Seven-year time trends in energy balance-related behaviours according to educational level and ethnic background among 14-year-old adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess seven-year time trends in energy balance-related behaviours in 14-year-old adolescents living in an urban area and to examine the influence of educational level and ethnicity on these time trends. DESIGN: Second grade students (mean age 13·6 years) filled in questionnaires about the energy balance-related behaviours of breakfast consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity and screen-time behaviour from school years 2006-2007 to 2012-2013. Energy balance-related behaviours were dichotomized and logistic regression analyses were used to examine time trends in healthy energy balance-related behaviours, including interaction terms for educational level and ethnicity. SETTING: Secondary schools in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. SUBJECTS: Per school year, 2185-3331 children participated. The total sample included 19 244 students of Dutch, Surinamese, Turkish and Moroccan ethnic background. RESULTS: A significant linear increase was found for positive screen-time behaviour (<2 h/d; OR per year=1·04; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·06). For daily vegetable consumption a non-linear negative trend was observed (school year 2012-2013 v. 2006-2007: OR=0·90; 95 % CI 0·80, 1·00). Time trends in screen time were significantly different across educational levels (P-interaction=0·002) and ethnic backgrounds (P<0·001), as were time trends in daily fruit consumption (P=0·017 and P=0·018, respectively) and, for ethnicity, trends in daily vegetable consumption (P<0·001). CONCLUSIONS: The increase in positive screen-time behaviour is a positive finding. However, discouraging screen time and promoting other healthy behaviours, more specifically daily fruit and vegetable consumption, remain important particularly among adolescents enrolled in pre-vocational education and of non-Dutch ethnic background.

Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation characteristics in child (0-18 years) health studies: a review.

BACKGROUND: Growing up in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods has been shown to have negative health effects on children. However, the most recent review on which measures are used to investigate the association between neighborhood characteristics and child (0-18 year) health included studies only until 2004. Insight into more recent research is needed for the further development of these measures. OBJECTIVES: To review neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation characteristics used in recent studies investigating the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and child health. METHODS: Sensitive search in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts databases (2004-2013). RESULTS: Ultimately, 19 studies were included. We found ten neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation constructs, of which income/wealth, employment, and education were most frequently used. The choice for neighborhood characteristics seemed independent of the health outcome and in most cases was not based on a specific theoretical background or earlier work. CONCLUSION: Studies vary regarding study designs, measures and outcomes. Researchers should clearly specify their choice of neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation characteristics; preferably, these should be theory-based and used consistently.