What is Health and What is Important for its Achievement? A Qualitative Study on Adolescent Boys’ Perceptions and Experiences of Health

Abstract

UNLABELLED Few qualitative studies have explored adolescent boys' perceptions of health. AIM The aim of this study was therefore to explore how adolescent boys understand the concept of health and what they find important for its achievement. METHODS Grounded theory was used as a method to analyse interviews with 33 adolescent boys aged 16 to 17 years attending three upper secondary schools in a relatively small town in Sweden. RESULTS There was a complexity in how health was perceived, experienced, dealt with, and valued. Although health on a conceptual level was described as 'holistic', health was experienced and dealt with in a more dualistic manner, one in which the boys were prone to differentiate between mind and body. Health was experienced as mainly emotional and relational, whereas the body had a subordinate value. The presence of positive emotions, experiencing self-esteem, balance in life, trustful relationships, and having a sense of belonging were important factors for health while the body was experienced as a tool to achieve health, as energy, and as a condition. CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that young, masculine health is largely experienced through emotions and relationships and thus support theories on health as a social construction of interconnected processes.