Epidemiological studies indicate that between 8 and 20% of children suffer from an anxiety disorder (Costello, Egger, & Angold, 2004). Researchers have worked for many years to map the developmental trajectory of anxiety in children, yet the pathways remain unclear. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between specific predictors and anxiety in middle school Caucasian and African American adolescents. A secondary purpose was to explore whether acculturation contributes to the prediction of anxiety, after controlling for exposure to negative life events, in the African American adolescents. For the total sample, results indicated that negative life events, social support, coping, and ethnicity were all significant predictors of anxiety, accounting for 18.9% of the variance in anxiety scores. These relationships were confirmed in separate analyses for the African American and Caucasian youth. Furthermore, acculturation moderated the relationship between negative life events and anxiety in the African American sample, as anticipated. More specifically, the relationship between negative life events and anxiety was stronger for those adolescents reporting more affiliation with their own culture. These findings suggest that culture is an important context in understanding the development of anxiety and that it requires additional exploration to understand its relations to the development of mental health problems more broadly. / Master of Science

Yes / This article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Bradford, an ethnically diverse city situated in the north of England. The sample of over 60 participants mostly comprises males of British Pakistani Muslim heritage but varies in terms other markers of identity such as social class, profession and residential/working locale. The article analyses the cultural value and meaning of cars within a multicultural context and how a consumer object can feed into the processes which refine and embed racialized identities. Small cases studies reveal the concrete and discursive ways through which ideas around identity and ethnicity are transmitted and how, in particular, racialization continues to feature as a live, active and recognisable process in everyday experience.

Racial, ethnic and gender disparities have been found among a variety of health variables, but to date no study has comprehensively examined whether similar differences exist between sleep variables such as duration, efficiency and quality, in early adolescence. There is a general consensus among previous literature that adolescence is a time when a decrease in total sleep time and an increase in sleep problems are observed. Previous literature, however, mainly focused on the influence of puberty to explain these changes. the current study examined if differences exist between 1462 Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, and African American early adolescents (ages 10-14 years) on sleep duration, efficiency and quality. Results showed that adolescent boys reported significantly longer sleep durations, better sleep quality, shorter sleep onset latencies, and later rise times than girls. Results also showed that sixth graders slept longer than seventh and eighth graders, and that seventh graders woke up much earlier than the other two grades. Lastly, results showed that Caucasian students reported longer sleep onset latencies and lower sleep efficiencies than African American students. Trends were observed for boys having greater sleep efficiencies than girls and for Caucasian students sleeping longer than Hispanic students. Based on the differences observed in our sample, introducing sleep education in middle school is discussed.

No description available.

No / The Ethnopolitical Encyclopaedia of Europe is the first work of its kind that systematically and rigorously examines the politics of ethnicity throughout the continent as a whole. Rather than indulge in a tour of Europe designed to unearth as many diverse population groups as possible, the Encyclopaedia is focused and serves as a unique data source on the continent's politically mobilised ethnic groups. In order to facilitate easy access, the various regions of Europe are assessed and then the nature of the politics of ethnicity is analysed on a country-by-country basis. The combination of incisive entries, maps, tables and easy-to-use country guides makes this an invaluable reference book for both academics and practitioners.

No / Epidemiological evidence indicates that early life factors are important for obesity development but there are gaps in knowledge regarding the impact of exposures during pregnancy and early life, especially in South Asian children. There is a corresponding lack of evidence to guide development of culturally-appropriate, obesity prevention programmes. This paper describes the methodology and characteristics of participants in Born in Bradford 1000 (BiB1000), a nested cohort of the Born in Bradford prospective birth cohort. BiB1000 aims to enable a deep and extensive understanding of the predictors and influences of health-related behaviours to develop a culturally-specific obesity prevention intervention. 1,735 mothers agreed to take part in detailed assessments focused on risk factors of obesity. Of these, 1,707 had singleton births. Data were collected from the families during pregnancy, at birth and when the infant was aged 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. Approximately half of the mothers (n=933) are of South Asian ethnicity; of which, just under half were born in the UK. Prevalence of obesity in BiB1000 is similar to the full BiB cohort and to UK national averages. In addition to pre-specified hypothesised targets for obesity prevention, (e.g. parental feeding styles, diet and activity), BiB1000 is exploring qualitative determinants of behaviours andother exposures with a lesser evidence base (e.g. food environments, sleep, parenting practices). These data will enable a rich understanding of the behaviours and their determinants in order to inform the development of a culturally-relevant, childhood obesity prevention intervention.

Yes / Food insecurity is a determinant of maternal health; however, research on the health impact of food insecurity among mothers of varying ethnicities is under-developed. We assessed the association of food insecurity and health among white British and Pakistani mothers. Data from the Born in Bradford cohort were matched with data on food insecurity and self-reported health from the nested BiB1000 study (N= 1280). Food insecurity was associated with elevated odds of fair/poor health among white British mothers but not Pakistani mothers. Adjusting for financial security, the association between food insecurity and poor health was not significant among either white British or Pakistani mothers.

Yes / Sedentary behaviour (SB) in childhood is a major public health concern. Little is known about ethnic differences in SB during school and holiday weeks among White British (WB) and South Asian (SA) children, which this study aims to address through investigating inclinometer measured SB and exploring reasons for child engagement in SB. A mixed methods study, comprising of a quantitative investigation with 160, 6-8 years old children and a qualitative study with a subsample of 18 children, six parents and eight teachers was undertaken. Children of WB and SA ethnicity in three schools were invited to wear inclinometers for seven school terms (summer/winter/spring) and seven holidays (winter/spring) days during July 2016-May 2017. Total SB, SB accumulated in bouts > 30 min and breaks in SB were explored using multivariate linear mixed effects models which adjusted for wear time, sex, deprivation, overweight status, season, term, weekday and school. Nine focus groups and two interviews were carried out using the Theoretical Domains Framework to explore SB perceptions among parents, teachers and children. Data were analysed using the Framework Approach. 104/160 children provided 836 valid days of data. Children spent on average eight hours of SB/day during term time and holidays, equating to 60% of their awake time, and had on average 111 SB breaks /day. SA children had 25 fewer SB breaks/ day when compared to WB (p / Funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber (NIHR CLAHRC YH).

This thesis investigates how variations in individual social contexts account for the existence of ethnic differences in educational outcomes. Four questions are answered. First, how are school ethnic and poverty compositions associated with ethnic differences in educational progress? Second, how are individual and school cohort level religious attitudes and behaviours associated with ethnic differences in the likelihood of aspiring to university? Third, how are parenting behaviours and closed parental networks at the individual and school cohort levels associated with ethnic differences in positive schoolwork attitudes and behaviours? Fourth, how are variations in the duration of residence in England and in additional language use, at the individual and school cohort levels, associated with ethnic differences in English language proficiency? English data from wave 1 of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and from the National Pupil Database (NPD) matched to the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) are used to answer these questions. Both datasets are used to analyse outcomes for a sample of the school cohort that turned 14 in the academic year 2009/10. The key findings are as follows. First, increases in school ethnic minority density are associated with increased progress; increases in school average poverty are associated with decreased progress. Second, individual level religiosity is positively associated with university aspirations, but cohort level religiosity has no association. Third, positive parenting behaviours are associated with improved schoolwork attitudes, whilst parental closure has positive effects at the individual level but not at the cohort level. Fourth, the duration of residence in England is a positive predictor of English language proficiency, whilst there is no effect of using an additional language. This thesis addresses a highly relevant social issue from a novel perspective, and has important implications for both policy and future research on this topic.

Sweden has been criticized from the United Nations as well as from the European Union for not putting enough effort into discouraging ethnic discrimination on the labour market. At the same time discrimination can be problematic while it’s a personal experience that is to be judged by criterions of the law. This seems to be a particular problem in cases of harassments. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the national labour law of ethnic discrimination in terms of harassments due to ethnicity. Aiming at creating a more interesting study, the Critical race theory is used to analyze legal judgements from the labour court. By using the legal dogmatic method relevant laws, prepatory works and legal judgements are carefully analyzed in order to answer the research questions of the essay. The results of the study points out a special problem when work places are influenced by a rough jargon. This while the consequences are that harassed workers seems to get problems explaining their feelings of being insulted. A rough jargon also makes it harder for both employers and employees who insults others to get awareness and insight about occurrence of eventual harassments. The Swedish labour court tend to judge cases of harassments due to ethnicity restrictive, which results in an inability to respect the exposed employee’s experience. The way of using the burden of proof in these cases is also shown to be handled in a classic way by the labour court. The restrictive judgements and the way of using the burden of proof can be criticized, especially from a critical race point of view, since the consequence is a difficulty for ethnic discriminated employees to win approval in the labour court. Taken together it appears as the Swedish labour court is a part of the structural ethnic discrimination in the working life of Sweden.