A comparative study of health nutrition and socio psycho behaviour of adolescent boys and girls

Abstract

This thesis is an outcome of Ph.D research project entitled A Comparative Study of Health, Nutrition and Socio- Psycho Behavior of Adolescent Boys and Girls. The field work of this thesis has been undertaken in six districts of Kashmir valley i.e. Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag, Kupwara, Pulwama and newlineBaramulla, covering a sample of 1500 adolescents i.e. 750 boys and equal newlinenumber of girls in the age group of 10-19 years, studying in Government Schools during 2004-07. The findings of the study are interesting and useful for framing programme guidelines towards adolescent development. During last couple of years, various policies have been formulated to bring adolescents to the centre stage of development planning. These policies are National Health Policies 2002, the National Population Policy 2000, the National AID S Policy 2001, the Woman Policy 2001, the Child and Education Policy, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (Kishori Shakti Yojana) etc. All these policies have addressed the adolescents of the age of 10-19 years. The present study critically examines different dimensions of health,nutrition and socio-psycho behavior of both rural and urban adolescents of Kashmir valley. The suggestions of the study demand interventions to be initiated by Government, parents, teachers, NGO s, academic institutes and newlinehealth workers. Adolescence is a period between childhood and adulthood during which the individual learns the skills needed to flourish as an adult. Although adolescence begins with the biological series of events called puberty, some authors suggest that adolescence was culturally invented during the last century and defined it as a period in which the individual could gain the newlinecomplex skills necessary to navigate adulthood in a Western culture. newlinePuberty, the beginning of adolescence, is marked by dramatic physical changes in both growth rate and sexual characteristics (Gluckberg 1980; Field 1995).