Trends in life satisfaction and self-rated health in Czech school-aged children: HBSC study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to examine cross-sectional time trends of life satisfaction and self-rated health in a representative sample of Czech children aged 11, 13 and 15 years using the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study data from the Czech Republic. Methods: Data from survey years 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 was used. The sample consisted of 16,357 participants (48.5% of boys). Life satisfaction (LS) was measured by Cantril’s ladder; self-rated health was measured through the simple item “Would you say your health is: excellent, good, fair, poor”. Results: Most of the children were satisfied with their lives in all surveyed years (mean LS scores range from 7.21 to 7.51; maximum 10). LS was consistently significantly associated (p < 0.001) with age and gender. Overall, children and adolescents in the Czech Republic also reported good health. In total, 87.6% of respondents from all samples reported their health as excellent or good. Gender was found to be significantly associated with self-rated health (p < 0.05) in all surveyed years. Conclusions: No permanent trends in both followed indicators have been seen in the examined period.