Dr. Steve Nagy, UA professor of health science and the survey’s principal researcher, will be available for interviews on Jan. 16 in his office, 201 Foster Auditorium, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.; and on Thursday, Jan. 17 from 9 a.m.-12 Noon.

The Alabama Adolescent Survey, now in its 14th year, is a comprehensive health survey conducted to determine health behavior, knowledge and attitudes of 9th and 10th graders in Alabama public schools. Surveys have been conducted in 1988, 1990, 1993, 1998 and 2001.

The 1998 survey showed, for example, that marijuana use and fast-food consumption by Alabama’s teenagers had gone up during the last decade, while exercise rates declined.

The surveys’ findings about adolescent health and sexual knowledge, behaviors and attitudes have documented some of the reasons for Alabama’s alarming teenage pregnancy rate, alcohol and drug abuse, violence in schools and depression among teenagers.