Inadequate child supervision: The role of alcohol outlet density, parent drinking behaviors, and social support

Supervisory neglect, or the failure of a caregiver to appropriately supervise a child, is one of the predominant types of neglectful behaviors, with alcohol use being considered a key antecedent to inadequate supervision of children. The current study builds on previous work by examining the role of parental drinking and alcohol outlet densities while controlling for caregiver and child characteristics. Data were obtained from 3,023 participants via a telephone survey from 50 cities throughout California. The telephone survey included items on neglectful parenting practices, drinking behaviors, and socio-demographic characteristics. Densities of alcohol outlets were measured for each of the 202 zip codes in the study. Multilevel Bernoulli models were used to analyze the relationship between four supervisory neglect parenting practices and individual-level and zip code-level variables. In our study, heavy drinking was only significantly related to one of our four outcome variables (leaving a child where he or she may not be safe). The density of on premise alcohol outlets was positively related to leaving a child home alone when an adult should be present. This study demonstrates that discrete relationships exist between alcohol related variables, social support, and specific supervisory neglect subtypes at the ecological and individual levels

Learning through the ages? Generational inequalities and inter-generational dynamics of lifelong learning

This exploratory paper considers the concept of generation in the context of learning across the life course. Although researchers have often found considerable inequalities in participation by age, as well as strongly articulated attitudinal differences, there have so far been only a handful of studies that have explored these patterns through the perspective of generational formations. The paper is primarily conceptual, exploratory and reflective, setting out a number of approaches to the concept of generations, most of which derive largely from debates with the ghost of Karl Mannheim; it then considers how these concepts of generation have been applied to understandings of educational inequalities in recent research in Germany and the Nordic nations. It then examines the dynamics of inter-generational relations in learning, drawing on research undertaken as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The paper argues that although inter-generational dynamics are a relatively neglected dimension of Anglophone research on life chances and learning, there is a strong case for understanding their dual roles in both inequality and cohesion. It concludes by outlining some themes and areas for further investigation in the future

Alcohol-related victimisation: Differences between sexual minorities and heterosexuals in an Australian national sample

Introduction and Aims - Alcohol-related violence and other types of victimisation are prevalent, but unevenly distributed across the population. The study investigated the relationship between alcohol-related victimisation and sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, other) in a national sample. Design and Methods - The study used cross-sectional data from the 2010 Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey. Logistic regression was used to assess the association of sexual orientation with three types of victimisation (verbal abuse, physical abuse and feeling threatened by a person intoxicated on alcohol in the last 12 months) and controlled for probable confounding variables. Results - Of 24,858 eligible respondents aged 14 years or older, 26.8% experienced victimisation. Less than 30% of heterosexual men and women suffered victimisation compared with nearly 50% of gay men and bisexual women. Controlling for alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, age group, mental health, Indigenous status and socioeconomic factors, logistic regression, stratified by gender, found that the odds of both verbal [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.52] and physical abuse (AOR=2.04) were greatest for lesbians, while gay men had the greatest odds (AOR=2.25) of feeling threatened. Discussion and Conclusions - Across all types of victimisation, some or all sexual minority groups had increased odds of being victimised in the last 12 months compared with their heterosexual counterparts. The pattern of results shows the importance of disaggregating sexual minority status in considering the impact of alcohol-related victimisation and in developing interventions or policies

The Alcohol Intervention Training Program (AITP): A response to alcohol misuse in the farming community

Background Farm men and women in Australia have higher levels of problematic alcohol use than their urban counterparts and experience elevated health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption. The Sustainable Farm Families (SFF) program has worked successfully with farm men and women to address health, well- being and safety and has identified that further research and training is required to understand and address alcohol misuse behaviours. This project will add an innovative component to the program by training health professionals working with farm men and women to discuss and respond to alcohol-related physical and mental health problems. Methods/Design A mixed method design with multi-level evaluation will be implemented following the development and delivery of a training program (The Alcohol Intervention Training Program {AITP}) for Sustainable Farm Families health professionals. Pre-, post- and follow-up surveys will be used to assess both the impact of the training on the knowledge, confidence and skills of the health professionals to work with alcohol misuse and associated problems, and the impact of the training on the attitudes, behaviour and mental health of farm men and women who participate in the SFF project. Evaluations will take a range of forms including self-rated outcome measures and interviews. Discussion The success of this project will enhance the health and well-being of a critical population, the farm men and women of Australia, by producing an evidence-based strategy to assist them to adopt more positive alcohol-related behaviours that will lead to better physical and mental health

Parent characteristics associated with approval of their children drinking alcohol from ages 13 to 16 years: prospective cohort study

Objective: We investigated parent sociodemographic and drinking characteristics in relation to whether they approved of their children drinking at ages 13, 14, 15 and 16 years. Methods: We collected data annually from 2010–2014, in which 1,927 parent–child dyads, comprising school students (mean age 12.9 years at baseline) and one of their parents, participated. Our operational definition of parental approval of children drinking was based on the behaviour of parents in pre-specified contexts, reported by children. We measured parents’ drinking with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) scale and performed logistic regression to estimate associations between exposures and each wave of outcomes. Results: Parents’ approval of their children's drinking increased from 4.6% at age 13 years to 13% at age 16 years and was more common in parents of daughters than parents of sons (OR 1.62; 95%CI: 1.23 to 2.12). Parents in low-income families (OR 2.67; 1.73 to 4.12), single parents (OR 1.62; 1.17 to 2.25), parents with less than a higher school certificate (OR 1.54; 1.07 to 2.22), and parents who drank more heavily (OR 1.17; 1.09 to 1.25) were more likely to approve of their child drinking. Conclusions: Socially disadvantaged parents were more likely to approve of their children drinking alcohol. Implications for public health: The findings identify high-risk groups in the population and may help explain the socioeconomic gradients in alcohol-related morbidity and mortality seen in many countries

Evidence of a Dominant Lineage of Vibrio cholerae-Specific Lytic Bacteriophages Shed by Cholera Patients over a 10-Year Period in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Lytic bacteriophages are hypothesized to contribute to the seasonality and duration of cholera epidemics in Bangladesh. However, the bacteriophages contributing to this phenomenon have yet to be characterized at a molecular genetic level. In this study, we isolated and sequenced the genomes of 15 bacteriophages from stool samples from cholera patients spanning a 10-year surveillance period in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Our results indicate that a single novel bacteriophage type, designated ICP1 (for the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh cholera phage 1) is present in all stool samples from cholera patients, while two other bacteriophage types, one novel (ICP2) and one T7-like (ICP3), are transient. ICP1 is a member of the Myoviridae family and has a 126-kilobase genome comprising 230 open reading frames. Comparative sequence analysis of ICP1 and related isolates from this time period indicates a high level of genetic conservation. The ubiquitous presence of ICP1 in cholera patients and the finding that the O1 antigen of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) serves as the ICP1 receptor suggest that ICP1 is extremely well adapted to predation of human-pathogenic V. cholerae O1

The politics of ageing: health consumers, markets and hegemonic challenge

In recent years ageing has travelled from the placid backwaters of politics into the mainstream of economic, social and cultural debate. What are the forces that have politicised ageing, creating a sustained opposition to the supply side hegemony of pharmaceuticals, medicine and state which has historically constructed, propagated and legitimised the understanding of ageing as decline in social worth? In addressing this question, the paper develops Gramsci's theory of hegemony to include the potentially disruptive demand side power of consumers and markets. It shows how in the case of ageing individuals acting in concert through the mechanisms of the market, and not institutionalised modes of opposition, may become the agents of hegemonic challenge through a combination of lifecourse choice and electoral leverage. In response, the hegemony is adapting through the promotion of professionally defined interpretations of ‘active ageing’ designed to retain hegemonic control. With the forces of hegemony and counter‐hegemony nicely balanced and fresh issues such as intergenerational justice constantly emerging, the political tensions of ageing are set to continue

Repelling neoliberal world-making? How the ageing–dementia relation is reassembling the social

Growing old ‘badly’ is stigmatizing, a truism that is enrolled into contemporary agendas for the biomedicalization of ageing. Among the many discourses that emphasize ageing as the root cause of later life illnesses, dementia is currently promoted as an epidemic and such hyperbole serves to legitimate its increasing biomedicalization. The new stigma however is no longer contained to simply having dementia, it is failing to prevent it. Anti-ageing cultures of consumption, alongside a proliferation of cultural depictions of the ageing–dementia relation, seem to be refiguring dementia as a future to be worked on to eliminate it from our everyday life. The article unpacks this complexity for how the ageing–dementia relation is being reassembled in biopolitics in ways that enact it as something that can be transformed and managed. Bringing together Bauman’s theories of how cultural communities cope with the otherness of the other with theories of the rationale for the making of monsters – such as the figure of the abject older person with dementia – the article suggests that those older body-persons that personify the ageing–dementia relation, depicted in film and television for example, threaten the modes of ordering underpinning contemporary lives. This is not just because they intimate loss of mind, or because they are disruptive, but because they do not perform what it is to be ‘response-able’ and postpone frailty through managing self and risk

The McKenzie method for the management of acute non-specific low back pain: design of a randomised controlled trial [ACTRN012605000032651]

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a major health problem. Effective treatment of acute LBP is important because it prevents patients from developing chronic LBP, the stage of LBP that requires costly and more complex treatment. Physiotherapists commonly use a system of diagnosis and exercise prescription called the McKenzie Method to manage patients with LBP. However, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of the McKenzie Method for these patients. We have designed a randomised controlled trial to evaluate whether the addition of the McKenzie Method to general practitioner care results in better outcomes than general practitioner care alone for patients with acute LBP. METHODS/DESIGN: This paper describes the protocol for a trial examining the effects of the McKenzie Method in the treatment of acute non-specific LBP. One hundred and forty eight participants who present to general medical practitioners with a new episode of acute non-specific LBP will be randomised to receive general practitioner care or general practitioner care plus a program of care based on the McKenzie Method. The primary outcomes are average pain during week 1, pain at week 1 and 3 and global perceived effect at week 3. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide the first rigorous test of the effectiveness of the McKenzie Method for acute non-specific LBP