Current News...

8 May 2012 | CAHRU welcomes Dr Jane Hartley to the unit

2 May 2012 | Published: Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2009/2010 Survey

Findings from HBSC survey have been published in the latest WHO/HBSC International report: Social determinants of health and well-being among young people. The report presents data from 39 countries on over 60 health and social indicators. HBSC’s flagship policy report contributes to our understanding of the social determinants of young people’s health, by highlighting inequalities by gender, age, socioeconomic conditions and geography. Through this report, the HBSC study aims to supply up-to-date information needed by policy-makers, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals in sectors such as health, education, social services, justice and recreation, to protect and promote young people’s health. The report can be accessed from euro.who.int/hbscVisit hbsc.org to find out more about the HBSC study.

Follow @hbscstudy

30 March 2012 | CAHRU bid farewell to Jo Kirby

Congratulations to Jo Kirby who left CAHRU at the end of March to take up a new post as Research Fellow at the University of Warwick working on the Families for Health project. We wish Jo all the best in her new role and look forward to continued collaboration with her.

8 Februray 2012 | Glasgow smiles better: an examination of adolescent mental well-being and the 'Glasgow effect'

A new article titled “Glasgow smiles better:  An examination of adolescent mental well-being and the 'Glasgow effect' authored by Kate Levin has just been published Public Health, 126, 96-103.
Go to the article in Public Health

The object of this study was to examine the existence of a ‘Glasgow effect’ on mental well-being and subjective health of an adolescent sample.  The study found that the proportions of pupils that reported being very happy, always confident and never left out were greater among peoples in Glasgow compared with peoples in the rest of Scotland.  The findings suggest that mental well-being is more prevalent in Glasgow compared with rest of Scotland during adolescence.

Two articles in one issue....

1 February 2012 | Adolescent risk behaviours and mealtime routines: does family meal frequency alter the association between family structure and risk behaviour?

Another new article in the same issue, titled " Adolescent risk behaviours and mealtime routines: does family meal frequency alter the association between family structure and risk behaviour?", authored by Kate Levin, Joanna Kirby and Candace Currie has just been published. Health Education Research, 27(1)24-35
Go to the article in Health Education Research

1 February 2012 | Associations between the school environment and adolescent girls’ physical activity.

A new article titled "Associations between the school environment and adolescent girls' physical exercise", authored by Kate Levin, Joanna Kirby, and Candace Currie has just been published. Health Education Research, 27(1) 101-104
Go to the article in Health Education Research

2 June 2011 | Fit for Girls programme evaluation second interim report published

Fit for Girls Interim Report 1 Commissioned by sportscotland, CAHRU is carrying out the evaluation of the Fit for Girls programme. The Fit for Girls Executive Summary report 2 has just been published and can be found with the full report on the sportscotland website.

Go to Fit for Girls Evaluation project page
Download full report from Sportscotland website [PDF 126KB]
Download executive summary from Sportscotland website [PDF 498KB]


19 May 2011 | Paper by CAHRU authors wins Literati Network award

A paper by Kate Levin and Candace Currie was recently chosen as a 'Highly Commended Award Winner' at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2011. The paper entitled 'Family structure, mother-child communication, father-child communication, and adolescent life satisfaction: A cross-sectional multilevel analysis' was recently published in Health Education. The paper was chosen following consultation amongst the journal's Editorial Team, many of whom are eminent academics or managers and was selected as one of the most impressive pieces of work from 2010.

Health Education Levin KA, Currie C (2010) Family structure, mother-child communication, father-child communication, and adolescent life satisfaction: A cross-sectional multilevel analysis. Health Education, Vol 110:3, pp 152-158.
[DOI: 10.1108/09654281011038831]

View paper in Health Education
Download paper as PDF [95KB]


01 April 2011 | CAHRU investing in young people conference a big success

Investing in young people conference logo On 22 March, CAHRU hosted a very successful one-day conference featuring a host of influential national and international speakers.

The conference, 'Investing in young people to secure Scotland's future', saw the launch of the national report of the 2010 HBSC survey. Latest findings from the study were presented, including two decades of trends in young people's health.


The conference was well attended and presentations, which are available to download from the conference web page, were very well received on the day.

23 March 2011 | New HBSC Scotland National Report published

Download the full report [PDF 5.16 MB]

HBSC National Report 2010The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Scotland National Report has been published. The report, produced by CAHRU with funding support from NHS Health Scotland, provides a unique picture of the health of young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years in Scotland over the last two decades.

Set against the social backdrop of family life, school experience, neighbourhood environment and peer relationships the report gives a comprehensive description of young people's health status. Please contact CAHRU (contact details) for further information about this research.

3 March 2011 | Findings panel members confirmed for Investing in young people conference on 22 March

The members taking place on the findings panel at the "Investing in young people to secure Scotland's future conference" (22 March 2011) have been confirmed:

2 March 2011 | Candace Currie presents at AYPH Annual Conference 2011

Candace Currie, CAHRU Director, was invited to speak at the Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) Annual Conference 2011 "Making a difference: Improving health and wellbeing outcomes for young people" on 1 March 2011. Her talk "Inequalities in young people's health and wellbeing: UK and international perspectives" received a lot of interest. The Child and Adolescent Health Research Unit had a stand in the exhibition area, where we also promoted the upcoming "Investing in young people to secure Scotland's future" conference which will be held on 22 March.

2 March 2011 | Winfried van der Sluijs presents at Nursing in Practice Event in Glasgow

On 1 March Winfried van der Sluijs, HBSC Scotland Survey Manager, presented "Young People in Scotland and Sexual Health" at the 2011 Nursing in Practice Event in Glasgow.

18 February 2011 | New HBSC publication: Adolescent life satisfaction and the family

A new article titled "Adolescent life satisfaction, family structure, family affluence and gender differences in parent-child communication", authored by Kate Levin and Candace Currie is now available at Online First in Social Indicators Research.

The objective of this study was to examine young people's life satisfaction in the context of the family environment. The study found a relationship between family structure and life satisfaction for boys and girls aged 13 and 15 years. Family affluence mediated this relationship. However, for both boys and girls at all ages, life satisfaction was more strongly associated with parent-child communication than with family structure or family affluence. Whereas difficult parent-child communication acted as a risk factor of low life satisfaction for boys and girls, easy communication acted as protective factor among girls only.

Go to the article in Social Indicators Research.

11 February 2011 | Methodological issues in the combined use of GPS, GIS and accelerometry in research on greenspace and physical activity among adolescents

Justine Geyer, research student at CAHRU, will be presenting at the Active Living Research conference in San Diego in mid February on her experiences with an emergent technological methodology in public health research. Increasingly the combination of GPS, GIS and accelerometry is being employed in research on physical activity and the environment. GPS has potential as an objective and accurate method of collecting data on journeys and places used that does not suffer some of the drawbacks of alternative methods. The presentation will report on some of the methodological issues encountered in using GPS-enabled mobile phones, accelerometers and greenspace map data provided by Fife Council in a study with Scottish 13 and 15 year olds.

1 February 2011 | A cross-national comparison of socio-economic inequalities in life satisfaction

A new article, titled "National Income and Income Inequality, Family Affluence and Life Satisfaction Among 13 year Old Boys and Girls: A Multilevel Study in 35 Countries", authored by Kate Levin, Candace Currie and others is now available Online First at Social Indicators Research.

The objective of this study was to investigate cross-national variation in the relationship between family affluence and adolescent life satisfaction, and the impact of national income and income inequality on this relationship. National income and income inequality were associated with aggregated life satisfaction score and prevalence of high life satisfaction. The relationship between family affluence and life satisfaction was curvilinear and varied cross-nationally. Socioeconomic inequalities were greatest in poor countries and in countries with unequal income distribution. The findings of this study highlight the importance of identifying and addressing mediating factors during this life stage.

Go to the article in Social Indicators Research.

14 January 2011 | New HBSC publication in Journal of Adolescent Health

The following article has just been published in the Journal of Adolescent Heatlh

Nordahl H, Krølner K, Páll G, Currie C, Andersen A (in press) Measurement of ethnic background in cross national school surveys: agreement between students' and parents' responses. Journal of Adolescent Health.

05 January 2011 | CAHRU staff give charity donation to Speur-Ghlan Early Intervention Service

Instead of sending Christmas cards this year, CAHRU staff made a donation to Speur-Ghlan Early Intervention Service, a brand new charity in Scotland. The charity will be setting up a nursery and home support service for young children on the Autistic spectrum. More information is available on their website and in their entry on the Scottish Charities Register: