Relative importance of individual and social factors in improving adolescent health

Dougal S. Hargreaves, Dominic Mcvey, Agnès Nairn and Russell M. Viner
Additional contact information
Dougal S. Hargreaves: UCL - University College of London [London]
Agnès Nairn: EM - EMLyon Business School
Russell M. Viner: UCL - University College of London [London]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Aims: In 2010, the English Department of Health launched a radical new public health strategy, which sees individual factors, such as self-esteem, as the key to improving all aspects of young people's health. This article compares the strength of association between key adolescent health outcomes and a range of individual and social factors Methods: All participants aged 12–15 in the nationally representative 2008 Healthy Foundations survey were included. Six individual factors related to self-esteem, confidence and personal responsibility, and seven social factors related to family, peers, school and local area were investigated. Single-factor and multivariable logistic regression models were used to calculate the association between these factors and seven health outcomes (self-reported general health, physical activity, healthy eating, weight, smoking, alcohol intake, illicit drug use). Odds ratios were adjusted for gender, age and deprivation. Results: Individual factors such as self-esteem were associated with general health, physical activity and healthy eating. However, the influence of family, peers, school and local community appear to be equally important for these outcomes and more important for smoking, drug use and healthy weight. Conclusion: Self-esteem interventions alone are unlikely to be successful in improving adolescent health, particularly in tackling obesity and reducing substance misuse.

Keywords: adolescent health; behaviour; England; Public Health White Paper (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-03-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Perspectives in Public Health, 2013, 133 (2), 122-131 p. ⟨10.1177/1757913912472417⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02313070

DOI: 10.1177/1757913912472417

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().