Childhood and adolescence are important developmental phases which influence health and well-being across the life span. Social relationships are fundamental to child and adolescent development; yet ...studies have been limited to children's relationships with other humans. This paper provides an evidence review for the potential associations between pet ownership and emotional; behavioural; cognitive; educational and social developmental outcomes. As the field is in the early stages; a broad set of inclusion criteria was applied. A systematic search of databases and grey literature sources found twenty-two studies meeting selection criteria. The review found evidence for an association between pet ownership and a wide range of emotional health benefits from childhood pet ownership; particularly for self-esteem and loneliness. The findings regarding childhood anxiety and depression were inconclusive. Studies also showed evidence of an association between pet ownership and educational and cognitive benefits; for example, in perspective-taking abilities and intellectual development. Evidence on behavioural development was unclear due to a lack of high quality research. Studies on pet ownership and social development provided evidence for an association with increased social competence; social networks; social interaction and social play behaviour. Overall, pet ownership and the significance of children's bonds with companion animals have been underexplored; there is a shortage of high quality and longitudinal studies in all outcomes. Prospective studies that control for a wide range of confounders are required.
BACKGROUND: Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in youth have been reported to vary by sex, age, weight status and country. However, supporting data are often self-reported and/or do not ...encompass a wide range of ages or geographical locations. This study aimed to describe objectively-measured physical activity and sedentary time patterns in youth. METHODS: The International Children’s Accelerometry Database (ICAD) consists of ActiGraph accelerometer data from 20 studies in ten countries, processed using common data reduction procedures. Analyses were conducted on 27,637 participants (2.8–18.4 years) who provided at least three days of valid accelerometer data. Linear regression was used to examine associations between age, sex, weight status, country and physical activity outcomes. RESULTS: Boys were less sedentary and more active than girls at all ages. After 5 years of age there was an average cross-sectional decrease of 4.2 % in total physical activity with each additional year of age, due mainly to lower levels of light-intensity physical activity and greater time spent sedentary. Physical activity did not differ by weight status in the youngest children, but from age seven onwards, overweight/obese participants were less active than their normal weight counterparts. Physical activity varied between samples from different countries, with a 15–20 % difference between the highest and lowest countries at age 9–10 and a 26–28 % difference at age 12–13. CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity differed between samples from different countries, but the associations between demographic characteristics and physical activity were consistently observed. Further research is needed to explore environmental and sociocultural explanations for these differences.
Around the world, many women continue to experience low levels of autonomy. Recent literature has reported that the health consequences of low maternal autonomy extend beyond mothers and translate ...into health consequences for their children, and may be an important causal factor in child malnutrition. This review summarises the current knowledge of the relationship between maternal autonomy and children's nutritional status (defined as any measure that reflects the nutritional state of the body, such as birthweight or anthropometric scores) and child‐feeding practices. The review also includes both discussion of the limitations found in the literature and directions for future research. A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Results of the studies included in the review strongly suggest that raising maternal autonomy is an important goal for improving children's nutritional status, yet gaps in the current knowledge exist, further confounded by issues with how autonomy is measured and limitations of cross‐cultural comparability. A thorough understanding of the consequences of restricting women's autonomy will inform programmes and policy worldwide, and speed progress towards both empowering women and alleviating the global burden of child malnutrition.
•The association between prenatal exposure to lead and deficits in offspring cognitive function is not well established.•Our aim was to evaluate the association between prenatal lead exposure and ...child IQ at age 4 and 8 years in an observational birth cohort study.•There was no association of prenatal lead exposure with child IQ at either 4 or 8 years old.•There was a suggestion, however, that boys are more susceptible than girls to prenatal exposure to lead.
The association between childhood exposure to lead (Pb) and deficits in cognitive function is well established. The association with prenatal exposure, however, is not well understood, even though the potential adverse effects are equally important.
To evaluate the association between low prenatal exposure to lead and IQ in children, to determine whether there were sex differences in the associations, and to evaluate the moderation effect of prenatal Pb exposure on child IQ.
Whole blood samples from pregnant women enrolled in ALSPAC (n=4285) and from offspring at age 30 months (n=235) were analysed for Pb. Associations between prenatal blood lead concentrations (B-Pb) and child IQ at age 4 and 8 years (WPPSI and WISC-III, respectively) were examined in adjusted regression models.
There was no association of prenatal lead exposure with child IQ at 4 or 8 years old in adjusted regression models, and no moderation of the association between child B-Pb and IQ. However, there was a positive association for IQ at age 8 years in girls with a predicted increase in IQ (points) per 1μg/dl of: verbal 0.71, performance 0.57, total 0.73. In boys, the coefficients tended to be negative (−0.15, −0.42 and −0.29 points, respectively).
Prenatal lead exposure was not associated with adverse effects on child IQ at age 4 or 8 years in this study. There was, however, some evidence to suggest that boys are more susceptible than girls to prenatal exposure to lead. Further investigation in other cohorts is required.
Arsenic is a known childhood neurotoxicant, but its neurotoxicity at low exposure levels is still not well established. The aim of our cross-sectional study was to test the association between ...low-level arsenic exposure and executive functions (EF) among children in Montevideo. We also assessed effect modification by arsenic methylation capacity, a susceptibility factor for the health effects of arsenic, and by B-vitamin intake, which impacts arsenic methylation.
Arsenic exposure was assessed as the specific gravity-adjusted sum of urinary arsenic metabolites (U-As) among 255 ~ 7 year-old children, and methylation capacity as the proportion of urinary monomethylarsonic acid (%MMA). Arsenic concentrations from kitchen water samples at participants’ homes were assessed. B-vitamin intake was calculated from the average of two 24-hour dietary recalls. EF was measured using three tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery– Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), Intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional shift task (IED), and Spatial Span (SSP). Generalized linear models assessed the association between U-As and EF measures; models were adjusted for age, sex, maternal education, possessions score, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory score, season, and school clusters. Additional analyses were conducted to address issues of residual confounding and sample size. A “B-vitamin index” was calculated using principal component analysis. Effect modification by the index and urinary %MMA was assessed in strata split at the respective medians of these variables.
The median (range) U-As and water arsenic levels were 9.9 µg/L (2.2, 47.7) and 0.45 µg/L (0.1, 18.9) respectively, indicating that exposure originated mainly from other sources. U-As was inversely associated with the number of stages completed (β = −0.02; 95% CI: −0.03, −0.002) and pre-executive shift errors (β = −0.08; 95% CI: −0.14, −0.02) of the IED task, and span length of the SSP task (β = −0.01; 95% CI: −0.02, −0.004). There was no clear pattern of effect modification by B-vitamin intake or urinary %MMA.
Low-level arsenic exposure may adversely affect executive function among children but additional, including longitudinal, studies are necessary to confirm these findings.
Background: Previous studies have suggested an effect of high arsenic concentration on cognitive and neurobehavioral function in humans. Objective: Our goal was to identify demographic and ...nutritional factors that are associated with As exposure and the influence of this exposure on cognitive function in school-age children. Methods: We recruited 602 children 6-8 years of age living within 3.5 km of a metallurgic smelter complex in the city of Torreón, Mexico, to participate in a cross-sectional evaluation. Of these, 591 had complete anthropometry, iron, and zinc status by biochemical measurements in serum, blood lead concentration (PbB), and arsenic in urine (UAs), and 557 completed several cognitive performance tests. Results: The mean for UAs was 58.1 ± 33.2 µg/L; 52% of the children had UAs concentrations > 50 µg/L, and 50.7% of children had PbB ≥10 µg/dL. UAs concentration was associated with low socioeconomic status. Nutritional status indicators were not related to UAs concentrations. Linear and logistic regressions adjusted for hemoglobin concentration, PbB, and sociodemographic confounders showed a significant inverse association between UAs and Visual-Spatial Abilities with Figure Design, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the WISC-RM Digit Span subscale, Visual Search, and Letter Sequencing Tests (p < 0.05). Boys excreted significantly more UAs (p < 0.05) and were affected on different cognitive areas than girls. Conclusions: Children living in an area contaminated with both As and lead showed that As contamination can affect children's cognitive development, independent of any effect of lead.
In developed nations, pet ownership is common within families. Both physical and psychological health benefits may result from owning a pet during childhood and adolescence. However, it is difficult ...to determine whether these benefits are due to pet ownership directly or to factors linked to both pet ownership and health. Previous research found associations between a range of socio-demographic factors and pet ownership in seven-year-old children from a UK cohort. The current study extends this research to adolescence, considering that these factors may be important to consider in future Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) research across childhood.
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) collected pet ownership data prospectively via maternal reports from gestation up to age 10 years old and via self-report retrospectively at age 18 for ages 11 (n = 3063) to 18 years old (n = 3098) on cats, dogs, rabbits, rodents, birds, fish, tortoise/turtles and horses. The dataset also contains a wide range of potential confounders, including demographic and socio-economic variables. The ownership of all pet types peaked at age 11 (80%) and then decreased during adolescence, with the exclusion of cats which remained constant (around 30%), and dogs which increased through 11-18 years (26-37%). Logistic regression was used to build multivariable models for ownership of each pet type at age 13 years, and the factors identified in these models were compared to previously published data for 7 year-olds in the same cohort. There was some consistency with predictors reported at age 7. Generally sex, birth order, maternal age, maternal education, number of people in the household, house type, and concurrent ownership of other pets were associated with pet ownership at both 7 and 13 years (the direction of association varied according to pet type). Factors that were no longer associated with adolescent pet ownership included child ethnicity, paternal education, and parental social class.
A number of socio-demographic factors are associated with pet ownership in childhood and adolescence and they differ according to the type of pet, and age of child. These factors are potential confounders that must be considered in future HAI studies.
BackgroundInvestigating socioeconomic variation in physical activity (PA) and sedentary time is important as it may represent a pathway by which socioeconomic position (SEP) leads to ill health. ...Findings on the association between children's SEP and objectively assessed PA and/or sedentary time are mixed, and few studies have included international samples.ObjectiveExamine the associations between maternal education and adolescent's objectively assessed PA and sedentary time.MethodsThis is an observational study of 12 770 adolescents (10–18 years) pooled from 10 studies from Europe, Australia, Brazil and the USA. Original PA data were collected between 1997 and 2009. The associations between maternal education and accelerometer variables were examined using robust multivariable regression, adjusted for a priori confounders (ie, body mass index, monitor wear time, season, age and sex) and regression coefficients combined across studies using random effects meta-analyses. Analyses were conducted in March 2014.ResultsAdolescents of university educated mothers spent more time sedentary (9.5 min/day, p=0.005) and less time in light activity (10 min/day, p<0.001) compared with adolescents of high school educated mothers. Pooled analysis across two studies from Brazil and Portugal (analysed separately because of the different coding of maternal education) showed that children of higher educated mothers (tertiary vs primary/secondary) spent less time in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) (6.6 min/day, p=0.001) and in light PA (39.2 min/day: p<0.001), and more time sedentary (45.9 min/day, p<0.001).ConclusionsAcross a number of international samples, adolescents of mothers with lower education may not be at a disadvantage in terms of overall objectively measured PA.
Handwashing prevalence in schools in Kenya is low due to lack of access to water and soap and lack of drive for handwashing. Soapy water made from detergent powder is an inexpensive alternative to ...bar soap and disgust and social norms change can be powerful drivers of handwashing, but their effectiveness has not been assessed in school setting. In Kenyan public schools, we evaluated an equipment-behavior change intervention's effect on handwashing outcomes. We also monitored functionality of the Povu Poa prototypes to identify design improvements necessary for continued high usage in institutional settings.
The intervention included the "Povu Poa", a new type of handwashing station that dispensed foaming soap and rinse water, combined with school-wide behavior change promotion based on disgust and social norms. In this stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial, we randomly selected 30 schools and divided them into 3 groups of 10. Following baseline data collection, we delivered the intervention sequentially (Group 1: 3-5 weeks after baseline; Group 2: 6-8 weeks; Group 3: 19-24 weeks). We observed outcomes 1 availability of handwashing materials at handwashing places, and; 2) observed handwashing behavior after toilet use among schoolchildren) at baseline and in three follow-up rounds. We compared the outcomes between schools that had received the intervention and schools that had not yet received the intervention.
Water and soap/soapy water were available at 2% of school visits before intervention, and at 42% of school visits after intervention.. Before intervention, we observed handwashing with water after 11% of 461 toilet use events; no one was observed to wash hands with soap/soapy water. After intervention, we observed handwashing after 62% of 383 toilet use events (PR = 5.96, 95% CI = 3.02, 11.76) and handwashing with soap/soapy water after 26% of events (PR incalculable). Foaming soap dispenser caps were cracked in 31% of all observations, but were typically still functional.
Our combined equipment-behavior intervention increased availability of handwashing materials and improved the compliance with handwashing after using the toilet, but handwashing with soap was still rare. Equipment durability must be improved for deployment in schools at scale. American Economic Association's Registry for Randomized Controlled Trials; Trial Registry Number (TRN): AEARCTR-0000662; Date of Registry: April 14, 2015.
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