Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

All Ireland Traveller Health StudySection B4: 14-year-old Child HealthGeneral SummaryIn ROI 93.0% and in NI 94.5% of parents rated their child’s health as excellent or good.The majority (88.4% in ROI and 87.5% NI) brushed their teeth once or more than once daily. In ROI59.4% and in NI 71.4% of children had seen a dentist in the last 12 months. Rates of ever smokingtobacco were 6.3% in ROI and 9.1% in NI. Overall, the vast majority, nine-tenths, of children werereported not to drink alcohol. Boys were somewhat more likely than girls to have tried various alcoholicbeverages, particularly beer, with 8.3% of boys in ROI consuming it rarely and 3.2% more frequentlythan that. In ROI 82.3% and in NI 64.8% reported that they always used a seatbelt.Physical activity for at least an hour daily, every day, was reported by 39.6% of ROI and 15.7% of NI14-year-olds. As with the younger respondents, boys were more likely to report higher activity levels.A majority in both jurisdictions of both boys and girls watched television (including videos and DVDs)for between 1 and 5 hours daily. In ROI 39.6% and in NI 31.1% reported no regular daily access to acomputer.The majority (89.0% in ROI and 68.4% in NI) had their first daily meal between 7 and 9 a.m., whilst 72.7%in ROI and 83.7% in NI had breakfast 5 days a week, higher at weekends. There was a wide spectrumin consumption patterns of various foods and beverages, ranging from never to more than once daily.In ROI 27.8% of children consumed fruit and 28.8% vegetables more than once daily, whilst 16.4% hadsugary drinks and 21.4% had sweets more than once daily. Fish were never consumed by 24.6% ofchildren. Crisps and chips were consumed regularly across the week. The patterns between males andfemales were not notably different. In NI, most children consumed fruit (56.3%) and vegetables (60.0%)at least daily and 26% sweets. Fish consumption was again rare, with 29.1% never eating it.School attendance was 89.2% overall in ROI and 72.3% in NI. Higher numbers in NI were attendingtraining centres (17.5% compared with 6.2% in ROI) and this was comparable for males and females.In relation to measures of social support and networks, patterns were generally positive with somedifferences between boys and girls. For instance 61.7% of males in ROI were reported as always fitand well and 60.4% were always full of energy compared to 54.1% and 53.1% of girls on respectivemeasures. Conversely more girls (54.6%) were reported as always getting on well at school than boys(46.2%).Most parents (83.9% in ROI and 83.0% in NI) indicated that their child had not been picked upon at all inthe last year, but an appreciable minority indicated this had occurred, slightly less so in the case of boys(13.9% and 7.7%) than girls (18.3% and 25.9%). A majority of respondents (60.9% in ROI and 60.0% in NI)considered their child always feels safe in the area where they live.Respondents indicated strong networks for their child, 76.9% of whom stated they had up to 10 ormore close friends, a similar situation for both boys and girls. A majority of 14-year-olds communicatedwith their friends by phone or text, 50.8% in ROI and 63.0% in NI reporting they did so daily.202