Gesundheit und Gesundheitsverhalten im Jugendalter. Der Einfluss sozialer Ungleichheit

No Abstrac

Health-related quality of life: gender differences in childhood and adolescence

Summary.: Objectives: To assess whether gender and age differences can be found in different aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children and adolescents, and to what extent these results correspond to theoretical and empirical findings from developmental psychology. Methods: A newly developed HRQOL questionnaire was completed by 3 710 youths aged nine to 17years in seven European countries. The "Kidscreen 52” questionnaire consists of 10 scales operationalising aspects of the physical, psychological and social dimensions of HRQOL. With the use of ANOVA and effect sizes, the influence of age and gender on aspects of HRQOL is reported. Results: Children report a very good quality of life largely independent of gender. After 12years, HRQOL decreases in the majority of aspects. In the physical and psychological dimensions, a stronger decrease is found for females than for males. Conclusions: Children have higher HRQOL than adolescents in many aspects. With increasing age, HRQOL is frequently worse for females than for males. Examination of the individual aspects leads to a differentiation of the results with relevance for public healt

Differentielle Lerneffekte im Suchtpräventionsunterricht durch Gleichaltrige

Zusammenfassung: Untersucht wurde ein Suchtpräventionsprogramm, in dem Gleichaltrige als Lehrende für ihre Mitschülerlnnen wirkten. Es interessierte, welchen Beitrag Merkmale der Schülerlnnen und Merkmale der Unterrichtsqualität zum Lernzuwachs über Drogenwissen haben, der ein Erfolgsindikator des Programms ist. 165 Schülerlnnen aus acht Klassen des 8. und 9. Schuljahres wurden vor und kurz nach der Intervention sowie fünf Monate später befragt. Das Wissen war kurz nach der Intervention (Mittel m=6,2) und auch nach fünf Monaten (m=6,1) signifikant grösser als vorher (m=4,5). Zudem lernten fremdsprachige Sekundarschülerlnnen am meisten, fremdsprachige Realschülerlnnen jedoch nichts. Schulklassen, welche die Unterrichtsqualität günstiger beurteilten, zeigten im allgemeinen einen grösseren Lernerfolg. In linearen multiple Regressionsanalysen erklärten dementsprechend Schülerinnenmerkmale einen bedeutenden Teil des Wissenszuwachses nach fünf Monaten (25% der Gesamtvarianz) und darüber hinaus die Unterrichtsqualität weitere 5% Varianz. Diese Merkmale können somit als Prädiktoren des Lernerfolgs diene

Age and gender differences in health-related quality of life of children and adolescents in Europe: a multilevel analysis

Objectives: To determine age and gender differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents across 12 European countries using a newly developed HRQOL measure (KIDSCREEN). Methods: The KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire was filled in by 21,590 children and adolescents aged 8-18 from 12 countries. We used multilevel regression analyses to model the hierarchical structure of the data. In addition, effect sizes were computed to test for gender differences within each age group. Results: Children generally showed better HRQOL than adolescents (P<0.001). While boys and girls had similar HRQOL at young age, girls' HRQOL declined more than boys' (P<0.001) with increasing age, depending on the HRQOL scale. There was significant variation between countries both at the youngest age and for age trajectories. Conclusions: For the first time, gender and age differences in children's and adolescents' HRQOL across Europe were assessed using a comprehensive and standardised instrument. Gender and age differences exist for most HRQOL scales. Differences in HRQOL across Europe point to the importance of national contexts for youth's well-bein

Methods and representativeness of a European survey in children and adolescents: the KIDSCREEN study

Background: The objective of the present study was to compare three different sampling and questionnaire administration methods used in the international KIDSCREEN study in terms of participation, response rates, and external validity. Methods: Children and adolescents aged 8-18 years were surveyed in 13 European countries using either telephone sampling and mail administration, random sampling of school listings followed by classroom or mail administration, or multistage random sampling of communities and households with self-administration of the survey materials at home. Cooperation, completion, and response rates were compared across countries and survey methods. Data on non-respondents was collected in 8 countries. The population fraction (PF, respondents in each sex-age, or educational level category, divided by the population in the same category from Eurostat census data) and population fraction ratio (PFR, ratio of PF) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals were used to analyze differences by country between the KIDSCREEN samples and a reference Eurostat population. Results: Response rates by country ranged from 18.9% to 91.2%. Response rates were highest in the school-based surveys (69.0%-91.2%). Sample proportions by age and gender were similar to the reference Eurostat population in most countries, although boys and adolescents were slightly underrepresented (PFR <1). Parents in lower educational categories were less likely to participate (PFR <1 in 5 countries). Parents in higher educational categories were overrepresented when the school and household sampling strategies were used (PFR = 1.78-2.97). Conclusion: School-based sampling achieved the highest overall response rates but also produced slightly more biased samples than the other methods. The results suggest that the samples were sufficiently representative to provide reference population values for the KIDSCREEN instrument

The effects of conformational constraints in the polyamine moiety of philanthotoxins on AMPAR inhibition

Philanthotoxin‐433 (PhTX‐433) is a known potent inhibitor of ionotropic glutamate receptors, and analogues have been synthesised to identify more potent and selective antagonists. Herein we report the synthesis of four PhTXs with a cyclopropane moiety introduced into their polyamine chain, and their inhibition of an α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor subtype by using two‐electrode voltage‐clamp assays on Xenopus oocytes expressing the GluA1flop subunit. All analogues were found to be more potent than PhTX‐343, with trans‐cyclopropyl‐PhTX‐343 being the most potent (∼28‐fold) and cis‐cyclopropyl‐PhTX‐343 least potent (∼4‐fold). Both cis‐ and trans‐cyclopropyl‐PhTX‐444 had intermediate potency (both ∼12‐fold). Molecular modelling indicates that a cyclopropane moiety confers a favourable steric constraint to the polyamine part, but this is compromised by a cis conformation due to enhanced intramolecular folding. Elongated PhTX‐444 analogues alleviate this to some extent, but optimal positioning of the amines is not permitted

The KIDSCREEN-52 Quality of Life Measure for Children and Adolescents (KIDSCREEN-52-HRQOL): Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version

The KIDSCREEN-52 quality-of-life (KIDSCREEN-52-HRQOL) is a relevant, worldwide tool used for assessing the health-related quality of life in children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to define measurement properties of the Korean version of the KIDSCREEN-52 HRQOL. The original questionnaire was translated following international translation guidelines. Analysis regarding psychometric properties showed that the Cronbach-alpha ranged from 0.77 to 0.95. The correlation coefficient between the PedQL and KIDSCREEN-52 dimensions were high for the assessments of similar constructs. Therefore, the Korean version of the KIDSCREEN-52 was found to be suitable for use in Korean adolescents