Socio-biological well-being of school-age children in parents' estimates (the case of the Republic of Tatarstan)

Children's health protection is the strategic direction of modern society. Maintaining their healthy lifestyle is one of the priorities of public policy. Supportive environment and living conditions, education on healthy lifestyle directly depend on the family, which is the main social institution inculcating behavioral stereotypes in the individual, creating the fundamental foundations for the formation of health-saving potential of its members. Growth, development, and children's health guarantee the country's social and economic well-being in the future. The purpose of a sociological study of school-age children health performed by the Center for Family and Demography of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan is to determine the dependence of schoolchildren's sociobiological well-being on their families' lifestyle. The relevance of studying school-age children's health characteristics, the issues of preserving and strengthening their health, educating the basics of a healthy lifestyle and self-preservation behavior is determined primarily by the growth of child morbidity. The information base was the statistical data of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan concerning children's incidence in the main classes of diseases, health groups, and the data from a pilot sociological study conducted in 2019 in four municipalities of the Republic of Tatarstan among parents of students of secondary comprehensive schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, as well as schools with in-depth study of individual subjects. Based on empirical data, the author has identifi a number of factors that negatively aff schoolchildren's health, which include: low motor activity, non-compliance with the daily routine, high level of employment with additional education, and parents' medical behavior.