Investigating TV viewing and overweight in pre-adolescent and adolescent girls

Childhood obesity is one of the most important public health problems facing America today. Other studies have identified a relationship between television viewing and weight, but more research is needed to identify causal mechanisms and factors that moderate the TV-weight relationship. This study used the NHLBI National Growth and Health Survey to examine the effects of TV viewing on BMI in a panel of White and Black girls from the ages of 9 to 18. Analyses provided estimates of the influence of TV on BMI for White and Black girls, evaluated different mechanisms of actions, and tested effects of potential moderators. Multiple analyses provided evidence for an effect of TV on BMI for White, but not Black, girls. Specifically, latent growth curve models found that for White girls, baseline TV viewing and increases in TV viewing over time positively predicted baseline BMI and increases in BMI. Autoregressive cross-lagged models tested one-year lags of the effects of TV on BMI and reciprocal effects of BMI on TV. Five of nine lagged TV-BMI analyses were significant for White girls; (on average, one additional hour of TV viewing/day was associated with an increase in BMI of 0.7 the following year. None of the lagged TV-BMI analyses was significant for Black girls, although two of the lagged BMI-TV tests reached significance. Seven possible mediators were tested: calorie, fat, and sugar intakes, eating while watching television, fast food restaurant visits, nutritional knowledge, and physical activity. Among at least some age/racial subgroups, television viewing was associated with increased fast food restaurant visits, fat and calorie intakes, decreased nutritional knowledge, and eating while watching television. Fast food restaurant visits and fat and calorie intakes were significantly and positively associated with BMI among some subgroups. However, only fast food restaurant visits among 9--10-year-old White girls met the criteria for partial mediation. Six variables were tested as interactions with TV. Of these, two---stronger family cohesiveness and higher self-esteem---acted as buffers against TV\u27s effects on BMI among White girls, and one---baseline weight status over the 85th percentile---amplified TV\u27s effects among Black girls

The Ambivalent Role of Religion for Sustainable Development: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

Until recently, academia has largely neglected the impact of religion on sustainable development. However, empirical studies have shown that religion remains important in many societies and that its importance has been increasing since the beginning of the new millennium. This paper reviews the empirical quantitative literature on the effect of religion on development from the last decade. We start by disaggregating the concepts of religion and sustainable development into four religious and three developmental dimensions and proposing a framework to identify causal mechanisms. Numerous mechanisms are possible, and this complexity explains why only a few uncontested findings exist. Religion is ambivalent vis-à-vis development: although religious dimensions exert a positive influence on physical and mental health as well as on general well-being, scholars have found a negative relationship between religious dimensions and both income and gender equality. Studies agree that the dominance of one religious group together with parallel ethnic and religious cleavages increases the risk of conflict, while studies on the pro-peace effects of religious factors are largely missing. Methodological challenges relate to the availability of fine-grained data, especially for non-Western countries, and the use of concepts and definitions. Most importantly, the study of religion and development requires methods that allow for causal inference