Adolescent Development - Term Paper Example

7th May INTRODUCTION Adolescence is the stage between infancy and maturity, and rages from the ages of 12 to 17 years. During this stage, individuals experience different physical changes that influence the body dietary wants. Good diet intake for an adolescent is very important; it supports the body growth and prevents the adult from potential disruptions of one’s well being. RESEARCH ONE A research was carried out to demonstrate the relationship of the quality of diet intake and mental health. Data to be used was obtained from a school project in the Barwon- south West (BSW) of Victoria, named as, it’s Your Move. In one of the researches carried, an 84-question questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was to get information of adolescents’ in regard to their diet intake, psychological health, welfare and finally their physical activity. The weight and height was measured by professionals. Healthy diet intake was documented as fruit and vegetables as the basic food groups. Buying of the food outside the home, such as French fries, pies, biscuit and other snacks such as chocolate, ice creams and sweets, was not considered as quality food. Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), a certified measure of depressive indications in adolescents was used as an outcome variable. The measure encompassed summed scores on different questions like “I feel scared, I feel miserable, I feel annoyed and I find trouble when sleeping”. Other variables put into considerations included, age, social-economic status, physical activity levels, body mass index (BMI) and finally the dieting behaviors. RESULTS Out of 3040 students that were used as a sample, 2991 had full data on the PedQL, 2996 for the dietary intakes and 2992 for all the variables. 2915 students had all the requirements. 60% had high levels of social-economic activities, more than 50% engaged well in the physical activities while 40% had a good diet intake. Despite high levels of physical activities being linked with Healthy diet scores, physical activities was also linked with unhealthy diet intake. However, the scores differed in relation to sex. Boys demonstrated high levels of unhealthy diet intake and were more active than the girls. Unhealthy diet intake was negatively related to the body mass index though, not related to social- economic activities. Generally, the average scores of healthy diet intake were similar to both boys and girls at 4.3. The average unhealthy scores for both boys and girls were 20.8, though the scores differed in relation to boys and girls which was 21.7 and 19.6 respectively. PedQL was negatively related to unhealthy diet intake and positively related to a healthy diet intake. DISCUSSION In this research, quality diet intake had a positive relationship with mental health. An improvement quality of diet led to an improvement of the mental health of an adolescent. Another research was carried out which was used to estimate the usefulness of qality breakfast in for an adolescent. Quality breakfast is considered important for the healthy growing of adolescents. They are not fully developed into adults; thus they have a bigger brain than their liver. Therefore, lack the ability to store necessary nuitrients for periods when food is not sufficient. A research carried out by Oslo Healthy Study found out that a quality breakfast, for an adolescent helped to reduced psychological distress and played a part in the improvement of school grades. RESEARCH TWO Adolescents in the age of 14 years, in Telethon Institute for Child Health Researches in Perth, Western Australia, were used to provide data on the intake of their breakfast. A quality breakfast was considered to contain breads, cereals, vegetables, fruit, dairy products (soya products), and alternatives to meat products such as nuts and eggs. For the assessment of mental health, a 118-item Child Behaviour Checklist was used. It was used as a measure of the adolescent behaviour; mental health in a period of six years before the research. High scores; above 60, were linked with troubled sentiments. Weight and height measurements were also taken, and were categorized as underweight, normal, overweight and obese. Social- ecomoic factors were also put into consideration; income of the family (yearly income without tax), family structure (single parent family or a normal family), maternal age at conception (20-30 years) and education (grade 10-12). Another valuable used was the physical activities that the adolescents engaged in during their leisure time. RESULTS After the three days of research, majority of the adolescents’ diet was found to contain two types of food. Most of the food taken was milk, bread and ready made cereals. Low quality breakfast was mostly taken by the females, and their mothers were of low age, with low levels of education and were from families with low income levels and were also less active. An increase in breakfast quality was linked with improved mental health. DISCUSSION Insufficient nuitrient intake and meal skipping, especially breakfast leads to improper functioning of the brain such as loss of focus and increseased moodiness. Quality breakfast (breads, cereals, vegetables, fruit, dairy products; soya products, and meat alternatives such as nuts and eggs) have a lot of nuitrients that are responsible in the healthy growth and development of adolescents. A well balanced breakfast (cabohydrates, vitamins, proteins and minerals) is important as it supports the functioning of neorotransmitters; chemicals used to communicate information between neurons and in the nervous system. Dairy products such as milk is said to be nuitriocious in calcium which is important in the release of neurotransmitters than is involved in psycological processes. Breads and cereals have a nuitricious value in Vitamin B that assists in attentional processes aand carbohydrates metabolism. In addtion, breads and cereals that are in the group of carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body and thus help in reducing low blood glucose in the body. Enough glucose in the body improves tha attention and reduces anxiety experienced by adolescents. Frequent intake of this food is not just necessary but also sufficient. They are soluble and thus are not stored up in the consumer’s body for long periods. Theamin, which is also got from the intake of bread, helps in controlling adolescents’ mood, clears the mind and improves in the self confidence of the adolescent. From the above researches and from a research carried out in America on the growth of adolescents, it was found out that adolescents had a high consumption of snacks, fast foods such as chips and sweetened beverages. The consumption of such foods is related to diseases such as obesity and associated with psychological problems. Scientifically, adolescents are encouraged observe their diets. They are advised to take foods such as dairy foods (milk), fruits and vegetables with high nutrients. Lack of vitamins, minerals and other relevant elements in the growth and development of an adolescent, leads to nutritional imbalance, which later results to unhealthy adulthood. Some of the psychological problems associated with poor nutrition among the adolescents are low self regard, hopelessness, nervousness and social seclusion (Gong &Heald, 1994). However, other than observing a healthy diet intake during adolescent development, other factors can also affect the development. Insufficient income of the parents or guardian, family squabbles, and poor family administration can affect the growth of an adolescent. Not all families are able to meet their obligations in relation to their income. Some parents only afford less, and teenagers in such a home are forced to either skip meals or even at times starve. Lack of sufficient income means poor diet. Family quarrels and unstable families can also distort the development of an adolescent. Some teenagers are brought up in families where their parent/s either have mental health problems or they are drug addicts.Eventually, the teenager feels depressed and thus developes a psychological problem. Other factors also such as, maternal age at conception, maternal education, family structure and functioning are considered to affect an adolescent’s behaviour problem. Young mothers lack sufficient knowledge that is significant for the growth of a child, and thus by the time these children reach their adolescence, they lack self-confidence and are mentally unheahlty. Poor mental health of an adolesecent, can lead to loss of appetite and increase the intake sweet things such as sweets, chocolate and fatty foods thus poor development. Self confidence and a high level of self-esteem are also necessary for adoescent development other than just watching the diet intake. Teenagers go through biological, psychosocial and cognitive changes. As a result, they want to be independent on what they choose for their diet. At the adolescent stage, the teneegers are more close to their friends than to their family. As a result, they end up taking snacks and other foods with less nuitrients as long as they are in the company of their friends. Being moody and anxious is as a result of biological changes than diet intake (Gong &Heald, 1994). CONCLUSION Adolescence involves biological, psychological and cognitive growth and development. Therefore, observation of the diet intake of an adolescent is necessary as poor nutrition does not only affect ones health currently but also their future well-being. However, a health care giver should first understand the adolescent physical and psycosocial growth and expansion, so as to be in a place to educate them on the type of foods that they are supposed to take for healthy purposes (Gong &Heald, 1994). REFERENCE Gong, J & Heald, P, (1994). Diet, Nutrition and Adolescence. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger. Read More