Socioeconomic position and some subjective indicators of health in young people in Slovenia Background: Social economic conditions have an important influence on health and health behaviour. In ...Slovenia, there have been no in-depth engagements into researching the differences in the health of children and young people correlated to their socioeconomic conditions. In the article, we intend to research the connection between the socio-economic status and selected indicators of self-evaluated health and health-related behaviour in young people in our country. Methods: The research uses a quantitative methodology, namely the standard international survey questionnaire, in which 5130 11, 13 and 15 year olds were included. Sampling was performed randomly stratified; the sampling unit was a class. For the purposes of the analysis, the chi-square and logistical regression were used. Results: The analysis of the connectedness between socio-economic status and selected indicators of health and health-related behaviour in young people shows that the socio-economic status is significantly connected to all the selected indicators. However, the connectedness is mostly weak. Adolescents from families with a low socio-economic status (in comparison with adolescents from families with a high socio-economic status) more often evaluate their own health worse, are less satisfied with their own life, eat less fruit per day, are less physically active, more often evaluate themselves as overweight, wash their teeth less often and have had fewer injuries in the last twelve month. Conclusions: Measures for preventing health inequalities have to be planned from the political to the individual level. Population programs and measures that would strengthen health and safety factors for the whole population and reduce inequalities are needed, as well as special programs and measures for children and adolescents from poorer families and also their families, who will be given the opportunity for fair and equal access to activities and sources for a healthy life. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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