FOUR DECADES OF RESEARCH AND POLICY IMPACT ON ADOLESCENT HEALTH: THE HEALTH BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN (HBSC)

Oddrun Samdal ^1* Colette Kelly ² Wendy Craig ³ Joseph Hancock ⁴ Bente Wold ¹ Leif Edvard Aarø ⁵ Joanna C Inchley ⁴

• ¹ University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
• ² University of Galway, Galway, County Galway, Ireland
• ³ Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• ⁴ University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
• ⁵ Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Oslo, Oslo, Norway

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a large cross-national research study, conducted in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). The study has surveyed young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years every four years since the mid-1980s and has grown to include 50 countries across Europe, North America, and Western-Central Asia. Over the past 40 years more than 1.6 million students have participated. HBSC aims to advance understanding of adolescent health behaviours, health and well-being within social contexts, inform national and international health promotion policies and practice, and foster collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. In this paper we share the history and development of the HBSC study covering: i) theory-driven and novel research impact, ii) unique long-term trends in adolescent health behaviours and perceived health and well-being, iii) methodological rigor to allow cross-national comparison, and iv) embedding youth involvement and maximizing policy impact.