HBSC ESPAÑA

The Spanish HBSC Study, 2002 edition, was suppported and financed by the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality.

By means of a questionnaire, we interviewed 13,552 boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 18 years in a total of 612 classrooms.

The statistical analysis used, (random multi-stage sampling, stratified by conglomerates), allows us to generalise the results obtained for the Spanish population in these age brackets. The results are represented by age level, type of education centre (public or state-subsidized) and habitat (rural or urban) of these regions.

The random collection of classrooms came from a census provided by the Ministry of Education and Science in which all Spanish educational centres were included.

In the data collection, 18 research scholars participated. They came from the fields of Health and Education, and were trained specifically for this task.

Two questionnaires were basically used; 1 for girls and boys aged 11 years (5th and 6th year of primary education) and another for the rest of the teenagers (1st through 4th year of secondary education-12-16 year olds-, and the two post-secondary education years -16-18 year old students).

Questionnaires include common questions for all countries participating together in the research, as well as specific questions that the Spanish HBSC team and the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality have agreed upon.

The same questions were asked to all the subjects interviewed through the HBSC international network.

This was followed by a translation and counter-translation process to ensure the accuracy between languages. In the case of Spain, and in those regions in which there are two oficial languages (Balearic Islands, Valencia, Catalonia, Navarra, the Basque Country and Galicia) adolescents were given two questionnaires, one in each language, and they had to choose which one they would work with.

Questionnaires were answered within school hours and under complete anonymity (for example, after finishing the questionnaires students themselves put their questionnaires in a closed unlabelled envelope).