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. 2013 Aug 13;1:e125. doi: 10.7717/peerj.125

Table 1. Independent variable derivation from GSHS survey data (2006).

Survey question Coding Variable
Individual-level variables
How old are you? 11–17 years (coded categorically) Age
What is your sex? Male (1) Sex
Female (0)
During the past 12 months, how often have you been so worried about something that you could not sleep at night? Most of the time/always (1) Anxiety
Never/rarely/sometimes (0)
During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing your usual activities? Yes (1) Signs of depression
No (0)
During the past 12 months, how often have you felt lonely? Most of the time/always (1) Loneliness
Never/rarely/sometimes (0)
During the past 30 days, how many days did you miss classes or school without permission? 0–2 times (0) Truancy
3 to or more days (1)
During the past 30 days, on how many days were you bullied? 0 times (0) Bullying victimization
1 or more times (1)
During the past 7 days, on how many days were you physically active for a total of at least 60 min per day? 3 days or less (0) Physical activity
4 days or more (1)
How much time do you spend during a typical or usual day sitting and watching television, playing computer games, talking with friends, or doing other sitting activities? 2 h or less (0) Sedentary
3 h or more (1)
During the past 12 months, how many times were you in a physical fight? 0–1 times (0) In a fight
2 or more times (1)
Social-level variables
During the past 30 days, how often did your parents or guardians understand your problems and worries? Most of the time/always (1) Supportive parental figures
Never/rarely/sometimes (0)
During the past 30 days, how often were most of the students in your school kind and helpful? Always (1) Helpful peers
Most of the time/
Never/rarely/sometimes (0)
How many close friends do you have? 0 close friends (0) Close friends
1 close friends (1)
2 close friends (2)
3+close friends (3)
During the past 30 days, how often did you go hungry because there was not enough food in your home? Most of the time/always (1) Food insecurity
Never/rarely/sometimes (0)