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The Hidden Health Issue：Emotional Well-Being

　　The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health has just released the results from the second annual Bay Annual Parent Poll, a telephone survey of nearly 1,800 parents from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco．San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties in California．

　　For the second year in a row．Bay Area parents have put their children's emotional health at the top of their worry list, highlighting a health risk not usually discussed．Parents across economic, ethnic, and geographic lines say that they worry about stress, depression, weight, and the impact of family stress on their kids．

　　Stress and Depression

　　About 65% of the parents of teenagers say their children experience stress from schoolwork, pressure to compete in school, divorce and family finances．In addition, 25% of the parents worry that their children might be depressed．Comparatively, less than 10% of the parents of the teens are concerned about their children smoking cigarettes, using alcohol or smoking marijuana．

　　Other Results

　　Family Time：More than 25% of the parents say they do not spend enough time together as a family．

　　Media：More than 45% of the parents way that the media have a negative effect on their teens．

　　It is clear from the results of this survey that parents of older teens are more worried about their emotional health, and I would guess that part of this finding reflects parents not feeling “connected” to their teens．We know that stress and depression are predictors for teens participating in many unhealthy behaviors, including drinking and smoking．

　　Not only do these results call for schools and health care to regularly assess the emotional well-being of teens, it is also a wake-up call for parents to “engage” with both the health care and educational systems to support changes to reduce the stress our youth are feeling．

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　　Car-free neighborhoods exist all over Europe．A quarter of households in Britain live without cars．Vauban in Germany is one of the largest car-free neighborhoods in Europe．If you live in the district, you are required to confirm once a year that you do not own a car-or, if you do own one, you must buy a space in a multi-storey car park on the edge of the district．

　　Vehicles in most of the European car-free areas are physically stopped from entering the streets where people live．Exceptions are made for emergency vehicles and removal vans but not for normal deliveries．A few parking spaces nearby are available to buy(usually around one space for every five homes)and a few are reserved for car club vehicles．Cycling is a vital means of transport．

　　Car-free areas of this kind exist in Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg and so on．There is even a small one in Edinburgh．

　　There is another form of car-free development．Recently we have overlooked its potential．Most pedestrianzed(步行)city or neighborhood centers in Britain are almost entirely commercial．But a few farsighted councils have brought back housing and residents, without cars or parking, into city centers that would otherwise be deserted after 6 pm．

　　Car-free UK was set up to improve European-style car-free development in this country．We are not anti-car, but pro-choice．We have recently run public meetings in London to set up a new car-free association for London, which is beginning to look at areas of the city from which traffic could be removed．We know considerable potential demand exists for traffic-free housing in London, and probably in a number of other major cities．

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