Nature and Patterns of Social and Emotional Adjustment of Youth
Introduction
Youth's Life: Common Concerns
The young people in the age group of 10-24 year in India constitutes one of the
precious resources of India characterized by growth and development and is a phase
of vulnerability often influenced by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect
their health and safety. Nearly 10-30 per cent of young people suffer from health
impacting behaviors and conditions that need urgent attention of policy makers and
public health professionals. Nutritional disorders (both malnutrition and over-
nutrition), tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, other substance use, high risk sexual
behaviors, stress, common mental disorders, and injuries (road traffic injuries,
suicides, violence of different types) specifically affect this population and have long
lasting impact. Multiple behaviors and conditions often coexist in the same
individual adding a cumulative risk for their poor health. Many of these being
precursors and determinants of non communicable diseases (NCDs) including
mental and neurological disorders and injuries place a heavy burden on Indian
society in terms of mortality, morbidity, disability and socio-economic losses. Many
health policies and programmes have focused on prioritized individual health
problems and integrated (both vertical and horizontal) coordinated approaches are
found lacking. Healthy life-style and health promotion policies and programmes that
are central for health of youth, driven by robust population-based studies are
required in India which will also address the growing tide of NCDs and injuries.
Young people form precious human resources in every country. However, there is
considerable ambiguity in the definition of young people and terms like young,
, adolescents, adults, young adults are often used interchangeably. World Health
Organization (WHO) defines ‘adolescence’ as age spanning 10 to 19 year, “youth”
as those in 15-24 year age group and these two overlapping age groups as “young
people” covering the age group of 10-24 year. Adults include a broader age range
and all those in 20 to 64 year. Adolescence is further divided into early adolescence
(11-14 year), middle adolescence (15-17 year), and late adolescence (18-21 year).
Individuals in the age group of 20 - 24 year are also referred to as young adults. The
National Youth Policy of India (2003) defines the youth population as those in the
age group of 15-35 year.
Population aged 10-24 years accounts for 373 million (30.9%) of the 1,210 million
of India's population with every third person belonging to this age group. Among
them, 110 and 273 million live in urban and rural India, respectively. Males account
for 195 million and females 178 million, respectively. As per the National Sample
Survey (NSS), (2007-08) 32.8 per cent of this group attend educational institutions
and 46 per cent (2004-05) are employed.
What characterizes adolescents and youth?
Youth - the critical phase of life, is a period of major physical, physiological,
psychological, and behavioral changes with changing patterns of social interactions
and relationships. Youth is the window of opportunity that sets the stage for a healthy
and productive adulthood and to reduce the likelihood of health problems in later
years. A myriad of biological changes occur during puberty including increase in
height and weight, completion of skeletal growth accompanied by an increase in
skeletal mass, sexual maturation and changes in body composition. The succession
of these events during puberty is generally consistent among the adolescents often
Introduction
Youth's Life: Common Concerns
The young people in the age group of 10-24 year in India constitutes one of the
precious resources of India characterized by growth and development and is a phase
of vulnerability often influenced by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect
their health and safety. Nearly 10-30 per cent of young people suffer from health
impacting behaviors and conditions that need urgent attention of policy makers and
public health professionals. Nutritional disorders (both malnutrition and over-
nutrition), tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, other substance use, high risk sexual
behaviors, stress, common mental disorders, and injuries (road traffic injuries,
suicides, violence of different types) specifically affect this population and have long
lasting impact. Multiple behaviors and conditions often coexist in the same
individual adding a cumulative risk for their poor health. Many of these being
precursors and determinants of non communicable diseases (NCDs) including
mental and neurological disorders and injuries place a heavy burden on Indian
society in terms of mortality, morbidity, disability and socio-economic losses. Many
health policies and programmes have focused on prioritized individual health
problems and integrated (both vertical and horizontal) coordinated approaches are
found lacking. Healthy life-style and health promotion policies and programmes that
are central for health of youth, driven by robust population-based studies are
required in India which will also address the growing tide of NCDs and injuries.
Young people form precious human resources in every country. However, there is
considerable ambiguity in the definition of young people and terms like young,
, adolescents, adults, young adults are often used interchangeably. World Health
Organization (WHO) defines ‘adolescence’ as age spanning 10 to 19 year, “youth”
as those in 15-24 year age group and these two overlapping age groups as “young
people” covering the age group of 10-24 year. Adults include a broader age range
and all those in 20 to 64 year. Adolescence is further divided into early adolescence
(11-14 year), middle adolescence (15-17 year), and late adolescence (18-21 year).
Individuals in the age group of 20 - 24 year are also referred to as young adults. The
National Youth Policy of India (2003) defines the youth population as those in the
age group of 15-35 year.
Population aged 10-24 years accounts for 373 million (30.9%) of the 1,210 million
of India's population with every third person belonging to this age group. Among
them, 110 and 273 million live in urban and rural India, respectively. Males account
for 195 million and females 178 million, respectively. As per the National Sample
Survey (NSS), (2007-08) 32.8 per cent of this group attend educational institutions
and 46 per cent (2004-05) are employed.
What characterizes adolescents and youth?
Youth - the critical phase of life, is a period of major physical, physiological,
psychological, and behavioral changes with changing patterns of social interactions
and relationships. Youth is the window of opportunity that sets the stage for a healthy
and productive adulthood and to reduce the likelihood of health problems in later
years. A myriad of biological changes occur during puberty including increase in
height and weight, completion of skeletal growth accompanied by an increase in
skeletal mass, sexual maturation and changes in body composition. The succession
of these events during puberty is generally consistent among the adolescents often
