Risk Factors and Violence

Health Risk Factors

  • Health risk factors: Attributes, characteristics, or exposures that increase the likelihood of a person developing a disease or health disorder.

    • Controllable risk factors:

      • Food we eat

      • Physical activity

      • Tobacco/alcohol/drugs

    • Factors that we can’t control:

      • Family history of disease

      • Gender

    • The more risk factors a person has, the more likely he/she will get the disease.

Main Causes for Disease for Teens in Mexico (15-19 years)

  1. Acute respiratory infections

  2. Urinary tract infection

  3. Intestinal infections

  4. COVID-19

  5. Ulcers, gastritis, and duodenitis

Main Causes for Death for Teens in Mexico (15-24 years)

  1. Assaults (homicides)

  2. Accidents

  3. Intentionally self-inflicted injuries (suicides)

Accidents

  • Why do accidents happen? Risk factors:

    • Age (leading cause of death in some age groups)

    • Alcohol

    • Stress (paying less attention to what we are doing)

    • Situational factors (driving on a curvy, wet road in a car with worn tires, etc.)

    • Thrill-seeking (skydiving, parachute jumping, etc.)

Health Choices and Prevention

  • Health choices in your teens have an effect on your future wellbeing.

  • Prevention is key:

    • Informing yourself (risks, treatments, preventive measures)

    • Understand risky behaviors

    • Evaluate/question online health information

    • Identify misinformation and fake “medical facts”

Violence

  • Violence: The intentional use of physical force or power (threatened or actual), against oneself, another person, or a group or community; that can result in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

  • Exposure to violence can increase the risk of:

    • Smoking

    • Alcohol use

    • Drug abuse

    • Mental illness

    • Infectious diseases (HIV/STIs)

    • These are risk factors for other diseases.

Common Types of Violence in Teens

  • Hazing

    • Abuse/humiliation to be part of a group

  • Hate crimes:

    • Violence motivated by bias or prejudice against race, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability

  • Microaggressions

  • Sexual violence / sexual harassment / sexual coercion / sharing sexting

  • Cyberbullying

  • Violence against women

Violence Against Women - Mexico

  • 70.1% of women aged 15 years and over have experienced some type of violence at least once throughout their lives.

    • Psychological violence: 51.6%

    • Physical violence: 34.7%

    • Economic violence or discrimination: 27.4%

    • Sexual violence: 9.7%

    • These numbers may be higher. A lot of victims don’t report crimes to the police.

Violence Against Women - Mexico

  • Feminicidos (femicides): Extreme form of violence.

    • The killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man, because of her gender.

    • 1/4 female homicides in Mexico are classified as femicide.

    • 127% increase in femicides in 2022.

Violence'o'meter (Violentómetro)

  • Tool to identify levels of violence in relationships.

  • Levels of Violence:

    • 0: Hurtful jokes

    • 1: Blackmailing

    • 2: Lying / Cheating

    • 3: Ignoring / The "ice treatment"

    • 8: Possessiveness

    • 9: Guilt tripping

    • 10: Laughing down / Offending

    • 11: Public humiliation / (Severing bonds with friends, family, limiting places, clothes, look, activities, constant mail and phone checking, etc.)

    • 12: Intimidating / Threatening

    • 13: Controlling / Prohibiting

    • 14: Destroying personal belongings

    • 15: Groping

    • 16: Aggressive strokes

    • 17: "Playful" hitting or punching

    • 18: Pinch/Scratch

    • 19: Pushing / Jerking

    • 20: Slapping

    • 21: Kicking

    • 22: Locking/Secluding

    • 23: Threatening with objects or a gun / Death threats

  • Get Urgent Aid!

    • 24: Forcing a sexual relationship

    • 25: Sexual abuse

    • 26: Rape

    • 27: Mutilate

    • 28: MURDER