The objective of this study was to synthesize available information on prevalence and time trends of overweight and obesity in pre-school children in the European Union. Retrieval and analysis or ...re-analysis of existing data were carried out. Data sources include WHO databases, Medline and Google, contact with authors of published and unpublished documents. Data were analysed using the International Obesity Task Force reference and cut-offs, and the WHO standard. Data were available from 18/27 countries. Comparisons were problematic because of different definitions and methods of data collection and analysis. The reported prevalence of overweight plus obesity at 4 years ranges from 11.8% in Romania (2004) to 32.3% in Spain (1998-2000). Countries in the Mediterranean region and the British islands report higher rates than those in middle, northern and eastern Europe. Rates are generally higher in girls than in boys. With the possible exception of England, there was no obvious trend towards increasing prevalence in the past 20-30 years in the five countries with data. The use of the WHO standard with cut-offs at 1, 2 and 3 standard deviations yields lower rates and removes gender differences. Data on overweight and obesity in pre-school children are scarce; their interpretation is difficult. Standard methods of surveillance, and research and policies on prevention and treatment, are urgently needed.
This study is a part of the cross-national survey on health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) - World Health Organization Collaborative Study. The aim was to compare the HBSC data on frequency ...of toothbrushing, consumption of sweets, soft drinks, fruits and vegetables among 11-13-year-old children in different countries and to estimate the relation of these factors with caries experience at the country level.
Oral health behaviour patterns were assessed from the HBSC survey conducted in the 2001-2002 school year in 27 countries in Europe, Israel, Canada, and the USA.
Representative samples of 11- and 13-year-old schoolchildren were drawn from participating countries and aggregated by the direct age standardisation method. DMFT of 12-year-olds was collected from the international data banks and recent publications. Statistical analysis was performed using multiple linear regression.
The most significant factor related with the cross-regional variation of DMFT was the proportion of children who reported regular toothbrushing; it explained 26.3% of the DMFT variation. Low rates of regular toothbrushing and high rates of sweets consumption were related with higher DMFT while high rates of drinking of soft drinks were related with lower DMFT. Consumption of fruits and vegetables had no significant impact. Altogether, factors of this model explained 51.2% of the total DMFT variation across countries.
The findings of the study demonstrate that different oral health behaviour profiles among young people across European countries, Israel, Canada, and the USA significantly contribute to the variation in caries experience.
Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of life satisfaction for health and well-being, there is a paucity of cross-national comparative studies in life satisfaction related to the family ...environment. The present research examined the pathways of life satisfaction association with perceived family support and other family environment variables among adolescents aged from 11 to 15 years in 45 countries. Materials and Methods: Samples from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in 2017/2018 were analysed (n = 188,619). Path analysis was applied to evaluate the associations among the study variables. Results: A positive association between the life satisfaction score and high family support was identified in all 45 countries (standardized regression weight ranged from 0.067 to 0.420, p < 0.05). In majority of countries, living with both parents and higher levels of family affluence had a positive effect on adolescent life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through family support. In the described path model, the proportion of life satisfaction score variance that was accounted for by family support, family structure, family affluence, gender and age was up to 25.3%. The path models made it possible to group the participating countries into two clusters. In the first cluster (10 countries) the Eastern and Southern European countries dominated, while the second cluster (35 countries) united the countries of Western and Central Europe. Conclusions: There is evidence that countries with high level of adolescent life satisfaction differ in the high rate of intact family structure and the strong relation between family support and perceived life satisfaction.
Aims: To identify the influence of family structure, parent-child relationship and parental monitoring on adolescents' involvement in early sexual behaviour. Methods: The study was undertaken in the ...context of the World Health Organization collaborative Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study. The representative samples were drawn from 10 European countries. A group of 14,287 (6716 boys and 7571 girls) 15-year-olds was surveyed. The data were collected by standardized questionnaires. Adolescents were asked about sexual behaviour, family structure, parent-child communication, and parental control. A logistic regression analysis was applied to assess the impact of determinants. Results: Greenlandic adolescents were predominantly engaged in early sexual behaviour. Intact family was a key protective factor for adolescents' early sexual behaviour. It significantly decreased both boys' and girls' involvement in early sexual behaviour. Close parent-adolescent relationships and a high level of parental monitoring were found to be less protective factors than family structure. Easy communication with parents, especially with the mother, was more significant for girls' than for boys' early sexual behaviour. A low level of maternal monitoring had a higher impact on boys' early sexual behaviour, while a low level of paternal monitoring had a higher impact on girls. For both maternal and paternal monitoring, the strongest relationship was observed among Hungarian adolescents, but among Greenlanders it was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Many 15-year-olds in European countries are engaged in early sexual behaviour. A close parent-child relationship and a high level of parental monitoring are not as important for adolescents' early sexual behaviour as an intact family.
The quality of communication with parents is a determinant of health and well-being during adolescence, being predictive of self-esteem, self-rated health and the ability to navigate health risk ...behaviours.
This article describes trends in adolescent's (aged 11, 13 and 15 years) perception of communication with mothers and fathers by gender across 32 European and North American countries from 2002 to 2010. Analyses were performed on 425 699 records employing a General Linear Model (MANOVA).
In most countries, significant increases in the prevalence of ease of communication with both mothers and fathers were observed, with the greatest positive changes over time in Estonia, Denmark and Wales. In some countries, the opposite trend was found with the greatest negative changes occurring in France, Slovenia and Poland. Across the pooled dataset, a significant positive trend was observed for ease of communication with father, for both boys and girls and for ease of communication with mother for boys only.
The temporal trends demonstrated an increase in a positive health asset for many young people, that of family communication. Positive trends may be a feature of the economic boom over the past decade coupled with cultural changes in attitudes to parenting, especially fathering.
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