The study was conducted on 1,500 respondents in each country. The countries studied included most countries in Europe, the US, Canada, Russia and Ukraine. The Malta side of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study was conducted by Marianne Massa, Hugo Agius Muscat and Francis A Borg from the Health Promotion Department.
Perhaps the most significant of the findings is that Maltese 13-year-olds beat the world in obesity. By the time they are 15, the Maltese children have slipped down to third place with the USA becoming the world beater.
One reason for this may be found in another world record set by the Maltese children: the highest percentage of children who eat sweets every day are Maltese, both at 11 years of age, at 13 and at 15.
Maltese are fourth among those who drink soft drinks every day in the 11 and 13 years segments.
13 year olds in Malta are the second lowest eaters of vegetables but the second highest consumers of fruit every day at 11 years of age.
Nevertheless, the Maltese are no couch potatoes. Maltese 15 year olds watch the least television on weekdays and the second least watchers of television on weekends. However, they are third in the stakes of those who spend three hours a day on homework on weekdays at 11 years and second at age 15. This is the same level as regards homework on weekends.
Perhaps this may also account for the seeming contradiction: Maltese children at 11 years are the second of those who love school most but even at that age Maltese children are third feeling pressured by homework, become second by 13 years and first by 15. Significantly too, girls (85.8 per cent) feel more pressured than boys (70.5).
This, and other factors, may account for the eating and drinking habits of Maltese teenagers.
Although Maltese teenagers are relatively low in the table when it comes to smoking, they rate quite high (fifth at 13 and fourth at 15) when it comes to drinking any alcoholic drink weekly, slightly lower than that when it comes to drinking beer, but come second at 13 and first at 15 when it comes to drinking wine weekly and also first at 15 when it comes to drinking spirits weekly.
They rate almost at the bottom of the world league when it comes to using cannabis.
Unfortunately, Maltese children come last in the world stakes, in all three age segments, when it comes to brushing their teeth more than once a day, predictably with boys being even slouchier than girls in this matter.
Unfortunately too, the study does not include data about Malta’s teenagers (and of Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the US) when it studies the young people’s sexual habits.
The study may be accessed at www.who.org