A longitudinal study of infant feeding and obesity throughout the life course

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services promote breastfeeding as a strategy for reducing childhood overweight. We evaluated the relation between infant feeding and the development of overweight and obesity throughout life course. Methods: We investigated the association between infant feeding and obesity among 35 526 participants in the Nurses' Health Study II who were followed prospectively from 1989 to 2001. Mothers of participants provided information by mailed questionnaires on the duration of breast- and bottle-feeding, as well as the type of milk or milk substitute in the bottle. Information on body shape at ages 5 and 10, weight at age 18, current weight between 1989 and 2001, and height was reported by the participants. Results: The duration of breastfeeding, including exclusive breastfeeding, was not related to being overweight (25 body mass index (BMI)

Experiences and expectations: the real reason nobody likes stats

Within undergraduate psychology courses, students often have significant levels of anxiety and negative attitudes toward the statistical element. This has been attributed to poor interaction with teachers, fears about mathematical abilities, and simply being unaware of that portion of the course or its relevance to psychology. To address this, 196 undergraduate psychology students completed a survey on statistics anxiety and attitudes. Additionally, 27 different students in similar situations took part in focus group to share their experiences of introductory statistics courses. Survey results showed that fewer than half were aware of the statistics portion of their course and that the expectation was a key factor in their experiences. Qualitative feedback from the focus groups revealed much about how the teaching may or may not improve attitudes nor decrease anxiety. Findings support various broad strategies (i.e. increase awareness of statistics in psychology and confidence in success in the course) as opposed to skill-specific (better ways of teaching probability or using games to increase participation, for example) classroom interventions to improve statistics education.