Adolescent Health, Well-being & Social Support

Question 1

What is Adolescence?

Answer 1

• Spans from ages 10 to 19, representing a complex developmental stage transitioning individuals from childhood to adulthood.
• During adolescence, individuals undergo puberty, experiencing physiological and physical changes. This stage involves navigating a changing environment, seeking independence, exploring identity, and balancing social expectations.
• While typically in good physical and mental health, adolescents’ behaviors like sexual activity, physical activity, and lifestyle choices (substance use, nutrition) impact their current and future health.
• Social circumstances significantly influence adolescents’ health. Negative contexts may lead to developmental and behavioral challenges, potentially resulting in disorders or even suicide.
• Various societal sectors impact adolescents’ health, safety, and well-being. They can leverage personal assets to address risks and foster growth.
• Protective factors such as family support, extracurricular activities, positive peers, religious groups, and sports contribute to avoiding risks, promoting social and emotional competence, and supporting thriving now and in the future.
• Adolescents and young adults are particularly sensitive to environmental influences during their developmental transition. Exposure to different values, gaining independence, and experimenting with new behaviors make them vulnerable to potential dangers and risks in their environment.

Question 2

Family

Answer 2

• Family Systems theorists emphasize the family as an interacting system where individual behavior affects the entire family and its subsystems. Good communication and bonding with adults reduce adolescent engagement in risky behaviors.
• Social Control theorists propose that developing proper moral codes through socialization reduces the likelihood of engaging in deviant behaviors. Attachment theory from psychology supports the idea that maintaining close relationships with caregivers contributes to successful adulthood.
• Poverty within families presents challenges such as poorer health, limited access to healthcare, high mobility, instability for children, and the risk of homelessness. Lack of access to basic needs affects the child’s development and can lead to issues like hunger and food insecurity.
• An absent parent, possibly due to incarceration or other reasons, may contribute to poverty and neglect. Neglect, especially in the form of absent parents, is prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago and can lead to children entering the labor market instead of attending school.
• Poverty is often associated with domestic violence (DV) and substance abuse. DV is a complex issue influenced by various factors, including characteristics of partners, previous experiences, environmental stressors, and exposure to hostility. Children witnessing DV may lack proper social skills and conflict resolution abilities, potentially becoming offenders themselves.

Question 3

Social Exclusion

Learning

Answer 3

• Toxic stress in early childhood impacts learning, behavior, and health, leading to lasting effects. These factors manifest in noncognitive skills crucial for academic success but not assessed in standardized tests.
• School engagement involves various factors such as study skills, work habits, attendance, problem-solving skills, social problem-solving skills, help-seeking behaviors, and attitudes. On the flip side, school disengagement is a decline in these activities, often leading to dropping out.
• Positive parental support is a potent predictor of students’ motivation and engagement with school work and activities. A neglectful and harsh disciplinary environment can contribute to poor study skills, attendance issues, and other factors affecting school engagement.
• Academic success and achievement predict adult health outcomes. Proficient adolescents are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and exhibit healthier behaviors. The school environment is related to attendance, achievement, and behavior, influencing overall engagement.
• School leavers with characteristics like stunted academic development, impulsivity, low self-control, and social skills face lower quality of life, reduced employment opportunities, decreased health, and higher rates of recidivism. Similar characteristics are found in adult and adolescent criminals.

Question 4

Social Exclusion

Behavior

Answer 4

• Adolescents from distressed neighborhoods with poverty and high criminal activity face social exclusion issues, impacting physical and mental health, delinquency, and risky sexual behavior.
• Exposure to media portrayals of violence, sexual content, smoking, and drinking increases the risk of adolescents adopting these behaviors. Media influence contributes to potential health and behavioral challenges among adolescents.

Question 5

Adolescent Health in Situations of Contextual Disconnection- Cartierre et al.,(2011)

Answer 5

• Girls tend to exhibit more internalization disorders, such as anxiety, depression, or somatic complaints, while boys are more prone to externalized disorders like aggression or delinquent behaviors.
• Family-related concerns are linked to internalizing issues in mental health.
• School climate is associated with risk-taking behaviors, violent behaviors, and substance consumption, leading to externalizing behaviors.
• Cartierre et al. (2011) studied 1153 middle school children, exploring links between the quality of contextual transactions and health, considering gender differences.
• Adolescents disconnected from family or school, both, or neither were examined for internalized (self-esteem, anxiety, depression) and externalized (aggressive, delinquent) health outcomes.

Question 6

Adolescent Health in Situations of Contextual Disconnection- Cartierre et al.,(2011)

Findings

Answer 6

• Contextual disconnection (family, school, or both) is positively related to health problems and disorders.
• Unfavorable scores are observed in three internalized health outcomes (self-esteem, anxiety, and depression) compared to the not disconnected group.
• Double disconnection (both family and school) associates with more unfavorable scores for each internalized health outcome compared to single context disconnection.
• Academic climate protects against family disconnection, and familial climate similarly protects against academic disconnection.
• Family disconnected boys (not girls) have significantly lower self-esteem scores than school-disconnected boys.
• Girls consistently exhibit the most unfavorable scores across different contextual disconnection situations.
• For self-esteem, the effect of gender and contextual disconnection seems additive, with girls having the most unfavorable scores regardless of the situation.
• For anxiety and depression, a multiplicative effect appears, indicating an interaction between gender and contextual disconnection.
• Girls’ scores are consistently the most unfavorable, and both boys’ and girls’ scores differ from family disconnection to double disconnection. Girls’ scores significantly increase, while boys’ scores do not.

Question 7

Mitigation of Adverse Effects of Poverty on School

Answer 7

• Strategy 1: Enhance academic achievement, attitudes, and behaviors of economically disadvantaged students and those at risk of dropping out through targeted interventions. This involves assessing the three components of school engagement and understanding the constraints faced by students.
• Strategy 2: Improve the overall settings by addressing poverty levels in families, schools, and communities, along with adverse conditions within them. This necessitates substantial political will and public support to reduce disparities in family income, access to healthcare, school funding, student composition, and community resources.

Question 8

Social Identity & Well-being

Answer 8

• Health is intricately linked to well-being, and our social nature is expressed through our existence in social groups, which goes beyond providing an external context, shaping our psychology and sense of self.
• Social groups offer a sense of social identity, providing a psychological benefit by fostering a sense of place, purpose, and belonging. They contribute to grounding our lives with meaning, making us feel distinctive, efficacious, and successful, thereby enhancing self-esteem and sense of worth.
• Positive effects of group membership can buffer well-being during threats and aid in coping with the negative consequences of being part of a devalued group. Social identity theories, such as Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory and Turner’s self-categorization theory, highlight the central role of social groups in human behaviors and contexts.
• People often define their sense of self in terms of group membership, with mental health implications based on the stability, meaning, purpose, and direction provided by these groups, known as in-groups.
• Compromised social identity, whether through leaving or changing groups, rejection, or significant in-group changes, tends to have negative psychological consequences, requiring adjustment and leading to a temporary loss of psychological “footing.”
• Shared social identity positively impacts work and life satisfaction, acting as a foundation for effective support from in-group members. Longitudinal research indicates that social identification with a workgroup positively impacts health, well-being, and morale, offering protection from burnout during demanding phases of group activity.
• The workplace is a prominent domain for issues of well-being, emphasizing the need to recognize that individuals define themselves in social terms (‘us’ and ‘we’), not just personal terms (‘I’ and ‘me’). Understanding social identity is crucial for comprehending well-being in organizational contexts, particularly in the dynamics of workplace stress and burnout.

Question 9

Social Identity & Burnout

Answer 9

• Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from prolonged engagement in emotionally demanding work situations (Greenglass, 2011).
• It has detrimental effects on the health and personal lives of individuals experiencing it, impacting the quality of services provided to patients, students, clients, and customers.
• The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), developed by Maslach and Jackson in 1981, defines burnout as a three-dimensional syndrome:
  1. Emotional exhaustion: Draining of emotional resources due to demanding interpersonal contacts.
  2. Depersonalization : Negative, callous, and cynical attitude toward the recipients of one’s care or services.
  3. Lack of personal accomplishment: Tendency to evaluate one’s work with recipients negatively.
• Among the three components, emotional exhaustion closely resembles the prototype of stress as described in the literature.

Question 10

Burnout Syndrome in Secondary School Teachers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Garcia-Carmona et al., 2019)

Answer 10

• Secondary school teachers face high levels of sick leave due to workplace stress, leading to burnout characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment.
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of 45 articles and 49 independent samples (N = 14,410) highlight the significant risk of burnout among secondary school teachers.
• The issue of burnout is concerning as it correlates with depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms, negatively impacting individuals’ quality of life.
• Job-related factors, demographic contributors (such as residing in neglected communities), and insufficient social support contribute to burnout.
• Developing pedagogical programs is crucial to reduce and prevent the impact of burnout among secondary school teachers. Social support plays a vital role in stress management and can serve as a proactive measure against developing stress.

Question 11

Burnout & Social Support

Answer 11

• Burnout is closely linked to personal resources like social support and coping strategies.
• Research, including studies on teachers, nurses, and therapists, indicates a negative association between social support and burnout, with lower social support correlating with higher burnout levels (Curtona & Russell, 1990).
• Within the workplace, co-worker and supervisor support have beneficial effects on reducing worker burnout.
• Practical support from co-workers and supervisors buffers teachers from depersonalization when facing high work stress.
• Perceptions of strong organizational support contribute to feelings of belongingness and solidarity, reducing work-related stress.
• Perceived organizational support enhances feelings of efficacy on the job, leading to a reduction in the effects of burnout.
• These findings underscore the importance of social support and organizational backing in mitigating burnout and promoting well-being in various professions.

Question 12

COVID-19 & Workplace Burnout

Answer 12

• Prolonged working hours and heightened responsibilities at home during the pandemic have introduced stressors across various life domains.
• A 2021 survey in the U.S. revealed that 79% of workers experienced burnout, with almost 3 out of 5 employees reporting negative impacts such as lack of motivation, cognitive weariness, emotional exhaustion, and physical fatigue.
• Professions like teaching and medicine, already prone to burnout, saw exacerbated cases during the pandemic.
• Factors contributing to worsened burnout included concerns and uncertainty over vaccines, lack of government and organizational support.
• This heightened burnout can lead to cynicism, potentially undermining an individual’s perception of their value to the organization.
• There’s a risk of downstream burnout, where the quality of work in care professional jobs, such as teaching and medicine, could negatively impact students and patients.
• The situation emphasizes the need for workplace adjustments to support employees experiencing extreme burnout, mirroring the adjustments these employees have had to make to continue providing their essential services.