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Doctoral
Thesis: Stress, health behaviours and the
transition to adulthood among young women
Supervisor: Professor
Christina Lee
University: Research
Centre for Gender and Health, University of Newcastle,
Australia
Stress,
smoking and physical activity are areas of particular
concern for young women, as they report higher levels
of stress, are taking up smoking at a higher rate, and
are less likely to undertake vigorous leisure time physical
activity, than young men. In this thesis the health
psychology concepts of stress, smoking and physical
activity were examined in a life-span perspective. The
focus was on the transition to young adulthood, which
is a time of many changes for most individuals and represents
the move from a dependent adolescent to an independent
adult. The transition to young adulthood was defined
objectively by using positions in four life domains:
residential independence, employment, relationships
and parenthood. Young women participating in the ALSWH,
who were aged 18 to 23 at Survey 1 in 1996 and 22 to
27 at Survey 2 in 2000, provided the data used in this
thesis. The majority of these women could be classed
as being in the transition to young adulthood at the
time of both surveys. The stages of transition to young
adulthood were used to examine, both cross-sectionally
and longitudinally, the relationships with stress, smoking
and physical activity. Overall, the strongest relationships
were found with stress and smoking. Physical activity
was most strongly related to relationship and motherhood,
but not to other stages or transitions. A consistent
finding was that participants who were in the most adult
stage by Survey 1 showed the most negative outcomes
for longitudinal changes in stress, smoking and physical
activity. The exact age at which life changes were made
could not be ascertained from the main surveys. This
led to a survey, which asked about the timing of six
major life changes, being sent to a subsample of the
young women. Early timing of the life changes was found
to be most related to negative outcomes for smoking
behaviour. The implications for health and developmental
psychology theories and prevention/intervention strategies
are discussed. Future research could incorporate more
subjective measures of the transition to young adulthood,
whilst future work will entail the examination of a
more complex assessment of longitudinal transitions
and the impact of the timing of transitions.
To contact Sandra:
Womens health
Australia
Research Centre for Gender Health and Ageing
University of Newcastle
University Drive
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
Email: slbell9@hotmail.com
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