News Item:
HBSC Slovakia's 2017/18 survey results published in new report

After travelling nearly 10,000km, visiting over 100 schools across the country and surveying around 10,000 school-aged children, the HBSC team in Slovakia have published the results of their 2017/18 national survey in a new report.

The report, Social Determinants of Schoolchildren's Health, includes more than 250 indicators split across 15 different themes and was launched in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Public Health Authority and Ministry of Education under the auspices of the World Health Organization. The launch event was attended by around 100 stakeholders from 25 professional institutions in addition to national print and broadcast media.

This national report includes the latest prevalences presented by gender and age, as well as trends from 2010-2014. Key findings include:

Healthy behaviours

• Around 50% of 15-year-olds reported at least 8 hours of sleep on a school night, with 7% reporting fewer than 6 hours sleep.
• Having breakfast every school-day was reported by 48-54% of 11-year-olds and only two-fifths (37-43%) of 15-year-olds. Regular breakfast consumption was found to have fallen since 2010.
• The consumption of sweetened and energy-drinks has fallen since 2014, however around one third (31%) of 15-year-old boys still consume energy drinks more than once per week.
• Levels of regular physical activity remain worryingly low, with less than one third (26-28%) of 11-year-olds meeting the recommended target of 1 hour of moderate to vigorous physical per day. Among 15-year-old girls only around 1 in 10 (12%) meet the recommended levels of activity.

Health outcomes

• Around one-third of 15-year-olds report feeling nervous (30-43%), irritated (34-42%) and experience difficulties getting to sleep (17-31%) more than once a week.
• One in ten 11-year-olds took medicine for nervousness or difficulty sleeping (8-11%).
• 31% of 11-year-olds were found to be obese (with body fat composition of 25% in boys and 30% in girls).
• Around half of the young people surveyed reported a medically attended injury in the last year. The prevalence of injuries increased in comparison to 2010 and 2014.

Online lives

• One in five children (18-20%) find it easier to talk about their feelings online than face to face.
• Around two in five (37-39%) 13- and 15-year-olds report using their mobile phone to feel better when they are feeling low.
• Excessive internet use was more common among 15-year-old boys than girls (13-21% vs 5-18%), while 'fear of missing out' was more prevalent in 15-year-old girls (19% vs 12% among boys of the same age).

Offline lives

• Alcohol and tobacco use has declined since 2010. Despite this, levels of consumption remain worryingly high. One in five 15-year-olds report smoking tobacco at least once in the past month, and more than one in three report drinking alcohol in the same period.
• The accessibility of alcohol for adolescents has decreased since 2010. However, in 2018, 35-40% of 15-year-olds reported that they were able to purchase alcohol in shops despite this being illegal.
• 11% of girls and 17% of boys aged 15 reported having had sexual intercourse, with this rate remaining steady since 2014. Only around a third of children said that "it" happened at the right time, while 33% of girls and 16% of boys wishing "it" had happened later.
• 10-20% of young people reported suffering from emotional or behavioural problems which require professional care.

To learn more about the HBSC study in Slovakia and the results of the latest survey, read the full report online.

 

 

 

 

 

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item 5640
[01-08-2019 to 30-01-2020]

 

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