跳至主要内容

Corner Store and Commuting Patterns of Low-Income, Urban Elementary School Students

Schools are often a setting to implement nutrition-based pediatric obesity prevention programs. However, when there has been considerable focus on the school environment in the context of childhood obesity, less is known about the environments around the school, particularly in low-income, urban neighborhoods. The purpose of this study was to assess students’ corner store and commuting habits before and after school in a low-income, urban environment. 

This was a cross-sectional study. Participants were 702 4th - 6th graders from 10 K-8 public schools where 82.1% ± 7.4% of children qualified for free or reduce-priced meals. Participants were surveyed about their corner store and commuting habits by using a 16-item questionnaire. Both height and weight were measured twice and the average of each was used and Body Mass Index (BMI) as well as BMI z-scores and BMI percentiles based on age and sex were calculated for each student. Besides, student’s demographic information was self-reported. 

The results showed that the majority of 4th - 6th grade urban students shopped in corners stores either in the morning (57.4%) or in the afternoon (58.5%). Nearly half (44.8%) reported shopping and purchasing in both the morning and the afternoon. Children reported spending approximately $2.00 per corner store visit. Approximately two-thirds of children reported that they walked to or from school. Children who walked to school frequented corner stores more than those using other commuting methods. Relative weight status was not related to corner store or commuting patterns. 

In short, many low-income children purchase food at corner stores before and/or after school, making corner stores an important target for public health nutrition. While many children walk to school, those are more likely to frequent corner stores. Neither corner store nor commuting pattern is associated with relative weight. Further research should also include a greater range of age groups to better understand if these patterns vary by age.

Article by Stephanie S. Vander Veur, et al, from Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.

Full access: http://mrw.so/1PiC6d  
Image by Another Blood 1, from Flickr-cc.

评论

此博客中的热门博文

Electron Spin and Proton Spin in the Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Like Atomic Systems

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52202#.VIj7tMnQrzE Author(s) Stanisław Olszewski * Affiliation(s) Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland . ABSTRACT The mechanical angular momentum and magnetic moment of the electron and proton spin have been calculated semiclassically with the aid of the uncertainty principle for energy and time. The spin effects of both kinds of the elementary particles can be expressed in terms of similar formulae. The quantization of the spin motion has been done on the basis of the old quantum theory. It gives a quantum number n = 1/2 as the index of the spin state acceptable for both the electron and proton ...

Remarks on the Complexity of Signed k-Domination on Graphs

Read  full  paper  at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53574#.VMnXsCzQrzE Author(s)    Chuan-Min Lee 1 , Cheng-Chien Lo 1 , Rui-Xin Ye 2 , Xun Xu 2 , Xiao-Han Shi 2 , Jia-Ying Li 2 Affiliation(s) 1 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering, Ming Chuan University, The First American University in Asia, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Chinese Taipei . 2 Department of Electronic Information Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China . ABSTRACT This paper is motivated by the concept of the signed k-domination problem and dedicated to the complexity of the problem on graphs. For any fixed nonnegative integer k, we show that the signed k-domination problem is NP-complete for doubly chordal graphs. For strongly chordal graphs and distance-hereditary graphs, we show that the signed k-domination problem can be solved in polynomial time. We also show that the problem is linear-time solvable for trees, interval graphs, and chord...

A Review of Technical Requirements for High Penetration of Wind Power Systems

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52361#.VJN8VcCAM4 Author(s)    Yuan-Kang Wu 1 , Tung-Ching Lee 2 , Ting-Yen Hsieh 2 , Wei-Min Lin 2 Affiliation(s) 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung-Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan . 2 Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan . ABSTRACT Renewable portfolio targets have been established in many regions around the world. Regional targets such as 20% renewable energy by year 2020 are not uncommon. As the levels of wind power penetration increase, there are many power system impacts. This work investigated possible challenges and technic...