HEALTH BEHAVIOUR: Although the health problems of young people vary greatly across Europe, the answers may be similar, lying in the key settings of family, peers and schools, a conference in Galway has been told. Michelle McDonagh reports.
Dr Saoirse Nic Gabhainn of the Department of Health Promotion at NUI Galway told the eighth annual conference of the Department of Health Promotion at NUI Galway that it was vital that more resources be invested into schools to make them happier places for children.
"School is such an important setting for young people because they spend so much of their time there and their experience of school affects other areas of their lives.
"For example, those who have a positive experience of school smoke less and have fewer health complaints than those who have a negative experience," she explained.
Dr Nic Gabhainn was Ireland's principal investigator in the recently published World Health Organisation collaborative study Health Behaviour in School Aged Children.
The study, which reports on the health and "health behaviours" of schoolchildren across 35 countries, including Ireland, illustrates the diversity of the challenges facing health promotion in terms of key health behaviours.
The findings of the report highlight the importance of school and family relationships in terms of a young person's health and happiness.
Dr Nic Gabhainn remarked: "The best news for Ireland from the study is that our young people are very high on exercise in comparison to the rest of Europe but on the downside, they also have a very high consumption of sweets and soft drinks. Irish children report having more close friendships than other children in Europe."
She noted that of Irish 15-year-olds, 17 per cent who report a positive experience of school smoke every week, compared to 32 per cent of those who report a negative experience of school. The WHO study found that of the Irish 15-year-olds with a positive experience of school, 41 per cent report two or more health "symptoms" or complaints such as headache, stomach ache, dizziness and backache every week. Ninety per cent of those with a negative experience report two or more symptoms.
A positive or negative experience was determined by whether the child liked school, felt supported by their classmates, felt they were doing well academically or felt under pressure.
The survey also revealed that 20 per cent of Irish 15-year-olds smoke and 18 per cent drink alcohol weekly, while 22 per cent of that age group have tried cannabis and 6 per cent report regular use. At the age of 11, 61 per cent of Irish boys and 15 per cent of girls meet the guidelines for an acceptable amount of weekly physical exercise but by the age of 15, this drops to 45 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls.
According to the study, Ireland has one of the the highest proportions of teenagers reporting daily consumption of sweets and chocolate in the EU at 54 per cent and a lower than average fruit and vegetable consumption.
Among Irish 15-year-olds, 24 per cent of girls and 6 per cent of boys are on a diet, but 48 per cent of girls and 21 per cent of boys report that they are too fat, according to the study.
In Ireland, 14 per cent of 13-year old boys and 11 per cent of 13-year old girls are overweight or obese and 11 per cent of 15-year old boys and 12 per cent of 15-year old girls are overweight or obese, she noted.
The study revealed that 30 per cent of Irish 11-year-olds, 27 per cent of 13-year-olds and 21 per cent of 15-year-olds reported being bullied in the last couple of months.
The conference, which focused on European Perspectives on Promoting Health and Well-Being was attended by health promotion experts from Ireland, the UK, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Spain. Also discussed was the growing power and influence of the EU institutions in health promotion, public health and higher education.