The influence of living conditions on adolescent girls’ health

Abstract

Adolescence is described by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare as the healthiest period in life. However, adolescent girls differ in that they self-report that their health decreases with age. The aim of this hermeneutical study was to describe the meaning of living conditions in relation to adolescent girls’ health. Guided by principles of reflective lifeworld research, 15 interviews with adolescent girls were analysed. The result section consists of four narratives with their existential interpretations illustrating different ways of approaching living conditions and their meaning for health and well-being. The narratives are: Approaching everyday life in a balanced way—feeling harmonious; approaching everyday life with ambiguity—feeling confused; approaching everyday life as an intellectual project—striving for control; approaching everyday life as a struggle—feeling forlorn. In addition, a comprehensive understanding was developed by using the lifeworld dimensions: lived body, lived room, lived time, and lived relations. These dimensions may deepen the understanding of important parts of those living conditions which are meaningful for the girls’ health and well-being. By using the dimensions, complex living conditions have been explored and the meaning of different parts clarified. The girls’ thoughts and feelings are often ambiguous and sometimes contradictory, depending on the situation. The health of adolescent girls needs to be understood against the background of their experiences of living conditions. One way to support their health and well-being seems to be to supply them with forums where they can talk about their living conditions.

• Child
• teenage
• youth
• female
• women
• personal circumstances
• well-being
• experiences
• lifeworld dimensions
• existential

Acknowledgements

We thank the adolescents who willingly shared their lived experiences with us and made this research possible.

Notes

1. The lifeworld is the world that people take for granted, the spontaneous acts that appear to be meaningful. Lifeworld is personal; humans live through interactions with others and the surroundings simultaneously. The personal and social world with others is inseparable and can be seen as mutually dependent. Humans influence and are influenced by the world they live in (Merleau-Ponty, 2002).