Adolescent Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

The development of interventions to promote the adoption and maintenance of healthy behaviors requires a careful consideration of the developmental characteristics of adolescence, particularly around the period of transition between childhood and adulthood.

Abstract

Adolescence has traditionally been conceptualized as a period of transition between childhood and adulthood. While adolescence is less studied and less understood than other developmental periods, activities that youth begin to experience during this transition have been described as risky behavior predisposing adolescents to injury and illness. Thus, the development of interventions to promote the adoption and maintenance of healthy behaviors requires a careful consideration of the developmental characteristics of adolescence.