Introduction:

Adolescents experience physical and psychosocial changes that make them vulnerable to multiple risk behaviors, highlighting the need to generate prevention policies.

Objective:

To identify main risk behaviors of adolescents and their prevalence, as well as the validated guides and scales for their detection.

Materials and methods:

A bibliographic search was carried out in different databases and official pages of main health organizations. 45 complete articles published in Spanish and English from 2013 to 2017 were selected.

Results:

Risk behaviors were grouped into five domains, identifying their prevalence and describing the validated guides and scales that exist for their detection.

Conclusions:

The identification of risk behaviors and early intervention in adolescents decrease their morbidity and mortality. It is recommended that health professionals use the best available screening tools such as Home/environment, Education/employment, peer Activities, Drugs, Sexuality and Suicide/depression (HEADDS); Rapid Assessment for Adolescent Preventive Services (RAAPS); and Global school-based student health survey (GSHS). These guides quickly and simultaneously assess multiple behaviors, are easily applied in primary care, and facilitate the approach and management of this population.

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