The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and runs on a four-year cycle. In 2014, Ireland participated for the fifth time in the HBSC study (www.nuigalway.ie/hbsc). The overall aims of the HBSC study are to gain new insight into, and increase our understanding of young people’s health and well-being, health behaviours and their social context. HBSC collects data on key indicators of health, health attitudes, and health behaviours, as well as the context of health for young people. The study is a school-based survey with information collected from students through self-completion questionnaires in classrooms. HBSC Ireland 2014 was funded by the Department of Health.

The most recent HBSC Ireland study was conducted in 2014 and included 13,611 school children from 3rd class in primary school to 5th year in post-primary school. Overall, 42.2% boys and 57.8% girls participated. Collectively, 230 primary and post-primary schools across Ireland participated in this study.

This short report provides a descriptive analysis of the HBSC 2014 survey data comparing school children aged 10-17 years from North County Dublin to the rest of the sample regarding family and peer support, happiness, exercise and physical activity, food and dietary behaviour, school participation, bullying, neighbourhood, risk behaviours (alcohol consumption, smoking, cannabis use)and sexual activity.