5.1 Section Title
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Critical Thinking Exercise
Risky Health-Related Behaviors
Martina, an 18-year-old college freshman, engages in a number of health-compromising behaviors. Although she can knowledgeably discuss the hazards of cigarette smoking, binge drinking, poor nutrition, and unsafe sex, Martina engages in all these health-compromising behaviors.
Most days, Martina’s breakfast consists of a cup of coffee, a doughnut, and a cigarette grabbed in a mad dash to get to class on time. Lunch and dinner are usually a burger and fries from the local drive-through and an energy drink to get her through her late evenings at her part-time job or studying. Martina hasn’t settled down with a partner yet, but she’s had a number of sexual partners, and, despite knowing better, sometimes fails to use any form of protection. Still, she doesn’t worry about contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
Martina’s parents are worried about her. At home over semester break, Martina seems terribly run-down and irritable and has obviously gained a lot of weight. To make matters worse, she seems to be behaving recklessly. For example, although she’s on an urban campus and not driving as much, when she does drive she goes well above the speed limit and doesn’t wear a seatbelt. Martina tells her parents that accidents are inevitable and that people who don’t wear seatbelts are no more likely to be seriously injured than are those who wear them.
Her more health-conscious friends think Martina is acting as though she is going to be 18 years old forever and nothing bad can ever happen to her. Martina isn’t intentionally trying to make others worry. Sure, her life is fast-paced, but she feels that there is plenty of time to make improvements once the pressures of school are behind her. She knows she should quit smoking, but she is afraid that she’ll become even more overweight if she does. Similarly, she knows she should practice safe sex, but she doesn’t know how to bring it up at the right time.
Researchers have found that unhealthy habits such as Martina’s tend to be related, just as healthy behaviors also tend to occur together. Although people take risks at any age, young adults like Martina seem to be especially prone to risk-taking. Using the theory of triadic influence to guide your thinking, prepare answers to the following questions as you diagnose the roots of Martina’s risky health-related behaviors.
Question
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Research suggests there are potential physiological factors in the faulty reasoning that allows some adolescents to engage in impulsive and high-risk behavior. Specifically, researchers have found that changes take place in the brain’s dopaminergic system. This system originates in the midbrain where the neurotransmitter dopamine is produced. Dopamine is responsible for moderating control of the hormones that influence arousal, learning, emotional processing, our sensitivity to social pressure, social bonding, and self-consciousness. Evidence across different species from rats to humans shows that during adolescence the brain is “reward-centric,” that is, it has a heightened sensitivity to stimulation and experiences that are pleasurable. (Doremus-Fitzwater & Spear, 2016)
Question
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Peers exert a strong influence on the tendency of adolescents to engage in risky behaviors. Adolescents who more frequently engage in risky behaviors such as smoking and binge drinking spend more time with others who engage in these behaviors. They typically have more favorable views of those behaviors than do those who are less likely to take such risks. When it comes to eating behavior, peers can be influential through modeling and social pressure to conform expectations. For example, adolescents who have social networks (including parents and classmates) that include overweight people are more likely to underestimate their own weight and hold inaccurate ideas about what a healthy and appropriate weight is (Maximova et al., 2008). In Martina’s case, her built environment, with its easy access to inexpensive, high-fat processed food, puts her at risk for gaining weight and makes it more difficult to lose it.
Question
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Some behaviors have similar consequences. For example, alcohol and nicotine abuse are linked because both regulate our emotions, and both can be triggered by the same social cues (like social anxiety).