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Research

Regular physical activity provides children with health and developmental benefits. This study investigated if active play and walking with the family dog was associated with better social-emotional development in young children.

Research

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century and is affected not only by individual choice but also by societal and environmental influences. Childhood obesity is higher in children living in regional and remote compared with major cities, in one-parent families and for those with a disability.

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Children's physical activity and screen time behaviours impact their physical health and well-being. In Australia, less than half of children meet daily physical activity recommendations and only one-third meet daily screen time recommendations.

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We know relatively little about the role the neighbourhood built environment plays in promoting young children's physical activity, particularly its longitudinal effect either through repeated exposure to the same environment or through change in exposure by moving from one neighbourhood to another.

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School-based nutrition education (NE) has an important role in promoting healthy eating habits and helping prevent chronic diseases – particularly among disadvantaged children and youth who are more likely to experience poor diet quality. 

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Developmental theory and previous studies support the potential value of prodromal interventions for infants at elevated likelihood of developing autism. Past research has supported the efficacy of parent-mediated prodromal therapies with infants from as early as 7 months. We outline the rationale for implementing interventions following this model from even earlier in development and report on the feasibility of a novel intervention developed following this model of parent-mediated infant interventions.

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Emerging evidence indicates that the built environment influences early child development. Access to, and the quality of, built environment features vary with the socioeconomic status (SES) of neighbourhoods. It has not yet been established whether the association between built environment features and early child development varies by neighbourhood SES.

Research

Hayley Christian BSc (1st Class Hons), PhD W.Aust. Program Head, Healthy Behaviours and Environments; National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow

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Natural outdoor environments such as green and blue spaces have increasingly been seen as key health and wellbeing determinants for adults. However, it is unclear if these effects are seen in young children. We examined the associations between access to natural green and blue space and young children's socioemotional development. 

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In Australia, there are concerns that unrestricted junk food advertising during sports broadcasts increases short-term junk food consumption among viewers. Therefore, the present study aimed to estimate the impact of junk food and anti-junk food advertising on consumption inclinations.