Visame pasaulyje grėsmingai auga turinčių antsvorio ir nutukusių vaikų skaičius. Nustatyta, kad vienas iš penkių vaikų Europoje turi antsvorio. Vaikų antsvorio ir nutukimo priežastys įvairios. Tai gali būti susiję su mitybos ir fizinio aktyvumo įpročių pokyčiais, taip pat su ekonominės, socialinės aplinkos įtaka gyvensenai. Vaikų fizinio išsivystymo tyrimai yra vieni svarbiausių stebint jų sveikatos būklę ir augimą. Disertacinis darbas atliktas dalyvaujant tarptautiniame PSO Europos vaikų nutukimo stebėsenos iniciatyvos projekte (COSI), kurio tikslas – rutiniškai stebėti pradinių klasių mokinių (6–9 m.) antsvorio ir nutukimo tendencijas bei sukurti standartizuotą ir Europos mastu suderintą stebėsenos sistemą. / The prevalence of overweight and obesity is growing all over the world and is evaluated as an epidemic. One of five kids in Europe is overweight. The reasons for childhood obesity are of various origins. It might be related to dietary habits and changes in physical activity. The prevalence of obesity also depends on social and economical inequalities. The survey was performed as a part of WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI). This initiative aimed to measure routinely trends in overweight and obesity in primary school children (6-9 yr.), and to harmonize the collection of anthropometric data across Europe among primary school aged children, based on a common protocol and measurement procedures.

We did not know the patterns of using antihypertensive drugs in outpatient settings in Israel that is why we raised a research aim to analyze the pattern of use of HBP in outpoint setting. In order to meet this aim we raised several research objectives:. 1) Does lifestyle modification is important for the patient for blood pressure control? 2) Do the patients need to change their medication at set of time until BP goals reached? 3) Does the use of more than one drug would help achieving better HBP results? Does the use of single doses combination would have better affect then using fixed dose combination? 4) How often noncompliance take in HBP control? 5) How many patients suffer from side effects? Methods: a questionnaire composed of 36 questions and qualitative statistical analysis. / Mes nežinojome, kad naudojant antihipertenzinių vaistinių preparatų ir ambulatorinėmis Izraelyje, kuris yra, kodėl mes iškėlė Tyrimo tikslas išanalizuoti naudojimo HBP Išėjo taško nustatymo modelį modelius. Siekiant įgyvendinti šį tikslą, mes iškėlė kelis mokslinių tyrimų tikslams:. 1) Ar gyvenimo būdo pakeitimas yra svarbus kraujospūdžio kontrolės pacientui? 2) Ar pacientai turi pakeisti savo vaistą esant rinkinį, kol pasiekė BP tikslai? 3) Ar iš daugiau nei vieno narkotiko naudojimas padėtų pasiekti geresnių HBP rezultatus? Ar vienos dozės deriniu būtų geriau veikia tada naudojant fiksuotų dozių derinys? 4) Kaip dažnai nesilaikymo imtis HBP kontrolės? 5) Kiek pacientų kenčia nuo šalutinio poveikio? Metodai: Klausimynas sudarytas iš 36 klausimų ir kokybinio statistinę analizę.

Children’s lifestyle has changed significantly during the recent decades, with an increasing prevalence of obesity as one outcome. Parents are usually the most influential people in young children’s lives. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate parental perspectives on factors associated with 3-6 year-old children’s lifestyle, regarding eating habits and physical activity. Another objective was to compare different approaches to conducting postal questionnaires in terms of response rate, time consumption and cost-efficiency. The samples in the four studies were parents of 6-year-olds (n=158), parents of 3-year-olds (n=873), parents of 4-year-olds (n=30) and parents of 3-year-olds (n=353). In the first study, a questionnaire regarding practices and attitudes towards their child’s lifestyle, perceived obstacles and desired support was used. The second study included the Swedish Parenthood Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ), the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) and the CFQ (Child Feeding Questionnaire). Parents also reported their child’s TV-viewing habits. The child’s measured height, weight and BMI were obtained from a register, BASTA. In the third study, focus group interviews were performed. The fourth study investigated three types of consent given for participation in a survey. The results showed that parents’ attitudes towards children’s lifestyle, in general, were “healthier” than their reports of their child’s daily practices. The practices differed depending on the parents’ educational background. Significant and dose-dependant associations were found between perceived maternal stress and children’s overweight, but also underweight. Parents felt that they were mainly responsible for their preschool child’s lifestyle. However, parents described challenges that limited and obstructed them from providing their child with a healthy lifestyle, citing the need to receive professional and peer support, while also requesting support from society. Allowing respondents to actively decline participation yielded a higher response rate and proved to be the most cost-efficient method for conducting a postal questionnaire.

In the 1990s, the bubble of the Japanese miracle economy burst and the country fell into recession. Following this, Japan experienced considerable economic and social transformation, including a reconsideration of its approach to work and employment. Among the consequences of these changes, such as unprecedented mobility in the labour market and an increase in part-time employment, there was a shift in lifestyle values, particularly those of middle class Japanese. In contrast to the traditional Japanese work ethic and company-orientated lifestyle which prized collectivism and self-sacrifice, new lifestyle values were largely centred on attaining an improved life-work balance which was less structured and more ‘Western.’ These new individualised lifestyle values began to be reflected in a new-found interest in leisure, characterised by a shift from group-oriented leisure activities to more individualised and personalised ones. There has been another very significant change of great relevance to this thesis: an increased and unprecedented interest in overseas tourism and migration. This thesis discusses an intriguing new dynamic between the transformation of the economy and the Japanese engagement with tourism and migration. Until the 1990s, due to the guaranteed lifetime employment and the prevalence of seniority systems of Japanese corporations, there was a relatively stable life model among Japan’s middle class. In addition to healthy demand in the domestic labour market and work-dominated lifestyle, stable work opportunities meant this group rarely considered pursuing individual tourism and migration. However, since the 1990s, increasing numbers of young middle class Japanese began to drift from the safe and assured life model and chose to live abroad. This thesis, based on qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews with 31 Japanese migrants to Queensland, is a study of Japanese lifestyle migration to Australia. It draws upon several important topics and theories in contemporary sociology including globalisation, transnationalism, migration and tourism. The complex linkages between these themes are an important characteristic of this thesis and are discussed in the literature review of Chapter 2. The methodological issues of this research are presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 contextualises lifestyle migration against the background of broader history of Japanese migration to Australia. The chapters that follow examine three key themes pertinent to exploring the interrelationship between social transformation in Japanese society in the 1990s, changing lifestyle values and migration to Australia. Chapter 5 considers the implications of social transformation of Japanese society, specifically focusing on the lifestyle value shifts as push factors in a broad sense. Chapter 6 explores the pull factors and focuses on motivations for migration to Australia. Chapter 7 examines the lives of Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia and highlights a unique settlement process characterised by the lack of upward social mobility, the absence of geographical concentration of Japanese migrants and the impact this has on the formation of a sustainable ethnic community. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the argument of this thesis and discusses its contribution to the field of sociology. Possible directions for future research are also outlined.

Three studies were designed to investigate the effects of exercise-based lifestyle interventions including diet change and exercise training on cardiovascular and autonomic responses to various physical and mental challenges in untrained premenopausal women. In Study 1, the effects of different tasks designed to activate the sympathetic nervous system on autonomic control of cardiovascular functioning such as the Stroop colour-word task (Stroop) and lower body negative pressure (LBNP) in 20 untrained premenopausal women (22.6??0.7 years) were determined. In Study 2, a longitudinal exercise intervention strategy was used with 18 untrained premenopausal women (22.5??0.7 years) in order to investigate the effect of 15 weeks of high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) training on cardiac autonomic responses to mental challenge (Stroop) and LBNP. In Study 3, the effects of HIIE training combined with a Mediterranean-style eating plan and fish oil supplement (Fish oil, Exercise, Mediterranean diet; FEM) on cardiovascular function during mental challenge (Stroop) and physical tasks (handgrip and reactive hyperaemia) were examined in 32 overweight untrained premenopausal women (22.0??0.6 years). In these studies, forearm blood flow (FBF) was assessed using Hokanson Plethysmography with the venous occlusion technique. The surface electrocardiogram and continuous beat-to-beat arterial blood pressure were also monitored. Peak oxygen uptake was assessed using open-circuit spirometry (True Max 2400, ParvoMedics). In addition, body composition was measured using DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; DPX-IQ, Lunar Radiation). Results from Study 1 indicate that FBF response to mental challenge in young females was smaller compared to previously obtained data from age-matched males. Furthermore, this FBF response to mental challenge was negatively correlated to insulin resistance estimated by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) (r = - .52, p < .05). In addition, when cardiopulmonary baroreceptors were unloaded by a mild level of LBNP (-20 mmHg) during Stoop, FBF response to mental challenge (vasodilation) was abolished suggesting a large dependency of vasodilation response during mental challenge on cardiopulmonary baroreflex. After 15 weeks of supervised HIIE training, aerobic fitness improved (p < .05) whereas percent of body fat was significantly decreased (p < .05). In addition, recovery BP following Stroop was significantly reduced. Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was marginally decreased (p = .056). Women who had higher insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) lost less fat than women with lower HOMA-IR (r = .60, p = .088). In addition, change in FBF during Stroop after training was directly related to pretest insulin resistance levels (r = .68, p < .05). Therefore, HIIE training had a normalising effect on FBF response to mental challenge. PEP/LVET ratio at rest and during LBNP was also significantly increased in women with higher HOMA-IR suggesting a reduction in cardiac contractility via a decrease in sympathetic stimulation (r = .62, p = .076, r = .62, p = .75 respectively). In Study 3 results indicated that 12 weeks of the FEM trial significantly reduced percent of body fat (p < .001), fasting insulin (p < .05), interleukin-6 (p < .05) and cortisol (p < .05), and significantly improved aerobic fitness ( ; p < .001). With respect to cardiovascular and cardiac autonomic measures, rate pressure product (RPP) was significantly reduced at rest (p < .05) and during recovery after Stoop (p < .05), suggesting decreased myocardial oxygen consumption. In addition, baseline heart rate determined in the sitting position was significantly reduced (p < .05), while both baseline high frequency power (HF) determined in supine (p < .01) and cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) determined in the sitting position (p < .05) were increased after the FEM trial. In addition, BRS determined during mental challenge also marginally increased (p = .051). In summary, lifestyle intervention including HIIE training, Mediterranean-style eating plan, and a fish oil supplement significantly enhanced parasympathetic influence of the heart and improved fitness, blood profiles, and body composition.

In the 1990s, the bubble of the Japanese miracle economy burst and the country fell into recession. Following this, Japan experienced considerable economic and social transformation, including a reconsideration of its approach to work and employment. Among the consequences of these changes, such as unprecedented mobility in the labour market and an increase in part-time employment, there was a shift in lifestyle values, particularly those of middle class Japanese. In contrast to the traditional Japanese work ethic and company-orientated lifestyle which prized collectivism and self-sacrifice, new lifestyle values were largely centred on attaining an improved life-work balance which was less structured and more ‘Western.’ These new individualised lifestyle values began to be reflected in a new-found interest in leisure, characterised by a shift from group-oriented leisure activities to more individualised and personalised ones. There has been another very significant change of great relevance to this thesis: an increased and unprecedented interest in overseas tourism and migration. This thesis discusses an intriguing new dynamic between the transformation of the economy and the Japanese engagement with tourism and migration. Until the 1990s, due to the guaranteed lifetime employment and the prevalence of seniority systems of Japanese corporations, there was a relatively stable life model among Japan’s middle class. In addition to healthy demand in the domestic labour market and work-dominated lifestyle, stable work opportunities meant this group rarely considered pursuing individual tourism and migration. However, since the 1990s, increasing numbers of young middle class Japanese began to drift from the safe and assured life model and chose to live abroad. This thesis, based on qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews with 31 Japanese migrants to Queensland, is a study of Japanese lifestyle migration to Australia. It draws upon several important topics and theories in contemporary sociology including globalisation, transnationalism, migration and tourism. The complex linkages between these themes are an important characteristic of this thesis and are discussed in the literature review of Chapter 2. The methodological issues of this research are presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 contextualises lifestyle migration against the background of broader history of Japanese migration to Australia. The chapters that follow examine three key themes pertinent to exploring the interrelationship between social transformation in Japanese society in the 1990s, changing lifestyle values and migration to Australia. Chapter 5 considers the implications of social transformation of Japanese society, specifically focusing on the lifestyle value shifts as push factors in a broad sense. Chapter 6 explores the pull factors and focuses on motivations for migration to Australia. Chapter 7 examines the lives of Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia and highlights a unique settlement process characterised by the lack of upward social mobility, the absence of geographical concentration of Japanese migrants and the impact this has on the formation of a sustainable ethnic community. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the argument of this thesis and discusses its contribution to the field of sociology. Possible directions for future research are also outlined.

In the 1990s, the bubble of the Japanese miracle economy burst and the country fell into recession. Following this, Japan experienced considerable economic and social transformation, including a reconsideration of its approach to work and employment. Among the consequences of these changes, such as unprecedented mobility in the labour market and an increase in part-time employment, there was a shift in lifestyle values, particularly those of middle class Japanese. In contrast to the traditional Japanese work ethic and company-orientated lifestyle which prized collectivism and self-sacrifice, new lifestyle values were largely centred on attaining an improved life-work balance which was less structured and more ‘Western.’ These new individualised lifestyle values began to be reflected in a new-found interest in leisure, characterised by a shift from group-oriented leisure activities to more individualised and personalised ones. There has been another very significant change of great relevance to this thesis: an increased and unprecedented interest in overseas tourism and migration. This thesis discusses an intriguing new dynamic between the transformation of the economy and the Japanese engagement with tourism and migration. Until the 1990s, due to the guaranteed lifetime employment and the prevalence of seniority systems of Japanese corporations, there was a relatively stable life model among Japan’s middle class. In addition to healthy demand in the domestic labour market and work-dominated lifestyle, stable work opportunities meant this group rarely considered pursuing individual tourism and migration. However, since the 1990s, increasing numbers of young middle class Japanese began to drift from the safe and assured life model and chose to live abroad. This thesis, based on qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews with 31 Japanese migrants to Queensland, is a study of Japanese lifestyle migration to Australia. It draws upon several important topics and theories in contemporary sociology including globalisation, transnationalism, migration and tourism. The complex linkages between these themes are an important characteristic of this thesis and are discussed in the literature review of Chapter 2. The methodological issues of this research are presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 contextualises lifestyle migration against the background of broader history of Japanese migration to Australia. The chapters that follow examine three key themes pertinent to exploring the interrelationship between social transformation in Japanese society in the 1990s, changing lifestyle values and migration to Australia. Chapter 5 considers the implications of social transformation of Japanese society, specifically focusing on the lifestyle value shifts as push factors in a broad sense. Chapter 6 explores the pull factors and focuses on motivations for migration to Australia. Chapter 7 examines the lives of Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia and highlights a unique settlement process characterised by the lack of upward social mobility, the absence of geographical concentration of Japanese migrants and the impact this has on the formation of a sustainable ethnic community. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the argument of this thesis and discusses its contribution to the field of sociology. Possible directions for future research are also outlined.

In the 1990s, the bubble of the Japanese miracle economy burst and the country fell into recession. Following this, Japan experienced considerable economic and social transformation, including a reconsideration of its approach to work and employment. Among the consequences of these changes, such as unprecedented mobility in the labour market and an increase in part-time employment, there was a shift in lifestyle values, particularly those of middle class Japanese. In contrast to the traditional Japanese work ethic and company-orientated lifestyle which prized collectivism and self-sacrifice, new lifestyle values were largely centred on attaining an improved life-work balance which was less structured and more ‘Western.’ These new individualised lifestyle values began to be reflected in a new-found interest in leisure, characterised by a shift from group-oriented leisure activities to more individualised and personalised ones. There has been another very significant change of great relevance to this thesis: an increased and unprecedented interest in overseas tourism and migration. This thesis discusses an intriguing new dynamic between the transformation of the economy and the Japanese engagement with tourism and migration. Until the 1990s, due to the guaranteed lifetime employment and the prevalence of seniority systems of Japanese corporations, there was a relatively stable life model among Japan’s middle class. In addition to healthy demand in the domestic labour market and work-dominated lifestyle, stable work opportunities meant this group rarely considered pursuing individual tourism and migration. However, since the 1990s, increasing numbers of young middle class Japanese began to drift from the safe and assured life model and chose to live abroad. This thesis, based on qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews with 31 Japanese migrants to Queensland, is a study of Japanese lifestyle migration to Australia. It draws upon several important topics and theories in contemporary sociology including globalisation, transnationalism, migration and tourism. The complex linkages between these themes are an important characteristic of this thesis and are discussed in the literature review of Chapter 2. The methodological issues of this research are presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 contextualises lifestyle migration against the background of broader history of Japanese migration to Australia. The chapters that follow examine three key themes pertinent to exploring the interrelationship between social transformation in Japanese society in the 1990s, changing lifestyle values and migration to Australia. Chapter 5 considers the implications of social transformation of Japanese society, specifically focusing on the lifestyle value shifts as push factors in a broad sense. Chapter 6 explores the pull factors and focuses on motivations for migration to Australia. Chapter 7 examines the lives of Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia and highlights a unique settlement process characterised by the lack of upward social mobility, the absence of geographical concentration of Japanese migrants and the impact this has on the formation of a sustainable ethnic community. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the argument of this thesis and discusses its contribution to the field of sociology. Possible directions for future research are also outlined.

Abstract The majority of young Australian women aspire to be married with at least one child and in some form of paid employment by the time they are 35 years of age. In an age of increasing female labour force participation, it seems then that young women really can have it all. However, while younger generations of women are now more likely than their male counterparts to go to university, Australian women, compared to women in other countries, have low workforce participation rates after childbearing; and many move to part-time positions characterised by lower earnings, less responsibility and less opportunity for training and promotion. Further, there continues to be significant occupational segregation in the workplace, and women continue to earn significantly less than men. Why are Australian women not utilizing their skills to their full potential? The issue of balancing paid work with family responsibilities is central to this debate; and crucial is the role of Australian work-family legislation, which has previously focussed on improving Australia’s low fertility rate through financial aids rather than recognising women’s increased attachment to the paid workforce. This underscores the need for further research on how young Australian women negotiate work and family, to contribute to the evidence base for the formation of policy that supports the needs of young Australian women. This thesis takes an innovative approach of examining the work and family aspirations of a new generation of young Australian women negotiating work and family, transitioning from their late teens/early twenties to their early 30s. A prominent theoretical model of women’s work and family preferences, Lifestyle Preference Theory, postulates that women’s work and family outcomes are primarily the result of what they had always aspired, and that all women living in contemporary society can ‘choose’ their preferred type of lifestyle. However, as argued in this thesis, this model doesn’t take into account women’s circumstances, systemic-level supports and life changes that impact upon women’s decisions. Further, compared to previous generations of women, when most of the research on women’s aspirations was conducted, there is a new development process bridging adolescence and early adulthood, termed Emerging Adulthood. Using a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses, this thesis examines young Australian women’s work and family aspirations according to their life experiences and within the social and structural constraints on their lives, during this developmental period of the life course and new socio-historical context. Chapter 1 provides a historical context to women’s changing roles and increasing workforce participation over past decades, while also discussing the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and gender differences in the workforce. Chapter 2 discusses the Australian context in more depth; including work and family trends and systemic-level work-family support. This section also introduces theoretical contributions in the area of women’s aspirations, and developmental changes likely to affect young women. Chapter 3 then provides an analysis of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations, including the consistency of their aspirations over time, using nationally representative data from the younger cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Chapters 4 and 5 examine the representativeness of Lifestyle Preference Theory as a model of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations. Chapter 4 investigates whether Australian women can be categorised as ‘types’ committed to pursuing a particular lifestyle while Chapter 5 investigates whether women’s aspirations are independent of context, as theorised by Lifestyle Preference Theory, or correlated to women’s circumstances and the constraints on their lives. Chapters 6 and 7 aim to give voices to the experiences of young Australian women forming their aspirations during this period of the lifespan, by analysing qualitative comments from the younger cohort of the ALSWH. Chapter 6 provides a context of what is important and happening in the lives of young Australian women, while Chapter 7 provides a more thorough discussion of women’s comments about their aspirations and with a comparative discussion of their comments to current theoretical models. Through an analysis of focus group material, Chapter 8 continues to examine the experiences of young women during this developmental period of the lifespan. This Chapter reviews young women’s thoughts on their aspirations for work and family, how they anticipate making work and family decisions, and how they perceive and experience this developmental period of the lifespan. Chapters 9 and 10 return to the quantitative data of the ALSWH to investigate why women change their aspirations over time, and specifically look at the impact of first birth and life events on women’s motherhood and employment aspirations. These Chapters discuss the role of systemic-level work-family support on women’s changing aspirations. Chapter 11 provides an integrative conclusion of findings, which show that women are forming and adjusting their aspirations as best they can within their circumstances and the constraints on their lives, and the broader context of Australia’s work and family support systems. This Chapter provides recommendations for policy and directions for future research.

Long term ocean cruisers are self defined as people who have accepted, adopted or chosen a cruising lifestyle, who live aboard their own sailing vessels, have independent means, are self sufficient and have been away from their port of departure for an extended period of time. As a group, cruisers, constitute a subculture (Macbeth, 1985). Why do people choose to adopt a cruising lifestyle? Using the principles of grounded theory analysis, this study found that cruisers were motivated by a variety of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations as well as by their social background and status in society. Cruisers were motivated by a need to escape the pressures and constraints of their home society as well as to pursue a lifestyle which offered freedom and a sense of personal control, a need to add some adventure or challenge to their lives or to fulfil a dream. They were also motivated by relationship commitments and a desire to travel and experience new cultures, people and settings. Their age, gender, family life cycle stage, education, income and former lifestyle pursuits also motivated them. In setting about and maintaining the fulfilment of their motivations, cruisers exhibited personal agency in their choice to move from a life in the centre of mainstream western societies to one in the margins. Overall, cruisers were found to be social actors who exhibit agency and self governance in decision making as to whether or not to maintain a sense of 'connectivity' with and without various social settings. Cruisers' responses to feelings of anomie and alienation in their home societies, to their feelings of under or non-actualisation at the individual level, and to their need for belonging with a partner activated these people to make choices and decisions regarding the negotiation and direction of their own social realities. Based on the cruisers who participated in this study, such agency and self governance can be described as 'empowered connectivity'. Empowered connectivity is the action of exhibiting agency in order to achieve connectivity with the space in which an individual currently finds her or himself. It can be both a holding on to and a letting go of connections. Empowered connectivity is not a 'theory' per se, but rather a generic representation of a process that accounts for 'plurality, multiplicity and difference'(Tong 1989) in the actions of both women and men as they negotiate the spaces they choose to occupy. Moreover, this study informed by the interpretive social sciences paradigm and, a 'feminist methodology’ enabled an indepth understanding of cruising women's experiences to be counterpointed against cruising men's experiences. Subsequently, cruising women became subjects in their own right rather than'other’. Further, the interpretive social sciences paradigm and 'feministmethodology' emphasised the need for tourism research, in particular, to use bothernic and etic perspectives in data collection and analysis. This ethnographic study of cruisers was conducted between 1985 and 1999 on theeastern seaboard of Australia. The study involved participant observation, semi-structured indepth interviews and self-completion questionnaires relating tosociodemographics, vessel inventories, budgets and touristic experiences.