Social circumstances and health over the life course
A major effort focus on DASH studies that cover adolescent and young adulthood years. DASH is a study of a multiethnic adolescent cohort in London which investigates social and biological influences on ethnic differences in health and well-being in adolescence. It will provide important insights into the long term impact of these exposures in adolescence and the patterning of ethnic differences in health in later life. Children were aged 11-13 years old at the start of the study in 2003, and were followed up at ages 14-16 years in 2005/06. A postal survey in 2010/2011 (when the cohort will be 19-21y) is planned to allow investigation of stability and change in putative causal processes such as family life, neighbourhoods, peer relations and SEC on self reported health measures; establish how many respondents can be traced; and to establish the best method for the collection of physical and biological measurements in a feasibility study prior to a subsequent face to face follow-up.
We complement the DASH studies with other studies using national surveys to allow conceptualisation of exposures and health over the life span. We examine the impact of family life (parenting style, social support), socio-economic circumstances and neighbourhood environments on developmental trajectories (physical, emotional and cognitive) of children. Key influences across the life course, such as length of schooling, type of first occupation, family wealth and assets, vary by ethnicity but how they relate to health at older ages in minority groups is generally unknown. We examine ethnic differences in health in the UK of those 50years+ in relation to life course trajectories.
Publications
Astell-Burt T, Maynard MJ, Lenguerrand E, Harding S. Racism, ethnic density and psychological well-being through adolescence: evidence from the Determinants of Adolescent Social Well-being and Health longitudinal study. Ethnicity & Health [Special Issue: Ethnic Inequalities in Mental Health and Care] 2012;17:71-87.
pubmedBhui K, Lenguerrand E, Maynard MJ, Stansfeld S, Harding S. Does cultural integration explain a mental health advantage for adolescents? [Epub ahead of print]. International Journal of Epidemiology 2012.
pubmedTeyhan A. The impact of neighbourhood and school environments on ethnic differences in body size in adolescence [PhD]. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. Glasgow: Law, Business & Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2012.
open accessAkinwale B, Lynch K, Wiggins R, Harding S, Bartley M, Blane D. Work, permanent sickness and mortality risk: a prospective cohort study of England and Wales, 1971-2006. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health; 65:786-92.
pubmedHarding S, Maynard MJ, Adamson A, Anderson AA, Mutrie N, Petticrew M, Baker G, Rawlins E. Final Report: Obesity in ethnic minority children and adolescents: developing acceptable parent and child-based interventions in schools and places of worship – The MRC DiEt and Active Living (DEAL) study. London: The Public Health Research Consortium, 2011.
open accessHarding S, Whitrow MJ, Lenguerrand E, Maynard MJ, Teyhan A, Cruickshank K, Der G. Emergence of ethnic differences in blood pressure in adolescence: The Determinants of Adolescent Social Well-being and Health study. Hypertension 2010; 55:1063-9.
pubmedMaynard MJ, Harding S. Perceived parenting and psychological wellbeing in UK ethnic minority adolescents. Child: Care, Health and Development 2010; 36:630-8.
pubmed open accessWhitrow M, Harding S, Maynard M. The influence of parental smoking and family type on saliva cotinine in UK ethnic minority children: a cross sectional study. BMC Public Health 2010; 10:262.
pubmed open accessWhitrow M, Harding S. Asthma in Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian adolescents in the MRC DASH study: a cross sectional analysis. BMC Pediatrics 2010; 10:18.
pubmed open accessMaynard M, Baker G, Rawlins E, Harding S. Developing obesity prevention interventions among minority ethnic children in schools and places of worship: The DEAL (DiEt and Active Living) study. BMC Public Health 2009; 9:480.
Maynard M, Harding S. Ethnic differences in psychological well-being in adolescence in the context of time spent in family activities. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2010; 45:115-23.
pubmed open accessHarding S, Maynard MJ, Cruickshank K, Teyhan A. Overweight, obesity and high blood pressure in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents in Britain: the Medical Research Council DASH study. International Journal of Obesity 2008; 32:82-90.
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Harding S, Teyhan A, Maynard M, Cruickshank JK. Ethnic differences in overweight and obesity in early adolescence in the MRC DASH study: the role of adolescent and parental lifestyle. International journal of Epidemiology 2008; 37:162-72.
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Whitrow MJ, Harding S. Ethnic difference in adolescent lung function: anthropometric, socioeconomic, psychosocial factors. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2008; 177:1262-7.
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Harding S, Whitrow M, Maynard MJ, Teyhan A. Cohort profile: The DASH (Determinants of Adolescent Social well-being and Health) Study, an ethnically diverse cohort. International Journal of Epidemiology 2007; 36:512-517.
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Maynard M, Harding S, Minnis H. Psychological well-being in Black Caribbean, Black African, and White adolescents in the UK Medical Research Council DASH study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2007; 42:759-69.
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