Citation

Currie C. Int. J. Public Health 2019; 64(2): 149-150.

Affiliation

Global Adolescent Health and Behaviour Research Unit (GAHBRU), GCU London, 40 Fashion Street, London, E1 6PX, UK. candace.currie@gcu.ac.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00038-019-01212-5

PMID

30895339

Abstract

In much academic writing on matters of adolescent public health, age is treated as a proxy for developmental stage, and yet the two are very different concepts and this lack of distinction neglects important biological processes that impact the well-being of young people. Large-scale surveys of adolescents frequently describe differences in the health and risk behaviour, as well as a wide range of health measures, as related to age (Currie et al. 2008, 2012a). Between the ages of 11 and 15 years, adolescents are immersed in a complexity of changes to their physical selves, cognitive function, emotional range, impulsivity, desire for risk taking and hormonal function (Patton and Viner 2007). These changes affect their health-related behaviour, well-being, social and gender identity, social relations and ability to concentrate and learn.

However, the timing and pace of pubertal development varies significantly between the sexes, and between individual girls and boys, depending on a wide range of personal, social and environmental factors .../

Language: en