Behavior Survey

OBJECTIVE: To validate the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) questionnaire. METHODS: The original version of the 2007 YRBS was translated into Portuguese and back-translated into English. The questionnaire versions were analyzed by a committee of experts. The committee used semantic, idiomatic, cultural and conceptual equivalences as criteria of analysis. The fi nal version of the translated 2007 YRBS questionnaire was administered in two occasions, with an interval of two weeks, in a sample of 873 high school students of both sexes, in the city of Londrina, Southern Brazil, to identify the psychometric properties. Test-retest reliability was analyzed by calculating the Kappa index of agreement and prevalence rate of each type of risk behavior when application was repeated. Chi-square test was used to identify statistical differences between the fi rst and second questionnaire applications. RESULTS: After minor changes identifi ed in the translation process, th