INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Adapted from lectures by
Arvind Balakrishnan
Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) | Where Knowledge Is Applied and Dreams Realised
INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Adapted from lectures by
Arvind Balakrishnan
Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) | Where Knowledge Is Applied and Dreams Realised
ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Adolescents and young adults
• 15–24 years of age
• The age range of 10–19 years of age is used for adolescents
is used by World Health Organization (WHO).

Adults
• 25–64 years of age
• Different organizations and agencies use various age ranges
to categorize adolescents and young adults.
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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
• The years of life between the ages of 15 and 64 are some of the most
productive, if not the most productive, of people’s lives.
• It is also during this time that individuals typically enjoy some of the
best health of their lives as well as have their current and future
health and health behaviors shaped by their environment and life
circumstances.

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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
• Many people will
• complete their formal education
• meet and commit to their lifelong partners
• become parents and raise a family
• find and develop their profession
• earn their greatest amount of wealth
• actively engage in the development of their community
• travel more than during any other time in their lives
• become aunts or uncles and grandparents
• become valued employees
• serve as role models and mentors
• plan and save for retirement.

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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Adolescents
• Def: The period of life from puberty to maturity
• The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an adolescent as
any person between ages 10 and 19.
• Period of transition from childhood to adulthood.
• A time when children psychologically move from areas of
relative comfort and emotional security to places and
situations that are far more complex and often much more
challenging → Psychological change
• Also experience “hormonal changes, physical maturation, and
frequently, opportunities to engage in risk behaviors.”
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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Young adults
• also face many physical, emotional, and
educational changes.
• complete their physical growth and maturity,
leave home, marry, start a family, postsecondary
education, join military/ begin careers
• considered one of the most difficult stage in life.
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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Adolescents & Young adults
• During this period Health-related beliefs, attitudes, and
behaviors are adopted and consolidated.
• Young people have increased freedom and access to
health-compromising substances and experiences—such
as alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and sexual risk taking
• Opportunities for health-enhancing experiences such as
regularly scheduled exercise, healthful diets, and
opportunities to engage in behaviors and experiences that
benefit their communities.
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ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Adolescents & Young adults
• The concept that health status and environmental exposures in
the early part of one’s life will impact their adult health status is
called the ‘life course approach to understanding health and
disease’.
• Explains how every stage of a person’s life impacts the individual’s
long-term health.
• Risky behaviors as well as protective factors in the adolescent and
young adult years will have an influence on that person’s wellbeing throughout his
or her lifetime.
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Demographic Variables that affect health of
adolescents & young adults

Number of
young people

Living
Arrangements

Employment
status

Access to
healthcare
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Number of Adolescents and Young Adults

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Number of Adolescents and Young Adults
Adolescents ,Young adults & Adults
• The composition of the population aged 0–14 years old
(young age) in 2019 decreased from 23.8 per cent in 2018
to 23.3 per cent.
• Population aged 15–64 years old (working age) increased
from 69.7 per cent in 2018 to 70.0 per cent in 2019.
• Similarly, the composition of population 65 years and over
(old–age) increased from 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent.
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Living Arrangements
• Rise in percentage of children younger than the age of 18 living in a
single parent family.
• Increase in the divorce rates
• Children in a single-parent family are more likely to be living with
their mother.
• 2000 Malaysia census = 620,389 single mothers within the country.
• Increased in 2010 to 831,860 (2.9 % of the population.)

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Divorce Cases in
Malaysia

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Living Arrangements
• Unfortunately, many children are affected over their lifetimes by
growing up in single-parent families.
• Children living in single-parent families are more likely to experience
economic disadvantages as well as negative impacts on their
emotional, cognitive, and social well-being.
• Increasing number of adolescents and young adults are delaying
some of these life choices and taking longer to become
independent, for a variety of reasons.

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From The Edge Financial Daily, Dec 20, 2017

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Employment Status & Health Care Access
• 1960s-1990s - significant increases in the participation of young
women in the labor force
• Proportion of all adolescents and young adults in the labor force has
remained relatively constant.
• Less adolescents seeking permanent jobs because of increased
enrollment in college & universities
• Other factors affecting employment rate: race & ethnicity, education
level, sex

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HEALTH BEHAVIOURS OF ADOLESCENTS THAT
AFFECT MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY
• Behaviors that Contribute to Unintentional Injuries: seat belt use, helmet use
• Behaviors that Contribute to Violence: bullying, carrying weapon, school related
violence, suicide
• Tobacco Use : vape, cigars
• Alcohol and other drugs: ecstasy, meth, cocaine, marijuana, steroids
• Sexual behaviors that contribute to Unintentional Pregnancy and STDS
• Physical Activity : Sedentary Behaviors
• Overweight and Weight Control: eating disorders
• VIDEO PRESENTATION:
• 1. What are the behaviors that can affect the health of adolescents and young
adults?
• 2. What programs / initiatives are currently available to address these risks?
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THANK YOU

UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR

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