The Moderating Effect of Self-Efficacy on Normal-Weight, Overweight, and Obese Children\u27s Math Achievement: A longitudinal Analysis

Increased body weight is associated with decreased cognitive function in school-aged children. The role of self-efficacy in shaping the connection between children\u27s educational achievement and obesity-related comorbidities has not been examined to date. Evidence of the predictive ability of self-efficacy in children is demonstrated in cognitive tasks, including math achievement scores. This study examined the relationship between self-efficacy and math achievement in normal weight, overweight, and obese children. I hypothesized that overweight and obese children with higher self-efficacy will be less affected in math achievement than otherwise comparable children with lower self-efficacy. I tested this prediction with multilevel growth modeling techniques using the ECLS-K 1998–1999 survey data, a nationally representative sample of children. Increased self-efficacy moderates the link between body weight and children\u27s math achievement by buffering the risks that increased weight status poses to children\u27s cognitive function. My findings indicate that self-efficacy moderates math outcomes in overweight, but not obese, children

County-Level Factors That Influenced the Trajectory of COVID-19 Incidence in the New York City Area

More than a century of research has shown that sociodemographic conditions affect infectious disease transmission. In the late spring and early summer of 2020, reports of the effects of sociodemographic variables on the spread of COVID- 19 were used in the media with minimal scientific proof attached. With new cases of COVID-19 surging in the United States at that time, it became essential to better understand how the spread of COVID-19 was varying across all segments of the population. We used hierarchical exponential growth curve modeling techniques to examine whether community socioeconomic characteristics uniquely influence the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases in the urban built environment. We show that as of July 19, 2020, confirmed coronavirus infections in New York City and surrounding areas— one of the early epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States—were concentrated along demographic and socioeconomic lines. Furthermore, our data provides evidence that after the onset of the pandemic, timely enactment of physical distancing measures such as school closures was essential to limiting the extent of the coronavirus spread in the population. We conclude that in a pandemic, public health authorities must impose physical distancing measures early on as well as consider community-level factors that associate with a greater risk of viral transmission

Review of \u3cem\u3eGlobal Activism in Food Politics: Powershift\u3c/em\u3e

A review of Alana Mann\u27s Global Activism in Food Politics: Power Shift

Myocardial Infarction and Treatment Adherence Rates across Sociodemographic & Health Indicators

Trends on first myocardial infarction and rates of adherence to treatment across age were estimated. Data sourced from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2016, were used to determine the patterned age trends of patients’ first myocardial infarction as well as their subsequent willingness to comply with treatments, such as weight loss. Demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status were taken into account and integrated as they play a key role in contextualizing and understanding these health trends. Preliminary historical trend analyses across 9 waves of data spanning 17 years indicate that patients are increasingly presenting with myocardial infarction earlier in life, and disparities exist across demographic and socioeconomic lines

Decomposing Trends in Child Obesity

We unravel the absolute level and relative prominence of two demographic processes that are relevant for childhood obesity, and that will ultimately determine the long-term course and pace of change in child obesity rates. We leverage data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to decompose change in child obesity from 1971 to 2012. We partition change into that attributable to (1) healthier, more nutritionally and economically advantaged cohorts in the population being replaced by cohorts of children who are less advantaged (between-cohort change), and (2) the health habits, nutrition, and social and economic circumstances of all cohorts of children worsening over time (within-cohort change). The rise in obesity among children aged 2 to 19 years is solely due to intracohort change driven by variation in food security composition and in the diet of the population over time. Child obesity in the population rose largely because of individual increases in weight status that are broadly distributed across age and cohort groups. Smaller but significant cohort replacement effects slightly attenuated these intracohort change effects over the study period, leading to a more gradual increase in obesity. Our results provide some reasons for optimism. Given that population estimates of child obesity rose because the typical member of all cohorts became heavier over time at all stages of the early life course, successful policy and health interventions that focus on changing health habits across all ages and generations have the potential to quickly slow or reverse the upward trend in child obesity

Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period

Decomposing Trends in Adult Body Mass Index, Obesity, and Morbid Obesity, 1971-2012

Trends in adult obesity have been used to motivate key public health policies in the United States. While these analyses provide important insights into the broad historical contours of the obesity epidemic in the U.S., they shed less light on the proximate mechanisms that have generated these changes and that will ultimately determine the long-term course and pace of change in obesity rates. We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Glenn Firebaugh\u27s linear decomposition technique, and Kitagawa\u27s algebraic decomposition method to decompose change in body mass index (BMI), obesity, and morbid obesity from 1971 through 2012 for adults aged 20+. We partitioned change into that attributable to (1) older, fitter cohorts in the population being replaced by newer, less fit cohorts (intercohort change), and (2) cohort members becoming less fit over time (intracohort change). We found that the rise in mean BMI and rates of obesity and morbid obesity was primarily a consequence of intracohort change driven by variation in the demographic and socioeconomic composition and in the diet of the population over time. Obesity and BMI in the population rose largely because of individual increases in weight status that were broadly distributed across age and cohort groups. Cohort replacement reinforced and amplified intracohort change over the study period, leading to rapid increases in mean BMI and obesity. Because intracohort change has been the central force in the increase in BMI and obesity, successful social, dietary, medical, or policy interventions have the potential to quickly slow or reverse the upward trend in weight status. Our results also imply that policy efforts and health interventions should be broadly targeted at all age groups and birth cohorts because increases in obesity have been widely distributed across all ages and generations

First Report of the National Evaluation of RSVP Volunteers

In 2013, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) initiated a national evaluation of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). The national evaluation was intended to collect the necessary information to better guide the RSVP program and to address three objectives: 1) describe the characteristics of RSVP volunteers, including how volunteers are distributed across CNCS’s performance measure categories, and how volunteers allocated their time to different service activities across the performance measure categories; 2) measure the relationship between volunteer characteristics, service activities, and volunteers’ psychosocial health; and 3) measure the impact of RSVP national service participation on volunteers’ psychosocial health compared to similar adult volunteers and non-volunteers in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)... The current report focuses on the first objective, which is to describe the characteristics of RSVP volunteers, including how volunteers are distributed across CNCS’s performance measure categories, and how volunteers allocated their time to the service activities across the performance measure categories

Depression and Body Mass Index, Differences by Education: Evidence from a Population-based Study of Adult Women in the U.S. Buffalo-Niagara Region

The relationship between obesity and depression is well described. However, the evidence linking depression and body mass index (BMI) across the broad range of body size is less consistent. We examined the association between depressive symptoms and BMI in a sample of adult women in the Buffalo-Niagara region between 1997 and 2001. Using logistic regression, we investigated whether increased weight status beyond normal-weight was associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, and if educational attainment modified the association between obesity and depression. There was a trend for increased weight status to be associated with higher depressive symptoms (obese II/III, OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.03–2.41), whereas higher education was associated with lower odds of depressive symptoms, in an adjusted model including BMI (more than 12 but less than 16 years, OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.49–0.98; 16 or more years of education, OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40–0.93). The association of being obese I with depressive symptoms was different for more educated (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.27–3.62) compared to less educated women (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.50–1.62); the sample was larger for the more educated women and reached statistical significance. There were no differences in the association for obese II/III women in strata of education. There was evidence of risk-difference heterogeneity (0.88, 95% CI 0.84–0.93). In this population-based sample of women in western New York state, increased weight was negligibly associated with depressive symptoms. The association of being obese I with depressive symptoms was different for more compared to less educated women

Surgical Patients’ Hospital Experience Scores: Neighborhood Context Conceptual Framework

Objective: Through geocoding the physical residential address included in the electronic medical record to the census tract level, we present a novel model for concomitant examination of individual patient-related and residential context-related factors that are associated with patient-reported experience scores. Summary Background Data: When assessing patient experience in the surgical setting, researchers need to examine the potential influence of neighborhood-level characteristics on patient experience-of-care ratings. Methods: We geocoded the residential address included in the electronic medical record (EMR) from a tertiary care facility to the census tract level of Orange County, CA. We then linked each individual record to the matching census tract and use hierarchical regression analyses to test the impact of distinct neighborhood conditions on patient experience. This approach allows us to estimate how each neighborhood characteristic uniquely influences Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. Results: Individuals residing in communities characterized by high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage have the highest experience ratings. Accounting for individual patient’s characteristics such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, primary language spoken at home, length of stay, and average pain levels during their hospital stay, neighborhood-level characteristics such as proportions of people receiving public assistance influence the ratings of hospital experience (0.01, P \u3c 0.05) independent of, and beyond, these individual-level factors. Conclusions: This manuscript is an example of how geocoding could be used to analyze surgical patient experience scores. In this analysis, we have shown that neighborhood-level characteristics influence the ratings of hospital experience independent of, and beyond, individual-level factors