Kuntz Benjamin, Waldhauer Julia, Zeiher Johannes, Finger Jonas D, Lampert Thomas
Robert Koch Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring.
J Health Monit. 2018 Jun 27;3(2):44-60. doi: 10.17886/RKI-GBE-2018-072. eCollection 2018 Jun.
Childhood and adolescence are key determining stages for health behaviour in the life course. Frequently, health-related attitudes and patterns of behaviour that develop at young age are also maintained at adult age. As studies show, already during childhood and adolescence, patterns of health risk behaviour are more common in certain population groups. KiGGS Wave 2 results confirm that 3- to 17-year-old children and adolescents from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) eat a less healthy diet, do fewer sports and are more often overweight or obese than their peers from more affluent backgrounds. Whereas socioeconomic differences appear to have little effect on levels of alcohol consumption among 11- to 17 year-olds, girls and boys with low SES smoke more frequently than their peers with high SES. Prevention and health promotion encourage children and adolescents to adopt healthy lifestyles, and aim to drive structural changes to stimulate behaviour which promotes good health. Combining measures that target individual behaviour and a settings-based approach appears to be the most promising preventative approach to reduce health inequalities among young people. Due to the clear impacts of socioeconomic differences on health behaviour already at young age measures for disadvantaged children and adolescents and their living conditions should be given an even stronger focus in the future.
童年和青少年时期是人生历程中健康行为的关键决定阶段。通常，年轻时形成的与健康相关的态度和行为模式在成年后也会持续存在。研究表明，在童年和青少年时期，某些人群中健康风险行为模式更为常见。德国儿童青少年健康监测与促进调查（KiGGS）第二轮结果证实，社会经济地位（SES）较低家庭的3至17岁儿童和青少年饮食不如来自更富裕家庭的同龄人健康，运动较少，超重或肥胖的情况也更常见。虽然社会经济差异似乎对11至17岁青少年的饮酒量影响不大，但SES较低的女孩和男孩吸烟比SES较高的同龄人更频繁。预防和健康促进鼓励儿童和青少年采用健康的生活方式，并旨在推动结构性变革，以激发促进健康的行为。结合针对个体行为的措施和基于环境的方法似乎是减少年轻人健康不平等最有前景的预防方法。鉴于社会经济差异在年轻时就已对健康行为产生明显影响，未来应更加关注弱势儿童和青少年及其生活条件的相关措施。
