Young People's Confidence Research Articles

Predicting Bicycle Helmet Wearing Intentions and Behavior among Adolescents

Introduction: Cycling accidents in Australia, especially those resulting in head injuries, are a substantive cause of death and disability; but despite legislation and evidence that helmets reduce the risk of head injury, few adolescents wear them. Method: This study employed a revised version of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; [Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211]) to investigate the determinants of helmet use among a sample of adolescents. Participants in the initial data collection were 294 high school students in Year 8 and Year 11, with 266 completing a follow-up questionnaire measuring behavior over the previous two weeks. Results: Social norms, perceptions of control, and past behavior significantly predicted intentions to use helmets and perceptions of control and past behavior predicted actual helmet use. Conclusions: Strengthening the routine of helmet use and building young people's confidence that they can overcome any perceived barriers to helmet use will improve adherence to helmet wearing behavior.

Working with young people - towards an agenda for sexual health

In this paper we outline key elements of a human rights-based framework for sexual health promotion that takes account of young people's needs and interests. This framework is located against the backdrop of a critique of the way in which negative definitions of 'sexual health' and of 'adolescence', as well as restrictions on open and appropriate sex education in schools, undermine the likelihood that young people will achieve optimal benefit from existing services and strategies in countries such as England and Scotland. Central to our analysis is an affirming and positive definition of sexual health-that focuses on the attainment of sexual pleasure and which links sexuality to an expression of individual and collective needs and broader human rights and responsibilities. We point to ways in which such a framework might inform the provision of appropriate information about positive sexual health, and of more accessible and integrated sexual health services. We also highlight the need for measures to improve young people's confidence and aspirations, and to increase youth participation in decision making in matters relating not only to their sexual health, but also to the wider social and community environments within which young people's sexuality is negotiated.

Culture and adolescent development

For some years now I have become increasingly convinced of the need to reassess the basis of adolescent health promotion particularly as it emanates from international agencies and organizations. In this document I have reviewed what I believe to be prevailing implicit assumptions, the harmful consequences of those assumptions for both ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ countries, why this is happening, and what we might do to improve the situation. I believe we are right to recognize that adolescent health is heavily dependent on behavior and that behavior is heavily dependent on the stage of human development which the young person has reached. But we are wrong to base health promotion in all societies on a Western framework for human development which implicitly values intellectual and economic achievement at the expense of other human qualities. As a result of this we also err in implicitly assuming that societies which are economically successful and which emphasize the value of academic and scientific achievement, are necessarily culturally superior and therefore better able to promote both adolescent health and adolescent development. The effect of these assumptions leads to two distinct negative consequences. First, by placing emphasis on certain kinds of achievements we unconsciously denigrate the cultures in societies that place emphasis on others. This risks diminishing the respect young people have for the primary source of their cultural heritage—their families. This, in turn, can drive a wedge between younger and older people and result in a loss of self-esteem in both groups—the older because they are made to feel inadequate, and the younger because they feel they are inherently disadvantaged. Next, by ignoring or implicitly devaluing other aspects of human development that are inherently valuable to the individual and society, we diminish their chances of flourishing. This can be damaging not only to the cultures that traditionally value them, but to those societies, particularly in the West, which are badly in need of them.

Social Pressure in the Family and School

Abstract: Most adolescents initially use drugs out of curiosity, or experimentally. Those who continue on to become problematic users need to be identified early so that preventive strategies can be used. At risk for substance misuse are those young people who are particularly vulnerable to adverse social pressures in their families and schools. They have poor coping skills to deal with demands and stresses and often have low self image and absence of a positive identity. Preventive strategies therefore need to be directed at both family and school level. Drug education involves the acquisition of communication and decision making skills, as well as the enhancement of young people's confidence and self esteem, thus leading to the development of a positive identity.