Texas Department of Health organizational structure changes: A reflection of public health policy and agency expansion, September 1, 1946--June 30, 1994

The premise of this study is that changes in the agency's organizational structure reflect changes in government public health policy. Based on this premise, this study tracks the changes in the organizational structure and the overall expansion of the Texas Department of Health to understand the evolution of changing public health priorities in state policy from September 1, 1946 through June 30, 1994, a period of growth and new responsibilities. It includes thirty-seven observations of organizational structure as depicted by organizational charts of the agency and/or adapted from public documents. ^ The major questions answered are, what are the changes in the organizational structure, why did they occur and, what are the policy priorities reflected in these changes in and across the various time periods. ^ The analysis of the study included a thorough review of the organizational structure of the agency for the time-span of the study, the formulation of the criteria to be used in ascertaining the changes, the delineation of the changes in the organizational structure and comparison of the observations sequentially to characterize the change, the discovery of reasons for the structural changes (financial, statutory - federal and state, social and political factors), and the determination of policy priorities for each time period and their relation to the expansion and evolution of the agency. ^ The premise that the organizational structure of the agency and the changes over time reflect government public health policy and agency expansion was found to be true. ^

Family Structure and Obesity Among U.S. Children

Child obesity in the U.S. is a significant public health issue, particularly among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thus, the roles of parents’ human and financial capital and racial and ethnic background have become important topics of social science and public health research on child obesity. Less often discussed, however, is the role of family structure, which is an important predictor of child well-being and indicator of family socioeconomic status. The goal of this study, therefore, is to investigate how preschool aged children’s risk of obesity varies across a diverse set of family structures and whether these differences in obesity are moderated by family poverty status and the mothers’ education. Using a large nationally representative sample of children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort, we find that preschoolers raised by two biological cohabiting parents or a relative caregiver (generally the grandparent) have greater odds of being obese than children raised by married biological parents. Also, poor children in married biological parent households and non-poor children in married step parent households have greater obesity risks, while poor children in father only, unmarried step, and married step parent families actually have lower odds of obesity than children in non-poor intact households. The implications of these findings for policy and future research linking family structure to children’s weight status are discussed.