The research investigated the association between school engagement and adult education and occupation outcomes, within the context of a 1985 Australian longitudinal national cohort study of the factors affecting children's long‐term health and well‐being. School engagement may be more modifiable than other factors related to academic success, such as academic attainment, which is influenced by family background. A School Engagement Index was constructed using questionnaire items on school enjoyment and boredom. Related school engagement items included learner self‐concept, motivation to learn, sense of belonging, participation in school or extra‐mural activities, and enjoyment of physical activity. In 2004–2006, participants (aged 26 to 30 years) reported their highest level of education achieved and current occupation. Potential covariates included age, sex, markers of socio‐economic status in childhood, personality and school‐level variables (i.e., number of students, single sex versus co‐education; government, private or independent). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of achieving post‐compulsory school education and achieving higher status occupations. Findings revealed that each unit of school engagement was independently associated with a 10% higher odds (OR 1.10 95% CI 1.01,1.21) of achieving a post‐compulsory school education. Maternal education, self‐concept as a learner, motivation to learn, all also significantly predicted achieving post‐compulsory school education. School engagement was found to mediate the association between the personality characteristic of agreeableness and education outcomes. Higher school engagement was also independently associated with achieving higher status occupations 20 years later (OR 1.11 95% CI 1.03, 1.20). Importantly, this was independent of a host of background factors.

Problem behaviours related to insistence on sameness may be motivated by different consequences depending on the scenario created.

Objective: This research examined if childhood health motivation was associated with adult health behaviors and objectively measured health outcomes. Methods: Data were from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) study. Children aged 9 to 15 years in 1985 completed a questionnaire with health motivation items. In 2004-06, when aged 26 to 36, participants completed assessments of health behaviors (smoking, diet, alcohol consumption and physical activity) and cardiometabolic outcomes (body mass index, carotid intima media thickness from ultrasound, and HOMA insulin resistance from fasting blood samples). Structural path regression analyses examined pathways from health motivation in childhood to adult cardiometabolic outcomes, mediated via adult health behaviors measured concurrently, controlling for age, sex and socioeconomic position. Results: There were 6,230 (49% female) children with data on health motivation. There were two latent constructs: health motivation (4 items: visiting a dentist, visiting a doctor, knowing about your body and eating a good diet) and risk motivation (3 items: not being a smoker, not being fat and not drinking alcohol). Greater health motivation was directly associated with non-smoking, lower carotid intima-media thickness and lower body mass index in adulthood. Greater risk motivation was directly associated with smoking, higher alcohol consumption and poorer diets in adulthood. It was also indirectly associated with higher carotid intimamedia thickness and higher HOMA insulin resistance via poorer health behaviors. Conclusions: Health motivation during childhood appears important to maintain health across the life course. It could be a target for interventions to improve cardiovascular health in children and adults.

A formal randomized control trial was feasible in this setting. Intervention among children with poor stereoacuity and low literacy produced small improvements in stereopsis and convergence insufficiency symptom scores. Further randomized control trials should be conducted to clarify the role of orthoptic intervention on literacy in selected child populations.

A formal randomized control trial was feasible in this setting. Intervention among children with poor stereoacuity and low literacy produced small improvements in stereopsis and convergence insufficiency symptom scores. Further randomized control trials should be conducted to clarify the role of orthoptic intervention on literacy in selected child populations.