Question

Critical Thinking Exercise: Risky Health-Related Behaviors

Avery, a 20-year-old college sophomore, is very casual about his health. Although he can knowledgeably discuss the hazards of cigarette smoking, poor nutrition, and unsafe sex, Avery engages in all these health-compromising behaviors.

Most days, Avery’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 almost always a burger and fries from the local drive-through. Avery hasn’t settled down with a partner yet, but he’s had a number of intimate partners, and, despite knowing better, sometimes fails to use a condom. Still, he doesn’t worry about contracting HIV or whether he will develop a sexually transmitted disease.

Avery’s parents are worried about him. At home over semester break, Avery seems terribly run-down and irritable and has obviously gained a lot of weight. To make matters worse, he seems to be behaving recklessly. For example, although he’s on an urban campus and not driving as much, when he does drive he goes well above the speed limit and doesn’t wear a seatbelt. Avery tells his 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.

His more health-conscious friends think Avery is acting as though he is going to be 20 years old forever and nothing bad can ever happen to him. Avery isn’t intentionally trying to make others worry. Sure, his life is fast-paced, but he feels that there is plenty of time to make improvements once the pressures of school are behind him. He knows he should quit smoking but he is afraid that he’ll become even more overweight if he does. Similarly, he knows he should practice safe sex, but he doesn’t know how to bring it up at the right time and he’s worried about what his friends would think.

Researchers have found that unhealthy habits such as Avery’s tend to be related, just as healthy behaviors also tend to occur together. Although people take risks at any age, young adults like Avery seem to be especially prone to risk-taking. Using the biopsychosocial model to guide your thinking, prepare answers to the following questions as you diagnose the roots of Avery’s risky health-related behaviors.

Question 1

What are some of the biological influences on the tendency of young adults to take health-related risks?

Answer 1

The biopsychosocial model is based on three things viz; Biology, Psychology, Environment.

The biological influences therefore can be classified into genetic causes or the causes that come from within the body.

The neurotranmitters are a genetic part and if they are deranged the person can have a broken view of the consequences of their risky habits, for example in a psychopath or sociopath the ability to realise the consequences of a particular action is deranged. However in the case of Avery there arent any other symtoms to point one in the direction of a significant pathology.

The second biological influence being genetics, there is a possibilty of either of Avery's parents or first degree relatives posessing similar self destructive habits and therefore its hereditary playing its part.

However there does not appear to be a purely bioogical influence in the case of Avery and psychological factors seem to be at play.