Health Compromising Behaviors Essay

Describe the important characteristics of health-compromising behaviors.
Health-compromising behaviors are those that can have a negative effect on one’s current and/or future health (Taylor, 2015). These behaviors include smoking, drug-use, risky sexual behavior, and eating patterns. Five characteristics are common amongst these health-compromising behaviors.
• First, these behaviors usually make their first appearance in adolescence. As children move into their teen years, societal and peer pressures begin to drive their actions; looking cool and fitting in becomes salient, which drives teens to copy what their friends do and possibly put themselves into situations they’d rather not be a part of.
• Second, these behaviors tend to be rewarding,
Smoking in adolescence begins with exposure from peers, continues with experimentation, and ends with full engagement with smoking on a regular basis. Once the habit has developed, adolescents are more likely to continue smoking among friends that also smoke. While many believe that peer pressure is the cause of teenage smoking, schools also play a role. If action is not taken to inform students of health risks early on, or disciplinary action is not taken when authority figures see students smoking, this can have an indirect effect, as these teens will receive no punishment for their actions.
Smoking in adolescence is also influenced by family members and the media. Considering family members, individuals are more likely to take on smoking if other family members also smoke. This risk is higher if the family member continues smoking after a child is past 8 years of age. Stressors within the family can also drive a teen to smoke; belonging to a lower social class or having a major stressor in life can cause a person to start smoking early. With regard to the media, simply viewing characters smoking in television series and movies increases the chances of the teen’s smoking habits in the