Hierarchical relationship between values, lifestyles, possessions and food consumption among Beijing adult population

A representative sample (N=801) of the Beijing adult population was used to empirically test and validate a proposed hierarchical model of relationships between values, lifestyles, possessions and food consumption. The theoretical contribution of the present study is the development and an empirically supported paradigm, which explains consumers' consumption behaviour. A further outcome is the substantiation of a pathway model involving hierarchical relationship between values, lifestyle, and demographic variables on material possessions and food consumption.

Changing lifestyles: a major responsibility for physical education

Nutritionists, physical and health educators and the medical profession have all expressed concern about the eating habits and sedentary lifestyle of Australian children and the short and long term consequences if we do not change our ways, states the author. Can schools solve the problem? The author examines the effort to strengthen physical education in Australian schools and considers why the subject remains marginal in the curriculum.

Happiness versus the environment - a case study of Australian lifestyles

Crafting environmental policies that at the same time enhance, or at least not reduce people's wellbeing, is crucial for the success of government action aimed at mitigating environmental impact. However, there does not yet exist any survey that refers to one and the same population, and that allows the identifying relationships and trade-offs between subjective wellbeing and the complete environmental impact of households. In order to circumvent the lack of comprehensive survey information, we attempt to integrate two separate survey databases, and describe the challenges associated with this integration. Our results indicate that carbon footprints are likely to increase, but wellbeing levels off with increasing income. Living together with people is likely to create a win-win situation where both climate and wellbeing benefit. Car ownership obviously creates emissions, however personal car ownership enhances subjective wellbeing, but living in an area with high car ownership decreases subjective wellbeing. Finally, gaining educational qualifications is linked with increased emissions. These results indicate that policy-making is challenged in striking a wise balance between individual convenience and the common good.

Screen media, parenting practices, and the family environment in Australia: a longitudinal study of young children’s media use, lifestyles, and outcomes for healthy weight

Few studies of media use and adiposity explore the influence of parenting on children’s lifestyle behaviors. Screen media access, bedroom television, lack of physical activity, and snacking on energy-dense foods have long been implicated in child overweight. This research used data from the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to investigate, prospectively, the associations between parental practices in early to middle childhood and children’s behaviors and weight in late childhood. A path model was used to investigate whether consistent parentingpredicted setting of boundaries for access to and use of media, and was indirectly associated with children’s lifestyle behaviors that increase the likelihood of healthy weight maintenance. The findings demonstrated that children’s lifestyles pertinent to weight maintenance and media use cluster together and involve both old and newer screen media, but are also predicted by parenting practices and the family environment.

Aboriginal cottages, transactional encounters and mission lifestyles at New Norcia, 1860-1900s

Several photos of Aboriginal people outside their cottages exist in the New Norcia Archives. These images could be read in different ways but have commonly been viewed as powerfully symbolic stories of successful mission life and converted Aboriginal people. While historians of colonial photography have persuasively linked the photographs of ‘settled’ Aboriginal residents with evidence of missionary success, we might add that they could also be compelling proof of Aboriginal families’ own success in adapting their land use and way of life in the context of dispossession. Reading this photograph of Aboriginal houses alongside Aboriginal voices in New Norcia’s archive it is possible to suggest Aboriginal people’s own desires for houses and settlement aligned with their ideas about respectability, as well as Aboriginal families’ own complicity in mission propaganda through such images.

Nutrition communication: do we need a new outlook?

The present paper will discuss the nature of nutrition communication and knowledge in relation to novel foods. The paper starts with an introduction to trends in present-day society, then focuses on the concepts of knowledge and information in relation to human needs and motivation. Next, the relevance of food and nutrition communication to consumer lifestyles is discussed. This is followed by consideration of consumer issues related to novel foods. The key conclusions are that nutrition communication is a minor part of most consumers' lifestyles and that the promotion of novel foods must be based on the dissemination of sound nutrition principles throughout the various values and lifestyles segments of the population.

Governing the Stressed Self: teacher "health and well-being" and "effective schools"

In diverse arenas there is much discussion about the dangerousness of contemporary lifestyles, including the stressful nature of work. These stresses associated with contemporary lifestyles and work are dangerous in so far as they are conceived as placing at risk the emotional, physical and psychic health and well-being of large populations. In this paper we engage with debates about the stressful nature of teachers' work, and the ways in which teacher health and well-being are constructed as being central to the task of delivering more effective schools. In this article we are not so much concerned with the nature of teacher stress as an indication of individual physical, emotional or psychic health and well-being, as with understanding how it is that at this particular historical juncture the self can be so widely conceived in terms of stress. Moreover, what processes make it possible at this moment to link the success or otherwise of a massive institutional process of state-regulated schooling to the health and well-being of teachers and the management of this health and well-being by school managers? We argue that in a policy context that devolves various responsibilities to self-managing schools, the government of the stressed self emerges as an ethical concern for teachers and those who manage them (Foucault, The Use of Pleasure , New York, Pantheon, 1985). Our purpose is to problematise these processes so that responsibilities for delivering on the promise of effective schools might be differently framed and debated.

An exploration of the relationships between food lifestyle and vegetable consumption

A short questionnaire was completed by 276 South Australian consumers, which examined postulated relationships between personal values, food lifestyle, demographics and their usual consumption of 24 vegetables. Principal components analyses showed that consumers' vegetable consumption could be divided into several categories, most notably salad and boiled vegetables. In multiple regression analyses different sets of values and lifestyle factors predicted intakes of overall vegetable (Rsq=27 per cent), salad (16 per cent) and boiled (27 per cent) vegetables. Path analysis revealed a complex set of pathways leading from values and personal demographics through motives, perceived food attributes and cooking skills to consumption. These partly confirmed the food lifestyle model proposed by Grunert et al. The findings show that vegetable consumption has a number of contextual and cognitive antecedents but strongly suggest that other likely predictive variables require investigation.

Diet, nutrition and the prevention of excess weight gain and obesity

Objective: To review the evidence on the diet and nutrition causes of obesity and to recommend strategies to reduce obesity prevalence.
Design: The evidence for potential aetiological factors and strategies to reduce obesity prevalence was reviewed, and recommendations for public health action, population nutrition goals and further research were made.
Results: Protective factors against obesity were considered to be: regular physical activity (convincing); a high intake of dietary non-starch polysaccharides (NSP)/fibre (convincing); supportive home and school environments for children (probable); and breastfeeding (probable). Risk factors for obesity were considered to be sedentary lifestyles (convincing); a high intake of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods (convincing); heavy marketing of energy-dense foods and fast food outlets (probable); sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices (probable); adverse social and economic conditions—developed countries, especially in women (probable).
A broad range of strategies were recommended to reduce obesity prevalence including: influencing the food supply to make healthy choices easier; reducing the marketing of energy dense foods and beverages to children; influencing urban environments and transport systems to promote physical activity; developing community-wide programmes in multiple settings; increased communications about healthy eating and physical activity; and improved health services to promote breastfeeding and manage currently overweight or obese people.
Conclusions: The increasing prevalence of obesity is a major health threat in both low- and high income countries. Comprehensive programmes will be needed to turn the epidemic around.

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.

The experiences and adjustments of women following their first acute myocardial infarction

Very little is known about cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women and their specific needs throughout their recovery process. This study aimed to explore the experiences and adjustments of women following their first AMI. Naturalistic inquiry was used and six women were interviewed post their first AMI. Two major themes were identified: (1) 'the initial experience/event' which identifies events and emotions leading up to, and during, the hospital admission; and (2) 'support: for who and how' exploring the importance of support throughout the recovery process.

The women in this study did not see themselves at risk of an AMI regardless of their lifestyles and when it did occur they adopted a variety of coping mechanisms in order to adjust to their trauma. The findings highlight the need for an increase in community awareness and education surrounding the risk factors of heart disease and its signs and symptoms, to minimize delayed hospital presentations.

People, places...and other people? Integrating understanding of intrapersonal, social and environmental determinants of physical activity

“People or places: what should be the target?” was the provocative title of a keynote session at the fifth Australian National Physical Activity Conference held in Melbourne in 2005. This paper will argue that in fact there need not be major conflict between these views, and that couching recent debate about physical activity promotion as a polarised choice between these presents a false dichotomy. To illustrate this, the paper will consider several problems with singular approaches to understanding and promoting physical activity, and will then describe emerging empirical evidence on the nexus between people and places. To balance an increasing emphasis in the scientific literature on physical environmental determinants of physical activity, the role of intrapersonal and social factors will also be revisited. It is concluded that growing evidence supporting the multiple domains of influence on physical activity justifies calls for multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral partnerships and approaches to the promotion of active lifestyles.