Lifestyle Of Young People Research Articles

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Alongside growing research interest in the lifestyles of young people has come recognition of the need for ethical codes of conduct to protect children and young people from exploitation. While many academic papers provide valuable guidelines for researchers, little consideration has been given to how methodological issues are actually played out in practice. In particular, the practicalities of fulfilling methodological obligations whilst at the same time managing often challenging research situations is elided. In this paper I foreground how methodological considerations impact upon research with both individuals and groups of young people in the countryside.

Has leisure got anything to do with learning? An exploratory study of the lifestyles of young people in Hong Kong universities

This paper examines the role of leisure in the lives of Hong Kong higher education students. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the paper explores several patterns of involvement of full-time undergraduate students in leisure and learning. It further suggests various ways in which these two domains of students' lives can be related. A total of 266 diaries and 40 semi-structured interviews were used to solicit the data on student experiences across the seven higher education institutions in Hong Kong. Results showed a unique blend of the leisure and learning domains of students' lives especially in the context of group activities, in which leisure activities were related to strong social bonding and to the establishment of coherent study groups with classmates. The discussion focuses on the possible relationships between student learning and leisure and on how the different patterns of student involvement in these two domains inform an alternative conceptual framework for understanding the role of leisure in their lives and development. References are made to previous studies on higher education students and implications are drawn for future research in this area.

Lifestyle, Social Class and Health-Related Behaviour: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of 15 Year Olds in Glasgow and Helsinki

The extent to which young people's lifestyles are related to social class, their relationship with health behaviours, and variations in these relationships between countries are of central relevance to an assessment of the extent to which post-modern (global) influences have replaced those associated with traditional (local) social structures. A comparison between 15 year olds in Glasgow and Helsinki reveals a remarkably similar pattern of relationships. In both locations, involvement in commercial leisure was unrelated to class, as was sports/games in Glasgow, while conventional lifestyles (more middle class) and street-based lifestyles (more working class) were class associated. Furthermore, while lifestyles were strongly related to smoking, drinking and drug use, street-based and commercial leisure orientations elevating rates, sports/games reducing them, social class was of negligible consequence for health behaviours in both places. We conclude that, while there remains a link between social class and some lifestyles, notably in relation to street-based leisure, for the most part young people's lifestyles cut across class and national boundaries and have similar consequences for health behaviour.

On being ‘in the field’: practice, progress and problems in research with young people in rural areas

Alongside growing research interest in the lifestyles of young people has come recognition of the need for ethical codes of conduct to protect children and young people from exploitation. While many academic papers provide valuable guidelines for researchers, little consideration has been given to how methodological issues are actually played out in practice. In particular, the practicalities of fulfilling methodological obligations whilst at the same time managing often challenging research situations is elided. In this paper I foreground how methodological considerations impact upon research with both individuals and groups of young people in the countryside.

Book: Diseases of Globalization: Socioeconomic Transitions and Health

Diseases of Globalization: Socioeconomic Transitions and Health by Christine McMurray, Roy Smith. Earthscan, £16.95, pp 200. ISBN 18538 3 711 3. Rating: ★★★ Since 11 September, we have all become acutely aware of what a small world we live in, of how vulnerable we all are to one of the worst diseases of globalisation—terrorism. The extent to which our lifestyles in the affluent North contribute to the poverty and alienation that breed terrorists has been hotly debated. This book, published before 11 September, sets out to examine the impact of modernisation and globalisation on health. It explores the manner in which a global political economy has developed and the role of global capitalism. The authors make clear that the correlation between health and wealth is only partial, demonstrated, for instance, by the economic ability of people to buy imported junk food rather than nutritious, but low status, local produce. The book claims to differ from previous studies of health and lifestyles in that it considers factors at individual and community levels as well as at a global level. Specifically, it examines three case studies of marginalised communities: Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and the Marshall Islands. Comparing these three communities, it describes the demographic and health transitions that have occurred. Much of the information in this section is fascinating but, unfortunately, also often repetitive. It reads as a composite of two academic publications and, while providing a rich supply of references, would have benefited from more aggressive editing. The authors are clearly experts in their field. Christine McMurray is the demographer at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Roy Smith is codirector of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies at Nottingham Trent University. However, there are places where they seem to be merely stating the obvious. For example, in describing the lifestyle of young people in the urban areas of the Marshall Islands, they say, “A favourite activity of adolescent boys is to establish gangs with their own rituals and signs, which contribute to the close bonding of sibling groups.” Surely this is not specific to the Marshall Islands? A few questionable medical statements have also crept in. The traditional Mongolian lifestyle, with lack of toilet facilities, is said to be associated with “genitourinary tract conditions including gallstones.” Somewhat frustrating is the lack of acknowledgement of the responsibility that we, in the North, must take for the effects of putting multinational profits ahead of health and wellbeing. The book, however, makes for stimulating reading and might help to make sense of the lives of some of the people and patients we see in our surgeries, outpatient clinics, and, perhaps particularly, teaching sessions.

Physical Activity Patterns in Secondary School Children

The physical activity patterns of a group of pupils in school years 7 to 10 from two communities representative of the South of England were examined using minute by minute heart rate monitoring. Data from 3 school days were obtained from 52 boys and 42 girls. Data were analysed for the % time and the frequency of 10 and 20 minute periods of sustained activity with the heart rate exceeding moderate (? 140 beats.min‐1) and vigorous (? 160 beats.min‐1) activity thresholds. The % of children accumulating 30 mins daily of at least moderate intensity physical activity was calculated. In comparison with data collected from the same region over 10 years ago, girls spent a greater % of time in moderate physical activity and more of them accumulated 30 minutes of moderate activity daily. Differences between boys and girls for the % time spent in moderate and vigorous activity were not significantly different in the present study. Analyses of the sustained periods revealed striking similarities between our previous study and the present data set and confirmed a considerably lower frequency of sustained activity periods in girls. In both studies, age was significantly and negatively correlated with the % time spent in moderate and vigorous activity. The young people studied were also notably less active at weekends than during the school week. Therefore, whilst activity levels do not appear to have fallen dramatically over the past decade, the present data confirm that many secondary school age children have adopted sedentary lifestyles. School physical education represents an ideal setting for the promotion of physically active lifestyles, but the continuing squeeze on the time available for physical education and the evident disparity between young people's preferred physical activities and those offered in schools represent barriers which will inevitably limit schools’ ability to positively influence young people's lifestyles.

Attitudes and Experience of Drug Use Amongst a Group of London Teenagers

Data are provided from the experiences of 23 young drug users recruited from the London area. Respondents reported a wide range of illicit drug use, centred on the so-called 'dance' drugs of MDMA, LSD and amphetamine sulphate. Friendship networks were important in the initiation and maintenance of drug use. Heroin and injecting were viewed negatively by the majority of respondents. Cocaine was seen in a more positive light, though many felt that it had damaging addictive properties. In the broader context of the young people's lifestyles, drugs were not viewed as a priority. Most stated that being with friends and family was the main priority in their lives. Most reported good levels of communication with parents, most of whom either approved or did not overtly object to some forms of illicit drug use by their children. The data suggest implications for health promotion and drug prevention. Peer education should be encouraged amongst networks of young drug users (where possible involving parents) and musi...

TEAM WORK FOR HEALTHY EATING

In recent years the subject of healthy eating has featured prominently in the media and the general public is probably more aware of the influence of diet on health than ever before. However, there is still some confusion about what constitutes a balanced, healthy diet and this can lead to eccentric and unhealthy diets being eaten. There is also a great deal of misuse of the term ‘diet’, which is popularly associated with slimming. What we are concerned with here is the promotion of balanced, sensible, healthy eating patterns and their assimilation into the general lifestyle of young people.