Health behaviours

Risk alcohol drinking

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who engaged in risk drinking behaviour (51.1 per cent to 45.3 per cent), as defined by the Australian Alcohol Guidelines. The decrease was significant among persons in the rural health areas (61.8 per cent to 48.1 per cent).

High risk alcohol drinking

Between 2002 and 2007, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who engaged in high risk drinking behaviour (28.0 per cent to 18.7 per cent), as defined by the Australian Alcohol Guidelines. The decrease was significant among females (28.3 per cent to 15.9 per cent), among persons in the most disadvantaged quintile (30.6 per cent to 10.4 per cent), and among persons in the urban health areas (27.9 per cent to 17.3 per cent).

Injury prevention: smoke alarms in the home

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who had a smoke alarm or detector installed in their home (54.4 per cent to 89.8 per cent). The increase was significant among persons in all quintiles of socioeconomic disadvantage, and among persons in the urban (51.5 per cent to 89.4 per cent) and rural (61.8 per cent to 91.0 per cent) health areas.

Nutrition

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who ate the recommended 2 serves or more of fruit (43.1 per cent to 51.8 per cent). The increase was significant among females (45.3 per cent to 55.3 per cent), among persons in the most disadvantaged quintile (41.4 per cent to 56.9 per cent), and among persons in the urban health areas (43.6 per cent to 52.4 per cent).

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been no significant change in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who ate the recommended 5 serves or more of vegetables. However, there has been a significant decrease among persons in the most disadvantaged quintile (7.3 per cent to 2.7 per cent), and among persons in the rural health areas (8.6 per cent to 4.0 per cent).

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been no significant change in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who usually drank lower fat milks.

Between 2005 and 2007, there has been no significant change in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who ate potato crisps or salty snacks less than once a month.

Between 2002 and 2007, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who ate breakfast cereal, breads, pasta, rice, or noodles once a day or more (96.4 per cent to 91.0 per cent). The decrease was significant among females (94.8 per cent to 86.0 per cent), among persons in the second quintile of disadvantage (96.9 per cent to 84.2 per cent), and among persons in the urban health areas (96.7 per cent to 90.6 per cent).

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been no significant change in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who ate processed meat products less than three times a week.

Physical activity

Between 1998 and 2007, there has been no significant variation in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who undertook adequate levels of physical activity, defined as 150 minutes of moderate activity a week over 5 separate occasions.

Current smoking

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who were current smokers (30.2 per cent to 17.7 per cent). The decrease was significant among males (31.3 per cent to 21.4 per cent) and females (29.2 per cent to 13.8 per cent), among persons in the first (or least disadvantaged) quintile (32.1 per cent to 8.2 per cent), the third quintile of disadvantage (31.1 per cent to 18.8 per cent), the fifth (or most disadvantaged) quintile (32.8 per cent to 21.7 per cent), and among persons in the urban health areas (29.5 per cent to 17.7 per cent) and rural health areas (30.2 per cent to 17.6 per cent).

Smoke-free households

Between 1997 and 2007, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years who lived in smoke-free households (62.3 per cent to 83.1 per cent). The increase was significant among males (65.0 per cent to 82.4 per cent) and females (59.4 per cent to 83.9 per cent), among persons in all quintiles of socioeconomic disadvantage, and among persons in the urban (62.1 per cent to 81.3 per cent) and rural (62.5 per cent to 87.5 per cent) health areas.

Smoke-free cars

Between 2003 and 2007, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of persons aged 16-24 years over who had smoke-free cars (73.9 per cent to 83.1 per cent). The increase was significant among males (69.5 per cent to 81.3 per cent) and females (78.1 per cent to 85.0 per cent), among persons in all except the most disadvantaged quintile, and among persons in the urban (73.8 per cent to 82.7 per cent) and rural (74.1 per cent to 84.1 per cent) health areas.

Graphs

Source:	New South Wales Population Health Survey 2007 (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health.
Print version:	Although this page can be printed directly from your web browser, a higher quality version is available as a PDF file that can be printed or viewed on screen.
Produced by:	Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health.
Last updated on:	1 June 2008