Social environment - Lectures Notes William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

1. Social EnvironmentSocial Environment
William Allan Kritsonis, PhDWilliam Allan Kritsonis, PhD

2. Social Environment: Family
• Majority were raised by both parents
• Mothers more than fathers raised the
adolescents
83.2
1.2
5.9
0.8
2.5
6.4 pa & ma
pa only
ma only
pa+other
ma+other
other

3. Social Environment: Family
Living away from home
• 45% have experienced living away from home
• 16.3% ever-lived in a dorm or boarding house
Reasons for living away from home
Many young people live away from their families
34.8
36.4
21.1
1.5
0 10 20 30 40
to marry
to join relatives
to study
to work

4. Social Environment
Parental/Family relationship
Siblings
• 77% get along with all siblings
• 16% get along but not with all siblings
Parents
• 72% get along well with father
• 76.5% get along well with mother
Significant % have problems relating with
family members

5. Social Environment:Family
Parental/Family relationship
Parents get along well
• 72% get along well
• 12.5% don’t get along well
Rating of parents: warm & affectionate
• 70% of fathers scored high
• 80% mothers scored high

6. Social Environment
Parental/Family relationship
Discuss SEX at home
• 15.6% sex was discussed at home while
adolescent was growing up
• 6.2% discussed with mother
• 3.5% discussed with father
• 4.6% discussed with sister
• 3.5% discussed with brother
Home is not a place where SEX can be
discussed

7. Social Environment: School
68% go to public school
• Feelings about school
• 19.6% would rather not go to sch. many times
• 5.6% think that school is a waste of time
• 87.2% try hard to do good in school
• % think someone at school can help them with sex-
related problems

8. Social Environment: Media
More than half watched
x-rated movies/videos :
55%
Where do they usually watch x-
rated movies/videos?
23.8
63.8
7.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Own home Friends'/Relatives'
home
Movie house
More than a third had
read pornographic
materials: 38.4%

9. Social Environment: Friends
Who adolescents approach when they have problems?
Friends are important support system
• Academic problems
• 37.4% teachers
• 44% peers/classmates
• 4.8% none
• Love/relationship problems
• 62.6% friends
• 15.5% self
• 2.1% teachers
• 1.4% counselor
• Family problems
• 64.5% friends
• 11.8% none
• 6.4% teacher
• 2.5% counselor

10. Social Environment: Friends
B a r k a d a
• 97.5% ever had barkada
• 84.6% parents know about barkada
• 76.6% parents aware of barkada activities
• 19.3% barkada with R involved in violent incident
Activities of barkada: %
25
12.3
8
11.3
7.4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
istam
by/sm
k
e
Stroll
D
rink
Sp
orts
P
icnic

11. Social Environment: Friends
Fraternity/Sorority
• 6.2% was ever a member
• 52% of those in frats have been involved in violent
activities
Activities of fraternity: %
20
13.7
11.8
3.9
9.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
Comm'y
work
Hazing Meeting None Sch act

12. Social Environment: Friends
Friends having sex
• 39.5% know of unmarried friends who
are having sex
• 23.3% know of unmarried female
friends who have gotten
pregnant

13. Social Environment : Church/Religion
• 84.6% are Catholics
• 3.4% are Born Again
• 2.9% are INK
Religiosity
• 44% attend at least once a week
• 8.2% have changed religion
• 60% of those who changed came
from
Catholic religion

14. Consequences of risk behaviors
• Other risk behaviors
• Accidental, unwanted and unsafe
pregnancies
• Maternal mortality rate among pregnant
adolescents is 2-4 times higher than for women
over age 20.
• Infant mortality rate is 30% higher for infants
born to mothers ages 15-19 than for those women
20 years or older.

15. Consequences of risk behaviors
Young Filipino women are reproductively-
challenged
• 162,000 or 10% of all births occur to teenage
mothers (15-19)
• at age 18, 10% are already mothers
• at age 20, 25% are mothers
• at age 24, 50% are mothers, and 1/3 of Filipino
young women have 2-3 children already
• Young pregnant women are prone to pregnancy
complications

16. Consequences of risk behaviors
• Abortion
• 5% of ever-pregnant adolescent had at least one
abortion experience.

17. Reasons why adolescents engage in
risk behaviors
• Adolescents are becoming less & less connected
with their families and religion
• Families are showing signs of being less helpful to
their adolescents
• Schools & homes provide venues for sex
encounters
• Adolescents show signs of confusion
• They are doing more experimentation with their
peers
• Pornograpic media is taking a larger space in their
time and attention

18. Reasons why adolescents engage in
risk behaviors
• Adolescents now have more liberal
attitudes on sex and sex-related
matters.

19. Summary
Ill-consequences of risk behaviors
are already apparent
• Many are not even aware of the
consequences or of the risks
• They are ill-prepared for the consequences
‘Better informed, better equipped’

20. Summary
There are signs of breaking down of
adolescent –protective connections
• Family
• School
• Church
At the same time,
• Closeness to peers
• ‘Bad’ media taking more significance
‘transforming risk factors to protective
factors, HOW?’

21. • In view of the foregoing, what kinds
of actions are needed to support
healthier adolescent development?
• Who should be joining the efforts?
• What kinds of strategies are
effective?

22. How can we help the adolescents?
• Level with them, Be honest
• Have clear reasonable limits
• Listen actively to them
• Share plans & schedules
• Respect their privacy and space
• Say things respectfully & with warmth
• Encourage them to discover creative channels of
expression
• Encourage them to develop their own interests &
discover sources of fulfillment
• Trust them & be happy