The changing face of adolescence

Background: Life satisfaction is a major component of adolescents’ subjective well-being. Physical activity (PA) is associated with the improvement of physical, cognitive, and mental health. Objective: This study aimed to analyse adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS) and levels of PA across age in adolescents from Luxembourg.

Method: A representative sample of 7089 adolescents (11-to-18-years-old) took part in the Health Behavior in School Aged Children (HBSC) Luxembourg 2022 survey. LS was measured using Cantril Ladder, levels of PA were determined according to the time spend on and frequency of moderate-vigorous and vigorous PA and classified into: Highly active, Active, Low active and Not active. A two-way ANOVA was performed to analyse differences in the LS mean for PA and age groups.

Results: All 11-12y have a better LS than the other age groups in all PA groups (p<0.01). However, Highly Active pupils reported better LS than those Not active, Low Active and Active, in all age groups (p<0.01). Low Active (mean=7.26, CI95%7.10-7.43; mean=6.93 CI95%6.78-7.10) reported worse LS than those who were Active in the 13-14y (mean=7.55, CI95%7.44-7.66; p=0.02) and 15-16y (mean=7.29 CI95%7.18-7.40; p<0.01).

Conclusion: PA is a factor associated with better LS in adolescents in Luxembourg in all ages. Furthermore, the study showed that although Highly Active pupils have a higher life satisfaction, being physically active is better than Not being active. This study reinforces the importance of PA to maintain a higher life satisfaction through adolescence in Luxembourg.

Background: Substance use can pose both acute and chronic health risks for adolescents. Monitoring trends in adolescent substance use is important to support health service planning and health policies. 

Objective(s): To examine substance use trends among Canadian adolescents, grades 9-10.

Methods: We used Canadian HBSC data three survey cycles 2009/10 to 2017/18. Rates of drunkenness (more than once in their lifetime), abstention from alcohol, lifetime cigarette use, lifetime cannabis use, illicit substances/medication to get high in the past 12-months, and poly-substance use were examined. Descriptive analyses (total and by gender) were calculated to determine weighted prevalence estimates. Regression analyses were performed to test for significant differences over time (with 2010 as a reference year) and between genders.

Results: Compared to 2010, rates of lifetime drunkenness and smoking decreased substantially in 2014 and decreased again in 2018 but to a lesser degree. Abstention from alcohol increased in 2014 and stayed at a similar rate in 2018. Cannabis use rates declined significantly in 2014 and 2018, compared to 2010. Illicit substances/medication to get high in the past 12 months did not decrease significantly from 2010. Gender differences will also be presented.

Conclusions: Similar to other regions, Canada has seen a substantial decrease in alcohol and tobacco use. Smaller but statistically significant reductions in cannabis use show a continuation of a decline that started in 2002. Continued monitoring is needed to examine prevalence rates in the context of changing health policies.

Background. Insufficient sleep is an important indicator of overall health in the adolescents and is recognized as a global, growing public health problem, the importance of which is often under-estimated and under-reported.

Objective. To investigate insufficient sleep duration in relation to self-rated health and well-being among adolescents in Latvia.

Methods. Data from a representative cross-sectional International Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study of the 2017/2018. survey in Latvia were used, analyzing data on a total of 4305 11, 13 and 15 y.o. adolsecnts. Total sleep duration up to 7 h was classified as insufficient. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to study the associations between adolescent family, home, and school environment psychosocial factors, self-rated health, leisure-time habits, and insufficient sleep duration, by determining unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios, and examining interaction with adolescent age and gender.

Results. Incomplete family structure, dissatisfaction with school, high schoolwork pressure, regular health complaints of headaches, stomachaches, backaches and difficulties falling asleep, > 4.5 h use of electronic devices increased the odds of insufficient sleep both on school and non-school days. 11 y.o. had significantly higher odds of insufficient sleep in relation to dissatisfaction with school and high schoolwork pressure, 11 and 13 y.o. – in association with prolonged use of electronic devices and 15 y.o. boys – in relation to incomplete family structure. 

Conclusions. Subjective health and well-being has significant association with adolescent sleep duration, highlighting especially strong relationships between particular studied factors and insufficient sleep duration in certain adolescent age and gender groups.

Background: Girls often have worse indicators of well-being, mental health, psychological symptoms, and happiness than boys. The present study aimed at understanding and characterizing, from an ecological perspective, the similarities and differences between girls and boys regarding the perception of happiness.

Methodology: We intend to understand who are the happy girls? The study is based on Portuguese data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted in 2022 (Gaspar et al., 2022; Inchley et al., 2016; 2020). 5809 students from the 6th (29.6%), 8th (33.5%) and 10th (37%) school grades responded, of which 50.9% were female, with an average age of 14.09 (SD=1.82). The sample is representative of the school grades under study. 

Results: The analysis of happy girls and boys allows us to verify that for both boys and girls, the factors of psychological health, such as life satisfaction, quality of life and low psychological symptoms explain their wellbeing. For happy girls, age, mother's job, stress management, health literacy and liking school explain their well-being. Happy boys report that not being so sad that they can't stand it, not having worries, having a good relationship with teachers, and feeling safe in the area where they live contribute to their well-being. 

Conclusion: We conclude that unhappy adolescents are the ones who report more socio-economic difficulties, difficulties in family relationships, especially in communication with the father and, in the case of girls, have weaker psychological health indicators and a more negative body image.