Injury And Violence Among Virginia High School Students: Results from the Virginia Youth Survey – 2015

During adolescence, youth begin to spend more time without adult supervision, gain more independence, and are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviors making them particularly vulnerable to injury and violence. Adolescents and young adults maintain the highest rates of fatal motor vehicle crash involvement. Youth violence is the third leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24. Adolescents can be victims, offenders, and/or witnesses to violence, which impacts their own physical, emotional, and mental health as well as that of their communities.