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This chapter examines the socioeconomic circumstances among school-aged children in both North America and Europe. The conceptual framework that is used in this chapter has conceptualised economic ‘well-being’ as a predictor of child health and well-being, with the latter being measured with a number of psychosocial health indicators self-reported by children. The measurement of socioeconomic status among adolescents is studied as well.

A common criticism of empirical science is its failure to translate findings into useful outcomes for society. While knowledge creation is a valuable objective, there is increasing expectation on scientists to show the public value of their research. This chapter discusses how the role of observational cohort studies in knowledge translation can be strengthened by improved study design and longitudinal analysis. It summarizes the key research findings and themes that have emerged from this book and future research directions. The most relevant messages for research users include pointers about where and when to intervene to improve healthy ageing. The evidence points to a broad range of factors, such as improvements in socioeconomic circumstances, health behaviours (particularly physical activity), and the maintenance of normal body weight throughout childhood and adult life. The value of interventions in early life and adolescence, as well as during later biological and social transitions, is emphasized.

This chapter argues that corporal punishment is the result of an essential conflict between parent and offspring, as parents try to balance the competing demands of their lives. It begins with a brief overview of parental-investment theory, which predicts that parent-offspring conflict will occur as a consequence of the parents' attempts to maximize their reproductive success by distributing parental care across all of the offspring they can produce in their lifetime. Conflict of interest between parents and offspring produces attempts by the parents to limit offspring behavior, resistance by the offspring, and escalation to corporal punishment. Parent-offspring conflict theory is then used to explain variation in the form and frequency of punishment by primate mothers according to the age and sex of the offspring, the presence of siblings, and the mother's reproductive opportunities and socioeconomic circumstances.

This chapter begins with an analysis of the slogan 'breast is best', which is considered a universal refrain that captures state and public attitudes towards breastfeeding. It looks at the interviews with women that expressed broad support for breastfeeding in varying degrees of individual success and described it as the normative practice of the good mother. It also examines the support for breastfeeding and the tensions it creates for women as they invoke the language of nature to justify its superiority, account for breastfeeding failures, and risk breastfeeding for too long. The chapter explores women's experiences of breastfeeding as evidence of the diversity of socioeconomic circumstances. It expands the predominant thinking around black women's breastfeeding experiences beyond claims that they reject breastfeeding for its risky proximity to nature.