Under the same roof: understanding the gender disparity in obesity prevalence in U.S. Black young adults

Background: In the United States, Black women are at much greater risk for obesity than Black men. Little is known about the factors underlying this disparity. Objectives: We explored whether, in U.S. Black young adults, childhood sociodemographic factors (parental education, single-mother household, number of siblings, number of minors in household, birth order, and female caregiver's age) and adolescent behaviors (family dinners, hours of television, playing sports with mother, playing sports with father, bouts of physical activity) were associated with gender disparities in obesity. Methods: Analysis datasets were constructed from the nationally representative National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The datasets included non-immigrant Black and White youths aged 11 to 19 years in 1994-95. Childhood sociodemographic factors (n=7,747) were assessed in 1994-95. Adolescent behaviors (n=5,955) were assessed in 1994-95 and 1995-96. Obesity was measured in 1995-96 and again in 2001-02. For each assessed childhood sociodemographic factor, we evaluated whether the factor modified the female-male prevalence difference. Second, we evaluated whether standardizing Black males and females to the same distributions of the adolescent behaviors reduced the size of the predicted gender disparity in young Blacks. Results: In unadjusted and multivariable-adjusted models, parental education consistently modified Blacks' gender disparity (p=0.01). The gender gap was largest at low parental education (16.7% men obese vs. 45.4% women obese) and smallest at high parental education (28.5% men obese vs. 31.4% women obese). In Whites, there was little overall gender difference in obesity prevalence. Blacks females reported less leisure-time physical activity and lower likelihood of sport with either parent than did Black males. Standardizing by these behaviors did not reduce the predicted gender disparity in obesity incidence. Discussion: Black young adults' gender disparity in obesity prevalence was concentrated in families with low parental education. Male-female differences in the adolescent behaviors examined did not appear to underlie the obesity gender gap in young U.S. Blacks. Future research should investigate environmental, physiologic, and behavioral factors related to the differential regulation of energy balance in young Black males and females

Effect of Added Fat and Corn on the Utilization by Steers of Nitrcxlen in Wintering Rations

Animal Nutritio

Spitzer View of Young Massive Stars in the LMC HII Complex N44

The HII complex N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) provides an excellent site to perform a detailed study of star formation in a mild starburst, as it hosts three regions of star formation at different evolutionary stages and it is not as complicated and confusing as the 30 Doradus giant HII region. We have obtained Spitzer Space Telescope observations and complementary ground-based 4m uBVIJK observations of N44 to identify candidate massive young stellar objects (YSOs). We further classify the YSOs into Types I, II, and III, according to their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In our sample of 60 YSO candidates, ~65% of them are resolved into multiple components or extended sources in high-resolution ground-based images. We have modeled the SEDs of 36 YSOs that appear single or dominant within a group. We find good fits for Types I and I/II YSOs,but Types II and II/III YSOs show deviations between their observed SEDs and models that do not include PAH emission. We have also found that some Type III YSOs have central holes in their disk components. YSO counterparts are found in four ultracompact HII regions and their stellar masses determined from SED model fits agree well with those estimated from the ionization requirements of the HII regions. The distribution of YSOs is compared with those of the underlying stellar population and interstellar gas conditions to illustrate a correlation between the current formation of O-type stars and previous formation of massive stars. Evidence of triggered star formation is also presented.Comment: 63 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication for ApJ; some figures in jpeg format to meet the size limit; preprint with high resolution images can be found at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~cc5ye/n44yso.pd

Necessary but not Sufficient: The Continuing Inequality between Men and Women in Educational Leadership, Findings from the AASA Mid-Decade Survey

The gender of school leaders makes a difference in career paths, personal life, and characteristics of workplace. There is additional evidence that men and women are appointed or elected to lead different kinds of educational jurisdictions. Even if those differences did not exist, equitable access to leadership positions for people of different backgrounds would make this an important issue. This article reports gender-related findings from the American Association of School Administrators 2015 Mid-Decade Survey. Findings confirm many of the trends in research on the superintendency over the past 15 years. The profiles of women superintendents are becoming more like their male counterparts. Both men and women appear to be less mobile than in the past. Men and women are spending about the same time as teachers before becoming superintendents, women and men appear to experience stress similarly, and women are receiving mentoring much more than in the past. There are few data to support the beliefs that women superintendents, more than men, are limited by family circumstance although this survey sheds no light on perspectives of women aspirants. This survey also confirms that there are a variety of paths to the position providing opportunities for women who have not necessarily had the typical teacher/principal/central office administrator trajectory. Nevertheless, significant differences still exist. Most important is that men are still four times more likely than women to serve in the most powerful position in education, and both women and men of color are still grossly underrepresented

The Role of Adolescent Behaviors in the Female–Male Disparity in Obesity Incidence in US Black and White Young Adults

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93675/1/oby.2009.362.pd

The spatial distribution of gender differences in obesity prevalence differs from overall obesity prevalence among US adults

While obesity disparities between racial and socioeconomic groups have been well characterized, those based on gender and geography have not been as thoroughly documented. This study describes obesity prevalence by state, gender, and race/ethnicity to (1) characterize obesity gender inequality, (2) determine if the geographic distribution of inequality is spatially clustered and (3) contrast the spatial clustering patterns of obesity gender inequality with overall obesity prevalence

Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater?: Comparing 2 Approaches to Implausible Values of Change in Body Size

BACKGROUND: In childhood obesity research, the appearance of height loss, or "shrinkage," indicates measurement error. It is unclear whether a common response--excluding "shrinkers" from analysis--reduces bias. METHODS: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we sampled 816 female adolescents (≥17 years) who had attained adult height by 1996 and for whom adult height was consistently measured in 2001 and 2008 ("gold-standard" height). We estimated adolescent obesity prevalence and the association of maternal education with adolescent obesity under 3 conditions: excluding shrinkers (for whom gold-standard height was less than recorded height in 1996), retaining shrinkers, and retaining shrinkers but substituting their gold-standard height. RESULTS: When we estimated obesity prevalence, excluding shrinkers decreased precision without improving validity. When we regressed obesity on maternal education, excluding shrinkers produced less valid and less precise estimates. CONCLUSION: In some circumstances, ignoring shrinkage is a better strategy than excluding shrinkers