Adolescent Health Literacy and Neighbourhood Features: HBSC Findings from Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia

Dorota Kleszczewska, Katarzyna Porwit, Zuzana Boberova, Eric Sigmund, Jana Vasickova and Leena Paakkari
Additional contact information
Dorota Kleszczewska: Institute of Mother and Child Foundation, 01-211 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Porwit: Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
Zuzana Boberova: Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Mánesova 23, 040-01 Košice, Slovakia
Eric Sigmund: Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, 771 47 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Jana Vasickova: Department of Social Sciences in Kinanthropology, Faculty of Physical Culture, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Leena Paakkari: Research Center for Health Promotion, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: The role of supportive environments on health, wellbeing, and longevity has been widely recognized. However, there is no strong empirical evidence on the association between health literacy (HL) as a particular health-related competence and neighbourhoods. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the association between the features of neighbourhoods and the level of HL competencies of young people from three countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia). Self-reported data from an international sample of 11,521 students aged 13–15 years participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) in the year 2018 were included in the analyses. The level of HL shows a strong positive relationship with family wealth, and a significant relationship is maintained in all studied countries. Both social and structural features of neighbourhoods turned out to have an impact on students’ HL. However, HL is most clearly explained by the school environment. This study confirms the school effect on higher levels of HL competences in adolescents. This indicates the need to invest in schools located in less affluent areas to generally improve the level of education, implement modern health education combined with HL, and strengthen the social and health competencies of students.

Keywords: health literacy; adolescents; neighbourhood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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