Cardia: study design, recruitment, and some characteristics of the examined subjects

In 1984, a prospective cohort study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) was initiated to investigate life-style and other factors that influence, favorably and unfavorably, the evolution of coronary heart disease risk factors during young adulthood. After a year of planning and protocol development, 5,116 black and white women and men, age 18-30 years, were recruited and examined in four urban areas: Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Oakland, California. The initial examination included carefully standardized measurements of major risk factors as well as assessments of psychosocial, dietary, and exercise-related characteristics that might influence them, or that might be independent risk factors. This report presents the recruitment and examination methods as well as the mean levels of blood pressure, total plasma cholesterol, height, weight and body mass index, and the prevalence of cigarette smoking by age, sex, race and educational level. Compared to recent national samples, smoking is less prevalent in CARDIA participants, and weight tends to be greater. Cholesterol levels are representative and somewhat lower blood pressures in CARDIA are probably, at least in part, due to differences in measurement methods. Especially noteworthy among several differences in risk factor levels by demographic subgroup, were a higher body mass index among black than white women and much higher prevalence of cigarette smoking among persons with no more than a high school education than among those with more education.     

住房类型、环境与居民健康协作研究之四——住房类型、环境与第二代成人健康

本文报告了北京市西城区三种类型住房三代同堂家庭调查样本125户中第二代成人199人的问卷调查结果。调查结果显示三种类型住房第二代成人的健康状况及烟酒嗜好差别无显著性;楼房的居住环境优于平房,但邻里交往不如平房密切;对居住条件和生活的自我评价主要取决于住房设施,邻里关系、年龄和性别,而受住房类型影响较小。     

Trajectories of Violent and Nonviolent Behaviors From Adolescence to Early Adulthood: Does Early Puberty Matter,and, If So,How Long?

PurposeIt is well known that pubertal timing affects adolescents' externalizing behaviors, but it is unknown if this effect lasts into adulthood. This study assessed if and when the early maturation effect wanes, specifically in two domains of externalizing behaviors: nonviolent and violent behaviors.MethodsUsing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) that include age-appropriate items of violent and nonviolent behaviors assessed from ages 11–30 over four waves (N = 4,255), we conducted a series of longitudinal growth curve analyses to evaluate the effect of pubertal timing on the trajectories of nonviolent and violent externalizing behaviors for males and females.ResultsCompared to later maturing male peers, early maturing males reported significantly elevated overall externalizing, nonviolent, and violent behaviors throughout adolescence, but became indistinguishable from on-time and late-maturing counterparts in young adulthood. Similarly, early maturing females showed higher levels of overall externalizing and nonviolent behaviors than later maturing counterparts, but no effect of pubertal timing was seen on the trajectories of violent behaviors. However, early maturing females' overall externalizing and nonviolent behaviors also became indistinguishable from on-time and late-maturing females after adolescence.ConclusionsThese findings clarify the differential effect of early maturation on nonviolent and violent behaviors, especially in females, and highlight the short-lived nature of the effects of early pubertal timing.     

Medulloblastoma in children and in adults: a comparative study

Summary We report on the clinical and pathological characters and factors influencing prognosis in a consecutive series of 20 cases of medulloblastoma presenting in childhood and of 20 cases of the tumour presenting in adulthood. The significant differences which emerged were compared with the findings of the largest published series. Medulloblastoma is more often lateral in site and desmoplastic in histology in adults than in children. On our evidence the age at tumour onset not affect survival.     

Childhood adversity and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood: An analysis of 107,704 Swedes

Childhood adversity (CA) is associated with increased risks of psychiatric disorder in young adulthood, but details in this association are less known. We aimed to explore the association of a range of CA indicators with psychiatric disorder in young adulthood, and the impact of age at exposure, disorder type and accumulation of indicators. We capitalized on Sweden's extensive and high-quality registers and analyzed a cohort of all Swedes (N = 107,704) born in Stockholm County 1987–1991. Adversities included familial death, parental substance misuse and psychiatric disorder, parental criminality, parental separation, public assistance recipiency and residential instability. Age at exposure was categorized as: 0–6.9 years (infancy and early childhood), 7–11.9 years (middle childhood), and 12–14 years (early adolescence). Psychiatric disorders after age 15 were defined from ICD codes through registers. Risks were calculated as Hazard Ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results showed that exposure to at least one CA was associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorder (HR 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3–1.4). Risks were increased for mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders and ADHD but not for eating disorders. The risk varied with type of disorder but was similar for all exposure periods. Individuals with multiple (3+) CAs had a two-fold risk of psychiatric disorder (HR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.9–2.1). In conclusion, our findings support the long-term negative impact of CA on mental health, regardless of developmental period of exposure. Given that experience of CA is common, efforts should be put to alleviate the burden of childhood adversities for children, particularly among the most disadvantaged.     

Intergenerational Continuity of Substance Use

Guided by rigorous methodology and a life-course perspective, the goal of this research is to address a gap in current knowledge on whether, when, and how strongly intergenerational continuity of substance use exists when examining age-equivalent and developmentally specific stages of the life course. Annual self-reported substance use measures were analyzed from a prospective, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample that originally consisted of 1,725 respondents and their families, who were then interviewed over a 27-year period from 1977 to 2004. Findings from multilevel random-intercept regression models provide support for intergenerational continuity when substance use occurs in emerging adulthood but not when limited to adolescence. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.     

The Anonymous Spectator

In this article, I attempt to illuminate points of similarity between the process of “working through” in psychological treatment, and the ordinary day-to-day developmental potential of college life, suggesting that when students can be helped to make optimal use of the college interpersonal milieu, brief, analytically informed psychotherapy can work in concert with the average, expectable experimentation of late adolescence to facilitate growth and maturation.