A Meta-Analysis of Children's Hand-to-Mouth Frequency Data for Estimating Nondietary Ingestion Exposure

Because of their mouthing behaviors, children have a higher potential for exposure to available chemicals through the nondietary ingestion route; thus, frequency of hand-to-mouth activity is an important variable for exposure assessments. Such data are limited and difficult to collect. Few published studies report such information, and the studies that have been conducted used different data collection approaches (e.g., videography versus real-time observation), data analysis and reporting methods, ages of children, locations, and even definitions of "mouthing." For this article, hand-to-mouth frequency data were gathered from 9 available studies representing 429 subjects and more than 2,000 hours of behavior observation. A meta-analysis was conducted to study differences in hand-to-mouth frequency based on study, age group, gender, and location (indoor vs. outdoor), to fit variability and uncertainty distributions that can be used in probabilistic exposure assessments, and to identify any data gaps. Results of this analysis indicate that age and location are important for hand-to-mouth frequency, but study and gender are not. As age increases, both indoor and outdoor hand-to-mouth frequencies decrease. Hand-to-mouth behavior is significantly greater indoors than outdoors. For both indoor and outdoor hand-to-mouth frequencies, interpersonal, and intra-personal variability are approximately 60% and approximately 30%, respectively. The variance difference among different studies is much bigger than its mean, indicating that different studies with different methodologies have similar central values. Weibull distributions best fit the observed data for the different variables considered and are presented in this article by study, age group, and location. Average indoor hand-to-mouth behavior ranged from 6.7 to 28.0 contacts/hour, with the lowest value corresponding to the 6 to <11 year olds and the highest value corresponding to the 3 to <6 month olds. Average outdoor hand-to-mouth frequency ranged from 2.9 to 14.5 contacts/hour, with the lowest value corresponding to the 6 to <11 year olds and the highest value corresponding to the 6 to <12 month olds. The analysis highlights the need for additional hand-to-mouth data for the <3 months, 3 to <6 months, and 3 to <6 year age groups using standardized collection and analysis because of lack of data or high uncertainty in available data. This is the first publication to report Weibull distributions as the best fitting distribution for hand-to-mouth frequency; using the best fitting exposure factor distribution will help improve estimates of exposure. The analyses also represent a first comprehensive effort to fit hand-to-mouth frequency variability and uncertainty distributions by indoor/outdoor location and by age groups, using the new standard set of age groups recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for assessing childhood exposures. Thus, the data presented in this article can be used to update the U.S. EPA's Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook and to improve estimates of nondietary ingestion in probabilistic exposure modeling.     

Side-by-side: An evaluation of Connecticut’s police and youth interaction model

This study evaluated a community-based intervention program designed to promote positive youth development and to create positive interactions between police and youth in a non-enforcement environment. A pre–post-design was used to compare the results of the program for participating youth and police officers, particularly changes in each group’s attitudes toward the other. The results showed that participation in the program improved police officers’ and youths’ attitudes toward each other. For youth, the rate of change in attitudes was greatest for minority youth and for youth who had prior negative experience with the police. That is, youth who had negative prior experiences with police and began with negative attitudes toward police developed more positive attitudes toward police as a result of participating in the program. Furthermore, having opportunities for positive interactions between police and youth played an important role in decreasing negative perceptions of police for ethnic minority youth. This study suggests that community-based programs that involve police with youth can improve participants’ attitude toward each other, which might impact future interactions.     

Title IX: Help or Hindrance?

ABSTRACT

The goal of this article is to provide a practical guidance for anyone who has experienced sexual harassment or assault in academia and is considering the possibility of pursuing disciplinary measures by means of filing a Title IX complaint. Sexual harassment is an abuse of power by those who possess it against those who do not; the Title IX process does not remedy this power imbalance. And, academic institutions often have interests that compete with the welfare of their students, and which may enable harassers. We address some of the risks that the Title IX process may create for those who are already vulnerable, and suggest that some of the responsibility for enacting reforms should be taken up by professional associations. Because they often control professional journals and conferences, they could be effective advocates for a more fair and equitable educational environment if they choose to take a more active role in discouraging misconduct in their disciplines.     

An Introduction to Second-Generation p-Values

ABSTRACT

Second generation p-values preserve the simplicity that has made p-values popular while resolving critical flaws that promote misinterpretation of data, distraction by trivial effects, and unreproducible assessments of data. The second-generation p-value (SGPV) is an extension that formally accounts for scientific relevance by using a composite null hypothesis that captures null and scientifically trivial effects. Because the majority of spurious findings are small effects that are technically nonnull but practically indistinguishable from the null, the second-generation approach greatly reduces the likelihood of a false discovery. SGPVs promote transparency, rigor and reproducibility of scientific results by a priori identifying which candidate hypotheses are practically meaningful and by providing a more reliable statistical summary of when the data are compatible with the candidate hypotheses or null hypotheses, or when the data are inconclusive. We illustrate the importance of these advances using a dataset of 247,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, i.e., genetic markers that are potentially associated with prostate cancer.     

Quality of life in South Africa – The First Ten Years of Democracy

South Africa celebrated ten years of democracy in 2004. This special issue of Social Indicators Research (SIR) reviews developments that have impacted on the quality of life of ordinary South Africans during the transition period. The issue updates an earlier volume of SIR (Volume 41) published in 1997 and as a stand-alone volume. The earlier volume was initiated following SIR editor Alex Michalos’ first visit to South Africa. This update on quality of life in South Africa follows on his return visit to the country in 2004 to see firsthand the changes that had occured in the meantime. This introductory article outlines major achievements of and setbacks for the new democracy and the challenges facing it in future. It provides the backround for the evaluations of a range of quality of life domains and issues including poverty and inequality, crime, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, migration and housing, religiosity, reconciliation, and optimism for the future which are covered in the eleven articles that follow. The introduction divides the articles under the headings of challenges, achievements, monitoring quality of life, and social capital for the future. The overview article concludes that improvements in quality of life have been uneven but goodwill and a positive outlook bode well for South African quality of life in future.     

Men’s career development and marriage timing during a period of rising inequality

Based on data from 1979–1990 NLSY interviews, we investigate the implications of rising economic inequality for young men’s marriage timing. Our approach is to relate marriage formation to the ease or difficulty of the career-entry process and to show that large race/schooling differences in career development lead to substantial variations in marriage timing. We develop measures of current career “maturity” and of long-term labor-market position. Employing discrete-time event-history methods, we show that these variables have a substantial impact on marriage formation for both blacks and whites. Applying our regression results to models based on observed race/schooling patterns of career development, we then estimate cumulative proportions ever married in a difficult versus an easy career-entry process. We find major differences in the pace of marriage formation, depending on the difficulty of the career transition. We also find considerable differences in these marriage timing patterns across race/schooling groups corresponding to the large observed differences in the speed and difficulty of career transitions between and within these groups     

Family Relationships From Adolescence to Early Adulthood: Changes in the Family System Following Firstborns' Leaving Home

This study charted the course of parent–child and sibling relationships from early adolescence to early adulthood and examined how these relationships changed following firstborns' departure from their parents' home for the first time. Data were drawn from a 10‐year longitudinal study of family relationships. Participants included mothers, fathers, and first‐ and secondborn children from 184 White, working and middle class families. Multilevel models revealed declines in parent–child conflict, acceptance, and sibling negativity and increases or U‐shaped patterns in sibling and parent–child intimacy over time. Birth Order × Leaving Home interactions revealed that firstborns' leaving home related to changes in family relationship qualities for both first‐ and secondborns, with relationships improving for firstborns and no changes or declines in relationship quality for secondborns. Overall, the results highlight the inter‐relatedness of family subsystems.     

The Effects of Gender Identity and Heavy Episodic Drinking on Alcohol-Related Violence

This study examines the impact of masculinity and femininity on violence enacted while under the influence of alcohol. Our review of the literature, data analysis, and interpretations are framed by feminist pathways theorizing and a critique of existing gender research in the area of alcohol use and violence. Data come from a survey of Midwest university students (N = 422). The relationships between masculinity, femininity, heavy episodic drinking and three forms of alcohol-related violence (against strangers, friends/acquaintances, and intimate partners), are assessed with a series of logistic regressions. Results suggest that even when controlling for sex, gender is an important predictor for alcohol-related violence. We situate these findings within a sociology-of-gender framework.     

Using concurrent planning to establish permanency for looked after young children

Many looked after children spend lengthy periods in impermanent care, and their frequent moves probably contribute to subsequent disturbed behaviour. Concurrent planning aims to reduce the number of moves and the length of time before placement in a permanent family. In this study 24 young children in three concurrent planning (CP) projects and 44 from two ‘traditional’ adoption teams were followed for 12–15 months. Records were obtained of the number of moves between households and the dates of key events before the child's permanent family placement was confirmed by the courts. The CP children moved into permanent families significantly faster and with significantly fewer previous moves than the two comparison groups. Unexpectedly, the CP children were significantly younger than the children following ‘traditional’ adoption programmes, making direct comparison impossible. Among those birth parents who were interviewed, the majority saw advantages in the CP approach. Concurrent planning carers reported high levels of personal anxiety but positive views of the advantages for the children. We conclude that CP can be used to achieve earlier permanence and fewer moves between carers for young children from selected birth families. The success of a CP team is dependent on the support of other professionals involved in determining permanent placements, based on a shared acknowledgement of the damaging effects of delay for the looked after child.