Social Connections: Impact on Long-Term Health Outcomes - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to a 2014 Pearson Education Inc. publication, there is a connection between various forms of relationships to the health of individuals. Positive and healthy social links are influential in shaping the long-term health standards of community members. For instance, children raised in healthy surroundings tend to learn useful strategies that will enable them to develop stable relationships. Several studies have indicated that individuals with positive support from the community or family are happier in their lives, which is likely to minimize health disorders. On the other end, the article associates the absence of social relationships to high chances of developing health problems. This occurs mostly because of the isolation, which causes depression, and under extreme conditions, it can cause premature deaths. The analysis in this paper demonstrates how relationships between the community members can influence the children's future mental states and attitudes towards drugs.

Course Relevance

The course material on 'tobacco and health’ discusses the patterns of tobacco use among students and its potential dangers to them. 30 % of college students worldwide have attempted to smoke tobacco, but 4.6% of the same group admit to engaging in the act daily. The number is slightly lower than that of the United States (US), where 5% of students are regular smokers of tobacco. The coursework highlighted family relationships and peer pressure to be among the reasons why some students decide to start smoking. Familial risk factors that result in addiction to smoking tobacco include parental neglect, poor parent-child interactions, and marital status of the parents (Whitesell et al., 2013).

Assessment

The attachment theory from the article states that the attachment patterns in relationships with the surrounding people form the template for attachment in the future. Married individuals tend to create strong individual bonds, enabling them to have better interpersonal ties than their unmarried counterparts. Therefore, children born in such environments tend to enjoy crucial family support since they can interrelate, share, and solve their struggles. However, children raised in separated families or unmarried people do not access some critical living necessities during their growth and development. The absence of such needs brings the feeling of neglect, which is dangerous to the development of the child’s brain, and a long-term view of relationships (Whitesell et al., 2013). Students who are victims of parental neglect are more likely to venture into smoking tobacco to deal with their loneliness.

Besides parental neglect, peer relationships and familial influence also contribute to the social risk factors for students’ use of tobacco. Children tend to assimilate and associate with the behaviors of the people surrounding them. For instance, students are likely to engage in smoking if they grew in unstable families where their peers openly used the substance. A negative parent-child relationship can prompt children to seek deviant connections with other people around their social sphere (Trudeau et al., 2012). However, positive relationships between parents and children act as a protective factor to keep away later from drugs. Positive family relationships enable the parents to teach their children concerning the dangers of smoking tobacco. In the future, such children avoid the use of drugs for fear of health problems and the absence of perceived benefits from its use.

Reflection

The article enabled me to understand the importance of marriages in prolonging lives through support networks. The report identified honest and free communication as the critical aspects of attaining successful marriage. I learned that effective communication ensures the sharing of deep-lying feelings and what is on one’s mind. Surprisingly, holding to these personal feelings can lead to depression and mental problems for young children. Therefore, they can consider smoking tobacco to settle their autism spectrum disorders—however, the drug subject users to both long and short term dangers. The substance consists of nicotine, which stimulates a feeling of pleasure, which presents the risk of addiction and regular usage. On a short term basis, smoking tobacco can cause shortness of breath and increased heart rate, resulting in blood pressure. Elsewhere, children from unstable families and less social support face long term risks such as various forms of cancer and heart conditions. I learned that coronary heart disease, which is also caused by chronic smoking of tobacco, is the leading cause of death in the US. After reading the materials, I support corporate regulations and government efforts towards reducing the use of tobacco.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper focusses on connecting the argument of the article on marriage and health to the course material on the dangers of tobacco. The report argued that relationships between family and society members are essential in determining the children's future behaviors. Students from happily married families are likely to engage in positive relationships, while children from unstable families mostly face depression. As a result, some of the depressed students engage in smoking tobacco, which can cause health complications. The diseases include breathing problems in the short term, as well as cancer and coronary heart disease in the long term. Therefore, marriages and social relationships are linked to smoking and heart disease among college students.

References

Trudeau, L., Mason, W.A., Randall, G.K., Spoth, R., & Ralston, E. (2012). Effects of Parenting and Deviant Peers on Early to Mid-Adolescent Conduct Problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40(8): 1249-1264

Whitesell, M.M., Bachand, A., Peel, J., & Brown, M. (2013). Familial, Social, and Individual Factors Contributing to Risk for Adolescent Substance Use. Journal of Addiction [Online]: 579310