Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study in Scotland (HBSC) study undertakes repeated cross-sectional self-report surveys of school-aged children across Europe and North America every four years (carried out in 47 countries in 2017/18). As well as aiming to increase understanding of young people's health and well-being, the findings from the HBSC surveys are used to inform and influence health promotion and health education policy and practice at national and international levels. The survey covers such areas as physical activity, eating and dieting, smoking, alcohol use and bullying, self-reported health, mental wellbeing and life satisfaction, electronic media use, socio-demographics, as well as family, school and peer contexts. The target age groups are 11, 13 and 15-year-olds, which in Scotland involves recruiting a nationally representative sample of pupils in grades P7, S2 and S4, respectively. In the 2018 HBSC in Scotland study, the achieved sample size was 5286 pupils. The national data set includes questions that are mandatory in all HBSC member countries, and additional questions. International and historical HBSC data is available from the HBSC Data Management Centre (Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste (NSD)). 

Main Topics:

Adolescent health and wellbeing; physical activity; eating behaviours; substance use; mental health; electronic media communication; violence and injuries; bullying; family and peer relations; school experience; neighbourhood perceptions

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper