Environmental Public Health Commons^™

Association Of Manganese Biomarker Concentrations With Blood Pressure And Kidney Parameters Among Healthy Adolescents: Nhanes 2013–2018, Maria D. Politis, Jacob C. Freedman, Erin N. Haynes, Alison P. Sanders

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Deficiency or excess exposure to manganese (Mn), an essential mineral, may have potentially adverse health effects. The kidneys are a major organ of Mn site-specific toxicity because of their unique role in filtration, metabolism, and excretion of xenobiotics. We hypothesized that Mn concentrations were associated with poorer blood pressure (BP) and kidney parameters such as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and albumin creatinine ratio (ACR). We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1931 healthy U.S. adolescents aged 12–19 years participating in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles 2013–2014, 2015–2016, and 2017–2018. Blood and urine Mn concentrations …

Mental Health Of Children And Adolescents Amidst Covid-19 And Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review, Salima Meherali, Neelam Punjani, Samantha Louie-Poon, Komal Abdul Rahim, Jai K. Das, Rehana A. Salam, Zohra S. Lassi

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: The COVID‑19 pandemic and associated public health measures have disrupted the lives of people around the world. It is already evident that the direct and indirect psychological and social effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic are insidious and affect the mental health of young children and adolescents now and will in the future. The aim and objectives of this knowledge-synthesis study were to identify the impact of the pandemic on children's and adolescent's mental health and to evaluate the effectiveness of different interventions employed during previous and the current pandemic to promote children's and adolescents' mental health.
Methodology: We conducted …

Risk Perceptions Of Cellphone Use While Driving: Results From A Delphi Survey, Motao Zhu, Toni M. Rudisill, Kimberly J. Rauscher, Danielle M. Davidov, Jing Feng

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Cellphone use while driving has been recognized as a growing and important public health issue by the World Health Organization and U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveys typically collect data on overall texting while driving, but do not differentiate between various forms of cellphone use. This study sought to improve the survey indicators when monitoring cellphone use among young drivers. Experts and young drivers were recruited to propose behavioral indicators (cellphone use while driving behaviors) and consequential indicators (safety consequences of cellphone use while driving) in 2016. Subsequently, experts and young drivers selected the top indicators using the …

A Link Between Paediatric Asthma And Obesity: Are They Caused By The Same Environmental Conditions?, Phylicia Gonsalves

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The highly associated paediatric conditions of asthma and overweight have seen dramatic increases over the past few decades. This thesis explored air pollution exposure as a potential underlying mechanism of co-morbid asthma and overweight among adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey were merged with a database containing estimates of air pollution as assessed by particulate matter ≤ 2.5 microns (PM_2.5) concentrations at the postal code centroid in southwestern Ontario. Logistic regression was used to conduct the analysis. Adolescents were more likely to be overweight as PM_2.5 concentrations increased. There was …

Empowerment-Based Positive Youth Development: A New Understanding Of Healthy Development For African American Youth, Raphael Travis Jr., Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

A shift occurred in research about adolescents in the general population. Research is moving away from deficits toward a resilience paradigm and understanding trajectories of positive youth development. This shift has been less consistent in research and practice with African American youth. A gap also exists in understanding whether individual youth development dimensions generate potential in other dimensions. This study presents an empowerment-based positive youth development model. It builds upon existing research to present a new vision of healthy development for African American youth that is strengths-based, developmental, culture-bound, and action-oriented. It emphasizes the relationship between person and environment, the …

Peer-Led, School-Based Nutrition Education For Young Adolescents: Feasibility And Process Evaluation Of The Teens Study, Mary Story, Leslie A. Lytle, Amanda Birnbaum, Cheryl L. Perry

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Peer education has become a popular strategy for health promotion interventions with adolescents, but it has not been used widely in school‐based nutrition education. This paper describes and reports on the feasibility of the peer leader component of school‐based nutrition intervention for young adolescents designed to increase fruit and vegetable intakes and lower-fat foods. About 1,000 seventh‐grade students in eight schools received the nutrition intervention. Of these, 272 were trained as peer leaders to assist the teacher in implementing the activities. Results from a multicomponent process evaluation based on peer leader and classroom student feedback, direct classroom observation, and teacher …

Girls' Perception Of Physical Environmental Factors And Transportation: Reliability And Association With Physical Activity And Active Transport To School, Kelly R. Evenson, Amanda Birnbaum, Ariane L. Bedimo-Rung, James Sallis, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Kimberly Ring, John P. Elder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

Methods

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, …

Scale Development For Perceived School Climate For Girls’ Physical Activity, Amanda Birnbaum, Kelly R. Evenson, Robert W. Motl, Rod K. Dishman, Carolyn C. Voorhees, James F. Sallis, John P. Elder, Marsha Dowda

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: To test an original scale assessing perceived school climate for girls' physical activity in middle school girls. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: CFA retained 5 of 14 original items. A model with 2 correlated factors, perceptions about teachers' and boys' behaviors, respectively, fit the data well in both sixth and eighth-graders. SEM detected a positive, significant direct association of the teacher factor, but not the boy factor, with girls' self-reported physical activity. Conclusions: School climate for girls' physical activity is a measurable construct, and preliminary evidence suggests a relationship with physical activity.

Scale Development For Perceived School Climate For Girls’ Physical Activity, Amanda Birnbaum, Kelly R. Evenson, Robert W. Motl, Rod K. Dishman, Carolyn C. Voorhees, James F. Sallis, John P. Elder, Marsha Dowda

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: To test an original scale assessing perceived school climate for girls' physical activity in middle school girls. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: CFA retained 5 of 14 original items. A model with 2 correlated factors, perceptions about teachers' and boys' behaviors, respectively, fit the data well in both sixth and eighth-graders. SEM detected a positive, significant direct association of the teacher factor, but not the boy factor, with girls' self-reported physical activity. Conclusions:School climate for girls' physical activity is a measurable construct, and preliminary evidence suggests a relationship with physical activity.

Predictors Of Violent Behavior In An Early Adolescent Cohort: Similarities And Differences Across Genders, Jonathan L. Blitstein, David M. Murray, Leslie A. Lytle, Amanda Birnbaum, Cheryl L. Perry

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors assessed a cohort of 2,335 students from the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area to identify predictors of violent behavior and to determine whether the predictors varied by gender. The sample was 76% White; boys and girls were equally represented. The majority lived with two parents. A measure of violent behavior collected at the end of the eighth-grade year (2000) was entered into Poisson regression against baseline data collected at the beginning of the seventh-grade year (1998). Predictors of violent behavior influencing both boys and girls included depressive symptoms, perceived invulnerability to negative future events, paternal nonauthoritative behavior, and drinking alcohol. …

The Role Of Peer Social Network Factors And Physical Activity In Adolescent Girls, Carolyn C. Voorhees, David Murray, Greg Welk, Amanda Birnbaum, Kurt M. Ribisi, Carolyn C. Johnson, Karin Allor Pfeiffer, Brit Saksvig, Jared B. Jobe

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: To study the relationship between peer-related physical activity (PA) social networks and the PA of adolescent girls.

Methods: Cross-sectional, convenience sample of adolescent girls. Mixed-model linear regression analyses to identify significant correlates of self-reported PA while accounting for correlation of girls in the same school.

Results: Younger girls were more active than older girls. Most activity-related peer social network items were related to PA levels. More PA with friends was significantly related to self-reported PA in multivariate analyses.

Conclusions: Frequency of PA with friends was an important correlate of PA among the peer network variables …

Predicting Adolescents’ Intake Of Fruits And Vegetables, Leslie A. Lytle, Sherri Varnell, David M. Murray, Mary Story, Cherly Perry, Amanda Birnbaum, Martha Y. Kubik

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective

To explore potential predictors of adolescent fruit and vegetable intake by expanding on current theory and drawing from other adolescent research.

Design

This research reports on the baseline and interim data from a school-based intervention study. Data were collected through surveys administered to students at the beginning and end of their 7th-grade year.

Setting

The students attended 16 public schools in Minnesota.

Participants

Data were collected on 3878 students; approximately half were female and 67% were white. All students in the 7th-grade cohort were invited to participate in the surveys and over 94% completed both surveys.

Variables Measured

Our …

School Functioning And Violent Behavior Among Young Adolescents: A Contextual Analysis, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle, Peter J. Hannan, David M. Murray, Cheryl L. Perry, Jean L. Foster

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper examines associations between overall school functioning and the frequency of violent behaviors among young adolescents (ages 10–14). The sample included 16 middle schools participating in an unrelated intervention study (on nutrition) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A School Functioning Index developed to characterize schools’ overall stability, performance, and demographics was constructed using data from public archives and school administrator surveys. Data on violent behaviors and other variables were collected in student surveys in fall 1998 and spring 1999. We used multilevel modeling to assess the effect of school functioning on violent behavior after adjusting for known individual-level covariates of violent …

Perceptions Of The Family Mealtime Environment And Adolescent Mealtime Behavior: Do Adults And Adolescents Agree?, Kerri N. Boutelle, Leslie A. Lytle, David M. Murray, Amanda Birnbaum, Mary Story

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The family mealtime environment has great potential to affect the eating behaviors of youth in the family. It is difficult to determine the important elements of a healthy mealtime environment because a valid assessment of the family environment is so difficult to obtain. The objective of this study is to examine the level of agreement between adult and adolescent perceptions of the family mealtime environment and adolescent mealtime behavior. A telephone survey was used to query adult and adolescent family members about how they perceive the family mealtime environment and the adolescent's mealtime behavior. A convenience sample of 282 adult/adolescent …