Youngsters are happier than those in 2002

Health trends:Some 92 per cent of boys and 89 per cent of girls are happy or very happy, according to a survey of health behaviour in young people released yesterday.

The Irish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study 2006, carried out by NUI Galway for the Department of Health and Children, found that there has been an increase in self-reported happiness since 2002, when the last survey was carried out. Happiness was not class conscious, with no great differences showing up across social classes.

The survey looked at 13,700 pupils in 330 schools as part of a worldwide study of 41 countries in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.

Most of those surveyed, between 10 and 17 years old, also reported positive health; 87 per cent said their health was either excellent or good. However there was a difference between social classes, with more children from higher social classes describing their health as excellent.

Vehicle seat belt usage among the young increased dramatically; 79 per cent of those surveyed said they used seat belts compared with 61 per cent in 2002.

Girls continued to eat more healthily than boys, except when it came to breakfast. Some 23 per cent of all girls said they ate fruit more than once a day and 20 per cent ate vegetables more than once a day. Figures for the boys surveyed were 16 per cent for both. There was also a marked difference in social class, particularly among girls, with more girls from higher social classes eating more fruit and vegetables.

However, more girls reported never having breakfast on weekdays than boys with the trend increasing with age; in the 15 to 17-year-old age group, 21 per cent of girls said they never had breakfast on weekdays compared to 15 per cent of boys. Children from higher social classes were less likely to skip breakfast.

The children were also asked if they often went to bed or school hungry because there was no food in their home; 17 per cent said they did.

Twelve per cent of all those surveyed said they were on a diet, with girls reporting more dieting in the older age groups. In the oldest category, 20 per cent of girls said they were on a diet and a further 32 per cent said they needed to lose weight. The figures for boys were 9 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Sweets were very popular in all age groups, but the proportion of children eating sweets once a day or more has decreased since 2002, particularly in the 10 and 11 age group, where for some groups, figures more than halved. In 2002, 61 per cent of boys aged 10 and 11 in the lowest social group had sweets at least once a day but in 2006, this dropped to 25 per cent.

Soft drink consumption was also down in all age categories, with an overall 26 per cent drinking these on a daily basis. Children from the highest social classes were less likely to report daily consumption and boys drank less than girls.

For the first time in the history of the survey, which has been carried out every four years since 1998 in Ireland, some questions were also put to nine-year-old children in third and fourth class.

Some 95 per cent of the nine-year-olds said their health was excellent or good and 94 per cent reported being happy or very happy. Nine-year-olds ate more fruit and vegetables than the older children with 30 per cent reporting that they ate more than one piece a day and 23 per cent eating more vegetables.

Some 28 per cent had sweets at least once a day and 18 per cent had soft drinks. Only 2 per cent of nine-year-olds reported having no breakfast on any weekday.

The survey also asked respondents about their cannabis use. Some 16 per cent of those surveyed between the ages of 10 and 17 years reported having used the drug at some stage during their lifetime.

Usage was higher in the oldest group, 15 to 17 years, with 25 per cent of boys and almost 20 per cent of girls having tried the drug at least once in the 12 months before they were surveyed. Boys in the oldest age group, however, did show a decrease, down from 32 per cent in 2002.

Some 53 per cent of all children said they took part in physical activity four or more times a week, while 63 per cent said they brushed their teeth at least once a day.

Reports of bullying were unchanged since 2002 and continued to be most frequent in 10 and 11-year-olds.