Mental Health Problems and Cancer Risk Factors Among Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Adolescents

Background/Purpose: Hispanic and AI/AN adolescents are disproportionately subject to health disparities and experience numerous physical and social changes as they develop into grown-ups. While this is significant, the relationship between mental health and cancer prevention in adolescence is limited, especially among racial and ethnic minorities.

By illuminating specific exposures and practices among today’s youth, we can decrease their odds of getting cancer later on. To address the research limitations, we proposed a secondary data analysis concerning mental health and cancer risk factors. We contribute to the field by addressing relationships between mental health issues and modifiable risk factors for cancer in adolescence. These changes create unique opportunities for cancer prevention and broader health disparities efforts.

Methods: Data and Samples: We use the 2017 New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (NM-YRRS) survey which is accomplished by recruiting middle/high schools with student enrollment for participation, and then conducting a classroom census of the survey among students in selected schools. We focused on high school (HS) students who were in grades 9 to 12.

Measures: One NM-YRRS question about self-reported mental health problems over the past 30 days was used: During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities? The analysis examined the association between mental health problems and the following cancer risk factors: being overweight or obese (>=85th percentile; BMI>=25), smoked ever or smoked in the past month, alcohol use ever or in the past month and binge drinking in the past month, did not meet recommended daily physical activity guidelines (<60 minutes), and having inadequate sleep (<8 hours on an average night in the past 30 days). These factors were chosen because they are associated with risk of developing cancer and other poor health outcomes later in adulthood.

Results: The 2017 HS NM-YRRS sample, including AI/AN oversample data, included 18,451 students in 139 schools. The overall response rate was 70%. Over one third of both Hispanic and AI/AN adolescents reported having experienced sadness/hopelessness almost every day for two weeks or more in a row within the last year (37.8% and 36.9%, respectively). After adjusting for demographics, Hispanics who reported sadness/hopelessness had significantly increased odds of reporting all cancer risk factors, with the exception of being overweight or obese, when compared to Hispanics who did not report sadness/hopelessness. Among AI/AN adolescents, those who reported sadness/hopelessness were at significantly increased odds of reporting all cancer risk factors when compared to those who didn’t report sadness/hopelessness, except in terms of binge drinking, being overweight/obese, and not meeting recommended daily physical activity guidelines.

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings revealed that mental health problems are a marker for health disparities, especially in Hispanic and AI/AN adolescents. These findings can add value to prevention and intervention research efforts aiming to decrease risk among persons with rising mental health issues at a vulnerable developmental stage.