The study described in this article assessed self-care practices and exposure to violence using a sample of 161 African American 10th grade students. Three questionnaires were used to collect information on exposure to violence, self-care practices, and subject information. Multiple regression analyses resulted in four variables with significant influence on self-care (gender, age, presence of health problems, and church attendance) and two variables with substantive significance (education of father and being a victim of violence). The 12 variables in the final regression equation accounted for 21.0% of the variance in self care of adolescents. Being a victim of violence was found to have a substantive negative influence on self care practices of adolescents.