Health Behaviour of School Aged Children (HBSC)

To analyse the relationships between young people’s health behaviours (e.g. diet, alcohol use, digital technology use) in relation to other determinants such as their family relationships, friendship networks, school life, age, gender and ethnic background.

Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) is the longest running international study that focuses on the health behaviour and social context of young people. The study was initiated in 1982 by researchers from three countries and shortly afterwards the project was adopted by the World Health Organization as a WHO collaborative study. There are now 51 participating countries and regions from across Europe and North America. Data is collected every four years using a survey methodology. England has been represented in the past seven survey cycles (since 1997). Research into young people’s health and health behaviours and the factors influencing them is essential for the development of effective health education and health promotion policy. The current survey in England, led by CHSS, has recruited over 10,000 young people from across England, we are analysing the data and hope to complete the reports of findings in early 2027.  A youth engagement component informs the project and raises important issues in relation to their physical, emotional and social well being.

We have engaged 3 PhDs in this cycle, working on further analysis of the HBSC dataset and health data linkage.

Planned outputs include:

• A national report for England
• A contribution to the international report
• Conference papers on emerging findings at the HBSC meetings in Autumn and Spring each year
• International collaboration papers with HBSC colleagues

Through close partnership with colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education, HBSC seeks to add the necessary knowledge about young peoples’ health and wellbeing to influence policy, for example, how health education and health behaviours are built into the education strategy for England. Impacts may also result for schools at a local level through our individual school feedback and teaching plans, and directly on young people as the school environments adapt to meet their needs.