The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report on European schoolchildren focuses primarily on inequality. The study on "Growing up unequal: gender and socioeconomic differences in young people's health and well-being" covers 42 countries and regions across Europe and North America. Cross national comparisons are made according to data collected from some 220,000 young people aged 11, 13 and 15.
Based on the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey carried out every four years, the report reveals that the proportion of 15-year-old Europeans who reported having a first cigarette at 13 or younger fell from 24 per cent in 2009/2010 to 17 per cent in 2013/2014. The reduction among girls was larger.
Good news on smoking is tempered by other findings. The report goes on to warn that while 80 per cent of schoolchildren report generally high rates of life satisfaction, gender and socioeconomic status differences are adversely affecting many young people’s health, well-being and lifestyle choices at a critical stage in their development.
From an Irish perspective researchers from the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway gained new insights into young people's health and wellbeing. A number of areas of concern emerged: Irish children report lower levels of feeling high family and peer support when compared to other countries; cyberbullying increases with age in Ireland, more so than in other countries; and there was a large gender difference between the proportion of girls and boys meeting physical activity recommendations.
On a positive note Irish children ranked within the top 12 countries for the proportion of children consuming fruit on a daily basis. Young people’s drinking patterns here also improved compared with previous surveys.
HBSC studies have positively influenced policy and legislation across Europe in the 33 years since the first report was published. They assume even greater importance as thousands of displaced children from the Middle East seek refuge on the continent.