The rate of overweight in children is increasing at an alarming rate. The IOM (2005) estimated 9 million children over the age of six in the United States are obese. Between 1980 and 2002 the CDC (2002) estimated the rate of childhood obesity has doubled for adolescents ages 12 to 19 years (7% to 16%), and tripled for those children ages six to 11 years (5% to 16%). The health consequences of being overweight are severe and lead to decreased longevity and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors (diet, physical activity, stress, sleep, gender, ethnicity, parental obesity, self-perception, and SES) have predictive value in the development of overweight in children in grades six through eight. The epidemiological framework, Web of Causation was used to guide this study. This model originally described by MacMahon, Pugh, and Ispen (1960) allows for the investigation of multiple causative and associated factors including lifestyle, environment, psychosocial factors, health care availability, nutrition, and physical activity. A cross-sectional predictive study was completed with 75 parent and child participants from a parochial school in south Florida. A univariate analysis of all potential predictors identified in the literature using a significance of p < .25 was performed. The dependent factor was the child's BMI greater than 85% for age and gender. Fourteen factors were included in the final forward stepwise logistic regression analysis. Instruments included family demographics, the parent and student Middle School Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (MSPAN), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Harter's Self-Perception Scale for Children (SPSC). The sample demographics were Hispanic (60%), Caucasian (25%), and Multiethnic (8%), and other (7%). The final logistics regression model found that father's obesity (OR 5.99; p= 0.001) and Self-perception of Physical Appearance (OR 0.43; p=0.038) were predictive factors of overweight in this sample of children. The findings of this study supported that family dynamics play a part in the development of this chronic disease. Future research should be directed at defining factors that place children at risk for overweight in order to develop meaningful interventions to curb this pandemic.

The aim of this study was to investigate potential factors of why children and youths generally start bullying, but also the long and short-term effects bullying has on its victims. In order to answer the research questions, the method used was a systematic literature review which includes collecting data by using databases such as Libsearch and Swepub. We obtained seven studies including doctoral dissertations and scientific articles, some of which include collected data results from several longitudinal, quantitative, qualitative and meta-analytic studies. The theoretical framework used in this study include social cognitive theory by social psychologist Albert Bandura. This theory was relevant in order to analyze how bullying behavior can be designed based on the social environment together with cognitive abilities. The results indicate that bullying is a complex phenomenon explained differently within the research field and our main finding shows that the victims define bullying differently from the definition used by researchers within the field. Several different factors emerged as to why some children and youths are prone to bullying. This study identifies that some of these factors are due to moral disengagement which refers to distancing from moral actions and lack of moral emotions such empathy, sympathy and guilt. Furthermore, domestic violence and social environment such as aggressive peers are also explanatory factors to why children develop and normalize a bullying behavior. Finally, this study has shown that bullying affects the victims at both early and adult age. Bully victims are often being affected in an early age developing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and increased risk for behavioral problems associated with substance use. These problems often continue into adulthood where beside mental and physical health issues the victims also struggle with trust and relationship issues.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / While evidence suggests that the mental health consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can persist for several months following infection, little is known about the longer-term mental health consequences and whether certain sociodemographic groups may be particularly impacted. The study objectives were to characterize the longer-term mental health consequences of COVID-19 infection and examine whether such consequences are more pronounced in Black people and people with lower socioeconomic status. 277 Black and White adults (age ≥ 30 years) with a history of COVID-19 (cases; tested positive ≥ 6 months prior to participation) or no history of COVID-19 infection (controls) completed a 45-minute online questionnaire battery. Unadjusted t-tests revealed that cases had greater depressive (d = 0.24), anxiety (d = 0.34), PTSD (d = 0.32), and insomnia (d = 0.31) symptoms than controls. These differences remained significant for symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, and insomnia after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, income, and smoking status. No case-control differences were detected for perceived stress and general psychopathology. Cases had more than double the odds of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety (OR = 2.22) and PTSD (OR = 2.40). Case-control status was more strongly and positively associated with depressive, anxiety, PTSD, perceived stress, and general psychopathology symptoms at lower education levels. Race and income were not moderators of the relationships. The mental health consequences of COVID-19 may be significant, widespread, and persist for at least 6 months after infection, and people with lower education levels may face a greater burden of these consequences.

The childhood obesity epidemic has become a serious global public health problem. Children are different from adults and need special attention and effort in helping them to maintain healthy lifestyle and optimal body weight. Childhood and adolescence are two critical periods for developing lifelong healthy habits. This article discusses childhood obesity-related issues in five sections: (1) classification of childhood obesity; (2) worldwide childhood obesity epidemic; (3) risk factors (predictors) of childhood obesity; (4) health consequences of childhood obesity; and (5) prevention of childhood obesity.

Global climate change is anticipated to raise the overall temperatures and is likely to increase future mortality attributable to heat. Predicting future health consequences of higher temperatures at the regional, national and global level based on historical temperature-mortality relationships can be challenging due in part to the uncertainties in the location-specific temperature-mortality relationship, the heat threshold, and how populations will adapt or acclimatize. This study reviews published estimates of the warm season temperature-mortality relationships around the world and explores the heterogeneity in terms of the magnitude of the relationship and the threshold. We also investigate the potential effects of adaptation and acclimatization on the estimates of excess heat-related deaths based on empirical evidence, and propose a method that can be used in future projections to address the uncertainties. This study contributes to the literature of projecting the future public health burden of heat-related effects, which provides valuable information to climate policy decision making.

The thesis was divided into two parts. The first part deals with selected long-term impacts of cannabis use and basic concepts such as history, methods of application, use or legislation. In order to understand the whole issue, the basic components of the cannabis plant and their effects. The main part of the theory was then devoted to the possibilities of social work in the field of addiction, but also health complications and therapeutic effects of cannabis. The first part was built on a professional basis literature that addresses this topic. As the work dealt with a very current topic, the latest HARP treatment program was also mentioned. In the second part of the work semi-structured interviews were performed in order to confirm the theoretical part of the work and bring a certain authenticity to the work. The goal was to offer to the reader comprehensive information about cannabis in one place, clearly and transparently. The negatives and the positives that this plant can cause as a result of use were analyzed.

Intimate partner violence is endemic in the United States. According to the American Medical Association (1992), one-fifth to one-third of women will sustain violence from a partner or ex-partner in their lifetime. The relevant literature was organized by ICD-9-CM categories. This study examined the health consequences of partner abuse in a sample of community women using a sample consisting of 564 women in three ethnic groups. Because prior research has failed to account for variations by type of abuse on health consequences, this study assessed psychological abuse, violence and sexual aggression by women's partners. To determine whether or not different types of abuse had an effect on women's health, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The regression equations were calculated for women within each ethnic group to facilitate identification of similarities and differences and to control for ethnic differences in risk for specific diseases. The results were consistent with past research on health consequences of abuse and extended the prior literature by showing that psychological abuse had a pervasive effect on health conditions, distress and use of health care resources. Additionally, ethnic differences emerged. As expected, ethnicity appeared to function as a moderator. Clinical implications and recommendations are made for future research, suggesting the development of a new assessment tool for partner abuse screening.

Introduktion: Sexuellt våld är ett folkhälsoproblem som drabbar kvinnan genom ett avsevärt lidande och en sämre hälsostatus. Syfte: Att undersöka varför mäns sexuella våld mot kvinnor förekommer och hur det påverkar kvinnors livskvalitet. Metod: Strukturerad litteraturstudie med tematisk analysmetod. Resultat: Mäns sexuella våld förekommer av sociala konstruktioner och uppfattningar vilket bidrar till mäns sexuella objektifiering av kvinnor och normalisering av det sexuella våldet. Detta drabbar kvinnor i form av sämre psykisk- och fysisk hälsa samt i det sociala livet och arbetslivet. Slutsats: Kvinnors livskvalitet försämras av mäns sexuella våld och mäns sexuella våld grundar sig i sexuell objektifiering av kvinnan samt att det föreligger en normalisering av sexuellt våld i samhället. För ett framtida folkhälsoarbete bör arbetet grundas i kontexten om varför kvinnan har en försämrad livskvalitet och i kontexten till varför en man utövar våld och samtidigt ha en förståelse för att kontexten kan finnas på olika nivåer inom den ekologiska modellen. / Introduction: Sexual violence is a public health problem that affects women resulting in considerable suffering and poorer health status. Objective: To investigate why men's sexual violence against women occurs and how it affects women's quality of life. Method: Structured literature study using thematic analysis method. Results: Men's sexual violence occurs from social constructs and perceptions, which contributes to men's sexual objectification of women and the normalization of sexual violence. This affects women in the form of poorer mental and physical health, social life and working life. Conclusion: Women's quality of life is impaired by men's sexual violence and men's sexual violence is based on sexual objectification of women and the normalization of sexual violence in society. For future public health work, the work should be based on the context of why a woman has a deteriorating quality of life and in the context of why a man practices violence while at the same time having an understanding that the context can exist at different levels within the ecological model.

Abstract Background. It is relatively well established in previous research that unemployment has direct health consequences in terms of mental and physical ill health. Recently, knowledge has emerged indicating that unemployment can lead to economic consequences that remain long after re-establishment in the labour market. However, few empirical studies have been able to apply a life course perspective asking whether there are also long-term health consequences of unemployment, and, when and in which context unemployment may affect the individual health status across the life course. The aim of this thesis was to analyse the relationship between unemployment and illness across the life course, and how it relates to individual and structural factors in the geographical setting of northern Sweden. In particular, three main areas have been explored: youth unemployment and illness in adulthood (Paper I and Paper II), contextual unemployment of national unemployment rate and neighbourhood unemployment (Paper II and Paper III) and lastly, social determinants of health inequality between employment statuses (Paper IV). Methods. This thesis is positioned in Sweden between the early 1980s and the mid-2010s, following two comparable cohorts sampled from northern Sweden (26 and 19 years follow-up time respectively from youth to midlife) and a cross-sectional sample from 2014 of the four northernmost counties in Sweden. The two longitudinal cohorts comprised the Northern Swedish Cohort and the Younger Northern Swedish Cohort, consisting of all pupils in the 9th grade of compulsory school in Luleå municipality in 1981 and 1989. The participants responded to an extensive questionnaire on socioeconomic factors, work and health, in 5 and 2 waves respectively of data collections. Neighbourhood register data from Statistics Sweden was also collected for all participants in the Northern Sweden Cohort. At the latest data collection, 94.3% (n=1010) participated in the Northern Sweden Cohort and 85.6% (n=686) in the Younger Northern Sweden Cohort. The cross-sectional study Health on Equal Terms is a national study, administered by the Public Health Agency together with Statistics Sweden and county councils with the aim of mapping public health and living conditions in the country over time. In this thesis, material from 2014 has been used for northern Sweden with a response rate of around 50% (effective sample n=12769). The statistical analyses used were linear regression, multilevel analysis and difference-in-difference analysis to estimate the concurrent and long-term health consequences of unemployment, and a decomposition analysis to disentangle the inequality in health between different labour market positions. The health outcomes in focus were functional somatic symptoms (the occurrence of relatively common physical illnesses such as head, muscle and stomach ache, insomnia and palpitation) and psychological distress. Results. Among men only, as little as one month of youth unemployment was related to increased levels of functional somatic symptoms in midlife, regardless of previous ill health or unemployment later in life, although only during relatively low national unemployment (pre-recession) when comparing with youth unemployment during high national unemployment (recession). This was explained by the health promoting effect of more time spent in higher education during the recession period. Furthermore, the health impact of neighbourhood unemployment highlights the importance of the contextual setting for individuals’ health both across the life course and at specific periods of life. Lastly, employment-related mental health inequalities exist for both men and women in all life phases (youth, adulthood and midlife). Economic and social deprivation related to unemployment and illness varied across different phases in life and across genders. Conclusion. The key findings of this thesis paint a rather pessimistic vision of the future: one’s own and others’ unemployment may cause not only ill health today but also ill health later in life. Importantly, the responsibility of unemployment and the associated ill health should not be placed on the already marginalised individuals and communities. Instead, the responsibility should be directed towards the structural aspects of society and the political choices that shape these. In other words, health inequality manifested by the position in the labour market is socially produced, unfair and changeable through political decisions. The results of this study therefore cannot contribute to any simple or concrete solutions to the concurrent or long-term health consequences of individual or contextual unemployment, as the solution is beyond the areas of responsibility and abilities of research. However, if there are long-term health consequences of one’s own and other people’s unemployment, labour market and public health policies should be initiated from a young age and continue throughout the life course to reduce individual suffering and future costs of social insurance, sick-leave and unemployment benefits.