Basic trends in behavioral health risks

Abstract

A scope of research entitled Health Behavior in School-Aged Children [HBSC] allowed to obtained data for further analysis and systematization; there were some basic trends in behavioral risks revealed as a result which were hazardous for health of schoolchildren in Russia aged 11, 13, and 15. We applied data taken from reports on international HBSC research conducted in 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2013. All the data were statistically processed with non-parametric analysis. We compared risk factors prevalence among children aged 11, 13, and 15; among boys and girls; over time dynamics; factors revealed in different countries. We detected both age and gender peculiarities in behavioral factors that influenced health; there were also discrepancies in their prevalence taken in dynamics over years and differences between children of the same age living in Russia and abroad. A lot of risky behavioral patterns are more widely spread among boys. Since 1993 there has been a growth in parameters related to risky behaviors among girls in Russia. Over the last ten years there have been positive trends in behavioral risk factors prevalence. However, when compared with their foreign counterparts, Russian teenagers perceive their school environment more negatively; they more frequently tend to estimate their health as "being bad"; they are less satisfied with their lives; they less frequently consume fruit and pay less attention to oral cavity hygiene; they tend to be physically inactive. Risky behavioral patterns such as smoking, alcohol intake, or aggressive behavior, are more widely spread among younger teenagers. When creating programs aimed at establishing healthy lifestyle, it is necessary to take into account age and gender differences, as well as trends related to behavioral risk factors which change over time and which can be objectively assessed with an international questionnaire entitled Health Behavior in School-Aged Children.