Adolescent health focussing on drug, alcohol and tobacco use, eating disorders, depression, and suicide.

1. Adolescent Health.
• DESPITE THE PRESSURES, AND STRESS OF BEING AN ADOLESCENCE , THE
MAJORITY OF INDIVIDUALS ARE WELL ADJUSTED. HOWEVER SOME
TEENAGERS ARE FACED WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES.

2. Sensation Seeking:
 Developmentalists believe that teenagers may
have a heightened level of desire to experience
arousal.
What causes it?
 Peer acceptance, and establishing autonomy with
respect to authority figures.
 Permissive parents
 Adolescents who don’t participate in
extracurricular activities, or teenagers who are
consumed with popularity.
 Lack of maturity in the prefrontal cortex, and other
brain structures.
 Media about sex, violence, drugs, and alcohol use.

3. Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco.
What makes a teenager want to use alcohol or drugs?
 Those who express the most interest in “sensation-seeking”.
 Shy adolescents, those who are high in neuroticism.
 Authoritative parenting.

4. Drug & Alcohol Use:
 Drug use among Canadian youth has been steadily declining since the
1970’s.
 The average age of first drug use is 13 to 14.
 One serious consequence of alcohol use is that 16 to 19 year olds have the
third highest rate if impairment driving charged.

5. Tobacco:
 Cigarette smoking by
Canadian youth has
declined dramatically since
the 70’s, and has hit its
lowest point in decades.
 Slightly more teenage boys
than teenage girls are daily
smokers.
 Teenagers who smoke are
more likely to have used
other drugs.
 Peer influence plays an
important role in teen
smoking.

6. Eating Disorders:
 Eating disorders, which were once considered rare in Canada are now
among the most significant mental health problems during adolescence.
 Eating disorders can be fatal, typically develop during adolescence or early
adulthood when the pressures to be thin are strongest.
 Although more common in females than boys, gay and lesbian teens are at
a higher risk for eating disorders.

7. Bulimia:
 Bulimia involves an intense concern about weight combined with binge
eating followed by purging by self-induced vomiting, excessive use of
laxatives, or excessive exercising.
 Bulimics are obsessed with their weight, feel intense shame about their
abnormal behavior, and they often experience significant depression.
 The physical consequences:
-Tooth Decay
-Stomach Irritation
-Lowered Body Temp.
-Loss of Hair.

8. Anorexia Nervosa:
 Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation.
 Physical Consequences:
-Sleep Disturbance
-Cessation of Menstruation
-Cardiovascular Problems
-Reduced Body Temp.
 1% - 2% of female adolescents and young adults in Canada develop anorexia.
 4% - 18% of those with anorexia literally starve themselves to death; others die
due to cardiovascular dysfunction.

9. Risk Factors:
 Some theorists have proposed biological causes
for eating disorders, such as brain dysfunction.
 Heredity factors contribute to the development of
eating disorders.
 The most promising explanation lies in the
discrepancy between the young person’s internal
image of a desirable body, and their perception of
their own body.
 However there has been more emphasis on pre-
existing psychological health of people who
develop eating disorders than on cultural
influences.

10. Depression:
 25% of young women and half as many young men aged 16-19 had
experienced at least one major depressive episode.
 Neuroimaging studies show that teenage depression is associated with
some kind of pituitary gland dysfunction.
 Children growing up with depressed parents are much more likely to
develop depression.
 Any combination of stress increases the likely hood of depression or other
kinds of emotional distress in the adolescence.

11. What Causes Depression?
 Neuroimaging studies show that teenage
depression is associated with some kind of
pituitary gland dysfunction.
 Children growing up with depressed
parents are much more likely to develop
depression.
 Any combination of stress increases the
likely hood of depression or other kinds of
emotional distress in the adolescence.

12. Suicide:
 More women than men experience
depression in their late teens, however
more male teens commit suicide.
 Suicide is the second leading cause of
death for Canadian young people aged 15-
19.
 Suicide attempts are estimated to be three
times more common among girls than
boys, based on hospitalization for nonfatal
self harm.
 Suicide rates among Canadian’s Aboriginal
youth are among the highest in the world.

13. Suicide Continued:
 Most medical treatment has been focused on the treatment of depression
associated with suicidal behavior.
 Although we know suicide is related to depression, however other factors
do play a role:
-Triggering Stressful Event: disciplinary crisis with rejection, or some form of
rejection or humiliation.
-Altered State of Mind: sense of hopelessness, reduced inhibitions from
alcohol consumption or rage.
-Opportunity: a loaded gun in the house or a bottle of sleeping bills in the
parents room creates an opportunity for the teen to carry out suicidal plans.

14. Prevention:
 Eating Disorders:
-General Awareness will help you avoid judgmental or mistaken attitudes about
food, weight, body shape, and eating disorders.
-Discourage the idea that a particular diet, weight, or body size will automatically
lead to happiness and fulfillment.
 Depression/Suicide:
-Telling someone if you’re worried about another individual.
-Reduce alcohol and drug use.
-Treatment.

15. References:
 http://www.helpguide.org/articles/suicide-prevention/suicide-prevention-
helping-someone-who-is-suicidal.htm
 https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/what-can-you-do-help-prevent-
eating-disorders
 Lifespan Development 5th Canadian Edition
 http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cphorsphc-respcacsp/2011/cphorsphc-
respcacsp-06-eng.php