The relation of socio-ecological factors to adolescents’ health-related behaviour

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe adolescents’ health-related behaviours from a socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological factors have been widely shown to be related to health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet) in adolescence and to affect health. The review integrates evidence with socio-ecological factors (social relationships, family, peers, schooling and environment). Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from electronic databases and by manual search consisting of articles (n=90) published during 2002-2014. The selected articles were analysed using inductive content analysis and narrative synthesis. Findings – The findings suggest that there was a complex set of relations connected to adolescent health behaviours, also encompassing socio-ecological factors. The authors tentatively conclude that socio-ecological circumstances influence adolescents’ health-related behaviour, but that this review does not provide the full picture. There seemed to be certain key factors with a relation to behavioural outcomes that might increase health inequality among adolescents. Practical implications – School health education is an important pathway for interventions to reduce unhealthy behaviours among adolescents including those related to socio-ecological factors. Originality/value – Some socio-ecological factors were strongly related to health behaviours in adolescence, which may indicate an important pathway to current and future health. This paper may help schoolteachers, nurses and other school staff to understand the relationships between socio-ecological factors and health-related behaviours, which may be useful in developing health education to reduce health disparities during adolescence.

Segmenting Adolescents Around Social Influences on Their Eating Behavior: Findings From Italy

“…The results of the CA performed in this study confirm that adolescents are not a monolithic category of people, despite who responded to the survey have some sociodemographic characteristics in common (i.e., level of education of parents, type of high school attended, geographical features, and related food culture). According to the literature (Aura et al, 2016), males and females have some different lifestyle habits, and this is confirmed both at the total sample level and within the clusters. Nevertheless, the present analysis shows that there are relevant differences also within the clusters with similar gender composition: for example, clusters #1 and #5 are prevalently masculine, but at the antipodes.…”

Social relationships in adolescence and heavy episodic drinking from youth to midlife in Finland and Sweden — examining the role of individual, contextual and temporal factors

“…Our results are in line with a study that examined adolescent family, peer and school settings and HED at ages 21 and 33 [ 21 ], which did not find school factors to predict subsequent HED. However, unlike some previous studies [ 10 , 14 ], we were not able to measure the school environment more broadly (e.g. group characteristics), school or class level attitudes towards substance use, or a person’s interest in school, all of which have previously been found to be associated with concurrent alcohol use during adolescence.…”

“…Many studies have examined the effects of family and peer relationships on adolescent alcohol use. Several previous studies have concluded that good adolescent family relationships protect against adolescent heavy alcohol use [ 8 – 10 ]. However, a systematic review found mixed evidence for parent-child relationships and adolescent alcohol use, and called for more detailed and versatile information on alcohol use [ 11 ].…”

“…In addition, adolescents who are more peer-oriented tend to use more alcohol [ 12 , 13 ], while poor school bonding and environment (e.g. a student’s low attachment to teachers, poor school satisfaction) also increase the risk for alcohol use and drunkenness [ 10 , 14 ]. Although there is some lack of clarity in the association between adolescent social relationships and adolescent alcohol use, the evidence for these concurrent associations is stronger than that for associations that extend beyond adolescence.…”

Characteristics of Australian adolescent females in residential treatment who report using methamphetamines

“…In Australia, adolescents seeking treatment for problematic alcohol and other drug (AOD) use are most likely to access counselling, information and education, and support and case management . Though only a small percentage (3.3%) of adolescents access residential treatment , they are a group likely to have complex care needs . Adolescents in residential care have been shown to be a vulnerable population .…”