Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) Finland (1983-2022)

Abstract

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a cross-national research study into the health and well-being of adolescents across Europe and North America, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. HBSC has been conducted with representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in participating countries every four years since the early 1980s and membership has grown to over 50 countries, with increasing global involvement through our Linked Projects system. Now approaching 40 years of data collection, HBSC provides a unique and vital resource to compare the health and well-being of adolescents between countries and over time.

In Finland, by far, data has been collected 1983/84, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. Next data will be collected in 2025/26. Each year, the aim is to collect the data from 4500 school-aged children (1500 each age group, equal amount of girls and boys).

The international standard questionnaire enables the collection of common data across all participating countries and thereby enables cross-national comparisons of health and well-being to be made. Trend data are gathered with successive surveys and may be examined at national and cross-national levels. HBSC is a school-based survey and the self-report questionnaire is administered to a nationally representative sample of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds within the classroom setting. The data collected in each country are compiled into an international data file according to the protocol for each survey, hosted by the Data Management Centre at the University of Bergen, Norway.

While the general principles of the HBSC methodology remain unchanged, the content of the mandatory questionnaire is evaluated at each survey round and necessary amendments and replacements are made to ensure the study continues to be focused on issues of relevance to the health and well-being of adolescents. This revision of the survey instrument is balanced against the aim of monitoring trends over time. Although a few items have remained in the survey since inception, most have been added during subsequent rounds. Since the 2001/02 survey, particular care has been taken to retain a substantially unchanged subset of key indicators, facilitating analysis of long-term trends in adolescent health and well-being across all member countries. To obtain robust, comparable data between countries as well as over time, each country is required to follow a common methodological protocol.

In Finland, the survey was first (1983/4-2014) conducted as a traditional pen-and-paper survey, and from 2018 onward, as an online survey.

HBSC External Protocol is openly available.

Inchley J, Currie D, Samdal O, Jåstad A, Cosma A & Nic Gabhainn S, editors. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study Protocol: background, methodology and mandatory items for the 2021/22 survey. Glasgow: MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow; 2023.