Written evidence submitted by HBSC England study team, Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire (BYC033)

The 2017 Youth Select Committee conducted an inquiry into body image, inviting submissions from individuals and organisations. The HBSC England study team from the Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire submitted evidence based on analysis of data from the HBSC study.Final Published versio

HBSC England National Report: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) : World Health Organization Collaborative Cross National Study

Findings from the 2014 HBSC study for Englan

Self-harm in Adolescence: Protective Health Assets in the Family, School and Community

© The Author(s) 2016 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0900-2Objectives and main purpose: The aim of this paper was to examine if the multiple environments of the adolescent including family, peers, school and neighbourhood might function as protective health assets against self-harming behaviour during adolescence. Methods: The present study utilised data collected from 1608 respondents aged 15 years as part of the HBSC England Study. Multilevel modelling was undertaken using the package MLwiN (version 2.33) to investigate the potential domains and dimensions of family life, school culture and environment, and neighbourhood factors that may operate as protective health assets. Results: The results indicated that while peer support did not appear to operate as a protective health asset in the context of self-harm, key dimensions of adolescent/ parent interaction and adolescent experience of the school culture and their neighbourhood were associated with reduced likelihood of self-harming behaviours during adolescence. Conclusions: The Findings highlight the significance of belonging and connectedness as important constituent elements of protective health assets for young people. Interventions that address the multiple environments of the young person, may offer an effective means to reduce the levels of self-harm.Peer reviewe

Obesogenic behaviours in South Asian adolescents in England: : A literature review and quantitative investigation

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version, made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.BackgroundWHO has stated that childhood obesity is one of the most serious challenges facing public health in the 21st century, with obese children and adolescents facing a plethora of health complications and increased risk of many chronic diseases. Using a literature review and quantitative analysis of the WHO Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) data, we aimed to better understand obesogenic behaviours in South Asian adolescents in England.MethodsWe searched electronic databases (Embase, Scopus, Medline, Web of Science) from inception of the database to April 10, 2016, and the references of relevant papers. Grey literature including reports and non-peer reviewed sources were also included. Inclusion criteria were: adolescents aged 11–18 years of age, articles in English language, and studies based in England. Quantitative analysis of HBSC data from 2010 examined variables such as physical activity, dietary behaviours, and mental health indicators. We compared adolescents from Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani groups for each variable, by sex, with white British adolescents. Pearson's χ2 test was carried out to compare all groups against each other. Ethics approval was given by the University of Hertfordshire Ethics committee for Health and Human Sciences (HSK/SF/UH/00007). Ethical sensitivity was also enhanced through the work of reference groups with young people, which informed the conduct of the study within schools.FindingsThe HSBC 2010 sample consisted of 51 Bangladeshi, 96 Indian, 111 Pakistani, and 3476 white British adolescents. Two (8·7%) of 23 Bangladeshi girls undertook 5 or more days' physical activity, compared with 744 (44·1%) of 1688 white British girls, 13 (27·7%) of 47 Indian girls, and 16 (33·3%) of 48 Pakistani girls. South Asian adolescents had significantly worse outcomes in terms of number of times physical activity was undertaken per week (p=0·023) or any physical activity in the previous 7 days (p=0·002). 11 (20·0%) of 55 Pakistani girls never ate vegetables or ate them less than once a week, compared with 94 (5·3%) of 1771 white British girls (consumption of vegetables, p<0·0005).InterpretationKey findings from the literature review and HBSC 2010 data were that South Asian adolescents have lower physical activity levels compared with their white peers, have worse dietary behaviours, and have barriers to engaging in healthier lifestyles, compared with their white British counterparts. These negative lifestyle behaviours will need careful consideration of upstream policy and local health service provision and interventions in South Asian adolescents in England. Taking this evidence into action will be crucial to address the obesity epidemic and reduce existing health inequalities.Peer reviewe