Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

The 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study in Scotland represents Scotland’s 7th HBSC survey since 1990 and is a cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. The study undertakes repeated cross-sectional self-report surveys of school-aged children in over 40 countries across Europe and North America every four years. 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, symptoms and life satisfaction, 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 recruitment of pupils in school grades P7, S2 and S4, respectively. The Scottish national data set includes questions that are mandatory across all HBSC member countries, as well as additional questions. International and historical HBSC data is available from the HBSC Data Management Centre (Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste (NSD)). The international Scottish version does not include data from boost local authority areas.

Main Topics:

The survey covers topics about adolescent health behaviours and social context including: diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, alcohol consumption and tobacco use, sexual health, family life, peer relationships, school attitudes and experience, injuries and bullying, neighbourhood perceptions, mental well-being and family affluence.

Stratified random cluster sample

Self-completion