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Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing
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Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Children's Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 12340

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hannah Littlecott

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
DECIPHer, UKCRC Centre of Excellence, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3BD, UK
Interests: schools as complex systems; development and evaluation of school-based health and wellbeing interventions; school health and wellbeing; inequalities; smoking; nutrition; mental health; physical activity
Dr. Kelly Morgan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
DECIPHer, UKCRC Centre of Excellence, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3BD, UK
Interests: physical activity; development and evaluation of public health interventions; data linkage; interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour across the lifecourse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite submissions to the Special Issue on ‘Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing’ in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Childhood and adolescence is a formative period where social and economic patterning emerges in health behaviours and outcomes, before widening in adulthood. For example, whilst the overall prevalence of smoking has decreased in Western society since the early 2000s, inequalities have increased with students from poorer families, schools and areas remaining more likely to take up smoking. Similarly, while the gender gap in physical activity is well documented from an early age, the noticeable decline in moderate-to-vigorous activity during preadolescence is much greater for girls.

Theorising, testing and interrupting the mechanisms through which inequalities are perpetuated and sustained is vital and has been outlined as an international policy priority. Schools are viewed as settings through which inequality in young people's health may be addressed, with mixed evidence on whether school-based interventions perpetuate or mitigate inequality. Differential intervention effects may occur at both the school level and at the individual level, whereby interventions may elicit differential effects among students within a school.

Despite this, research focusing on health and wellbeing often overlooks inequalities and differential effects of interventions among sub-groups. For this Special Issue, we invite qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods papers that either focus on the determinants of health and wellbeing or report intervention design, process or effects within groups of a lower socioeconomic status. We welcome papers focused on all areas of non-communicable health and health behaviours, with a particular emphasis on smoking and physical activity.

Dr. Hannah Littlecott
Dr. Kelly Morgan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • health and wellbeing
  • health inequalities
  • interventions
  • determinants
  • sub-group analysis
  • deprivation
  • socioeconomic status
  • school health
  • adolescents
  • young people

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 485 KiB  
Article
Gender Differences in Depressive Traits among Rural and Urban Chinese Adolescent Students: Secondary Data Analysis of Nationwide Survey CFPS
by Weilong Chen, Yi Huang and Abanoub Riad
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9124; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179124 - 30 Aug 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4575
Abstract
Many previous studies have indicated that urban adolescents show a higher level of mental health in China compared to rural adolescents. Specifically, girls in rural areas represented a high-risk group prior to the 21st century, demonstrating more suicidal behaviour and ideation than those [...] Read more.
Many previous studies have indicated that urban adolescents show a higher level of mental health in China compared to rural adolescents. Specifically, girls in rural areas represented a high-risk group prior to the 21st century, demonstrating more suicidal behaviour and ideation than those in the urban areas because of the severe gender inequality in rural China. However, because of the urbanisation process and centralised policy to eliminate gender inequality in recent decades, the regional and gender differences in mental health might decrease. This research aimed to probe the gender and regional differences in depressive traits among adolescent students currently in China. We adopted the national survey dataset Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2018. Accordingly, 2173 observations from 10–15-year-old subjects were included. CFPS utilised an eight-item questionnaire to screen individuals’ depressive traits. Two dimensions of depressive traits were confirmed by CFA, namely depressed affect and anhedonia. The measurement invariance tests suggested that the two-factor model was applicable for both males and females and rural and urban students. Based on the extracted values from the CFA model, MANOVA results revealed that, compared to boys, girls experienced more depressed affect. Moreover, rural students demonstrated more anhedonia symptoms. There was no interaction between gender and region. The results suggest that, even though the gender and regional differences are small, being a female and coming from a rural area are still potential risk factors for developing depressive traits among adolescent students in China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing)
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17 pages, 347 KiB  
Article
Holiday Club Programmes in Northern Ireland: The Voices of Children and Young People
by Jackie Shinwell, Ellen Finlay, Caitlin Allen and Margaret Anne Defeyter
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(3), 1337; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031337 - 2 Feb 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3123
Abstract
In Northern Ireland, nearly 30% of children are thought to be at risk of going hungry in the summer holidays when they are unable to access free school meals. Community groups, voluntary groups, local authorities, and faith groups have responded to this concern [...] Read more.
In Northern Ireland, nearly 30% of children are thought to be at risk of going hungry in the summer holidays when they are unable to access free school meals. Community groups, voluntary groups, local authorities, and faith groups have responded to this concern by developing and delivering holiday programmes that enable children from low-income families to take part in activities and access food. The current study used purposive sampling to investigate children’s and young people’s views of holiday provision, from across three holiday clubs, in Northern Ireland. Both primary school children (n = 34; aged 4–11) and secondary school children (n = 31; aged 12–17) showed high levels of awareness of poverty and food insecurity and associated pressures and stresses on households. Importantly, children and young people did not feel stigmatised about attending holiday provision, suggesting a positive and inclusive culture towards holiday club attendance. Children reported that they enjoyed the range of activities provided at holiday clubs and reported that attendance improved their self-confidence, especially for some older children, who acted as peer mentors to younger attendees, helped them to develop new skills, and provided them with opportunities to socialise with peers in a safe environment, out with their normal social groupings in school. Older children showed a high level of shrewdness and knowledge of sectarian divides in communities but spoke positively about how different religious or cultural backgrounds did not matter in terms of meeting and making new friends in holiday club settings. In terms of food provision, the findings of this study suggest that further work needs to be done to support children to access and eat healthy, nutritious food. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing)
12 pages, 325 KiB  
Article
Teacher Harassment Victimization in Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: Related Factors and Its Relationships with Emotional Problems
by Po-Chun Lin, Li-Yun Peng, Ray C. Hsiao, Wen-Jiun Chou and Cheng-Fang Yen
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(11), 4057; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114057 - 6 Jun 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3309
Abstract
This study aimed to examine the prevalence, related factors, and emotional problems associated with teacher harassment victimization in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessed by self-reports and parent reports. A total of 219 adolescents with ASD participated in this study. The self-reported [...] Read more.
This study aimed to examine the prevalence, related factors, and emotional problems associated with teacher harassment victimization in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessed by self-reports and parent reports. A total of 219 adolescents with ASD participated in this study. The self-reported and parent-reported rates of teacher harassment victimization were calculated. Sociodemographic characteristics, parent-reported social communication deficits, attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms, self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms, and suicidality were surveyed. In total, 26 (11.9%) adolescents with ASD experienced teacher harassment based on self-reports or parent reports; the convergence between adolescent and parent reports on adolescent experiences of teacher harassment was low. Victims of teacher harassment exhibited more severe social communication deficits and ODD symptoms than nonvictims of teacher harassment. Victims of teacher harassment displayed more severe depression and anxiety and were more likely to have suicidality. Socio-communication deficits and ODD symptoms were related to teacher harassment victimization, which in turn was significantly associated with emotional problems among adolescents with ASD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Understanding Inequalities in School Health and Wellbeing)
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