Health profile for children and young people in Akershus county - Report on children
Report
|Updated
Summary
Health profile of children and adolescents in Akershus County draws a picture of children's lives and health. The data tell us much about how kids are, and how they experience their existence.
The picture that is drawn, shows that most children are safe and doing well, with a satisfactory health, but we can also find more disturbing signals in our material. We can find small groups in our material that are characterized by a variety of health and social problems, while we also see some problem areas that apply to a relatively large proportion of the children.
Widespread problems that emerge in children's responses, is that they are stressed by schoolwork, are experiencing bullying or ostracism, are tired and weak, feeling lonely, or that they experience dissatisfaction with their bodies.
We see clear connections between different 'problem areas' such as poor self-image, dissatisfaction, low social and physical activity, bullying and harassment, use of tobacco and drugs, etc. Phenomena like these often occur together, and we also see clear links between these areas and children's physical and mental health. Children with these problems also frequently have a lower socio-economic family status.
We see clear connections between children's health and behavior and parents' education and income. Children of parents with longer education and higher income, for example, report a higher level of activity and a healthier and more regular diet than children of parents with less education and lower income. We also see the relationships between socio-economic backgrounds and areas of well-being, bullying / harassment, body image, smoking, etc. In all these areas children from higher status layers are more fortunate.
The main trends are the same in the children's and the parents' answers. The most significant difference between children's and parents' response is that the children themselves reported some more problems and difficulties. This difference may be that some children experience their lives as more problematic than what the parents are aware of, but it may also be that parents and kids understand and define these issues differently.
Some more girls than boys report physical ailments. We also see that some more girls than boys report being tired and weak or sad and bored. Among boys, however, we see a higher percentage participating in harassing or bullying others, and more boys than girls have tried tobacco, alcohol and drugs. The trend seems to be that boys are more strongly represented in the 'active' problem areas, while more girls to a greater extent are reporting 'passive' bother. We also see that the boys generally are more physically active than the girls. The girls appear on their side to have a somewhat healthier diet.
Many of the phenomena that we see turn out in full flower in lower secondary school, already are occurring in primary school. For example, one of five students in 7th class has tried drinking alcohol, and two of five have tried smoking. Many girls report that they have tried to lose weight already in primary school, including as many as one in four in the 7th class. We also see that the tendency of a growing minority to be physically passive during their leisure time, is rising as early as at the end of primary school. Upwards in school levels the proportion with a regular meal pattern decreases. We also see that the intake of snacks and candy is higher among the older children.
On a number of areas the western region is better than the county as a whole. The western region is characterized also by a more stable population pattern and higher income and educational level of parents. The level of physical activity among children seems to be higher in the western region. Also when it comes to children's participation in cultural activities, we see that the level is significantly higher here than in the county at large. The western region is best when it comes to children's mental health, while the upper part of Romerike come off worst. When it comes to physical disorders that are examined in the report, we found no clear differences between regions in the county. In the upper part of Romerike we find the highest percentage that has tried drinking and smoking. When it comes to safety and well being in school, we find only small geographic differences, but we see that the proportion reporting that they are being bullied is lower in the western region than in other regions.
The proportion that has been in contact with school health and GP is higher in the western region than the county average. Concerning mental health, 15 percent of children in the 5th – 7th Class are reporting symptoms of mental problems, 5 percent of the children, according to parents' responses, have significant mental health problems. Parents report more mental health problems among boys than among girls, particularly hyperactivity.
About a third of all children have been in contact with school health during the past 12 months and almost as many have been in contact with the doctor or GP. A significant proportion has also been in contact with emergency services, medical specialist or educational-psychological service. Otherwise, children's consumption of health services is relatively low. When it comes to children's contact with school health services, it is spread over a number of different areas. The areas that stand out are health education, treatment of illness and injuries, discussion groups for students and topics such as diet, eating habits and bullying.
At the beginning of each chapter of the report is the summary of the key findings and trends within the theme that the chapter covers.