Kontakt 2008, 10(1):85-89 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2008.012

Evaluation of health by adolescentsHealth and Social Sciences

Blandína Šramová

Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre, Fakulta sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva, katedra pedagogickej psychológie

The contribution deals with the analysis of the subjective importance of the health of adolescents. The authors present results of a cross-sectional research based on a group of 350 Slovak adolescents (162 boys and 188 girls). The target: to identify dominant areas to be considered in the compilation of a teaching subject focused on the education of an adolescent personality for health based on a subjective survival of concepts associated with the health.

Methods: Semantic sample (V. Doležal).

Results: In the consideration of terms associated with the health, the adolescents select six principal factors as follows: social support, distress, family relationship, stress, difficulties of the life, with a prevalence of negative context. Information concerning the health protection from negative effects is prevalent over information leading to the health protection. Certain differences are indicated between the considerations of the concept of health between adolescent girls and boys, which reflect persisting gender stereotypes. Adolescent girls, in contrast to boys, select the factors contradictoriness and difference, which do not occur in boys. This finding corresponds with other investigations accenting the contradictoriness between attitudes to the health and active approach to the health protection as well as support. Adolescent boys, in contrast to girls, select a special factor, peace of mind, which is characterized by the terms: happiness, love, relaxation. The results of the examination demonstrated the importance of following both health threatening and protective factors associated with health. Insufficient attention is being paid just to factors supporting health, which was also manifested in the subjective perception of the concept of health in the adolescents examined. When compiling educational strategies supporting the health of the young generation, differences between genders should also be taken into account among other factors.

Keywords: health; adolescents; self-evaluation; personal identity

Received: September 26, 2007; Accepted: January 14, 2008; Prepublished online: June 27, 2008; Published: July 27, 2008  Show citation