Semantics bias in cross-national comparative analyses : Is it good or bad to have "fair" health?
The Health Behavior in School-aged Children is a cross-national study collecting data on social and health indicators on adolescents in 43 countries. The study provides comparable data on health behaviors and health outcomes through the use of a common protocol, which have been a back bone of the study sine its initiation in 1983. Recent years, researchers within the study have noticed a questionable comparability on the widely used item on self-rated health. One of the four response categories to the item “Would you say your health is….?” showed particular variation, as the response category “Fair” varied from 20 % in Latvia and Moldova to 3–4 % in Bulgaria and Macedonia. A qualitative min…
Adolescents' medicine use for headache: secular trends in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010
BACKGROUND: This study reports secular trends in medicine use for headache among adolescents in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010.METHODS: The international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey includes self-reported data about medicine use for headaches among nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds. We included 20 countries with data from at least three data collection waves, with a total of 380 129 participants.RESULTS: The prevalence of medicine use for headaches varied from 16.5% among Hungarian boys in 1994 to 62.9% among girls in Wales in 1998. The prevalence was higher among girls than boys in every country and data collection year. The prevalenc…
Trends in life satisfaction in European and North-American adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in over 30 countries
Background: Life satisfaction (LS) is an indicator which is widely used for assessing the perception of a child's feeling about his life. Methods: LS is assessed in Health Behaviour in School-aged Children via the Cantril ladder with 10 steps indicating the worst and best possible life. This range of values (0-10) was dichotomized into 'low' (0-5) vs. 'high' (6-10). Countries, age groups and genders were compared based on the odds ratio (OR) of declaring a higher LS in 2010 with respect to 2002. Results: Analyzing the difference between 2002 and 2010, six countries from Western Europe show decreasing LS: Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Greenland. In contrast, a group of E…
Self-reported recurrent pain and medicine use behaviours among 15-year olds: Results from the international study
Background There is considerable variation in adolescent pain prevalence across epidemiological studies, with limited information on pain-related behaviours among adolescents, including medicine use. The aims of this study were (1) to examine the prevalence of recurrent pain among 15-year-old adolescents internationally; (2) to investigate the association between recurrent pain and medicine use behaviours among boys and girls; and (3) to evaluate the consistency of these associations across countries. Methods The World Health Organization (WHO) collaborative international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2009/2010 study collects data about self-reported aches and medicine use from 3…
The medicine use and corresponding subjective health complaints among adolescents, a cross-national survey
BACKGROUND: Medicine use among children and young people is under-researched. Studies that investigated cross-national patterns in adolescents' medicine use practice are rare. This study aims to investigate adolescents' medicine use for corresponding health complaints in Europe and USA. METHODS: Nationally representative samples of adolescents from 19 countries and regions in Europe and USA completed an anonymous, standardised questionnaire as part of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2005/2006 survey. The prevalence of health complaints and medicine use were determined. The influence of the frequency of medicine use, age, gender and country of residence, on the likelihood of med…
Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health complaints : a multilevel latent class analysis in 45 countries
AbstractOur study evaluated the relationship between adolescent health complaints and socioeconomic position in 45 countries. Data are from the 2017/2018 international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey which used proportionate sampling among adolescents aged 11 to 15 years old (n=228,979). Multilevel, multinomial regression analysis assessed the association between the multilevel latent classes with socioeconomic status (SES; at the household and country level). Three distinct latent classes were identified: No Complaints, Psychological Complaints, and a Physical and Psychological Complaints class; where, low household SES was highest for the physical and psychological complai…
Trends in self-rated health in European and North-American adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in 32 countries
© 2015 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved. Background: Self-rated health (SRH) in adolescence is known to be associated with health outcomes in later life. We carried out a trend analysis on data coming from three waves of data collected in 32 countries (mostly European) from 2002 to 2010 coming from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children surveys. Methods: SRH in adolescents was assessed using a Likert scale (excellent, good, fair and poor). Responses were dichotomized into 'excellent' vs. 'rest'. Country, age and gender groups were compared based on the odds ratio of declaring excellent SRH in 2010…
Trends in Adolescent Overweight Perception and Its Association With Psychosomatic Health 2002–2014 : Evidence From 33 Countries
Purpose Perceiving oneself as overweight is common and strongly associated with adolescents' subjective well-being. The prevalence of overweight perceptions and their impact on well-being may have increased over the past decade due to an increase in the salience of weight-related issues. This study examines trends (2002–2014) in the prevalence of adolescent overweight perceptions and their association with psychosomatic complaints. Methods Data from 15-year-old adolescents were obtained between 2002 and 2014 in four rounds of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in 33 countries in Europe and North America (N = 187,511). Design-adjusted logistic regressions were used to quantif…
Trends in multiple recurrent health complaints in 15-year-olds in 35 countries in Europe, North America and Israel from 1994 to 2010
Background: Health complaints are a good indicator of an individual’s psychosocial health and well-being. Studies have shown that children and adolescents report health complaints which can cause significant individual burden. Methods: Using data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, this article describes trends in multiple recurrent health complaints (MHC) in 35 countries among N = 237 136 fifteen-year-olds from 1994 to 2010. MHC was defined as the presence of two or more health complaints at least once a week. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends across the five survey cycles for each country. Results: Lowest prevalence thro…
Prevalence of self-reported chronic pain among adolescents: Evidence from 42 countries and regions
© 2018 European Pain Federation ‐ EFIC ®
The Role of Individual- and Macro-Level Social Determinants on Young Adolescents’ Psychosomatic Complaints
This study examines the social determinants of psychosomatic complaints in young adolescents. Using data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, psychosomatic complaints are studied in 98,773 adolescents (11- and 13-year-olds; 48% 11-year-olds, 52% 13-year-olds; 52% females, 48% males) from 34 European countries. Individual-level determinants, including family-, peer- and school-related factors as well as country-level determinants (Human Development Index [HDI]) are considered. In line with existing evidence, results revealed more psychosomatic complaints in young adolescents experiencing stress inducing familial-, peer- and school-related factors. Negative effects…
Trends in health complaints from 2002 to 2010 in 34 countries and their association with health behaviours and social context factors at individual and macro-level
BACKGROUND: This article describes trends and stability over time in health complaints in adolescents from 2002 to 2010 and investigates associations between health complaints, behavioural and social contextual factors at individual level and economic factors at macro-level.METHODS: Comprising N = 510 876 11-, 13- and 15-year-old children and adolescents in Europe, North America and Israel, data came from three survey cycles of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Age- and gender-adjusted trends in health complaints were examined in each country by means of linear regression. By using the country as the random effects variable, we tested to what extent in…