can somebody help me PLEASE? im banging my head against a wall!!!

[tiredemma]

i have a 2000 word essay to do- the title is

"influences that affect the health of a group in society"
(i have chosen adolescents)
the assesment criteria is

1. clear identification of a society group 2.analysis of lifestyle, environmental and political factors that affect the groups health
2. discussion of social factors that affect the groups health.

aargh! where do i start?
i know i need to incorporate teenage pregnancies/STD's/obesity/smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.

any pointers? ill be eternally grateful xxxxxxx

Main social factor would be peer pressure, I guess, and lack of inhibition. There, that's about 5 of your words done for you At least this will bump it for you!

with alcohol might want to look at increase in female drinking/and effect of alcopops on younger market

binge drinking and effect on sexual behaviour will intersect quite nicely with PG/STD

could also look at development of better retroviral drugs and influence on sexual behaviour as young people are less scared of AIDs/HIV than we were

obesity - political factors could be less time for PE in school, playing fields sold off etc.

What about diet / body image e.g. long term damaging effects of teenage dieting on girls in later life particularly osteoporosis etc.

Lots of the influences are environmental = consumer / aspiration culture.

Hmm sounds intersting!

do you have a structure for your essay

the obvious starting point IMHO (very humble) would be an identification of adolescents as a group, what age, how they span social strata .. in fact thinking about it are adolescents actually a homogenous enough group to analyse them in terms of health .. I would expect that family status (wealth / poverty / education / family make-up) would have a huge impact on each individual adolescent

or just ignore me

i knew someone would reply!!!you are stars!!
its so difficult just to "get the ball rolling"

no twiglett- you are right, if i dont "size it down" to a certain "group" within adolescents then ill have far too much info for 2000 words.

Oooooh i dunno

Try and make it a good one though, i might need to borrow it

nutty!!

im trying my hardest to get a gold star for this one!

Oooh almost forgot, could you do me a big favour and pick up some stuff from the UCE open day for me ??? On child nursing and speech and language therapy.

Dd1 has a ballet performance thingy on that day so i can't make it.

Have applied to college now, am just waiting to hear back. Rang them to ask what day the course will be run on and they don't know.

yep no probs, ill post it all to you.

think that the course is on either a monday or tues next year, they probably wont decide until the week before!

dont forget the rare few of youngsters aiming for high powered careers (some under enormous pressure from parents to suceed)who generally suffer frm high stress levels, anxiety, insommnia etc

, god hope not, i have to arrange a nursery place for Ds.

Thanks for that, your a star.

Have you started your work experiance yet ??

I think Twiglett's points are very valid and would make a good starting point from which to base the rest of the essay. Education (from all sources - formal, family, etc) must be one of the biggest influences on adolescents.

thanks tiffini, - there isjust too much for 2000 words!! i could write a 10000 word dissertation on it!

nutty- im working with homestart every friday- i love it really interesting.
other than that there isnt much time for anything else!

Oooh sounds good, glad you are enjoying it.

tiredemma - have you looked at the 1998 Acheson Report Inequalities in Health Report? There is a section on young people and threats to their health (and recommendations for doing something about it). Will try and do a link...

AchesonReport

also there is evidence around how socio-economic status affects health. I think the Black Report has some stuff on this...

yoyo- so do you think to break it down to a certain area i could discuss initially what thier social background is as a major factor?

sorry sounds gobbledigook but teenagers from oneparent families will obviously have differing probs than from a teenager with a stable family background?
god this is hard

rudydudy- thanks for the link- that looks really interesting x

i have a copy of the black report staring at me from the table!!

you could ball point all of the health isuues effecting the youngsters as a short introduction to your essay just to highlight that you are aware of them, and then introduce the areas you have decided to base your essay on

cool - let me know what it says about SES and nutrition as that's the next essay I'll be writing

Tiredmama - this isn't my feld at all but just looking at the question I would think you would have to narrow the study group or your answer would become to vague. You could perhaps chose two very different backgrounds and compare but that moves away from the set question. As you have been asked to identify the group clearly this should simplify your answer.

thanks for your help EVERYONE, im going to have a blast at it now- will let you all know how it goes!!

rudydudy- have you looked at this site? www.sochealth.co.uk/history/black.htm ?
sorry i cant do links but its an online condensed version of the black report.

happy reading!!!

that site looks really useful - thank you

Good luck with the writing