SOCIAL INDICATORS AND
YOUNG ADULT AND ADOLESCENT
MALE HEALTH BEHAVIORS:
WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?
Michael J. Rovito, Ph.D., CHES, FMHI
Kenyatta Rivers, PhD
Kathy E. Rovito, MPH, CHES
A LITTLE BACKGROUND….
Faculty in the Department
of Health Professions
Founder and Chairman of
Men’s Health Initiative, Inc.
My science?
Male health behavioral sciences
PURPOSE OF THIS DISCUSSION….
To discuss a few things about young
adult and adolescent males (YAAM) that
you may not know
But first, let’s discuss some
general concepts of male
health To discuss different ways to
To discuss different
methods in research within
this population
outreach to this population
WHAT ARE SOME
TRENDING EFFORTS
IN MALE HEALTH?
Male health
community
consolidation
Policy agendas
and statement
pieces
Expanding body
of research
•Men’s Health Initiative
•Men’s Health Collaborative
•Men’s Health Network
•APHA’s Men’s Health
Caucus
•National Policy
•Fatherhood Policy
•Epidemiological
assessment
•Behavioral interventions
OVERVIEW OF YAAM PERIOD
(AGES ~13-26)
Review of the ‘young adult and adolescent male’ period
 Staging point in life
 Influenced by: social indicators, pop culture, peers (subjective norms)
 Influenced by: desire for independence (thought and directive control)
 Dynamic life: physiologically, socially
This dynamism can influence health behaviors
 Significant differences is mortality/morbidity  gender and age differences
 YAAM’s are 10x more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors as children
and 5x maturing into adolescence
 ~200% increased mortality risk, more prone to injury than YAAF’s
 Higher likelihood of risky behaviors (smoking, binge drinking, illicit drug
use, social isolation, sexual promiscuity, thrill-seeking) than males 26+
A need presents itself
WHAT ARE SOME SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN MALE HEALTH?
The BIG C’s:
Prostate cancer
Being male:
Testicular cancer
Masculinity
Gender norms
Well, what about issues related
specifically to YAAM’s?
Raising awareness:
Risk-taking behaviors:
IDM
Suicides/accidents
Promotions
Homicides/accidents
Receptive male sexual
assault
Communication-improvement
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Performance-enhancing
substances
Pressure to excel
Pressure from peers
Ease of access/Ubiquity of it all
(Buckman et al, 2009)
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Main points
1.
PES use associated with severe
adverse health behaviors more so
than non-PES users
2.
Many new forms of PES available
(non-prescription meds)
3.
The behaviors associated with PES
use decreases athletic performance
(Buckman et al, 2009)
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Masculinity and Energy
Drink Consumption
Pressure to excel during competition
Pressure from team to compete
Perceived weakness if fatigue is shown
Ease of access/Ubiquity of it all
(Wilmer and Levant, 2013)
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Main points
1. Health risks (p. 318 excerpt)
2. Toxic jocks (p. 319 excerpt)
3. Theory: “Jocks” consume more
energy drinks than “athletes”
(Wilmer and Levant, 2013)
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Masculinity and Injuries
Pressure to excel (professional sports)
Pressure from team
Multiple Comparisons
Tukey Post-hoc Analysis
Dependent
(I)
(J)
Mean
Std.
Variable
Mascul_Catego
Mascul_Catego
Difference
Error
ry
ry
(I-J)
2.00
-1.76505*
.51432
3.00
-2.91792*
1.00
1.76505*
3.00
-1.15287*
1.00
2.91792*
2.00
1.15287*
2.00
-1.96296*
3.00
-3.13488*
1.00
1.96296*
3.00
-1.17192*
1.00
3.13488*
2.00
1.17192*
Perceived weakness
Sig.
95% Confidence
Interval
Lower
Upper
Bound
Bound
.003
-2.9922
-.5379
.50166
.000
-4.1149
-1.7210
.51432
.003
.5379
2.9922
.42142
.021
-2.1584
-.1474
.50166
.000
1.7210
4.1149
.42142
.021
.1474
2.1584
.36677
.000
-2.8384
-1.0875
.35352
.000
-3.9787
-2.2910
.36677
.000
1.0875
2.8384
.30224
.001
-1.8934
-.4505
.35352
.000
2.2910
3.9787
.30224
.001
.4505
1.8934
1.00
(Rovito and Alfonso, 2014)
Conceal
2.00
3.00
1.00
Team
High fear of losing spot on team and
concealing an injury was also predicted by
high masculinity scores
2.00
3.00
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
WHAT ARE SOME
SPECIFIC TRENDING
TOPICS IN YAAM
HEALTH?
Main points
1.
Athletes with higher reported perceived
masculinity scores will conceal their injuries
more often than those with lower reported scores.
Multiple Comparisons
Tukey Post-hoc Analysis
2.
3.
Those with higher masculinity scores indicated
that they feel a stronger sense of commitment to
their teammates
Those with higher masculinity scores indicated
that more fearful of an athletic injury than those
having a lower masculinity score.
Dependent
(I)
(J)
Mean
Std.
Variable
Mascul_Catego
Mascul_Catego
Difference
Error
ry
ry
(I-J)
2.00
-1.76505*
.51432
3.00
-2.91792*
1.00
1.76505*
3.00
-1.15287*
1.00
2.91792*
2.00
1.15287*
2.00
-1.96296*
3.00
-3.13488*
1.00
1.96296*
3.00
-1.17192*
1.00
3.13488*
2.00
1.17192*
Sig.
95% Confidence
Interval
Lower
Upper
Bound
Bound
.003
-2.9922
-.5379
.50166
.000
-4.1149
-1.7210
.51432
.003
.5379
2.9922
.42142
.021
-2.1584
-.1474
.50166
.000
1.7210
4.1149
.42142
.021
.1474
2.1584
.36677
.000
-2.8384
-1.0875
.35352
.000
-3.9787
-2.2910
.36677
.000
1.0875
2.8384
.30224
.001
-1.8934
-.4505
.35352
.000
2.2910
3.9787
.30224
.001
.4505
1.8934
1.00
Conceal
2.00
3.00
(Rovito and Alfonso, 2014)
1.00
Team
2.00
3.00
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
OVERVIEW OF YAAM PERIOD
(AGES ~13-26)
Methodological and Topical Gaps
 Descriptive evidence abounds
 But…..
 Narrow focus on major health concerns
 Sexual activity
 Drug use
 Violence
 Masculinity (but only recently has this seen an upsurge in focus)
 TCa  ONLY just started receiving any comprehensive focus
ARE WE MISSING ANYTHING?
Perhaps….
….Therefore, we need to “groundtruth” the issues
We need….
….An inductionist perspective; qualitative; ground-up approach
We need to determine….
….What are the salient factors predicting how YAAM make decisions?
YAAMHBIS
Young Adult and Adolescent Males Health Behavior Indicators Scale
 Phenomenological design
 Introspection
 Journaling and Focus Group activities
 Being a man is harmful to one’s health?
 Why would this off-color comment be relevant here?
 Sometimes, it may be true….
 How does it tie in here?
 Privacy….reflection…..breaking the dam
 Would you feel comfortable talking about your testicles, sexual activity, or if
your father was a good/bad father to other males?
YAAMHBIS
Young Adult and Adolescent Males Health Behavior Indicators Scale
 Phenomenological design
 We need to assess at the individual level these individual perceptions, try
to assess the “true” variance in perceptions
 Only when we get this groundtruth can we begin to start compiling
evidence to create codes/topics/general ideas shared across males
 Too many times these types of tools, studies, outreach programs, etc. are
created from a top-down approach
 Issues with validity abound
 How do you know if your ideas of what is important to males really
is important?
YAAMHBIS
Young Adult and Adolescent Males Health Behavior Indicators Scale
 Phenomenological design
 This approach attempts to get at the intentionality of different objects,
events, or topics for each individual male
 What one male thinks is a violent situation is not the same across all
males……
 What about ideas of what “man” is, what they think a good family or
father looks like, a bad family or bad father, or even risky sexual
activity?
 IT ALL DIFFERS
 What if my green is your blue?
 What if my idea of a good family differs from yours?
 What if I think competition and violence in society is a positive thing
and your negative?
YAAMHBIS
Young Adult and Adolescent Males Health Behavior Indicators Scale
 Purpose
 Determine the role of popular social and health indicators in the decisionmaking process of YAAM behaviors
 Sometimes what is reported as an indicator in AYM lives may not actually
be a true indicator of total wellness
 Comprehensive assessment tool to measure what the true indicators are
for AYM
 Implications
 Getting a truer sense of behavioral predictors and influence
 We need to figure out how AYM truly think about these supposed influential
topics in their lives….maybe what we think is their blue really is their red?
 Improving the lives of YAAM to help foster a true public health contribute
to the goals and objectives of HP2020 and ACA
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
Contact information:
michael.rovito@ucf.edu
(407) 823-3888
@RovitoMJ
www.MHInitiative.org