Family support crucial for developing healthy lifestyle in adolescents, says expert

Doha: Families are encouraged to support the development of healthy lifestyle in their adolescent children through problem solving, clear and direct c...

Doha: Families are encouraged to support the development of healthy lifestyle in their adolescent children through problem-solving, clear and direct communication, expressing thoughts and emotions, developing alternatives, deciding, acting, and evaluating effectiveness.

Dr. Sarah Rashid (pictured), Consultant Community Medicine and Wellness in Charge at Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC)’s Rawdat Al Khail health center says that the family plays an important role in the development of autonomy and joint decisions regarding food and exercise, thus contributing to healthier food choices. Flexible behaviour control correlates with effective family functioning, therefore, families are advised to set standards for behaviour but apply in flexible manner.

Among the factors which adolescents regard as important in supporting a healthy lifestyle are the role of friendships, mobile applications, and the level of autonomy that parents grant adolescents in respect of making their own food choices. Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. It is a unique stage of human development and socialisation process. It is an important time for laying the foundations of good health and creates opportunities for change. Adolescents experience rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth. This affects how they feel, think, make decisions, and interact with the world around them.

Dr. Rashid describes that during adolescence, young people face a few challenges that can generate stress, such as finding their identity, adapting to the expectations of school, family, and friends, and making decisions related to their future. Young people who experience exposure to school violence, such as victims and aggressors, show a lower ability to cope with stressful situation. Similarly, young people who suffer cyberbullying present higher levels of anxiety and depression and low self-esteem. Self-esteem refers both to one’s own subjective evaluation of personal worth and to the feedback obtained from the interpretations of other subjects.

“Experiencing stressful situation increases the probability of unhealthy behaviors such as consuming higher levels of harmful substances like tobacco or alcohol. Adolescence is crucial for future health and disease as habits such as unhealthy food intake and development of chronic diseases acquired during this period may persist into adulthood,” Dr. Rashid added.