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This chapter analyzes which factors influence adolescent obesity by separating nutritional factors of the food consumed from socioeconomic and demographic variables.

A general linear equation is utilized to model the results empirically. A descriptive analysis is also utilized to determine which foods adolescents consume.

The empirical results found that food at home and food away from home and calories have a similar positive influence on obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI). The evidence shows that mothers have a greater influence on adolescents’ BMI than do fathers.

The results offer insight on what factors may be attributed to obesity in urban China.

This chapter explores the development of advertising regulations governing food advertising to children in Australia since the 1940s. By introducing the advertising and marketing self-regulatory system, the Australian Government is taking a neoliberal approach, advocating for the free market to initiate and sustain the country’s economic development, instead of greater government regulation. By examining the primary and secondary literature, such as government reports and research, and newspaper and academic articles, this chapter outlines different regulatory initiatives adopted by both the government and food industry to limit food and beverage advertising to children on television and online, in order to prevent obesity rates increasing in children. This chapter synthesizes and critically evaluates food industry and public health studies, government and non-government reviews, and other research studies to evaluate the influence of self-regulation on Australian television food advertising within the neoliberal context since the 1990s. It contributes to the literature on food advertising regulations for children in Australia by offering evidence of how the government, public health authorities and the food industry have attempted to keep pace with changes in the advertising, marketing and media industries by developing and reviewing advertising codes. It identifies the loopholes that exist in these self-regulatory codes and concludes that Australia’s current advertising regulatory arrangements are failing to protect our children from unhealthy food marketing on television, especially on relatively under-regulated online platforms such as social media and branded websites. The issues identified in this chapter could aid the food and beverage industry, as well as the self-regulatory system, to offer comprehensive and applicable solutions to combat Australia’s obesity crises by implementing new legislations that align with different marketing practices.

Past research on the immigrant health paradox suggests that children with immigrant parents may have a health advantage over those with US-born parents, especially if the parent is a recent immigrant. Other research emphasizes the social and economic challenges children with immigrant parents face, in part due to disadvantaged social class and racial/ethnic positions. Underlying physiological changes due to chronic stress exposures among children in immigrant families is one potential health disadvantage that may not yet be apparent in traditional health measures. To explore these biological disparities during childhood, I use national biomarker and survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) (N = 11,866) to evaluate parent nativity and educational status associations with low-grade inflammation, indicated by C-reactive protein (CRP), in children ages 2–15 years. I find that children with an immigrant parent, and particularly a low-educated immigrant parent, have higher CRP, net of birth, body mass index (BMI) and other factors, than children with a US-born parent with either a low or higher education. Comparing children with low-educated parents, those with a foreign-born parent have higher predicted CRP. The findings from this study provide new evidence that children living in immigrant families in the US may be facing higher levels of chronic stress exposure, as indicated by the increased risk of low-grade inflammation, than those with US-born parents. The physiological changes related to increased risk of inflammation, could set children in immigrant families on pathways toward mental and physical health problems later in the life course.

Equity is an issue that pervades all aspects of primary care provision for children and as such is a recurring theme in the Models of Child Health Appraised project. All European Union member states agree to address inequalities in health outcomes and include policies to address the gradient of health across society and target particularly vulnerable population groups. The project sought to understand the contribution of primary care services to reducing inequity in health outcomes for children. We focused on some key features of inequity as they affect children, such as the importance of good health services in early childhood, and the effects of inequity on children, such as the higher health needs of underprivileged groups, but their generally lower access to health services. This indicates that health services have an important role in buffering the effects of social determinants of health by providing effective treatment that can improve the health and quality of life for children with chronic disorders. We identified common risk factors for inequity, such as gender, family situation, socio-economic status (SES), migrant or minority status and regional differences in healthcare provision, and attempted to measure inequity of service provision. We did this by analysing routine data of universal primary care procedures, such as vaccination, age at diagnosis of autism or emergency hospital admission for conditions that can be generally treated in primary care, against variables of inequity, such as indicators of SES, migrant/ethnicity or urban/rural residency. In addition, we focused on the experiences of child population groups particularly at risk of inequity of primary care provision: migrant children and children in the state care system.

Physical appearances constitute a criterion of discrimination recognised by the French law. This topic is often raised in the field of media and advertising, but the consequences of stereotypes and prejudices about appearances at work are not taken into account as much. However, this criterion is subject to a multitude of normative injunctions, located in time and space, and significantly affects all spheres of life. Voluntary or involuntary transgression of these norms leads to processes of segregation, discrimination and harassment. These processes are all the more insidious because their legitimacy is less questioned than when it concerns a criterion shared by a collective such as race or gender. Appearances are, in fact, perceived as individual characteristics; moreover, some of them are perceived as controllable, which justifies the unfavourable treatment of people who do not fit the norm.

At work, recruitment is the most obvious step in which appearances play a role because first impressions are largely based on them. But remuneration or daily life at the office is also affected by beliefs and expectations about appearances. After presenting testimonies from focus groups on this issue, we offer some advices for organisations concerned by the topic.

Past studies have shown that acculturation has been linked with media consumption (Shi, 2005; Shohat & Stam, 1996). Some risky health behaviors are associated with immigrants’ acculturation into the American society. In this study, we investigate the association between Latino adolescents’ recreational use of media with acculturation as related to risky health behaviors such as the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, the experience of getting sunburns, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

Regression models were run to analyze the Latino adolescent subsample (aged 12–17) of the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (Ponce et al., 2004).

The regression models show that weekend television and video gaming are significantly associated with the number of sunburns one had in the past year (incident rate ratio = 1.008, z = 2.73), and weekend recreational computer use is significantly associated with the number of cans of soda with sugar one drank during the previous day (incident rate ratio = 1.003, z = 2.09). The use of English for the interview, age, parents’ educational attainment, household size, and gender are also found to be associated with different acculturation-related risky health behaviors investigated in this study.

This study is the first to analyze media consumption’s association with sunburn among Latino adolescents. Our findings indicate that among Latino adolescents in the United States, a large amount of media consumption can lead to risky health behaviors that were not common in Latin America. Therefore, parents should heed possible behavioral consequences when they decide on the amount of media exposure children have.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the impact of an “Early Steps Physical Education Curriculum” (ESPEC) in children's attitudes and awareness toward a healthy lifestyle in early childhood. ESPEC was a part of a five-European country intervention program named “Early Steps” project. Early Steps project was a European Union funded initiation that targeted at improving children's healthy lifestyle and social development. The main philosophy behind the “Early Steps” project was the use of physical education activities to help children acquire the basic knowledge of social interaction skills, and healthy and active lifestyle. The ESPEC was designed to improve children's awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. The curriculum comprised of 24 physical education lessons, which aimed through the acquisition of several motor skills at making children in early childhood engage more actively in a healthy lifestyle. Results showed that children developed several healthy habits through their participation in play experiences provided by the “ESPEC for healthy lifestyle.” Such findings could lead to the conclusion that (a) children's attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle can be influenced positively and enhanced in a carefully organized physical education program and (b) curriculum-based initiatives that aim at improving children's attitudes and behaviors, such as the “ESPEC for healthy lifestyle” program, can be implemented effectively in early childhood education.

The importance of knowledge regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is universally recognized, but less commonly actualized in health professional curricula. This chapter examines how SDG awareness has been embedded into curricula and extra-curricula activity in four different University settings: The University of Melbourne (Australia); Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico); Lund University (Sweden); and the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). It is informed by the work of academics representing single health disciplines from the four universities. All academics are actively involved with the Universitas 21 Health Science Group (U21HSG) SDG strategic group. The chapter will outline shared and unique projects that are directed at increasing students awareness for targeted action to achieve the global goals.

With a crowded curriculum, lack of SDG expertise and a belief that health professional learning should focus on a single goal (Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), there are significant challenges to growing SDG relevant knowledge and skills within existing programs. We provide examples of how these challenges were met, such as through the development of SDG learning outcomes to fit within a physiotherapy curriculum renewal and the running and management of service learning refugee clinics by medical students. We will briefly examine our key learning and make recommendations on providing SDG relevant learning opportunities for students. The chapter will provoke and challenge the reader to consider how they are addressing the sustainability goals and how they can overcome perceived barriers to educating students for a sustainable world.