Speaking, adolescence refers to as the stage between childhood and adulthood. Even though the exact age range it entails is arguable. Research shows that during this period, adolescents' experience fast cognitive and physical growth and they move from the virtual comfort of childhood to deal with an assortment of life challenges. In most cases, adolescents are classified as young people between the age of 10-19 years old, and they are about fourteen percent of the US population. They are generally healthy, but a synopsis of the health category of this particular demographic group depicts the extent of the health challenges they portray. This assignment starts with a description of the health risk factors affecting the adolescents and closes ways in which health promotion can be promoted among this demographic group. Nonetheless, promoting healthy behaviors among the adolescence and initiating steps to safeguard them from health risks is paramount for the prevention of health issues in adulthood and the future of every nation.
Four Major Health Factors
Mental Health
Depression is a significant cause of disability and illness among adolescents where in most cases it triggers suicide. Issues such as low self-esteem, poverty, violence, and humiliation significantly increase the risk of mental health issues. To curb this, providing psychosocial support and introducing life skills programs in schools and community will help in advancing good mental health (Roberts, Morgan, Smith, Settertobulte, Samdal, & Rasmussen, 2004). Even better, programs that assist in strengthening the connection between adolescents and their families are essential. Any arising health issues among this demographic group need to be handled by caring and qualified health workers.
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Violence
Research shows that violence is a significant cause of death among adolescents. For instance, research indicates that about forty-two percent of all male adolescents in the United States die due to violence. Worldly, one out of ten girls below the age of twenty years encounters sexual violence. Initiating nurturing and caring relationships between kids and their parents at early age offer guidance in life skills and minimizing access to firearms and drugs, which helps in preventing violence, premature deaths, and injuries (Roberts, Morgan, Smith, Settertobulte, Samdal, & Rasmussen, 2004). Empathetic and efficient health care for survivors among the adolescents together with continuous support can significantly help handle the psychological and physical consequences.
Drugs and Alcohol
Harmful drinking habits among adolescents constitute a significant issue in numerous countries. It augments risky behavior like dangerous driving and indulging in unprotected sex. Moreover, drugs and alcohol is a significant cause of injuries, premature death, domestic violence, and accidents. It leads to health issues and affects the life expectancy rate among the youths. Establishing a minimum age for consuming alcohol and controlling how alcohol and drugs are besieged at the younger market are some of the solutions for minimizing dangerous drinking. For instance, the use of medications among 14-19-year-olds is a crucial worldwide issue (Roberts, Morgan, Smith, Settertobulte, Samdal, & Rasmussen, V2004). Therefore, drug control measures should center on minimizing the demand and supply of drugs among the youths. Health workers in collaboration with teachers and parents need to initiate programs that consist of individual, community, and structural intervention measures.
Obesity
Obesity is another serious health issue among the adolescents that has significantly increased over the years. Obesity is a chronic sickness, which has enormous social, health, and economic consequences. Therefore, it is a lifelong health issue for those who encounter it in their teenage years. Studies reveal that seventy-five percent of the adolescents that are obese in the 18h birthday are anticipated to remain so during their lives.
This representation of risks among the health of the adolescent motivates the significance of comprehending the relationships between individual and environmental factors. Most Hispanic and African-American adolescents experience high rates of poverty, lives in low-income neighborhoods, which makes them indulge in harmful habits such as violence, and drugs. Even better, they experience more discrimination and social disorganization, which are factors exposing them to health issues and stress (Patton, Sawyer, Santelli, Ross, Afifi, Allen, & Kakuma, 2016). On the contrary, strong support system from family, community, and school are the significant sources defense for the adolescents. Personal biological issues like brain development, which are affected by the physical and social environments among adolescents, other problems such as inborn temperaments significantly, can affect their health.
Perturbing Trends in Mortality and Morbidity
The mortality and morbidity rates among adolescents reveal perturbing trends like sexual pregnancies, cardiovascular risk, and mental health. Earlier indulgent in sexual activity lead to increased rates of adolescent pregnancy, and the risk of HIV are among the health factors affecting these demographic group. It is apparent that the permanence of health risk behaviors from adolescence into old age augments the morbidity trends among the youth, which calls for critical attention to the health of the adolescents (Patton, Sawyer, Santelli, Ross, Afifi, Allen, & Kakuma, 2016). Here are some of the causes of mortality among adolescents:
Homicide and suicide
Chronic diseases
Car accidents
Injuries
The high prevalence rate of diabetes and asthma
Mental health disorders, which start at the age of fourteen and the common one is anxiety
Sexually transmitted infections where for instance, African-American adolescents have high rates of gonorrhea and Chlamydia than other racial groups
Therefore, the estimations for morbidity and mortality among the adolescents offer a strong case to help people think away from the postulation that adolescence stage is usually a reasonable period, which calls for less attention (Patton, Sawyer, Santelli, Ross, Afifi, Allen, & Kakuma, 2016). It is apparent that most adolescents live a healthy life. But it is hard to ignore the fact that majority of adolescents have health issues, which call for serious attention from parents, and health workers because most behaviors and conditions that are initiated during adolescence period will always influence the health of person even in old age.
Health Promotion among the Adolescents
The primary present strategic methods to the promotion of health among adolescents comprise of three major importances. For instance, the first and the most efficient is the promotion of health through the entire community on behalf of the young people. Banning advertisements that promote the use of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and purchasing emergency contraception pills over the counter is capable of measuring for the promotion of health among the adolescent.
The second useful measure is promoting health among adolescents through health professionals. Introducing health education programs will assist adolescents to behave and function in healthy ways like eating a balanced diet, not smoking, or taking drugs (Eldredge, Markham, Ruiter, Fernandez, & Parcel, 2016). The third measure in promoting health among adolescents is to enhance the social abilities of the young people. Research indicates that improving social skills among the youth make them either reject or accept particular kinds of behavior. On the contrary, a substantial body of proof advocates that the most effective health promotion measure for the adolescent will be to develop socio-economic situations in which adolescents are raised and establish better socioeconomic fairness and equal opportunities. Even better, studies reveal that health promotion measures at community levels on behalf of the young people such as banning cigarette, alcohol advertisements and hiking their prices are far more efficient than initiating health education programs that are geared to this demographic group.
Resilience and Flexibility
Understanding that majority of adolescents often participate in more than just one unsafe and hazardous behavior in which these actions have widespread fundamental predisposing causes like poor mental health and socioeconomic situations, it is evident that effective health promotion programs for adolescents need to be developed (Eldredge, Markham, Ruiter, Kok, Fernandez, & Parcel, 2016). Interventions to curb issues such as bullying and promote emotional wellbeing of the adolescents in schools is one of the effective ways of minimizing other issues like drug use, violence, early pregnancies, peer pressure, and smoking.
The Role of Health Workers in Promoting Health among the Adolescents
In spite of the low efficacy and usefulness of the majority of health promotion programs at the personal level, health practitioners do have an imperative duty in health promotion in their interactions with the adolescents. For instance, formulation of concise health promotion deliberations concerning drug use, and smoking during a routine health check-up can minimize smoking rates among the adolescents although the proceedings can be useful when purposed for patients that are ready to change and transform their behavior. Research reveals that action-oriented guidance for individuals that are not willing to change is not useful and can even ensconce harmful habits and behaviors. Patients have reported that health promotion counsel from their health workers is best effective if it considers their receptivity, communicated in a reverential tone, indicates care, support, and understanding of patients as exceptional individuals (Eldredge, Markham, Ruiter, Kok, Fernandez, & Parcel, 2016). When adolescents are considered in primary care, scrupulous areas to advocate for health promotion are such as drug abuse, smoking, and sexual health. The majority of young people that indulge in drug abuse hardly consult their health practitioners and the doctors know little concerning prohibited drugs than the adolescents. Nonetheless, offering adolescents aged between eleven and fourteen years with knowledge concerning prohibitive medications stop the start of drug abuse.
Conclusion
The adolescence stage is a crucial transitional period, which entails the developmental tasks and biological alterations of puberty like learning to be self-sufficient, and normative exploration. Young people that have attained this age mostly face economic, demographic, social, and environmental challenges with less professional support when they are expected to assume and embrace adult obligations and responsibilities. Studies reveal that there are noteworthy inequalities among racial groups. For instance, adolescents who are Latinos, American Indians, or African-American mainly living in adverse poverty encounter terrible outcomes in an assortment of areas like violence, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies, obesity, dropping out of school, and tooth decay compared to adolescents that are Asian American and Caucasians. What's more, sexual minority adolescents experience a high rate of enormous health risk factors and behaviors. The financial loads of escapable health issues are vast and comprise of the long-term expenses of terminal illness, which result from behaviors that were started during young adulthood.
References
Eldredge, L. K. B., Markham, C. M., Ruiter, R. A., Kok, G., Fernandez, M. E., & Parcel, G. S. (2016). Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Patton, G. C., Sawyer, S. M., Santelli, J. S., Ross, D. A., Afifi, R., Allen, N. B., ... & Kakuma, R. (2016). Our future: A Lancet commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. The Lancet, 387(10036), 2423-2478.
Roberts, C., Morgan, A., Smith, R., Settertobulte, W., Samdal, O., & Rasmussen, V. B. (2004). Young people's health in context. C. Currie (Ed.). World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.
