JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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To assess risk behaviors, health problems, worries and concerns, and resiliency-promoting factors among American Indian-Alaska Native adolescents. ⋯ American Indian-Alaska Native adolescents reported high rates of health-compromising behaviors and risk factors related to unintentional injury, substance use, poor self-assessed health status, emotional distress, and suicide. Interventions must be culturally sensitive, acknowledge the heterogeneity of Indian populations, be grounded in cultural traditions that promote health, and be developed with full participation of the involved communities.
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To rebut criticism of a previous study of motorcycle helmet-use laws through reanalysis with improved measures of exposure, stratification for regional differences in crash risk, and addressing of total motorcycle-related mortality and the grounds for targeting motorcyclists for helmet-use laws. ⋯ Full helmet-use laws were consistently associated with lower rates of head injury-associated death. While disagreement remains on the acceptability of the legislative approach, the scientific basis for motorcycle helmet-use laws as a head injury prevention tool appears sound.