Life Control among Young Men in View of their Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

The analysis of life control and its development is an issue of central concern to modern health research. This article discusses longitudinal questionnaire data in an attempt to identify factors that predict young men's life control in early childhood and adolescence. No factors in the childhood family background predicted strong life control in adulthood. A positive development in the family's social situation showed a positive association with life control in adulthood. Poor school performance and unhealthy habits in adolescence were associated with poor life control in adulthood. According to a regression analysis, the following factors predicted a strong life control in adulthood: regular physical exercise, positive changes in the family's social situation, no school class repeats, no experimentation with intoxicants in adolescence, admission into intermediate level of education, and no smoking in adolescence. It is crucially important for purposes of health promotion to identify factors which predict life control in adulthood. By helping adolescents to achieve life control, we are also helping them to cope with developmental tasks and therefore to promote their health.

From past to present. Effect of lifecourse on mortality, and social class differences in mortality in middle adulthood

“…The parental home and environment may modify the "experiments" that are often related to youth culture, or their consequences, by affecting how often and how much alcohol is consumed, and how permanent the behavior will be, for instance , Koivusilta 2000, Karvonen & Rimpelä 1997. Health-related behaviors in youth are important in terms of later social inequalities in that they have been found to be associated with subsequent health and social class (see West 1991, Pietilä et al 1994, Pietilä & Järvelin 1995.…”

“…There are several mechanisms related to youth and young adulthood that could account for the effect of education on social class differences in mortality. First, educational attainment may simply reflect psycho-social characteristics such as self-esteem and coping strategies, which are developed in late adolescence and early adulthood and are partly, directly or indirectly, attributable to education , Koivusilta et al1999, see also Pietilä et al 1994, Rutter et al 1990, Lundberg 1997.…”

Sense of coherence and criminal offences among young males. Findings from the Finnish from a boy to a man study

“…However, our knowledge of SOC in adolescence is very scarce when compared with studies using SOC in later life phases. Pietilä et al (1994a; 1994b) studied prospectively the life control and health of 2500 Northern Finnish young men. The study showed connections between self-evaluated health, health behavior, stress, family factors in adolescence, school performance, economic situation, and the level of sense of coherence.…”