Methods

Background: Missing data in observational studies may be informative about topics that participants do not wish to, or cannot, provide answers to. 

Objective: We characterized the profile of adolescents who did not report their weight and/or height in the 2018 and 2022 French HBSC surveys, in terms of body image and sociodemographic variables.

Methods: This study is based on weighted data from 18,892 adolescents enrolled in middle school in France in 2018 or 2022. Descriptive analyses by gender and class were carried out, as well as logistic regression analyses to identify variables associated with non-response to weight and/or height questions. Adolescents who provided extreme values for weight or height were identified and excluded from the analyses (n=97).

Results: There were 1,883 non-respondents for height, 2,519 non-respondents for weight and 1,209 for both. Rates of missing data decreased significantly over the course of the middle school. Girls were more likely to not report their weight while there was no significant difference by gender for height. Family socio-economic position was significantly associated with both outcomes, but body image was only associated with missing weight data.

Conclusion: This preliminary work highlights the importance of investigating the profile of non-respondents to these sensitive questions. Using missing data may allow us to better identify and deal with potential biases in the analyses. We also plan to study the profile of adolescents who provided outlier data on weight and height, since their profile could be different from that of adolescents with missing data."

Background: Previous research suggests that double entry is one of the most reliable methods for detecting entry errors. However, the effect of usual single-entry method on errors is rarely assessed. Our objective was to identify most common data entry errors and to assess how it relates to different characteristics of items, data entry clerks (DECs), and the data itself. 

Methods: The data for our study was retrieved from the HBSC 2022 study in Lithuania. In total, 6730 questionnaires from grades 5–11 were manually entered twice into “Microsoft Excel” database by 27 different DECs. Differences between entries were identified as entry errors and were corrected through a third entry. Error types were identified and clustered into categories. For each category, average impact (average number of entries affected) was calculated. Errors per 1000 entries (error rate) were calculated for each question and its characteristic (e. g. number of response options). 

Results: Total error rate was 3.9 (5.6 in the 5-7th grade questionnaire, 2.3 in the 9-11th grade questionnaire). In total, 29 types of errors were identified, with average impact ranging from 1.0 to 5.1 entries. Error rates by question varied from 0.1 to 24.6, error rates by question characteristic varied from 1.1 to 16.9. Depending on the occupation of DEC, error rate per one HBSC questionnaire varied 0.3 to 5.6. 

Conclusions: Double data entry method allowed to avoid 3.9 errors per 1000 entries. Occupation of DEC and question characteristics were found to be significant variables associated with differences in error rates."

Background: Climate change is a global health issue, and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to health impacts of the changing climate. A key health risk factor of the changing climate is an increase in frequency and duration of extreme weather events. It is estimated that globally, children born in this decade will face up to seven times as many extreme weather events in their lives compared to previous generations. Yet, we know little about how these exposures impact adolescents. Addressing this gap is a crucial step in ensuring the health and wellbeing of this and future generations. 

Objective: To outline a protocol for measuring exposure to extreme weather events (wildfire, extreme heat, and flood) among Canadian adolescents, utilizing 2014 and 2018 HBSC cycles.

Methods: We reviewed several environmental data sources with climate-related data and merged appropriate data to the Canadian HBSC data using school location and survey month.

Results: We calculated exposure to a heat event using data from the closest weather station to the school in the 12-months prior to survey administration. Wildfire exposure (within 12 months of survey date) was examined using school proximity to a large (>200 hectres) fire and poor air quality due to smoke. Additionally, flood exposure within a year of survey administration was calculated using a proximity measure.

Conclusion: Public health needs a strong evidence-base to prepare for and mitigate both the current and forthcoming health consequences of climate change to adolescents. Lessons learned, opportunities, and next steps will be discussed."

The five-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) is among the most frequently used brief standard measures to assess hedonic well-being and numerous studies have investigated different facets of its psychometric properties in adult (clinical and non-clinical) populations. However, whether these results apply to adolescents is uncertain and only few psychometric studies employed adolescent samples. 

Thus, the current study aimed to conduct an in-depth psychometric item response theory analysis of the WHO-5 among adolescents from 43 countries using the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children data set and investigated its (1) dimensionality and measurement structure, (2) conditional and marginal reliability, (3) cross-country measurement invariance and differential item/test functioning, and (4) convergent validity with other mental health and well-being related measures. 

The WHO-5 showed a unidimensional measurement structure and overall high conditional and marginal reliability (ρ ranged between .80 and .91) across all countries. Furthermore, although a large proportion of parameters were flagged as non-invariant (i.e., showed differential item functioning), differential test functioning of the WHO-5 was only modest. Moreover, the WHO-5 mainly showed a concurring nomological network with the other mental health and well-being related measures across countries, although with some differences in effect sizes. 

In sum, the WHO–5 Well-Being Index is a psychometrically sound measure that can be used for cross-cultural research among adolescents.