Engl. transl.: The 2018 HBSC Surveillance - Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: results from the Italian study among 11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds

In 2018, the fifth round of the Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study was conducted throughout all Italian Regions on 11, 13 and 15 year-old students attending public schools. Based on the list of classes of all schools, a sample of 1st and 3rd grade of junior high school and 2nd grade of high school classes was extracted. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to all students attending these classes, to collect information on their health behaviour, their relationship with the school, parents and peers, and general information concerning their cultural and social background. Around 60,000 questionnaires were collected, which showed that, if on the positive side, 82% of the adolescents were “satisfied” with their lives, many of them still had risky health behaviour. HBSC is a valuable resource to monitor adolescents’ health and support positive policy action. (Retrieved from https://www.epicentro.iss.it/ben/2019/novembre/sorveglianza-hbsc-2018)

1 in 4 kids spend more than 2 hours a day in front of a screen (TV/video game/tablet/PC). To the "classic" risk behaviors are added new forms of addictions, such as the misuse of social media; this new trend was investigated for the first time in 2018 with results that are anything but encouraging: 11.8% of girls and 7.8% of boys make a problematic use of social media (defined as the presence of at least 6 of the 9 criteria indicated in the Social Media Disorder Scale); 86.9% of girls 77.0% of boys said they have daily contact or several times a day with the inner circle of friends who also hang out in person. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)