"The only way to be totally free is through education" - Jose Marti
Topic 2: Puberty and Physical Health
Puberty is not the same for everyone. Though it is a normative process, each individual will go through various stages of puberty on their own personal timeline. Although puberty may be the motive for physical change, the reactions to puberty result in emotional change. If a female starts puberty earlier than her peers, she may undergo some degree of emotional and psychological stress at the thought of diverging from current views of physical attraction. On the contrary, when a male starts puberty earlier than his peers he may gain a sense of pride and independence at reaching the current standard of male physical attraction while males who undergo puberty late will be the ones more likely to be affected by depression due to their distance from this cultural ideal. It is not only the individual's view of themselves, but also the response of their family, peers, and wider society (including their teachers) that affect their mental state and confidence during puberty.
Aside from the "storm and stress" associated with the timing of puberty, teens can make a number of choices during these years of accelerated growth that can either help or hinder them in the present and for the future. As a class we discussed a number of poor decisions often made by teens today. As a result of those discussions, the majority indicated that adolescent girls most often make poor decisions related to body image (be that dieting, exercising, or mental stress associated with self-analysis), while many believed that the worst health decision adolescent boys make is in relation to alcohol use.
Body image is a particularly sensitive topic for teenage girls. Throughout adolescence, teens begin to compare themselves to others around them, this can cause confusion and self-esteem issues as all adolescents undergo puberty on their own personal time scale. As girls go through puberty they often gain weight around the hips and thighs and gain more body fat. Many girls will feel that they are moving further and further away from the current body ideal that is presented to them in magazines, online, and in movies. This comparison and associated mental stress can lead teen girls to become depressed and make unhealthy decisions such as unprescribed dieting, excessive exercise, or disordered behaviour associated with eating and nutrition. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation outlines some startling statistics regarding adolescent females and body image.
Image found on weheartit.com
According to the OECD (2010) 67% of Canadians under the age of 15 have tried alcohol and 43% of boys under the age of 15 have been drunk. Furthermore, Boak et al. (2013) reports that 1 in 3 students in grade 12 have experienced binge drinking. Aside from being at an increased risk for future dependence (Grant and Dawson, 1997), alcohol often negatively affects already risky behaviour in teenage boys. Male mortality rate increases almost sixfold from early to late adolescence, with most deaths due to unintentional injuries often related to alcohol use (Westwood and Pinson, 2008).
Percentage of students who had an alcoholic drink at least once per week (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2004)
As a part of our learning reflection we were asked to develop two strategies that would help our students to make healthy decisions:
Strategy One:
To promote a healthy analysis of body image leading to higher self-esteem I would address the effect media has on self-image and help the students appropriately criticize the reality presented in modern media against the reality they see around them everyday. Students would be encouraged to find before-and-after examples of body distortion in magazine advertisements and online videos. The students would then judge the value that physical changes brought to the media campaign and give their opinion on the ethics of misrepresentation and how it makes the "average" person feel. Another great resource to address body image in the classroom is Rachel Robert's lesson plan entitled "Real Beauty?" that leads students to describe themselves and others through non-physical characteristics.
Strategy Two:
Addressing the dangers of alcohol consumption amongst adolescents is difficult. In our class we discussed how scare tactics that have been used in the past have been shown to be extremely ineffective in preventing alcohol-related incidents. My approach would be one of relevant information to equip students to make their own best personal choice. One important item to highlight is the alcohol equivalency in different types of drinks. I would give students a listing of different drinks with differing volumes and alcohol percentages and then have the students organize the drinks from least to most units of alcohol. Another aspect of note is the effect that alcohol has on the body, and allowing students to discover for themselves that it's more than just a hangover. I would assign a different body part to each student and have them create a small presentation on how the part of the body they were given is affected by alcohol including whether the effects are short- or long-term. I would also go over Canada's Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines as outlined in this poster, since it addresses some important points to consider should an individual decide they want to drink, including setting limits.
Citations:
Boak, A., Hamilton, H., Adlaf, E., Mann, R. (2013). Drug Use Among Ontario Students 1977-2013. Detailed
OSDUHS findings. CAMH Research Document Series No. 36. Toronto, ON: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Retrieved from http://www.camh.ca/en/research/news_and_publications/ontario-student-drug-use-and-health-survey/Documents/2013%20OSDUHS%20Docs/2013OSDUHS_Detailed_DrugUseReport.pdf
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. (2013). Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines. ISBN 978-1-
927467-55-8. Retrieved from http://www.ccsa.ca/Resource%20Library/2012-Canada-Low-Risk-Alcohol-Drinking-Guidelines-Brochure-en.pdf
Grant, B. and Dawson, D. (1997). Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse
and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. Journal of Substance Abuse, 9, p. 103-110.
OECD. (2010). Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use: Country note – Canada. Retrieved from
http://www.oecd.org/canada/Tackling-Harmful-Alcohol-Use-Canada-en.pdf
OECD – Better Policies for Better Lives. (2015). OECD outlines action for governments to tackle heavy cost of
harmful drinking. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/health/oecdoutlinesactionforgovernmentstotackleheavycostofharmfuldrinking.htm
Public Health Agency of Canada (2004). Young people in Canada: their health and well-being – Chapter 6:
Youth Health Risk Behaviours. Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/dca-dea/publications/hbsc-2004/chapter_6-eng.php
Roberts, R. (2013). Real Beauty? Free downloadable lesson. Elt-resourceful. Retrieved from http://elt-
resourceful.com/2013/04/26/real-beauty-free-downloadable-lesson/
Sutter Health, Palo Alto Medical Foundation – We Plus You. (2015) Eating Disorders. Palo Alto Medical
Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/bodyimage/eating-disorders.html
Westwood, M., and Pinson, J. (2008). Adolescent Male Health. Paediatrics and Child Health, 13(1), p. 31-36.
Additional Resources:
RaisingChildren.Net.Au - Body Image
Mayo Clinic - Body Image: Tips for Guiding Girls
BeingGirl.com - Teenage Girls: Negative Body Image
Canadian Public Health Association - Binge Drinking and Alcohol Poisoning: Straight Talk for Parents
Here to Help - Drinking Guidelines: Supporting Health and Life