Objective To examine neighbourhood food environments, adolescent nutrition and weight status. Design Cross-sectional, observational study. Setting Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan region, Minnesota, USA. Subjects A total of 349 adolescents were recruited to the study. Participants completed 24 h dietary recalls and had their weight and height measured. They also reported demographic information and other diet-related behaviours. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine the availability and proximity of food outlets, particularly those captured within the 800, 1600 and/or 3000m network buffers around participants' homes and schools. Results Adjusting for gender, age and socio-economic status, adolescents' sugar-sweetened beverage intake was associated with residential proximity to restaurants (including fast food), convenience stores, grocery stores and other retail facilities within the 800 and/or 1600m residential buffers (P ≤ 0.01). BMI Z-score and percentage body fat were positively associated with the presence of a convenience store within a 1600m buffer. Other individual-level factors, such as energy, fruit and vegetable intake, as well as convenience store and fast food purchasing, were not significantly associated with features of the residential neighbourhood food environment in adjusted models. In addition, school neighbourhood environments yielded few associations with adolescent outcomes. Conclusions Many factors are likely to have an important role in influencing adolescent dietary intake and weight status. Interventions aimed at increasing neighbourhood access to healthy foods, as well as other approaches, are needed.

Few studies have examined the context of a wide range of risk behaviors among emerging adults (ages 18-25 years), approximately half of whom in the USA enroll in post-secondary educational institutions. The objective of this research was to examine behavioral patterning in weight behaviors (diet and physical activity), substance use, sexual behavior, stress, and sleep among undergraduate students. Health survey data were collected among undergraduates attending a large, public US university (n=2,026). Latent class analysis was used to identify homogeneous, mutually exclusive "classes" (patterns) of ten leading risk behaviors. Resulting classes differed for males and females. Female classes were defined as: (1) poor lifestyle (diet, physical activity, sleep), yet low-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, binge drinking, sexual risk, drunk driving; 40.0% of females), (2) high risk (high substance use, intoxicated sex, drunk driving, poor diet, inadequate sleep) (24.3%), (3) moderate lifestyle, few risk behaviors (20.4%), (4) "health conscious" (favorable diet/physical activity with some unhealthy weight control; 15.4%). Male classes were: (1) poor lifestyle, low risk (with notably high stress, insufficient sleep, 9.2% of males), (2) high risk (33.6% of males, similar to class 2 in females), (3) moderate lifestyle, low risk (51.0%), and (4) "classic jocks" (high physical activity, binge drinking, 6.2%). To our knowledge, this is among the first research to examine complex lifestyle patterning among college youth, particularly with emphasis on the role of weight-related behaviors. These findings have important implications for targeting much needed health promotion strategies among emerging adults and college youth.

Introduction E-cigarettes are currently the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth. However, unlike conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes are not subject to marketing restrictions. This study investigates the association between exposure to e-cigarette marketing and susceptibility and use of e-cigarettes in youth. Methods Data were obtained from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Participants were 22,007 U.S. middle and high school students. Multivariate logistic regression models assessed the relationship between e-cigarette marketing (internet, print, retail, TV/movies) and current and ever use as well as susceptibility to use e-cigarettes among never e-cigarette users. Results Exposure to each type of e-cigarette marketing was significantly associated with increased likelihood of ever and current use of e-cigarettes among middle and high school students. Exposure was also associated with susceptibility to use of e-cigarettes among current non-users. In multivariate models, as the number of channels of e-cigarette marketing exposure increased, the likelihood of use and susceptibility also increased. Conclusions Findings highlight the significant associations between e-cigarette marketing and e-cigarette use among youth, and the need for longitudinal research on these relationships.

Background: Home food inventories provide an efficient method for assessing home food availability; however, few are validated. The present study's aim was to develop and validate a home food inventory that is easily completed by research participants in their homes and includes a comprehensive range of both healthful and less healthful foods that are associated with obesity.

Objective-To explore how weekday and weekend sleep patterns are related to adolescent substance use, depressive symptoms, and school truancy. Methods-Self-report surveys of 242 youth (93.4% white, mean age 16.4 years).Results-Longer weekday sleep duration was inversely associated with depressive symptoms, past month alcohol use, and drunkenness. Later weekend bedtime and wake-times, compared to those of weekdays, were associated with increased substance use and truancy.Conclusions-Weekday sleep duration appears to be protective for substance use, depression and school truancy for teenagers. However, inconsistent sleep patterns between weekdays and weekends were associated with a range of markers for adolescent risk. Keywords adolescents; sleep; risk behaviors; depressive symptomsSleep may be particularly important during adolescence as this is a period of increased brain maturation. 1 Average sleep duration varies between pre-adolescents and adolescents, but optimal sleep time, in both groups, appears to be about 9 hours. 2,3 However, research suggests that adolescents typically do not get enough sleep, especially during the school week. 4,5 According to a 2006 report by the National Sleep Federation, only 20% of adolescents report getting 9 hours of sleep, and almost half report sleeping less than 8 hours on school nights. 6 One 6-year longitudinal study found that when pre-adolescents (varying in baseline age from 10 to 12) were allowed to sleep up to 10 hours, the amount they slept averaged 9.2 hours, and this sleep time did not vary across pubertal stage. 2,3 Additional research in the area has reported similar findings. 7 However, in transitioning to the teenage years, adolescents have been found to stay up later at night and sleep later in the morning than preAddress correspondence to Dr Pasch, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas, 1 University Station, D3700, Austin, TX 78712-0360. kpasch@mail.utexas.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAm J Health Behav. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 May 3. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript adolescents. 3,8 Though previous research has shown that teenagers may compensate for sleep lost during the weekday on the weekends, 5,7,9 this may not be enough.If adolescents are going to sleep later but still need to get up earlier for school, they may be running up a sleep debt, potentially putting them at risk for a multitude of negative outcomes 4,5 ; and different facets of "sleep" may have a unique impact on adolescent health, including sleep problems, sleep duration, and sleep patterns. Sleep problems refer to having trouble falling or staying asleep; sleep duration refers to the length of sleep; and sleep patterns refer to the times youth go to sleep and wake up and the consistency of those patterns across weekdays and weekends.Significant associations between adolescent risk behaviors, such as substance use, and overall sleep problems have been illustrated in both cross-sectional a...