ABSTRACT

Young people do not on the whole speak for themselves: they are spoken for by adults. Most research and policy agendas relating to young people are dominated by adult concerns about young people's health - rarely are the issues looked at from young people's perspective. This gap in our knowledge may be a critical factor in explaining some of the problems that health educators face in getting young people to transform health knowledge into action.
Based on their own research, Shucksmith and Hendry relocate the issues to a young person's perspective and provide recommendations about initiatives relevant to a wide range of professionals and researchers involved in the health education of young people.

chapter |14 pages

‘Giving a voice to children'

Exploring young people's own agendas on health

chapter |13 pages

‘You look in all these magazines and you see all these supermodels …'

Body image, appearance and health

chapter |17 pages

‘Down the Yoker'

The impact of localism on young people's health beliefs and actions

chapter |21 pages

‘I don't listen to everything she says …'

Family influences on young people's health beliefs

chapter |25 pages

‘I sort of get pushed into things'

Peer pressure and young people's beliefs in their own ‘agency' with respect to health

chapter |27 pages

‘It's a balance'

Young people speak out about health risk areas in their lives

chapter |15 pages

Conclusions

‘I'm not going to do anything stupid!'