Parental stress increases body mass index trajectory in pre-adolescents.

What is already known about this subjectRates of childhood obesity have increased since the mid-1970s. Research into behavioural determinants has focused on physical inactivity and unhealthy diets. Cross-sectional studies indicate an association between psychological stress experienced by parents and obesity in pre-adolescents.What this study addsWe provide evidence of a prospective association between parental psychological stress and increased weight gain in pre-adolescents. Family-level support for those experiencing chronic stress might help promote healthy diet and exercise behaviours in children.ObjectiveWe examined the impact of parental psychological stress on body mass index (BMI) in pre-adolescent children over 4 years of follow-up.MethodsWe included 4078 children aged 5-10 years (90% were between 5.5 and 7.5 years) at study entry (2002-2003) in the Children's Health Study, a prospective cohort study in southern California. A multi-level linear model simultaneously examined the effect of parental stress at study entry on the attained BMI at age 10 and the slope of change across annual measures of BMI during follow-up, controlled for the child's age and sex. BMI was calculated based on objective measurements of height and weight by trained technicians following a standardized procedure.ResultsA two standard deviation increase in parental stress at study entry was associated with an increase in predicted BMI attained by age 10 of 0.287 kg m(-2) (95% confidence interval 0.016-0.558; a 2% increase at this age for a participant of average attained BMI). The same increase in parental stress was also associated with an increased trajectory of weight gain over follow-up, with the slope of change in BMI increased by 0.054 kg m(-2) (95% confidence interval 0.007-0.100; a 7% increase in the slope of change for a participant of average BMI trajectory).ConclusionsWe prospectively demonstrated a small effect of parental stress on BMI at age 10 and weight gain earlier in life than reported previously. Interventions to address the burden of childhood obesity should address the role of parental stress in children

General rules for environmental management to prioritise social ecological systems research based on a value of information approach

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record1. Globally, billions of dollars are invested each year to help understand the dynamics of social ecological systems (SES) in bettering both social and environmental outcomes. However, there is no scientific consensus on which aspect of an SES is most important and urgent to understand; particularly given the realities of limited time and money. 2. Here we use a simulation‐based “value of information” approach to examine where research will deliver the most important information for environmental management in four SESs representing a range of real‐life environmental issues. 3. We find that neither social nor ecological information is consistently the most important: instead, researchers should focus on understanding the primary effects of their management actions. 4. Thus, when managers are undertaking social actions the highest research priority should be understanding the dynamics of social groups. Alternatively, when manipulating ecological systems it will be most important to quantify ecological population dynamics. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our results provide a standard assessment to determine the uncertain social ecological systems (SES) component with the highest expected impact for management outcomes. First, managers should determine the structure of their SES by identifying social and ecological nodes. Second, managers should identify the qualitative nature of the network, by determining which nodes are linked, but not the strength of those interactions. Finally, managers should identify the actions available to them to intervene in the SES. From these steps, managers will be able to identify the SES components that are closest to the management action(s), and it is these nodes and interactions that should receivepriority research attention to achieve effective environmental decision making.Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Counc

Evolutionary and socio-cultural influences on feelings and attitudes towards nature: a cross-cultural study

Mounting environmental issues have prompted reconsideration of the human–nature relationship. Accordingly, attitudes to nature, as an important dimension of human–nature interactions, have become a research focus. How feelings and attitudes towards nature are influenced by evolutionary and social-cultural constructions, and whether there is variation between different cultural groups, demands more attention. Using a survey of visitors to two very different National Parks, the New Forest National Park, England and Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, China, this paper shows that of nationality and living environment, differences between the two nationalities were significant in respect of both attitudes and feelings. Specifically, it demonstrates that the biophilia thesis, which purports that people have an innate and a genetically inherited need for affiliation with nature, is influenced by their socio-cultural environment, in particular their national culture, but also by their current living place. The study contributes to our understanding of sustainable tourism in natural areas

Appointment time: Disability and neoliberal workfare temporalities

My primary interest in this article is to reveal the complexity of neoliberal temporalities on the lives of disabled people forced to participate in workfare regimes to maintain access to social security measures and programming. Through drawing upon some of the contemporary debates arising within the social study of time, this article explicates what Jessop refers to as the sovereignty of time that has emerged with the global adoption of neoliberal workfare regimes. It is argued that the central role of temporality within the globalizing project of neoliberal workfare and the positioning of disability within these global macro-structural processes requires the sociological imagination to return to both time as a theme and time as a methodology

Radical, Reformist, and Garden-Variety Neoliberal: Coming to Terms with Urban Agriculture’s Contradictions

For many activists and scholars, urban agriculture in the Global North has become synonymous with sustainable food systems, standing in opposition to the dominant industrial agri-food system. At the same time, critical social scientists increasingly argue that urban agriculture programmes, by filling the void left by the rolling back of the social safety net, underwrite neoliberalisation. I argue that such contradictions are central to urban agriculture. Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in Oakland, CA, I explain how urban agriculture arises from a protective counter-movement, while at the same time entrenching the neoliberal organisation of contemporary urban political economies through its entanglement with multiple processes of neoliberalisation. By focusing on one function or the other, however, rather than understanding such contradictions as internal and inherent, we risk undermining urban agriculture\u27s transformative potential. Coming to terms with its internal contradictions can help activists, policy-makers and practitioners better position urban agriculture within coordinated efforts for structural change, one of many means to an end rather than an end unto itself

Exploiting the archive: and the animals came in two by two, 16mm, CD-ROM and BetaSp

This a post-print, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Area. Copyright © 1999 Wiley Blackwell. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.comUsing an account of the construction and subsequent exploitation of the film archive at the BBC's Natural History Unit, this paper explores the ways in which animals are embedded in the different cultures of care, control and commodification in the zoo and the wildlife film-making unit. Network analysis is used to account for the similarities and tensions between these forms of animal exhibition, as revealed in the electronic zoo at Wildscreen World

Latino Communities in the United States: Place-Making in the Pre-World War II, Postwar, and Contemporary City

Scholarship on Latino communities in the United States has yet to catch up with the rapid growth of this ethnic population in the country. Understanding the Latino urban experience and developing plans to better respond to both the needs of Latino communities and their integration within society is not only relevant, but also urgently necessary. Using the city of Los Angeles as a main lens, in addition to a general look at the urban Southwest, we contribute to the scholarship on the subject with a review of literature on Latino communities. We structure the review as an assessment of the various challenges and opportunities for urban Latinos in the pre-war, postwar, and contemporary city. Focusing on space, culture, economy, and governance, we chart the various roles both the private and public sectors play in meeting these challenges. Our reading of the literature shows that particular government actions in the economic and governance domains in the past had positive impacts on Latino integration, and we call for a similar effort today in addressing contemporary challenges. We conclude by suggesting that future planning scholarship on Latino communities engage the wider urban studies literature, focus on emerging forms of urbanization, and call on planners to sustain increased academic and practical interest in the topic