Chapter 8 Adolescents and Young Adults

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Chapter 8Adolescents and Young Adults
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Introduction

• Understanding age group Health Risks and Problems
• Detect risks for specific target populations
• Propose specific reduction programs

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Adolescents and Young Adults

• Fall into the 15- to 24-year-old range
• Baby Echo
• offspring of the baby boom generation
• represent the future of our nation and the world
• Transition from childhood to adulthood
• rapid growth and change
• new and challenging experiences
• Adopt health-related attitudes and behavior
• Immediate and long term influence on health
  status

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Demography

• The Number of Adolescents and Young Adults
• 1979 - 21 of total pop
• 2000 - 15 of total pop
• Racial and ethnic diversity
• Increase in all categories except White

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Young Adult Population
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Demography

• Living Arrangements
• Increase in single parent households 32
• Result of increase in divorce rate
• In 1998 - 62 Black, 35 Hispanic, and 27 White
  children lived in single parent home
• Consequences - emotional and financial
• Examples?

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Percentage of own children under 18 years old
living in single-parent families
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Employment Status

• Proportion of overall labor force has remained
  constant since 1980s
• Unemployment rates vary significantly by race and
  ethnicity
• Highest among Black youth
• Access to Health Care affected by employment
  status

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Health Profile Adolescents and Young Adults

• Mortality
• Medical advances have reduced death rate
  dramatically
• 1950 to 1996 death rate dropped 30
• Males have higher mortality than females
• Highest mortality for Blacks

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Top causes of death - Behavior-related

• Unintentional injury 44 TOTAL
• Motor vehicle accident 33
• Homicide - 3x higher than in 1960- 18
• Suicide - 2x higher than in 1960- 13
• Other causes 25

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Major causes of mortality (15- 24)
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Health ProfileAdolescents and Young Adults

• Morbidity (Infectious diseases)
• Measles
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases - 2.5 million cases
  a year reported in teens
• Chlamydia, genital warts, herpes, AIDS

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Health Behaviors and Lifestyle Choices of High
School Students

• Behaviors that contribute to Unintentional Injury
• Behaviors that contribute to Intentional Injury
• Tobacco Use
• Increased use of smokeless tobacco among teenage
  males
• Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Sexual Behavior

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Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

• Developed by CDC in 1990
• Collaborative data collection via state and local
  education and health agencies
• YRBS conducted every 2 years
• Targets risk behaviors among youth
• Used to implement or develop prevention programs

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Youth Risk Behavior Trends 1991 - 1999

• www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/trend.htm
• Related links from that site

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National College Health Risk Behavior Survey

• Initiated in 1995
• Measured similar behaviors as YRBS
• http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/nchrbs.htm
• http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/MMWRFile/ss4606.ht
  m

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Health Behaviors and Lifestyle Choices of College
Students

• Behaviors that contribute to Unintentional
  Injuries
• Behaviors that contribute to Intentional Injuries
• Tobacco Use
• Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Sexual Behavior

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Strategies for Improving the Health of
Adolescents and Young Adults

• Focused on social and cultural factors
• Social norms and traditions
• School and college health promotion
• Community-wide organizing
• Involving stakeholders
• Sustained over long period of time
• Other Sectors of Society
• Health Services, Youth Organizations, Media,
  Government and Business, and Health Professionals

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Healthy Campus 2010

• Nationwide guidelines to promote health
• Local campus efforts
• Eckerd College efforts
• Student efforts