Conceptualizing Adolescents’ Life Style

1. Conceptualizing Adolescents’
Life Style
Term Paper: 2
Arun Pratap Singh

2. Objectives
• To examine the Western and indigenous
notions of life style.
• To develop a holistic framework of
adolescent life style.
• To review present trends in adolescent life
style.
• To examine certain methodological issues
in life style survey.

3. Life Style: The Concept
• Life style and life-style.
• Related concepts: style of life, way of life,
culture, leisure etc.
• Lack of consensus (Veal,1991).
• General themes :Activities/behaviors, Values,
Attitudes, Group interaction, Coherence
Choice, Goals.
• “Life style is the way of life based on
cooperation of life conditions and individual
behaviors which were specified by social and
cultural factors as well as personal character
dispositions”(WHO,1996).

4. The Received View
• The mainstream view is contingent on mechanically
mediated interactions with environment and oriented
towards industrial- technological development.
• Person : An independent, separated being that
operates in its own boundaries and tries to satisfy
and pursue its limited self interest (Misra, 2006). The
emphasis is on the characteristics of the
environment in terms of effect derived from the
environment .
• Unprecedented environmental crises and increasing
degree of conflict at different levels of human
existence and severe health concerns.

5. An Indigenous Perspective
Symbiotic relationship with the environment and included
physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being within
the orbit of health and life style.
• Ayurveda recognizes the life force derived from the
material reality ( panchmahabhutas: earth, water, fire, air
and space) and therefore offers life style
recommendations considering an interactive mode of life
with environment and order (dharma).
• The Ayurvedic perspective further identifies the role of
swasthvritta in the enhancement of well-being.

6. A Perspective on Everyday Life
• One should take initiative in talk and be cheerful,
• “one should have presence of mind even in difficult
circumstances, should offer oblation, perform
religious practices,
• Charaka says that “one should not be impatient or
over-exhilarated. One should inspire confidence in
ones relatives. One should not act under the impulse
of the wrath and malice.
• One should not feel exhilarated in success and
depressed in failure (8/27).
• An attitude of equanimity towards life is to be
maintained. One should not be overmastered by
ones senses(8/26).

7. Holistic Vision
• Holistic conception to understand interrelated ness
of family, peers, and culture from developmental
perspective.
• Lifestyle viewed in terms of a process in
adolescents’ lives.
• Takes into account the clusters, which may provide
a meaningful stricture of adolescent life style.
• The holistic view considers life style as an
antecedent of health.
• This conceptual framework involves cognitive,
social, personal and environmental aspects of the
life.

8. Definition of Life Style
• Life style is the distinctive pattern of
behavioral, cognitive and emotional
characteristics of an individual or group.
• Behavior includes: dietary pattern and
physical activity.
• Cognitive: attitudes and personal goals.
• Emotional: interaction pattern and

9. Holistic Framework of Life Style
Cognitive as goals and
attitudes
Emotionally supportive i.e.
religiosity and interaction
Behavioral i.e. diet, activity

10. Dietary Pattern
• The rural and tribal scenario characterized by
deprivation and under-consumption.
• The urban adolescents’ dietary intake is
characterized by unhealthy eating habits. Skipping
the meals, not drinking proper amount of water ,
eating biscuits, sandwiches, ice creams and
chocolates as an alternative to the food are being
revealed by dietary surveys (Sofia Centre for
Women’s Studies and Development,2003).
• A survey by Biostatistics Department, A.I.I.M.S.(
2003) reveals that 72% of urban adolescents eat
pizzas, 49% eat burgers,35% eat noodles,32%eat ice-
creams, and only 8% eat green vegetables and 12%
eat fruits] ,traditional micronutrient rich foods are
being replaced by energy dense highly processed
foods.

11. Physical Activity
• The most common time-use among is watching T.V.
followed by reading and listening to music in rural
regions(Wadkar,1999
• With the use of labor-saving devices and quicker
transport services adolescents now have to work for
fewer hours per day (Singh & Jasuja, 2001). They
have now more leisure hours per week.
• Remaining couched in front of T.V. or surfing on
computers becoming a habitual mode of living by
to-day’s adolescents
(Arya,Sharma&Dhaliwal,2001;Yama&Khokhar, 2001
• However in current scenario, T.V. watching replaced
by computer games, internet surfing and new
interactive media(Archana,2004).

12. Physical Activity
• Limited attention paid to Indian
adolescent’s physical activity.
• Few studies conducted are related
with leisure-time-activities
(Khanna&Singh,2000;Sandhu&
Mehrotra,1999)and time-use
pattern(Verma,Kau,Verma&Sekhon
,1995;Verma&Saraswathi,1992)by
adolescents

13. Religiosity
• Religiosity and spirituality are traditional part of
adolescent lives.
• The school prayers the essential part of the daily
routine in the lives of school adolescents. The
prayers like Vandemataram and Saraswati Vandana
significant aspects of school-related activities
(Sawni-Sikand et al., 2002).
• Indian festivals like navratra, deepawali etc. infuse
spiritual connectivity in adolescent lives.
• Adolescents from some communities are taught to
perform kar seva ( self-less service) ( Sinha, 1984).

14. RELIGIOSITY
• Paucity of studies on Indian adolescent
spirituality necessitates a comprehensive
research effort (Sharma,2006).
• Most of the investigations targeted adult
group but ignored the study of increasingly
vulnerable groups of school adolescents
(Verma. &Saraswati, 2002)

15. Interpersonal Interaction Pattern
• Changes in adolescents non-family
experiences include more time in
institutional settings; more involvement with
peers; and more cycles of developing (and
ending) relationships with a heterogeneous
set of adults, friends, and, for many romantic
partners.
• Parental acceptance or rejection plays a
significant role in terms of problems in the
basic areas of family school, social and
personal arena (Kakkar, 1999).

16. Interpersonal Interaction in
Villages
• In the rural areas there is prevalence of joint family
pattern with more sophisticated interaction between
the family members and thus providing more
‘bonding social capital’(Verma&Saraswati,2002
• However, with the increased pace of nuclearization
and emergence of single- parent family, there is
blurring of adolescent’s traditional interaction-
pattern as evident in dilution of hierarchy of
communication
channels(Bhushan,1993;Verma&Singh,1998).
• Rejection and victimization of lower class
adolescents by their upper class counterparts (Katri,
1997).
• Rural girls interaction limited.

17. Interpersonal Interaction in Cities
• The familial interactions in the urban world are being
altered due to changes in the family size and its
structure.
• Urban adolescents’ increased involvement with
peers in school and after school setting carries over
to the informal leisure segment of their lives.
• Participating in and creating youth cultures, which in
turn reinforces the meanings and values of peer
world involving transient romantic relationships,
dating with the opposite sex and chatting with the
friends on the internet (Verma&Saraswati,2002).
• Competitive interaction ( Dass, 1988).

18. Personal Goals And Aspirations
• Higher educational and occupational aspirations are
noticed among urban adolescents without any
gender difference (Das, 1988).
• Generally, the urban adolescents aspire to be
computer engineer, operational manager, chartered
accountancy, M.B.A., I.A.S. etc.(Gangarada,1975).
• , There is often low level or distortion of aspirations
in low SES adolescents (Malik, 1991; Sharma, Verma
& Swamy, 1990)
• Low level of educational and occupational
aspirations among rural girls (Uplaonkar, 1983).
• In rural India, most of the girls aspire for traditional
roles as housewives, teacher or nurse, while boys
prefer the job of teacher, craftsman or army
(Singh&Kaur, 1995).

19. Attitudes Towards Life
• The direct impact of media has led to violent
and criminal behavior as well as increased
strife within the family to adopt consumerist
attitudes (Verma, 2000).
• There are often biased attitudes among
adolescents about different sexual practices
(Family Planning Association of India, 1994).
• Change in the attitude towards different
aspects of marriage: about it’s necessity,
dowry, divorce, inter-caste and inter-
religious marriages and remarriage ( Gupta,
1996).

20. Conclusion
• Very sparse work with regarding to adolescent’s
lifestyle.
• The conceptualization of life style needs to broaden
to include the different dynamic aspects of life
determined by social and cultural factors.
• As way of living goes on to differ according to the
difference in cultural and social context (Jimenez,
1993), so life style as a concept should be re-looked
in the indigenous perspective.
• The programs and health strategies to modify the
adolescent lifestyle are needed.

21. Refrences
• Singh, A.P. & Misra, G. (2015).Pattern of Leisure-Lifestyles in Indian
School Adolescents: Contextual influences and implications for
health concerns. Cogent psychology, 2(1), 1-11. doi:
10.1080/23311908.2015.1050779.
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2013). Life Style Counseling: Emerging
Challenges, Missing Opportunities and Future Directions for
Research. Asia Pacific Journal of Counseling and Psychotherapy,
4(2), 153-162.doi: 10.1080/21507686.2013.812972.
• Singh, A.P. (2013). Yoga and parapsychology: empirical research
and theoretical studies, edited by Koneru Ramakrishna Rao. Asia
Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 4(1), 103-105.
doi: 10.1080/21507686.2013.77143 .
• Singh,A.P.& Misra,G.(2012).Adolescent lifestyle in India: Prevalence
of risk and health-promotive factors. Psychology & Developing
Societies, 24(2), 145-160. doi: 10.1177/097133361202400203

22. Refrences
• Singh, A. P., & Misra, G. (2012).
Adolescent Life Style Survey [Database
record]. Retrieved from PsycTESTS.
doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/t28857-000

23. Refrences
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Efficacy of a 4-week yogic lifestyle
education for promoting holistic health in Indian school adolescents.
Yog Mimamsa, 47(1), 22-29. doi: 10.4103/0044-0507.195455.
• Sawle, J.P., Lehakpure, R., Singh, A.P. & Jha, A.K. (2015).
Development of self-control in Gandhian Life. Indian Journal of
Social Science and Organizational Behaviour, 4 (1), 63-72.
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Holism in Yoga: Some Reflections from
Yoga-sutra. International Journal of Yoga and Allied Sciences, 3(2),
61-66.
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Positive Life style and Spiritual Health:
Results of a Field Experiment among School Adolescents. Indian
Journal of Social Sciences and Organizational Behavior, 3(1 & 2),
45-54.

24. Refrences…
• Singh, Arun Pratap & Jha, Arbind Kumar (2015). Adolescent health
education in India: demographic travails, contextual influences and
implications for health concerns. Indian Educational Review ,53(1),
25-38.
• Singh, A.P. & Misra, G. (2013). Life Style Counselling in School:
Emerging Implications and Future Directions. In Guidance and
Counselling: New Directions (edited by Dr. Sandhy Ojha, O.P.
Chaudhary, and Shambhu Upadhyaya).New Delhi: Shree
Publications. ISBN: 978-81-8329-522-2.

25. • Singh, A.P. (2012). Pattern of Health Behaviors among Indian
School Adolescents. Indian Journal of Social Science and
Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 9-16. ISSN: 2278-568X.
• Singh, A.P. & Misra, G.(2011). Lifestyle and Positive Health: Results
of 15-day Life Style Intervention Programme among Indian School
Adolescents. In S.K.Yadav and S.B.Yadav (Ed.) Positive
Psychology (p.269-282). New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing
House.