Intrapersonal factors, social context and health-related behavior in adolescence

Patterns of health-compromising behaviors and their initiation and progression in adolescence are generally considered to be predictive of later involvement in such behaviors and exposure to their harmful consequences on health. Health-enhancing behaviors can be also traced back to childhood and adolescence. Empirical evidence supports the existence of several domains of determinants covering intrapersonal, interpersonal and socio-cultural areas of infl uence in adolescent healthrelated behaviors. This thesis deals with health-related behaviors and tries to contribute to the understanding of possible determinants associated with these behaviors. Its main focus is on the intrapersonal dimension (with the perception of self as a core element) and on the additional contribution of factors from other dimensions (the interpersonal and socio-cultural). In this thesis several aims were explored. The general aim was to examine the association between the perception of self (e.g. self-esteem, self-liking, self-competence and self-effi cacy) and health-related behaviors (e.g. smoking behavior, drunkenness, cannabis use and physical activity) among adolescents. A further aim of this thesis was to explore the contribution of other intrapersonal factors (e.g. personality, mental health and resilience) to the above mentioned association. Additionally, we were interested in the role of socioeconomic status as a background variable. Departing from the general aim of this thesis, fi ve research questions were subsequently answered focusing on the association between socioeconomic status and self-esteem and the possible contribution of other factors (Chapter 3), the association of self-esteem and resilience with smoking and cannabis use (Chapter 4), the association of self-effi cacy with smoking and the possible contribution of affectivity (Chapter 5), the associations of aspects of self and different levels of physical activity (Chapter 6) and finally, the association between socioeconomic status and physical activity and the possible contribution of self-esteem (Chapter 7). The answers are described in Chapters 3 to 7. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the associations between the key theoretical constructs of this thesis: the perception of self (selfesteem, self-liking, self-competence, and self-efficacy), other intrapersonal factors (e.g. personality, mental health and resilience), socioeconomic status and health-related behavior (e.g. smoking behavior, cannabis use and physical activity). The primary aim and research questions of the thesis, mentioned above, along with a model of the studied variables are presented in the end of this chapter.