Having less and wanting more: an investigation of socioeconomic status and reinforcement pathology

Background In the United states obesity and socioeconomic status (SES), or one’s standing in society based on income, education, and/or occupation, are strongly associated. The mechanisms for this relationship may include having high levels of motivation to get food (reinforcing value of food; RRV) and low levels of inhibitory control (delay discounting; DD) which, when combined, is referred to as reinforcement pathology (RP). We sought to examine the relationships among multiple measures of household SES, RP, and age-adjusted body mass index (zBMI) among adolescents. Methods These data were collected as part of ongoing longitudinal study of risk factors for obesity in 244 adolescents. The adolescents and one parent/guardian had height and weight measured and completed surveys. The adolescents completed an adjusting amount DD task and a computer-based RRV task. Analyses consisted of correlations among measures of SES and RRV, DD, and BMI z-scores. In the case of significant associations, multiple regression models were created with theoretically informed covariates. Results Household income, parent/guardian education, parent/guardian occupation, and food insecurity status were all related to one another. Among the adolescents, a significant portion of the variance in RRV was accounted for by household income after controlling for covariates. For DD, it was parent/guardian education that was most associated after controlling for covariates. Conclusion When low income and low parent/guardian education occur together, there may be an increased risk of RP. Separately, food insecurity was predictive of higher parent/guardian BMI. Future research should continue to explore the effects of low income and parent/guardian education on RP among youth by examining them over time.

Prevalence and Predictors of Tobacco Use Among School Adolescents in Zakho, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Knowledge regarding the smoking prevalence among the Kurdistan general population is not clear, at least for males. Here in the Kurdistan Youth Smoking Survey and Behaviours (KYSS&B) we tried to further expand our knowledge about the smoking profile of school students across Kurdistan. Five hundred students from four Zakho male basic schools were taken to participate in the study to determine the prevalence of smoking and socio-demographical factors associating with smoking among students aged 12 to 15 years. The KYSS&B questionnaire included various parameters such as age, gender, friends, parent history and blood groups. This study showed that the prevalence of students who ever tried smoking was 74%; about 65% of them started at age 12 years or less. Although the majority of participants (95%) knew that smoking is harmful and had negative impact on human health, 18% of them thought that they will never quit smoking. The study concluded that there was no strong association between family monthly income, parent education level and blood groups. On the other hand, the three most critical factors connected with smoking habit reported by students were age, peer influence and father smoking.

Examining the Association between Parent and Child Sport Participation in Canada: A General Social Survey Study

Research has shown a relationship between parent sport participation and child sport participation. With a sample of 1,064 respondents from the 2010 General Social Survey, this study examined how child sport participation is associated with parent sport participation, household income, parent education level, and parent sex. Results found that respondents with a child aged 5-12 who participated in sport over the past 12 months were more likely to have done so themselves too. (OR = 4.39, 95% CI = 2.44-7.89, p < 0.001). Significant differences (p < 0.001) were additionally found for the respondent’s education, age, and total household income. However, no significant differences were found for sex (p = 0.13). These results suggest that evidence-based interventions targeted at parents who do not participate in sport may increase children’s participation. Further research is encouraged to take a more holistic approach to analyzing childhood sport participation.