A new pan-European WHO survey of schoolchildren reveals that the proportion of 15-year-olds who first smoked at the age of 13 has fallen significantly since 2010. The report goes on, however, to warn that while 80% of respondents report generally high rates of life satisfaction, differences between genders and socioeconomic status are adversely affecting many young people's health, well-being and lifestyle choices at a critical stage in their development.
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, which is updated every four years, reveals that the proportion of 15-year-old Europeans who reported having a first cigarette at the age of 13 or younger fell from 24% to 17% between 2009/2010 when the last survey was conducted and 2013/2014. The reduction reported among girls (22% to 13%) was larger than that among boys (26% to 22%), and the data show no consistent association with family affluence, suggesting that smoking behaviour is only partially determined by socioeconomic factors.
This positive news on smoking is tempered by other aspects of the report, however, which reveal that overall life satisfaction decreases slightly as children grow older and that those from lower-income families generally report lower levels of satisfaction. Read more here.
