[Self-reported health status among younger teenagers. A three-year follow-up study]

The purpose of this study was to investigate how school pupils perceive their own health and how this perception changes over time. A representative sample of 7th grade pupils in Hordaland county (510 boys and 414 girls) were surveyed every year from 1990 to 1993. The results indicated that boys and girls in the lower secondary school had very different conceptions of their own health. The girls reported more frequent somatic health problems than the boys did, were more often depressed, and did not perceive their own health to be as good as boys of the same age did. This gender difference seemed to increase with increasing age. A high degree of stability in reported health problems was seen overtime. To a large extent, it is the same pupils who report having poor somatic health and being depressed and who perceive their general health as less good. Health complaints among adolescents should be taken seriously, since this may indicate a need for both medical and psychological intervention.