FORMATIVE LIFE PASSAGES

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 FORMATIVE LIFE PASSAGES

• I.                     Introduction
•       As children grow into adults, they go
  through beginning life passages and continue to
  experience profound and formative
• biological,
• psychological,
• social
• and spiritual changes.
•      Numerous contexts and circumstances surround
  young peoples health-related experiences.
•      Communication with friends, parents,
  siblings and even with oneself affects the way
  young people make sense of and come to terms with
  their changing identities.

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FORMATIVE LIFE PASSAGES

• Numerous contexts
• and circumstances surround young peoples
  health-related experiences. Communication with
  friends, parents, siblings and even with oneself
  affects the way young people make sense of and
  come to terms with their changing identities

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Communicating a Sense of Self The Emotion of
Change

• Formative life passages for young people often
  revolve around
• emotional expression,
• self-esteem
• and body image.

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Communicating a Sense of Self The Emotion of
Change

• Studies have also found that while females more
  often than males cited physical appearance and
  body parts as sources of feeling good about the
  self,
• both indicated that physical appearance has a
  significant impact on self-image and esteem.

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Communicating a Sense of Self The Emotion of
Change

• In studies of young people in middle and high
  school, researchers have found that boys tend to
  restrict their emotional expression beginning
  early in adolescence
• while girls increase their expression.

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•     Adolescence is a developmental period in
  which physical,
• psychological,
• social/cultural
• and cognitive development
• is accelerated, and self-identity and autonomy
  are established.

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•        Puberty, the biological changes that lead
  to reproductive maturity,
• is impacted by cultural meanings about gender
• and sexuality
• and is the time in young peoples lives that
  produce the highest amount of overall change.

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• By engaging in narrative work, adolescents can
  reconcile their contradictory feelings,
• balance their actual experiences with their
  hopes,
• address the loss of their childhood, and attempt
  to maintain a level of continuity in the face of
  all of the imminent changes.

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• Girls have a tendency to approach adolescence and
  puberty with much anxiety and ambivalence,
• whereas boys discuss their new-found adult
  characteristics, independence and autonomy.

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• Researchers have characterized the developing
  female as being in the center
• of a body politic,
• placing young women in the position of
  internalizing and resisting messages that are
  objectifying,
• such as with breast development.

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•       Menarche, the onset of menstruation, is one
  of the most significant markers or transitions
  for young women,
• and across almost every culture, talk of
  menstruation is often secretive, emotional, and
  bound in the politics of the female body.

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Communicating Sex Education

•      More than ever, our society is considering
  what schools and parents should be communicating
  to children about sex.

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Communicating Sex Education

• Family communication is central to the decisions
  that adolescents make about sex and sexuality.
• Question Does Information about sex and
  sexuality needs to be more subjective?
• and experiential?
• rather than clinical and biological?

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Communicating Sex Education

•       One of the largest influences on teen sex
  education is the array of sources in the media
  and the confusing messages that are produced by
  its various resources.
•         A great deal of public school education
  promotes victimization of females,
• suppresses talk of female desire,
• and privileges heterosexuality.

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A large concern surrounding sex education is
teenage pregnancy

• 1.        Statistics indicate that teenage
  pregnancy is rising, though media influences seem
  to simplify this extremely complex issue, such as
  through advertisements about pregnancy tests.
• 2.        The controversy surrounding teenage
  pregnancy is addressed through numerous
  campaigns, including promotion of abstinence,
  distribution of birth control methods and sending
  safe sex messages.
• 3.        Family planning practitioners and
  clients must partner in making decisions about
  birth control.
• 4.        Most importantly, though, is the need
  to un-simplify pregnancy and childbirth.

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Communicating About Risk-Taking Behaviors

• A.      Formative life passages for young people
  may mark the first ventures into risk-taking
  behaviors.
• B.       Many health campaigns have targeted
  these behaviors, attempting to increase
  adolescents awareness of the behaviors and
  providing the resources to change them.

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• Many adolescents experiment with drinking alcohol
  to make them feel less inhibited, but it can lead
  to binge drinking,
• unsafe/unplanned sex,
• driving while intoxicated/auto accidents,
• and the use of illegal drugs.

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• D.      Eating habits, formed early in life and
  influenced by media and peers, require a drastic
  change in media messages, parental intervention
  and educating children on healthy dietary habits
  in order to reduce unhealthy behaviors.
• F.       Teens smoking cigarettes is powerfully
  influenced by parent, peer and media messages,
  and an active role taken by parents in shaping
  childrens knowledge, attitudes and skills may
  help reduce the number of young smokers.

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• E.       Alcohol abuse, a serious problem among
  adolescents, may lead to serious outcomes,
  including death,
• unsafe/unplanned sex,
• assault,
• automobile accidents
• and use of illegal drugs.