Objective. To examine the attitude towards risk behaviors in a sample of post-mandatory education youths and observe the differences between natives, two immigrant groups and a group of youths of mixed origins (YMO).
Subjects. A total of 5’834 youths from eleven post-mandatory schools in the canton of Fribourg (Switzerland) participated in the GenerationFRee study, a cross-sectional study to assess their lifestyle. Participants were divided by sex in: (a) Natives: Swiss-born youths to Swiss-born parents, (b) First generation migrants: foreign-born youths to foreign-born parents, (c) Second generation migrants: Swiss-born youths to foreign-born parents, (d) YMO: Swiss-born youths to one Swiss-born parent and one foreign-born parent. Participants reported personal, family, school information and attitudes towards height risk behaviors. All significant variables at the bivariate level were included in a binary logistic regression.
Results. The logistic regression showed that, compared to natives, first and second generation migrant boys were less likely to misuse alcohol. Boys of mixed origins were similar to migrants although at the bivariate level they were more exposed to risk behaviors compared to migrants. First and second generation migrant girls were less likely to misuse alcohol and trice more likely to be excessive Internet users. Girls of mixed origins were more likely to have their parents not living together and reported almost twice more often antisocial behavior.
Conclusion. Findings expose a lower engagement in risk behaviors migrants. The migrant status in these two groups is clearly buffered if other control variables are considered. Thus, we can affirm that in the present study, migrants are a not high risk population or not more at risk than the native group. YMO showed higher risk behaviors compared to natives or migrants. Special attention should be given to this specific group, as they may be more vulnerable during adolescence.