Health status of young-adolescents in Italy
Santinello, M.; Vieno, A.; Cavallo, F.
Epidemiologia e Prevenzione 29(2): 101-105
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 1120-9763 PMID: 16124742 Document Number: 585762
This study presents the prevalence of different somatic and psychological complains in a sample of Italians early-adolescents and adolescents. Aim of the study is to verify sex and age (11, 13 and 15) differences in a variety of symptoms. The survey is part of the larger Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) trans-national study co-ordinated by the European Office of the World Health Organization. The data were gathered through self-completion questionnaire. The main areas covered in the questionnaire were health and health behaviour. 151 middle school and 92 high school randomly retrieved from the list of the Italian public and private school. The questionnaire was filled out by a representative sample of 4,386 (48.4% males) Italian early adolescents. Psychological and somatic complains. Results revealed an increase of health problem with age, and these increases being greater for females than males. Increasing morbidity for female occurs during transitions phase of early-adolescence.