Amount of crime perceived and reported by adolescents is connected to their BMI and activity levels

Ann Forsyth was recently lead author on a paper titled “Perceived and Police-Reported Neighborhood Crime: Linkages to Adolescent Activity Behaviors and Weight Status.” Published in Journal of Adolescent Health, the study addressed the relationships of perceived and objective reports of neighborhood crime to adolescent physical activity, screen media use, and BMI. BMI was positively associated with perceived crime among girls, reported crime in girls, and perceived crime in boys.

Kawachi on link between neighborhood social capital and participation in health checks

  Ichiro Kawachi recently published a study in BMC Public Health revealing that higher level of neighborhood social capital was associated with higher probability of participating in the health check phase of a population-based lifestyle intervention, suggesting that activating social relations in the community may be an avenue for boosting participation rates in population-based health checks.

Nancy Krieger’s UC-Berkeley commencement address: Public Health, Embodied History, and Social Justice

This past May, Nancy Krieger had the honor of giving a commencement address at the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health. Krieger’s talk reflected on events spanning from 1990 to the present and offered insights on the integral role of health equity in building a just and sustainable world.

Why do women outlive men? Former Harvard Bell Fellow sheds light

Hiram Beltran-Sanchez, PhD, a former Harvard Pop Center Bell Fellow, is lead author on a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that reveals that “excess male mortality” appears to be caused by cardiovascular disease and smoking-related deaths, as opposed to just biological differences between the genders. Learn more about the study in an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Interventions addressing anxiety & depression have long-term mental health benefits for war-affected youth

Harvard Pop Center faculty member Theresa Betancourt, ScD, is lead author on a study published in Pediatrics that assesses the longer-term impact of mental health interventions on war-affected youth in Sierra Leone. Learn more about the study in this Reuters article.