Slide #1:
Map: Health Behavior in School-Aged Children
A WHO Cross National-Study 1997/98National Study Participants:
Austria, Belgium, Flemish, Belgium, French Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France (Nancy and Toulouse), Germany (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Russia (St. Petersburg and district, Krasnodar, Chelyabinsk), Scotland, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Wales.
Slide #2:
International HBSC Study
- Comparable surveys performed in schools every four years
- Begun in 1983 by multidisciplinary researchers
- Most recent survey completed in 2001/02 in 35 countries
- Additional HBSC information available at www.hbsc.org
Slide #3:
HBSC Study Results
- U.S. Teens in Our World based on 1997/98 surveys in 28 countries
- U.S. joined in 1997
- Comparisons among countries originally published in international report
- Includes over 120,000 students at ages 11, 13 & 15 years
- Nationally-representative estimates
Slide #4:
U.S. Teen Chartbook: Main Questions
- What important information did we learn about common adolescent health characteristics and about U.S. adolescents specifically, that we didn’t already know?
- What relevant U.S. or international research addresses the factors underlying the highlighted health issues?
Slide #5:
Health & Well-being: What Did We Learn?
- Boys report better health and quality of life than girls in all countries, except for feeling tired in the morning.
- U.S. teens more likely to report psychosomatic symptoms and related medication use than in other countries.
Slide #6:
Symptoms and Medication Use During Previous Week
- U.S. students ranked highest among all countries for stomachaches.
- U.S. & Israeli teens rank highest for headaches.
- U.S. students were third most likely to feel tired when they went to school in the morning.
Slide #7:
What Does the Research Show?
- Gender differences are consistent with U.S. studies
- Little research to show why U.S. teens rank comparatively high on health or depressive symptoms and related medication use
Slide #8:
Fitness: What Did We Learn?
- U.S. teen rankings among countries vary from high to low across areas of nutrition, dieting, exercise, and sedentary activities.
Slide #9:
Nutrition and Exercise
- US students are among those most likely to eat French fries or fried potatoes daily.
- US students rank near the top for drinking soft drinks daily.
- US students ranked in the lower range for exercising enough to be out of breath or sweat at least twice a week during their free time.
Slide #10:
What Does the Research Show?
- Overall health and well-being affected by fitness factors including activity levels, nutrition, and overweight.
- Study among 15 countries shows U.S. students to be significantly more overweight.
Slide #11:
Family Relationships: What Did We Learn?
- U.S. youth least likely to live with both biological parents.
- Communication with either parent generally more difficult for U.S. students, but particularly with fathers
- Students in all countries have more difficulty talking to fathers.
Slide #12:
What Does the Research Show?
- Difficulty communicating with parents is associated with increased difficulty with making or talking to friends, happiness, and risky behaviors.
- Communication enhanced by warm and supportive parents.
- Role of cultural differences not clear.
Slide #13:
School Environment: What Did We Learn?
- Across countries, girls like school more than boys and consider rules to be more fair.
- Few students really like school - including U.S. students.
- Feelings of school connectedness affected by involvement in rulemaking, teacher and parental support, and relationships to other students.
Slide #14:
School Environment
- U.S. students are among the least likely to feel they participate in making rules at school.
- U.S. students are relatively unlikely to find other students in their classes to be kind and helpful.
Slide #15:
What Does the Research Show?
- Adolescent Health and HBSC studies show connectedness at school important for health, well-being, and risk-taking.
- Peer relations at school important for student motivation, achievement, and behavior.
Slide #16:
Smoking and Drinking: What Did We Learn?
- U.S. students similar to other countries in experiments with smoking at age 11.
- Rankings between proportions smoking or drinking by age 15 differ for U.S. students.
Slide #17:
Smoking and Drinking
- U.S. 15 year old youth are less likely to smoke than youth in almost any other country.
- U.S. youth rank in middle range for proportion drinking alcohol weekly.
Slide #18:
What Does the Research Show?
- Our relative success in smoking reduction is probably related to multiple prevention approaches: clean air laws, pricing, counter-advertising, enforcement of existing laws.
- Less success shown for reduction of alcohol use, except in area of drinking and driving.
Slide #19:
Youth Violence: What Did We Learn?
- Measures of bullying and feeling safe at school only items available for all countries.
- Fighting and weapon carrying described for fewer countries in U.S. report.
Slide #20:
School Safety and Bullying
- U.S. students rank 8th among countries for students who never or rarely feel safe.
- U.S. students rank 9th among countries for students are bullied at least once a week.
- Findings similar for U.S. students who bully others.
Slide #21:
What Does the Research Show?
- Bullying, both at school and away, is associated with different psychosocial effects for bullies, victims or those who are both.
- Bullied student difficulties: making friends, classmate relationships, and loneliness.
- Bully/victims: no problem making friends.
Slide #22:
What Was Left Out
- Injuries
- Use of Illegal Drugs
- Sexual Activity
- Family Affluence
- U.S. Specific Items
- Race/ethnicity, immigration and acculturation
- Adolescents in the workforce
- Other Items
Slide #23:
How To Obtain A Copy of U.S. Teens In Our World
Single copies of this publication are available at no charge from:
- HRSA Information Center
2070 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 450
Vienna, VA 22182-2536
(703) 442-9051 or
1-888-ASK-HRSA
Slide #24:
For Further Information
- Further information on international data availability and the HBSC study design can be found at www.hbsc.org.
- U.S. data from 1997/1998 survey available at: www.icpsr.umich.edu.