The “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children” study is a World Health Organization (WHO, regional office for Europe) collaborative cross-national study, which is conducted every four years in more than 40 (mostly European) countries. As its name suggests, the study aims to assess health and health behaviour in 11- to 15-year-old adolescents. In Switzerland, which joined the HBSC network in 1986, the study is conducted by Addiction Switzerland.
The new data collection has taken place in 2022. The results about substance use were publishhed on March 27th 2023, the ones about online behaviour on May 8th 2023 and the ones about health on October 10th 2023. They can be downloaded from the publications list.
Collecting data on health promoting and health compromising behaviour in adolescents is one of the major objectives of the HBSC study. The study design allows to compare findings in different countries (cross-national comparisons) and survey years (trends). The HBSC study is a valuable scientific basis for the development of prevention and health promotion programs, on national as well as cantonal level. The large number of publications such as reports, journal articles and factsheets highlights the importance of the HBSC study on an international level. A complete reference list comprising these publications is available on the international HBSC website.
The Swiss HBSC study is funded by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Swiss cantons.
