How do perceptions of local neighborhood relate to adolescents` walking and cycling?

Purpose. To examine how perceptions of the local neighborhood relate to adolescents' walking and cycling. Design. Exploratory cross-sectional study. Setting. Birth cohort from the Nepean Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Subjects. Three hundred forty-seven adolescents (79.1 % response rate; 49.6% boys; mean age - 13.0 ± 0.2 years) and their parents. Measures. Self-report and parental-report questionnaires. Results. Multiple linear regressions, adjusted for level of maternal education, revealed that boys who reported having many peers to hang out with locally, cycled for recreation (β = 0.242, p = .006) or for transport (β = 0.141, p = . 046) more often, and walked for transport for longer (β = 0.129, p = .024) on weekdays. For girls this variable was related to cycling for recreation on weekends (β = 0.164, p = .006) and walking to school (β = 0.118, p = .002). Adolescents who waved/talked to neighbors walked for transport more often (boys, β = 0.149, p = .037; girls, β = 0.119, p = .012). Girls who perceived local roads to be safe spent more time walking for transport on weekdays (β = 0.183, p = .007) and for exercise on weekends (β = 0.184, p = . 034). Parents' perception of heavy traffic was negatively associated with boys' walking for transport (β = -0.138, p = .037) and many aspects of girls' walking and cycling. Conclusion. Social interaction and road safety may be important predictors of adolescents' walking and cycling in their neighborhood. Limitations are the use of self-report and cross-sectional data. Longitudinal studies may clarify these relations.

Social innovators or lagging behind: factors that influence managers' time use

Purpose – The broad aim of this paper is to investigate whether managers in Australia allocate their time differently than other occupational groups, and the impact gender and life situation (using marital status and presence or absence of dependent children as a proxy) has on time allocation.
Design/methodology/approach – To address these broad aims, data are drawn from the 1997 Australian Time Use Survey. This is a nationally representative survey that examines how people in different circumstances allocate time to different activities. Findings – The results of this study highlight three important issues. The first is that male and female managers display different patterns of time use. Male managers' time is dominated by paid employment activities, whereas female managers' time is spent predominantly on employment and domestic activities. The second is that life situation impacts on the time use of female managers, but not male managers. The third important find of this study is that managers' time use is different to other occupational groups. Practical implications – These findings have policy implications relating to work-life balance, career progression and changes in patterns of work. In terms of work-life issues, it reveals that male and female managers face a “time squeeze”, with some evidence of a “second-shift” for female managers. In addition, the findings provide insight into the work-life issues faced by male and female managers. Originality/value – The results of this inquiry provide insight into how different individuals spend their time – insight into “lifestyles”. However, in-depth qualitative studies are required to reveal why individuals allocate their time in this way and to understand the opportunities and constraints individuals face in time allocation.

Lifetime sport and leisure activity participation is associated with greater bone size, quality and strength in older men

Introduction: It remains uncertain whether long-term participation in regular weight-bearing exercise confers an advantage to bone structure and strength in old age. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between lifetime sport and leisure activity participation on bone material and structural properties at the axial and appendicular skeleton in older men (>50 years).

Methods: We used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to assess hip, spine and ultradistal (UD) radius areal bone mineral density (aBMD) (n=161), quantitative ultrasound (QUS) to measure heel bone quality (n=161), and quantitative computed tomography (QCT) to assess volumetric BMD, bone geometry and strength at the spine (L₁–L₃) and mid-femur (n=111). Current (>50+ years) and past hours of sport and leisure activity participation during adolescence (13–18 years) and adulthood (19–50 years) were assessed by questionnaire. This information was used to calculate the total time (min) spent participating in sport and leisure activities and an osteogenic index (OI) score for each participant, which provides a measure of participation in weight-bearing activities.

Results: Regression analysis revealed that a greater lifetime (13–50+ years) and mid-adulthood (19–50 years) OI, but not total time (min), was associated with a greater mid-femur total and cortical area, cortical bone mineral content (BMC), and the polar moment of inertia (I _p) and heel VOS (p ranging from <0.05 to <0.01). These results were independent of age, height (or femoral length) and weight (or muscle cross-sectional area). Adolescent OI scores were not found to be significant predictors of bone structure or strength. Furthermore, no significant relationships were detected with areal or volumetric BMD at any site. Subjects were then categorized into either a high (H) or low/non-impact (L) group during adolescence (13–18 years) and adulthood (19–50+ years) according to their OI scores during each of these periods. Three groups were subsequently formed to reflect weight-bearing impact categories during adolescence and then adulthood: LL, HL and HH. Compared to the LL group, mid-femur total and cortical area, cortical BMC and I _p were 6.5–14.2% higher in the HH group. No differences were detected between the LL and HL groups.

Conclusions: In conclusion, these findings indicate that long-term regular participation in sport and leisure activities categorized according to an osteogenic index [but not the total time (min) spent participating in all sport and leisure activities] was an important determinant of bone size, quality and strength, but not BMD, at loaded sites in older men. Furthermore, continued participation in weight-bearing exercise in early to mid-adulthood appears to be important for reducing the risk of low bone strength in old age.

Children's television viewing and objectively measured physical activity: associations with family circumstances

Background: The contribution of family circumstance to physical activity and television viewing has not been widely investigated in pre-adolescents, and available information is inconsistent. This study examines whether television viewing and objectively measured physical activity vary by different indicators of family circumstance.
Methods: Data from the 2001 Children's Leisure Activity Study and the 2002/3 Health, Eating and Play Study, involving Australian children in Grades Prep (mean age 6y) and 5–6 (mean age 11y), were combined. Children wore accelerometers for six consecutive 24 hour periods. Average min/day in low-intensity activity (1.0–1.9 METs) and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity (≥3 METs) were calculated. Parents reported children's television viewing and family circumstance. Linear regression analyses were conducted separately for young girls, young boys, older girls and older boys. Results: Complete data were available for 2458 children. Parental education and, to a lesser extent, employment level were inversely associated with television viewing. Children in single-parent families, those whose fathers were not in paid employment, and those without siblings tended to spend more time in low-intensity activity than their peers. Children with siblings spent more time in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity; associations were stronger for girls. Maternal education was positively associated with moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity for younger children. Maternal employment was positively associated with moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity for older children. Multivariable models did not demonstrate a cumulative explanatory effect.
Conclusion:  Individual measures of family circumstance were differentially associated with television, low-intensity activity and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity and associations were often not consistent across age-by-gender groups. Interventions may need to be tailored accordingly.

Introduced birds in urban remnant vegetation : does remnant size really matter?

Introduced birds are a pervasive and dominant element of urban ecosystems. We examined the richness and relative abundance of introduced bird species in small (1–5 ha) medium (6–15 ha) and large (>15 ha) remnants of native vegetation within an urban matrix. Transects were surveyed during breeding and non-breeding seasons. There was a significant relationship between introduced species richness and remnant size with larger remnants supporting more introduced species. There was no significant difference in relative abundance of introduced species in remnants of different sizes. Introduced species, as a proportion of the relative abundance of the total avifauna (native and introduced species), did not vary significantly between remnants of differing sizes. There were significant differences in the composition of introduced bird species between the different remnant sizes, with large remnants supporting significantly different assemblages than medium and small remnants. Other variables also have substantial effects on the abundance of introduced bird species. The lack of significant differences in abundance between remnant sizes suggests they were all equally susceptible to invasion. No patches in the urban matrix are likely to be unaffected by introduced species. The effective long-term control of introduced bird species is difficult and resources may be better spent managing habitat in a way which renders it less suitable for introduced species (e.g. reducing areas of disturbed ground and weed dominated areas).

Family structure and children's television viewing and physical activity

Objectives: This study aimed to examine how physical activity (PA) and television (TV) viewing time of children varied according to family structure.

Methods: In 2001, 5- to 6-yr-old (N = 296) and 10- to 12-yr-old (N = 919) children and their parents were recruited from 19 state elementary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Children's PA was objectively assessed using accelerometers worn for 8 d. Sociodemographic and family structure information and time spent watching TV was collected via questionnaire completed by parents.

Results: ANCOVA revealed that, after controlling for socioeconomic status and age of child, boys without any siblings spent more minutes per day watching TV (153.2 +/- 71.3) compared with those who have siblings (129.0 +/- 64.4, P < 0.05). There were also significant differences in TV viewing time between boys with one sibling (125.5 +/- 59.9), two siblings (141.9 +/- 70.1), or three or more siblings (111.6 +/- 62.6, P < 0.001). Girls from single-parent families (145.7 +/- 85.1) spent significantly more minutes per day watching TV compared with girls from two-parent families (125.1 +/- 67.7, P < 0.05). Girls with siblings spent more minutes per day in PA (148.3 +/- 67.7) compared with those who were an only child (131.0 +/- 58.9, P < 0.05). There were significant interactions between parental status and having a sibling, with PA, and also with TV viewing for girls and between parental status and having a brother with PA for boys. There were also significant interactions between having an older sibling and child's sex with PA and between number of siblings and sex with TV viewing.

Conclusions: Family structure may be an important source of influence on children's PA and TV viewing time. Aspects of family structure interact differently with PA and TV viewing, suggesting interventions may need to be tailored with consideration of the family structure of children.

Individual, social and home environment determinants of change in children's television viewing: the Switch-Play intervention

Understanding potential determinants of change in television (TV) viewing among children may enhance the effectiveness of programs targeting this behaviour. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of individual, social and home environment factors among 10-year-old Australian children to change in TV viewing over a 21-month period. A total of 164 children (49% boys) completed a 19-lesson (9-month) intervention program to reduce TV viewing time. Children completed self-administered surveys four times over 21 months (pre- and post-intervention, 6- and 12-month follow-up). Baseline factors associated with change in TV viewing during the intervention and follow-up periods were: ‘asking parents ≥once/week to switch off the TV and play with them’ (21.6 min/day more than those reporting <once/week, p = 0.007); being able to ‘watch just 1 h of TV per day’ (26.1 min/day less than those who could not, p = 0.010); ‘watching TV no matter what was on’ (36.6 min/day more than those who did not, p < 0.001); and ‘continuing to watch TV after their program was over’ (33.0 min/day more than those who did not, p = 0.006). With every unit increase in baseline frequency of TV viewing with family and friends, children spent on average 4.0 min/day more watching TV over the 21-month period (p = 0.047). Baseline number and placement of TVs at home did not predict change in children's TV viewing over the 21 months. Greater understanding of the family dynamics and circumstances, as well as the individual and social determinants of TV viewing, will be required if we are to develop effective strategies for reducing TV viewing in children.

Employer matters in 2005

By any reckoning, the year 2005 will long be remembered as a watershed year for Australian industrial relations. While there were the usual types of industrial disputes, on-going enterprise bargaining and another round of arguments over the Australian Industrial Relations Commission’s (AIRC’s) annual safety-net review, the year was dominated by the looming re-writing of Australia’s industrial relations regulatory regime, made possible by the Government’s surprise majority in the Senate, granted to them in late 2004. Viewed as a looming dark cloud by some or a shining light by others, most of 2005 was spent in anxious anticipation of the Howard government’s impending ‘WorkChoices’ legislation. Employer groups spent much of the year lobbying the Howard government for the types of reforms long cherished, but only dreamed of by employers, for arguably 100 years. A once in a lifetime opportunity had presented itself and employer groups were determined to take full advantage of the situation, by ensuring that the government did not lose its nerve. Perhaps more importantly, however, in addition to lobbying the government, major employer organizations devoted significant resources to building the case for industrial relations reform and attempting to sell that message to the electorate. By year’s end, employers had succeeded in the first objective, but had seemingly failed in the second.

Engagement and retention of participants in a physical activity website

Background: Websites have the potential to deliver enhanced versions of targeted and tailored physical activity programs to large numbers of participants. We describe participant engagement and retention with a stage-based physical activity website in a workplace setting. Methods:  We analyzed data from participants in the website condition of a randomized trial designed to test the efficacy of a print- vs. website-delivered intervention. They received four stage-targeted e-mails over 8 weeks, with hyperlinks to the website. Both objective and self-reported website use data were collected and analyzed. Results: Overall, 327 were randomized to the website condition and 250 (76%) completed the follow-up survey. Forty-six percent (n = 152) visited the website over the trial period. A total of 4,114 hits to the website were recorded. Participants who entered the site spent on average 9 min per visit and viewed 18 pages. Website use declined over time; 77% of all visits followed the first e-mail. Conclusions: Limited website engagement, despite the perceived usefulness of the materials, demonstrates possible constraints on the use of e-mails and websites in delivering health behavior change programs. In the often-cluttered information environment of workplaces, issues of engagement and retention in website-delivered programs require attention.

Productivity and the knowledge worker

The industrial age of Taylor and Ford transformed the landscape of office buildings. Office spaces were very uniform and highly supervised. People were units of production. Their work activities were routine. Work study, or "time and motion" studies measured outputs.

The current "information age" way of working, combined with major demographic shifts in the workforce (Gen-Xers, career-shifting Baby Boomers and a greater number of women and minority ethnic groups in the workforce), requires major changes in how to support service industry productivity. The motivations of knowledge workers are very different from those of the industrial age worker. Commitment to the organisation has gone as a result of business re-engineering processes that increased productivity but at the expense of job security. Workers are more likely to be "goal-focussed" rather than "prevention focussed" (Meyer et al 2004 2 ) meaning that instead of doing only what is necessary to retain their job, workers actively seek more meaningful work that matches their personal value systems. They even want to have fun at work!

What contribution can the workplace make to support this work and increase productivity? Surveys have indicated that workers spend more than 75% of their time in their own office space with more than half of that time spent in concentrated work. Concentrated work requires quiet with few distractions, yet workers report that distractions are probably the biggest problem hampering their productivity. What are the current workplace solutions to office space usage? Probably the worst option for distractions is frequently used – open-plan offices, which are a more cost-effective use of space, but at the potential expense of productivity. Visioning architects such as Duffy (1999)3 advocate quiet spaces ("dens") where workers can decamp to carry out their concentrated work. But is this workspace as efficient for the worker – who may have to transport materials back and forth?

Workers know what they need to support their productivity best. On the rare occasions when the staff have been given the opportunity to configure their work-settings, high productivity increases result. Besides noise, environmental quality is perceived as a key factor influencing productivity. Stuffy workplaces generate lethargy. Greater worker satisfaction with their workplace is reported when they have more individual control over the environment.

We need to seriously question the "one-size-fits-all" office building with cellular layouts. Workers need to be involved in the design and fit-out. They need personal control over their environment and an organisation that can support their individual aspirations and values. A number of interventions that could generate significant improvements in knowledge work productivity are proposed.

A profile of complainants about advertising in Australia: an agenda for research

Investigation of consumer complaint responses within the area of advertising in Australia stems from the suggestion that the more money spent on advertising in a country the greater the need for consumer protection from 'unacceptable' advertising. This research will allow the formulation of strategies to enable more effective marketing communications.

Practicality of a technological tool for the teaching of the first year psychology students

The current paper discusses the applicability of an online manual for the teaching of first year psychology laboratory programs and compares it with conventional teaching methods. For the first time, in 2001, the manual for the first year program was made available via a website. This method was in contrast to the text manual that was utilised previously. When the text manual was used, students needed to bring it each week to class. However, with the online manual, students were required to be cognisant of several aspects of the week's laboratory agenda prior to attending the class and did not have immediate access to the manual in class. This was quite uncustomary to both students and staff members and therefore necessitated a great amount of time to be spent reviewing the contents of the week's work before attending class. It also caused inconvenience both in terms of students not having ready access to necessary information, and staff having to photocopy bulk information as and when required. What was discovered at the end of the semester was that a technological tool, because of its ability to provide easy access, may not be applicable to teach all subjects, particularly not the psychology lab program, and hence a thorough evaluation of the practicality of the device is required prior to adoption.

Ontogeny of diving behaviour in the Australian sea lion: trials of adolescence in a late bloomer

1.Foraging behaviours of the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) reflect an animal working hard to exploit benthic habitats. Lactating females demonstrate almost continuous diving, maximize bottom time, exhibit elevated field metabolism and frequently exceed their calculated aerobic dive limit. Given that larger animals have disproportionately greater diving capabilities, we wanted to examine how pups and juveniles forage successfully.
2.Time/depth recorders were deployed on pups, juveniles and adult females at Seal Bay Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Ten different mother/pup pairs were equipped at three stages of development (6, 15 and 23 months) to record the diving behaviours of 51 (nine instruments failed) animals.
3. Dive depth and duration increased with age. However, development was slow. At 6 months, pups demonstrated minimal diving activity and the mean depth for 23-month-old juveniles was only 44 ± 4 m, or 62% of adult mean depth.
4. Although pups and juveniles did not reach adult depths or durations, dive records for young sea lions indicate benthic diving with mean bottom times (2·0 ± 0·2 min) similar to those of females (2·1 ± 0·2 min). This was accomplished by spending higher proportions of each dive and total time at sea on or near the bottom than adults. Immature sea lions also spent a higher percentage of time at sea diving.
5. Juveniles may have to work harder because they are weaned before reaching full diving capability. For benthic foragers, reduced diving ability limits available foraging habitat. Furthermore, as juveniles appear to operate close to their physiological maximum, they would have a difficult time increasing foraging effort in response to reductions in prey. Although benthic prey are less influenced by seasonal fluctuations and oceanographic perturbations than epipelagic prey, demersal fishery trawls may impact juvenile survival by disrupting habitat and removing larger size classes of prey. These issues may be an important factor as to why the Australian sea lion population is currently at risk.

Changes in sedentary behavior among adolescent girls: a 2.5-Year prospective cohort study

Purpose: To describe longitudinal changes in leisure-time sedentary behavior among girls, during early to mid-adolescence. Methods: A 2.5-year prospective cohort study, comprising 5 data collections, 6 months apart, between 2000 and 2002. Girls aged 12–15 years (n = 200) from 8 high schools located in Sydney, Australia, self-reported the usual time spent each week in a comprehensive range of sedentary behaviors.  Results: Retention rate for the study was 82%. Girls aged 12.8 years spent approximately 45% of their discretionary time in sedentary behavior, which increased to 63% at age 14.9 years. Watching TV, videos, and playing video games (small screen recreation; SSR) was the most popular sedentary pastime, accounting for 33% of time spent in sedentariness, followed by homework and reading (25%). Sedentary behavior increased 1.4 and 3.3 hours on week and weekend days, respectively. On weekdays, increased time was spent on hobbies (27 min/day) and on weekend days, increased time was spent sitting around talking with friends (60 min/day), computer use (37 min/day), and television viewing (34 min/day). Conclusions: Among girls, the transition between early and mid-adolescence was accompanied by a significant increase in leisure-time sedentary behavior. Interventions to reduce sedentariness among adolescent girls are best to focus on weekend behaviors. Studies seeking to examine the association between inactivity and the development of chronic health problems need to examine a diverse range of activities that comprehensively measure sedentariness. This information will provide a better understanding of inactivity patterns among adolescent girls.

Ontogeny of oxygen stores and physiological diving capability in Australian sea lions

1.For air-breathing animals in aquatic environments, foraging behaviours are often constrained by physiological capability. The development of oxygen stores and the rate at which these stores are used determine juvenile diving and foraging potential.
2. We examined the ontogeny of dive physiology in the threatened Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea. Australian sea lions exploit benthic habitats; adult females demonstrate high field metabolic rates (FMR), maximize time spent near the benthos, and regularly exceed their calculated aerobic dive limit (cADL). Given larger animals have disproportionately greater diving capabilities; we wanted to determine the extent physiological development constrained diving and foraging in young sea lions.
3. Ten different mother/pup pairs were measured at three developmental stages (6, 15 and 23 months) at Seal Bay Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Hematocrit (Hct), haemoglobin (Hb) and plasma volume were analyzed to calculate blood O2 stores and myoglobin was measured to determine muscle O₂. Additionally, FMR's for nine of the juveniles were derived from doubly-labelled water measurements.
4. Australian sea lions have the slowest documented O₂ store development among diving mammals. Although weaning typically occurs by 17·6 months, 23-month juveniles had only developed 68% of adult blood O₂. Muscle O₂ was the slowest to develop and was 60% of adult values at 23 months.
5. We divided available O₂ stores (37·11 ± 1·49 mL O₂ kg−1) by at-sea FMR (15·78 ± 1·29 mL O₂ min−1 kg−1) to determine a cADL of 2·33 ± 0·24 min for juvenile Australian sea lions. Like adults, young sea lions regularly exceeded cADL's with 67·8 ± 2·8% of dives over theoretical limits and a mean dive duration to cADL ratio of 1·23 ± 0·10.
6. Both dive depth and duration appear impacted by the slow development of oxygen stores. For species that operate close to, or indeed above their estimated physiological maximum, the capacity to increase dive depth, duration or foraging effort would be limited. Due to reduced access to benthic habitat and restricted behavioural options, young benthic foragers, such as Australian sea lions, would be particularly vulnerable to resource limitation.