Health And Wellbeing In Ireland

1141 Words5 Pages
“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being”, World Health Organisation (1946) Constitution. While this statement should be rightly praised for making health a fundamental human right, it does not take into account the complexities of the definition of 'health'. Only by understanding how different groups of people view their own health, can they be equipped with the knowledge to make healthier lifestyle choices to assist them in leading a healthy, and ultimately longer and more enjoyable life. How different groups of people view their own health depends on a number of socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, social class and location. Young people generally think about health in terms of fitness and being able to participate in physical activities (O'Higgins, 2002), while older people typically think about health in terms of coping with what they are able to do (MacFarlane, 1993). While young people may perceive health as a fitness orientation (McCluskey 1989), their responses would vary widely due to the social class they belong to and the location in which they live. Young people from higher class areas would often link fitness with a healthy diet and a happy mental state, whereas the same group from lower class areas may not take a healthy diet and happy mental state into account. In “Findings from the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Survey (2006) GB & Ireland”; Social research has identified that young people are not simply 'adult becomings' who can be moulded to adhere to adult defined health strategies. Instead young people hold their own generation-specific attitudes and definitions relating to health behaviours and well being, which can be diametrically opposed to adult centred perspectives (Brooks & Magnusson, 2006; Wills et al,2008). In these findings the
Open Document