Doi
Reasons of Healthy Behaviour Disorders in Adolescence

(Maryna Martseniuk)

Mukachevo State University, Mukachevo, Ukraine


Introduction. The urgency of the issue of health preservation is of increasing interest among representatives of various sciences, because health – is a necessary condition for active and normal human activity.

Today, in conditions of the Ukrainian society development, the young people’s state of physical and mental health is particularly acute, as the current situation is aggravated by high rates of youth morbidity, deterioration of the ecological, economic, epidemiological situation, as well as moral and spiritual crisis. The rate of the young people’s health deterioration is too great.

A significant part of the reasons that negatively affects the state of health is the consequence of a certain person’s behaviour, leading to the emergence of diseases, their transition to a chronic condition, premature depletion of the adaptive potential (Tytarenko, 2006).

The purpose of the paper is to provide a theoretical analysis and empirical study of the causes of healthy behaviour disorders in adolescent age.

Methodology. Theoretical analysis, systematization of scientific, theoretical and methodological sources, empirical methods (standardized techniques, observations, conversations), as well as methods of processing and interpreting data (quantitative and qualitative, with the use of mathematical statistics) have been used in the work.

Theoretical analysis of the concepts of "health" and "healthy behaviour" in scientific sources, proved a steady interest of the doctors, psychologists, and pedagogues to the issues. H. Apanasenko, B. Bratus, S. Bielicheva, S. Boltivets, O. Bondarenko, O. Hubenko, I. Hoian, V. Klymenko, N. Zavydivska, O.Kokun, H.Lozhkin, S.Maksymenko, N. Maksymova, V. Moliako, K. Miliutina, V.Noskov, T. Tytarenko, T. Khomulenko and others addressed to them.

They claim, that the issue of health is the most acute in the period of personality formation, especially in adolescent age, since this period of personal development has a significant influence on the formation of fundamental psychological structures, subjectivity in the behavioural, individual and social, spontaneous and conscious dimensions of the individual, as well as approaches to classifications of behavioural disorders have been described (Maksymenko, 2007).

An empirical research was conducted on the basis of general secondary schools of Mukachevo town during February-April 2018, where 55 students of 10 and 11 grade took part. The study was conducted using a number of psychodiagnostic techniques, namely:

1. The questionnaire of healthy behaviour disorders (Lutsenko & Habelkova), created by national psychologists as an instrument for studying the modern person’s predispositions to lead a peculiar lifestyle. This questionnaire allows to analyse the factors that influence the causes of healthy behaviour disorders in adolescent age, among which: craving for smoking, malnutrition, disrespectful attitude to own safety, craving for alcohol, the desire to sacrifice health for the sake of a "fashionable image", low self-control will for health, emotional incompetence and self-destructive behaviour (Lutsenko & Habelkova, 2013).

2. Hardiness survey (Maddi,Leontiev & Raskazov),which has been chosen and used in our study to determine the extent of the person’s ability to withstand a stressful situation, observing the internal balance and not reducing the success of the activity, contains questions of three scales of the questionnaire – commitment, control and challenge (Raihorodskyi, 2009).

3. The "Life-meaning Orientations" test (Leontiev) has been taken in order to investigate the person’s psychological and emotional state, to evaluate the so-called life-meaning "source" that can be discovered by the person either in the future (goals), or in the present (process) or in the past (result), or in all mentioned components of life (Raihorodskyi, 2009).

Resullts. The correlation analysis with Pearson’schi-square test for independence has been applied in order to understand better the psychological causes of healthy behaviour disorders in adolescent age.

The conducted correlation analysis showed that the scales "commitment" and "crawling for smoking" (r = 0,407), "challenge" and "crawling for alcohol" (r = 0,535), Locus control of the “Life” and Locus control of the “Self”(r = 0,423), "challenge" and "self-destructive behaviour" (r = 0,515) are significantly correlated. As we can see, the craving for smoking can be associated with sense of commitment, belongingness in young people. People with high scores according to this scale give rise to the feelings of uselessness, retardation, they feel themselves "out of life". Preferring smoking such people harm themselves and the environment.

A young person who considers life as a way of gaining experience is usually ready to act in the absence of reliable guarantees of success, to take risks, considering that the desire for simple comfort and safety impoverishes the life of the individual. This behaviour is characteristic to individuals with a high level according to the scale "Challenge". However, a person who crawls for alcohol and is prone to self-destructive behaviour is not able to manage his / her life reasonably and rationally, and risk for the sake of temporary pleasure, which may lead to various addictions, self-destructive actions (drug addiction behaviour, self-incision, computer addiction, food addiction, rarely – suicidal behaviour), degradation of personality and, as a result – the ruined life.

The high scores for Locus control of the “Life” and Locus control of the “Self” scales reflect the strong person’s self-image with sufficient freedom of choice in order to build his / her life according to one’s own goals and objectives, and ideas about its meaning, as well as, the ability in everyday life to manage one’s own life, make decisions independently.

The generalised data of Pearson correlation analysis are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Pearson correlation coefficient (R)

Scale 1

Scale 2

R-Pearson correlation coefficient

goals

process

r = 0,287

goals

commitment

r = -0,275

process

locus control of the “Self”

r= -0,313

process

challenge

r= -0,337

result

malnutrition

r = -0,269

locus control of the “Self”

locus control of the “Life”

r= 0,423

locus control of the “Self”

process

r = -0,313

locus control of the “Life”

locus control of the “Self”

r= 0,423

commitment

goals

r = -0,275

commitment

crawling for smoking

r= 0,407

control

disrespectful attitude to own safety

r=-0,669

challenge

process

r= -0,337

challenge

crawling for alcohol

r= 0,535

challenge

"pursuit ofthe fashionable image"

r= -0,582

challenge

self-destructive behaviour

r = 0,515


It should be noted, that the "challenge" and "pursuit of the fashionable image", (r = -0,582), as well as "control" and " disrespectful attitude to own safety " (r = -0,669), correlate inversely with each other. Obviously, the higher the young person’s level of challenge, the less the person is exposed to the feeling and the desire to follow fashionable trends, the more the person tends to risk, to endanger. And accordingly, the less control over this process, the higher the level of disrespectful attitude to own safety.

Limitations and strengths of the study. Consequently, as a result of theoretical and empirical research, a number of reasons for healthy behavior disorders in adolescent age have been found:

- low level of the youth acquaintance or competence in the field of health, as well as knowledge of the main risk and anti-risk factors, understanding of the role of health in ensuring the life efficiency and longevity;

- lack of a consistent and continuous health education system, healthy lifestyle skills, models and self-preserving behavior techniques, with the further reproduction in his / her own life;

- lack of priority of health as a life priority and motivation for a healthy lifestyle and health culture;

- aggressive social environment, that is, abuse of alcohol by parents, conflicts in the family;

- sanitary and hygienic problems as well as poor nutrition;

- psychological reasons: insecurity, inadequate self-esteem, low distress tolerance, emotional imbalance and incompetence, influence of peer circle, youthful exuberance, low self-control, self-destructive behavior are the main among them.

Practical/Social value. The obtained results allow to find out if the students adhere to the healthy behavior and to investigate the causes of these violations in adolescence, as well as to identify problem students, to indicate the probable reason of these violations for further corrective work.

Conclusions. Directions for further research we see in the development of programs for the formation and development of a conscious attitude towards health and healthy lifestyles.


Keywords: health, healthy behavior, adolescent age, healthy lifestyle, health culture.

Svit One - tools for business Made in Svit