Browsing by Subject "Blood pressure"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Essays on health, education and behavioral choices.
    (2010-04) Konishi(Zhao), Meng
    My dissertation is composed of two essays that investigate the interrelationship between consumers' health, education, behavioral choices, and perceptions. The first essay evaluates the impact of teenage smoking on schooling and estimates the lifetime income loss due to lower educational achievement and attainment caused by youth smoking. Using unusually rich data from China, the study shows that youth smoking can biologically reduce learning productivity and discourage motivation to go to school (where smoking is forbidden), resulting in lower educational outcomes and, consequently, reduced lifetime income. The second essay empirically analyzes the effect of a doctor diagnosis of hypertension (high blood pressure) on food demand and nutrient intake. The study shows that three quarters of the hypertensive population in China are unaware of their condition. Adoctor's diagnosis can lead consumers to update their perceptions about their health and, therefore, make better decisions for their food choices. The study finds that, after a diagnosis of hypertension, consumers significantly reduce their daily fat intake, especially the consumption of animal oil and pork. The effect is stronger for 2004 data, compared to the 1997 and 2000 data. This suggests that consumers have become more health conscious in recent years.
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    Physiological and social cognitive correlates of preschool physical and relational aggression: a short-term longitudinal study.
    (2011-08) Gower, Amy Lynn
    This study examined physiological correlates and predictors of relational and physical aggression in early childhood. Preschoolers' baseline heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in the fall. At the same assessment, heart rate and RSA reactivity were measured while listening to stories of peer conflict, and participants engaged in two effortful control tasks. Teachers reported on physical and relational aggression in the fall and the spring. With respect to baseline physiology, low baseline heart rate and higher RSA were associated with increased physical aggression only among children with lower effortful control scores. Higher baseline RSA predicted increased relational aggression, again only for children with lower effortful control scores. Among children with poorer effortful control, diastolic blood pressure positively predicted relational aggression and negatively predicted physical aggression. Greater heart rate increases and RSA decreases to stories of peer conflict were uniquely associated with elevated classroom physical aggression. These findings suggest the utility of examining the roles of baseline physiology and physiological reactivity in the development of aggressive behavior. Implications of these findings for the development of intervention and prevention programs targeting early physical and relational aggression are discussed.
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    What should I know about my blood pressure?
    (2008-11-24) Mellick, Angelene
    Hypertension is a very prevalent disease in the United States and if untreated can cause damage throughout the body. There are good treatments that can lower blood pressure and decrease the risks of damage caused by high blood pressure.