We are delighted to announce our speaker for the next SSCIP Annual Lecture – Professor Mary Lewis (University of Reading).
Adolescence represent a unique stage of the human life course. Recent interest in the health of adolescents (defined here as those aged between 10-25 years) has stemmed from new methods for tracking growth and maturation as a proxy for the pubertal growth spurt and sexual maturation. The psychosocial development of an adolescent effects both the way in which they are treated by society, and puts them at health risks due to activities such as smoking, drinking, and sexual activity. This behaviour may be tempered by family ties, but these young adults are also the most likely to migrate away from their natal home to find work. Adolescents sit at the junction between late onset childhood diseases and early onset adult diseases with the nutritional requirements of rapid growth, and an immunological transition, all rendering them susceptible to a myriad of conditions. Rapid skeletal growth, means they are more prone to some skeletal pathologies (Scheuermann’s disease, osteochondritis dissecans), and females who experience early menarche are at increased risk of fractures and osteoporosis in later in life. We can also begin to explore differences in disease susceptibility between females, who become more vulnerable to autoimmune diseases, and males who are more likely to experience chronic inflammatory disease and infections.
The health of adolescents reflects their own experience, that of their parents and grandparents, and impacts their own offspring, making this period of the life course an important crossroads in human health. This review will explore the rare potential of adolescent palaeopathology to provide a gateway into our understand past human health and adolescent identity, using case studies from the English medieval period and European Upper Palaeolithic.
This is a hybrid event – please register via this link – CLICK HERE