42 U.S.C. § 285g–8 — Prospective longitudinal study on adolescent health

(a) In general: By October 1, 1993, the Institute's Director had to start a study giving information on U.S. adolescents' general health and well-being, including (1) behaviors that help or hurt health, and (2) how factors specific to adolescents' communities affect their health. (b) Design of study: (1) In general: The study must be longitudinal, following a substantial number of adolescent subjects over time to track their health status and any changes in it. (2) Population-specific analyses: The study must cover female adolescents, male adolescents, different socioeconomic groups, and different racial and ethnic groups. It must be designed to validly show whether there are real differences in health status among these groups, and whether — and how much — those differences come from factors specific to each group. (c) Coordination with Women's Health Initiative: For the Secretary's separate national study of women, called the Women's Health Initiative, the Secretary must make sure it is coordinated with the part of the study in subsection (a) covering adolescent females — including coordinating how the two studies are designed.