnaire and the data collected with it. Based on the data available, the YRBSS data appear to be generally reliable and valid. 

• When the YRBS questionnaire was developed, psychometric tests were conducted in a cognitive laboratory setting, in focus groups, and in regular classrooms among diverse groups of students. 
• In 1992 and 2000, CDC conducted reliability studies to measure the stability of responses during a 2-week interval. 
• In 2002, 2004, and 2008, CDC conducted additional methodological studies to examine other factors affecting the reliability and validity of YRBS data. 
• Researchers not associated with CDC also have conducted psychometric tests using the YRBS questionnaire and similar questionnaires. 
• In March 2018 and 2020, cognitive interviews were conducted to test the performance of 10 proposed and current YRBS questions. 

Who is eligible for the Vermont YRBS?

 All Vermont youth in grades six through 12 are eligible. Participant schools are primarily public, public-private or an interstate school.  However, there are some independent and fully private schools that participate. Homeschooled students do not currently take the YRBS. 

How many students complete the survey? In Vermont, all middle and high school students are invited to participate. The total number of respondents varies, but on average about 35,000 take the survey each cycle. 

Do all states participate in the YRBS? 

No. 47 states and over 20 large urban school districts, territories, and tribal governments completed the high school survey in at least some capacity.  Less than half of states participated in the middle school survey.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also completes the YRBS at the national level.  

How recent is YRBS data?

YRBS data is collected during the spring semester of each odd-numbered year.  For example, 2025 data was collected in spring 2025. Once data collection is complete, the data are processed by the CDC before becoming available for analysis by the state. This can take several months, so YRBS data is often not available until the following year. 

How are the results used?  

A variety of stakeholders across Vermont use YRBS results.  This includes the Department of Health, the Agency of Education, individual schools and supervisory unions, and non-profit and other community organizations. The most common uses of YRBS data are to identify and target risk behaviors or populations for intervention (e.g., tobacco use prevention), evaluate work being done, and support grant requests for funds to address these behaviors. 

Does school level data exist?

School data is generally only provided to the school administrator, and then only upon request. The main reason is privacy concerns about the potential ability to identify individuals within a school based on their responses. Data can be analyzed at the supervisory union level, as well as by county, hospital service area, and District Office. State, county, and supervisory union reports are available online, usually after the statewide report is published.

Can I compare results from one supervisory union with those from another one?

It is natural to want to know how individual supervisory unions or school districts compare. While comparing a supervisory union to the state can help determine how a particular supervisory union is doing, we discourage communities from comparing supervisory unions to each other. When comparing two estimates from a small sample, the confidence intervals will often overlap (meaning there is no significant difference), even when the difference might appear large.  

Yes. Part of the survey is developed by the CDC and those questions are required. However, we can add a few additional questions that are asked only in Vermont. The submission process happens in even years. So planning for the 2027 survey happened in the summer of 2026. 

 You can submit a formal request to add a question with Vermont's YRBS team at [email protected]. 

The message at the top of certain CDC web pages regarding what the federal administration calls "gender ideology" does not reflect the views of the Vermont Department of Health. The Health Department will continue to collect data and share guidance for people of all identities to promote the physical, mental and social well-being of all people in Vermont.