Health status of disadvantaged adolescents entering the Job Corps program

The health status of 2,203 disadvantaged young people entering the Job Corps was studied by reviewing the medical information collected during examinations performed upon entering the Job Corps. The study was conducted from February 1980 through January 1981. The sample records were obtained from eight representative Job Corps centers. The Job Corps is a federally funded residential vocational training program for youths between 16 and 22 years of age. During the study period, 100 Job Corps centers were in operation, serving a population of 38,000 corpsmembers. Long-term, chronic physical disease or disability was not prevalent among the applicants. The most common physical defect, affecting 10 percent of the youths examined, was uncorrected defective visual acuity. Obesity, defined as weight for height 20 percent or more over nationally calculated "desirable" weights, was present in 16.6 percent of the female trainees. In contrast, only 9.6 percent of a national sample of females have weights this high. Anemia, probably caused by iron deficiency, was prevalent among both sexes; sexually transmitted diseases were found to be common, especially among the females entering the Job Corps. Findings from this study were used by Job Corps staff to make changes in the health program as well as to provide instruction to its health personnel.