smc-5508-50-Determinants of health

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 075

Assess the extent to which socioeconomic and environmental determinants influence the health behaviours and outcomes of young people. (8 marks)

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Judgment Statement

Socioeconomic and environmental determinants demonstrate significant influence on youth health outcomes.
This assessment examines the magnitude of health disparities caused by socioeconomic and environmental determinants and the effectiveness of intervention.

Determinants and Health Disparities

These determinants have significant impact on creating health inequalities among young people.
Environmental determinants include remoteness. Rural youth may have to travel for hours to access specialist care, producing measurable health delays.
Socio-economic determinants can include poor diets where low-income youth face triple the obesity rates due to limited healthy food access.
These determinants can also work in combination to compound health disparities. For example, wealthy suburbs offering significantly more sport facilities encourage young people to be active whereas the opposite is true in poor, lower socio-economic areas.
This demonstrates how socio-economic and environmental determinants can work in tandem to create highly divergent health pathways.

Intervention Effectiveness

Current efforts show limited success in overcoming socioeconomic and environmental determinant-based barriers.
While programs exist, rural youth may still have to travel for hours to access specialist care, producing measurable health delays.
Environmental improvements prove moderately successful – new bike paths increase activity by 25% but can’t fully compensate for socioeconomic disadvantages.
Targeted interventions achieve adequate results in specific areas but fail to address systemic inequalities.
On balance, this proves interventions remain insufficient against powerful structural forces.

Overall Assessment

When all factors are considered, socioeconomic and environmental determinants exert major influence over youth health.
These forces create substantial, persistent health gaps starting early in life.
The assessment reveals an urgent need for comprehensive policy changes addressing root causes rather than symptoms.
Without systemic intervention, these determinants will continue producing considerable health inequalities across generations.

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Judgment Statement

Socioeconomic and environmental determinants demonstrate significant influence on youth health outcomes.
This assessment examines the magnitude of health disparities caused by socioeconomic and environmental determinants and the effectiveness of intervention.

Determinants and Health Disparities

These determinants have significant impact on creating health inequalities among young people.
Environmental determinants include remoteness. Rural youth may have to travel for hours to access specialist care, producing measurable health delays.
Socio-economic determinants can include poor diets where low-income youth face triple the obesity rates due to limited healthy food access.
These determinants can also work in combination to compound health disparities. For example, wealthy suburbs offering significantly more sport facilities encourage young people to be active whereas the opposite is true in poor, lower socio-economic areas.
This demonstrates how socio-economic and environmental determinants can work in tandem to create highly divergent health pathways.

Intervention Effectiveness

Current efforts show limited success in overcoming socioeconomic and environmental determinant-based barriers.
While programs exist, rural youth may still have to travel for hours to access specialist care, producing measurable health delays.
Environmental improvements prove moderately successful – new bike paths increase activity by 25% but can’t fully compensate for socioeconomic disadvantages.
Targeted interventions achieve adequate results in specific areas but fail to address systemic inequalities.
On balance, this proves interventions remain insufficient against powerful structural forces.

Overall Assessment

When all factors are considered, socioeconomic and environmental determinants exert major influence over youth health.
These forces create substantial, persistent health gaps starting early in life.
The assessment reveals an urgent need for comprehensive policy changes addressing root causes rather than symptoms.
Without systemic intervention, these determinants will continue producing considerable health inequalities across generations.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 74

Describe how the determinants of health can impact a young person's meaning of health. (5 marks)

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Biomedical factors like physical impairments affect young people’s ability to engage in physical activity, influencing their perception of health as primarily physical.
Socioeconomic factors such as family income can determine access to quality nutrition and sports participation, shaping young people’s understanding of what constitutes good health.
Environmental determinants, particularly geographic location, impacts young people in rural areas who face barriers accessing healthcare. This leads to them valuing proximity to support as part of their health definition.
Broad features of society including cultural norms and media influence create expectations around body image that young people internalise in their health definitions.
Health behaviours established in youth, including physical activity and dietary habits, are often a result of young people’s underlying values and beliefs, which in turn influence how they conceptualise health.
The interrelationship between determinants creates compound effects – for example, a young person with low socioeconomic status living in a remote area faces multiple barriers that collectively shape their health perspective.

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Biomedical factors like physical impairments affect young people’s ability to engage in physical activity, influencing their perception of health as primarily physical.
Socioeconomic factors such as family income can determine access to quality nutrition and sports participation, shaping young people’s understanding of what constitutes good health.
Environmental determinants, particularly geographic location, impacts young people in rural areas who face barriers accessing healthcare. This leads to them valuing proximity to support as part of their health definition.
Broad features of society including cultural norms and media influence create expectations around body image that young people internalise in their health definitions.
Health behaviours established in youth, including physical activity and dietary habits, are often a result of young people’s underlying values and beliefs, which in turn influence how they conceptualise health.
The interrelationship between determinants creates compound effects – for example, a young person with low socioeconomic status living in a remote area faces multiple barriers that collectively shape their health perspective.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 68

Research indicates that young people's definitions of health evolve as they move through adolescence.

How do young people's health priorities typically change between early adolescence (12-14 years) and late adolescence (17-19 years). (5 marks)

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*Cause-and-effect language that directly addresses the “How” (unofficial) keyword is bolded in the answer below.

Young adolescents (12-14) typically define health concretely through immediate, observable aspects like physical appearance and energy levels. This occurs because their developmental stage limits abstract thinking abilities.
As a result of cognitive development progressing, late adolescents (17-19) shift toward more sophisticated health concepts that include preventive behaviours, long-term wellbeing, and the integration of physical, mental and social dimensions. This demonstrates why maturity changes health understanding.
Peer influence on health definitions transforms from early adolescence, where fitting in often dictates health behaviours, to late adolescence. This happens when greater independence enables young people to balance social factors with personal values.
Biological changes during puberty initially focus younger adolescents on body-related health concerns. This process leads to increased autonomy in later adolescence, which allows broader consideration of lifestyle choices.
These elements work together to require different health approaches: concrete, socially-relevant messaging for younger adolescents versus participatory, autonomy-respecting strategies for older teens. This shows a clear connection between developmental stage and effective health communication.

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*Cause-and-effect language that directly addresses the “How” (unofficial) keyword is bolded in the answer below.

Young adolescents (12-14) typically define health concretely through immediate, observable aspects like physical appearance and energy levels. This occurs because their developmental stage limits abstract thinking abilities.
As a result of cognitive development progressing, late adolescents (17-19) shift toward more sophisticated health concepts that include preventive behaviours, long-term wellbeing, and the integration of physical, mental and social dimensions. This demonstrates why maturity changes health understanding.
Peer influence on health definitions transforms from early adolescence, where fitting in often dictates health behaviours, to late adolescence. This happens when greater independence enables young people to balance social factors with personal values.
Biological changes during puberty initially focus younger adolescents on body-related health concerns. This process leads to increased autonomy in later adolescence, which allows broader consideration of lifestyle choices.
These elements work together to require different health approaches: concrete, socially-relevant messaging for younger adolescents versus participatory, autonomy-respecting strategies for older teens. This shows a clear connection between developmental stage and effective health communication.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 67

Explain how gender influences the way young people define what is important to their health.

In your answer, provide specific examples of how young males and females might prioritise different aspects of health. (5 marks)

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*PEEL – Solution is structured using an adjusted PEEL method to show cause and effect: [P] State the cause/factor [E] Show how it causes the effect [Ev] Evidence demonstrating why/how [L] Reinforce the causal relationship.

**Language highlighting the cause-effect relationship is bolded in the answer below.

[P] Social expectations can help shape male health priorities.
[E] This can lead to males focusing on strength and athletic performance.
[Ev] This occurs because masculine ideals emphasise physical capability – young men prioritise gym workouts and sports achievements over emotional health.
[L] This shows a clear connection between gender norms and narrow health definitions.
[P] Female socialisation encourages holistic health views.
[E] As a result, females place a greater emphasis on balancing physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
[Ev] This happens when young women look at stress management and relationship quality as equally important as fitness and physical capability.
[L] These elements work together to create broader health perspectives.
[P] Media representations are important factors that generally reinforce gender differences.
[E] This causes distinct body image pressures for each gender.
[Ev] The reason for this is males see muscular physique as ideal while females face thin beauty standards, shaping each gender’s health priorities differently.
[L] This demonstrates why health definitions are specific to each gender and why they persist through cultural messaging.

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**Language highlighting the cause-effect relationship is bolded in the answer below.

[P] Social expectations can help shape male health priorities.
[E] This can lead to males focusing on strength and athletic performance.
[Ev] This occurs because masculine ideals emphasise physical capability – young men prioritise gym workouts and sports achievements over emotional health.
[L] This shows a clear connection between gender norms and narrow health definitions.
[P] Female socialisation encourages holistic health views.
[E] As a result, females place a greater emphasis on balancing physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
[Ev] This happens when young women look at stress management and relationship quality as equally important as fitness and physical capability.
[L] These elements work together to create broader health perspectives.
[P] Media representations are important factors that generally reinforce gender differences.
[E] This causes distinct body image pressures for each gender.
[Ev] The reason for this is males see muscular physique as ideal while females face thin beauty standards, shaping each gender’s health priorities differently.
[L] This demonstrates why health definitions are specific to each gender and why they persist through cultural messaging.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 59 MC

A researcher compared how young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds define health priorities.

Which combination of factors would most likely influence differences in these definitions?

1. Access to healthcare resources in their communities
2. Cultural beliefs and practices around health
3. Individual genetic predispositions to certain health conditions
4. Social media representation of health and fitness

1 and 2
1 and 3
2 and 4
3 and 4

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\(A\)

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A is correct because resource access shapes awareness of health options while cultural beliefs fundamentally determine how health is understood within different communities.

Other options:

B is incorrect because genetic predispositions don’t systematically influence how different socioeconomic groups conceptualise health.
C is incorrect because social media has less fundamental impact than resource access on how different groups define health priorities.
D is incorrect because neither genetics nor social media are primary determinants of socioeconomic differences in health definitions.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 58 MC

Research shows that young people's definitions of health often differ from traditional medical models.

Which of the following best represents how adolescents typically conceptualise health?

Primarily as the absence of disease or physical illness.
Mainly through their ability to participate in physical activities.
Through a combination of physical, social, and emotional wellbeing.
Predominantly through their body image and appearance.

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\(C\)

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C is correct because research consistently shows adolescents define health holistically across multiple dimensions rather than through any single aspect.

Other options:

A is incorrect because adolescents rarely limit their health definition to just the absence of disease or illness.
B is incorrect because while physical activity matters to many adolescents, they don’t generally reduce health primarily to physical function alone.
D is incorrect because although appearance concerns exist during adolescence, most young people recognise health encompasses much more than just looks.