Society And Lifestyle Choices In Young People

9.5.06

Context
• Recent decades have seen numerous changes affecting lives of young people.
• Teenage years commonly viewed as time of peak physical functioning and as being marked by low incidence of illness.

However…
• Increasing evidence shows adolescent physical and mental health related to family structure, own educational attainment, current economical position and personal disposable income.
• Adolescence is a key time when many experiment with behaviours that if they continue will be detrimental to their health.

Smoking and children
• Very few 11-12 year old children smoke.
• By age of 15, 23% children regular smokers in England.

Sociological explanations
• Structural explanation.
-Refers to structures socially constructed or societal structures eg. social class, family, education, gender.
-Focus upon how individual decisions shaped by structures.
• Agency/individual explanations.
-Lifestyle choices made are (in some way) a reflection of who we are and what ewe have seen and done.

Structure and agency/individual explanations
• If we want to understand teenagers' health-relevant behaviours:
-Study within structural locations that influence person/subjective experiences.
-Explore different routes through which young people make transitions towards adulthood.
-Take into account rapid social and economic change occurring.
• Therefore, must take into account BOTH structural and individual explanations.

Pavis et al 2002
• Sought to focus on young people as they made key decisions in life.

Reasons for drinking:
1. For social facilitation.
2. Because of peer influence/pressure.
3. In order to influence mood.
4. For comfort/solace.

Reasons for smoking:
• Type I: smoked solely with one group of friends on in one social setting.
• Type II: smoked with various friendship groups in different social settings.
• Type III: smoked both with different social groups and alone.

Smoker types I and II most likely to give up, as did not view themselves as genuine smokers.