Youth: Choices and Change : Promoting Healthy Behaviors in Adolescents

This publication on adolescent health and positive behaviour change is seen as an important public health issue. It presents the collection and reporting of the application of behavioral change theories and models specifically to adolescents. It represents an attempt to incorporate a developmental perspective in the conceptual analysis of these classical theoretical constructs when applied to the various stages of adolescence.Cultural, ethnic, and gender differences are also given special consideration, as is the role of poverty and the ability of some adolescents to secure physical and emotional well-being despite circumstances of adversity.This book additionally attempts to explain why some health promotion interventions aimed at positive adolescent behavior change produce the desired results, while others fail. A diversity of geographical settings are cited: from Africa to the United States, Canada to Jamaica, Brazil to the Netherlands, El Salvador to Japan, and India to Mexico, amongst them.