Young teenagers' perceptions of their own and others bodies : a qualitative study of obese, overweight and 'normal' weight young people in Scotland

Peer reviewe

Children's and Young People's Food Practices in Contexts of Poverty and Inequality

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and National Children's Bureau.Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Food, eating and taste : parents' perspectives on the making of the middle class teenager

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02779536 Copyright Elsevier Ltd.This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of views and understandings of dietary practices in middle class families. Thirty five parents/main food providers of boys and girls aged 13/14 years, living in Eastern Scotland, were interviewed about their and their teenagers’ everyday lives, food, health and family practices. One of our aims was to understand more about the social and cultural conditions which might be promoting more positive dietary health and physical well-being amongst middle class families. Most parents’ accounts appeared rooted in a taken-for-grantedness that family members enjoyed good health, lived in relatively secure and unthreatening environments regarding health and resources, and were able to lead active lives, which they valued. Although controlling teenagers’ eating practices was presented as an ongoing challenge, active supervision and surveillance of their diets was described, as was guiding tastes in ‘the right direction’. Parents described attempts to achieve family eating practices such as commensality, cooking from scratch, and encouraging a varied and nutritional ‘adult’ diet and cosmopolitan tastes, though work and activities could compromise these. These middle class families might be characterized as having future oriented ‘hierarchies of luxury and choice’, in which controlling and moulding teenagers’ food practices and tastes was assigned a high priority.Peer reviewe

The socio-economic boundaries shaping young people’s lunchtime food practices on a school day

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wendy J. Wills, Giada Danesi, Ariadne B. Kapetanaki, and Laura K. Hamilton, ‘The Socio‐Economic Boundaries Shaping Young People's Lunchtime Food Practices on a School Day’, Children & Society, Vol. 32 (3): 195-206, May 2018, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12261. Under embargo until 6 April 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Not enough is known about the relationship between socio-economic deprivation and places where young people purchase food at lunchtime on a school day. This paper draws on qualitative data from 600+ young people aged 13-15 years and illustrates that socio-economic factors form boundaries that young people have a feeling for when buying food. This informs where they seek out lunch (at school or in local food outlets) and what products, service and prices they access and find acceptable. Such insights help to understand why inequalities in young people’s health and eating practices prevail.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Prevention is better than cure, but...: Preventive medication as a risk to ordinariness?

Preventive health remains at the forefront of public health concerns; recent initiatives, such as the NHS health check, may lead to recommendations for medication in response to the identification of 'at risk' individuals. Little is known about lay views of preventive medication. This paper uses the case of aspirin as a prophylactic against heart disease to explore views among people invited to screening for a trial investigating the efficacy of such an approach. Qualitative interviews (N=46) and focus groups (N=5, participants 31) revealed dilemmas about preventive medication in the form of clashes between norms: first, in general terms, assumptions about the benefit of prevention were complicated by dislike of medication; second, the individual duty to engage in prevention was complicated by the need not to be over involved with one's own health; third, the potential appeal of this alternative approach to health promotion was complicated by unease about the implications of encouraging irresponsible behaviour among others. Though respondents made different decisions about using the drug, they reported very similar ways of trying to resolve these conflicts, drawing upon concepts of necessity and legitimisation and the special ordinariness of the particular dru

Demographic, criminal and psychiatric factors related to inmate suicide

A review of 19 studies suggests that it may be feasible to identify prisoners with suicide risk on the basis of demographic, psychiatric, and criminal characteristics. The present study aimed to identify combinations of characteristics that are capable of identifying potential suicide victims. Characteristics of 95 suicide victims in the Dutch prison system were compared with those of a random sample of 247 inmates in ten jails. Combinations of indicators for suicide risk were also tested for their capability of identifying 209 suicides in U.S. jails and 279 prison suicides in England and Wales. A combination of six characteristics (age 40+, homelessness, history of psychiatric care, history of drug abuse, one prior incarceration, violent offence) was capable of correctly classifying 82% of the Dutch suicide victims (82% specificity). Less powerful combinations correctly classified 53% of the U.S. suicides and 47% of the U.K. suicides. It is concluded that a set of demographic and criminal characteristics and indicators of psychiatric problems is useful for the identification of suicide risk in jails and prisons

Women and health technologies

Joint briefing with the Research Unit for Health, Behaviour and change (RUHBC)As women approach midlife they become potential candidates for a range of health technologies. The study examined areas such as women's own assessments of the risks and benefits involved; the medical and informal knowledge women draw upon; and how social and cultural contexts and women's own agency affect these decisions