1. The outcome of interest is childhood atopic dermatitis. One behavior is prenatal tobacco exposure, as there is evidence to suggest that maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of atopic dermatitis in the offspring. This behavior has clear implications in terms of prevention, as it is a modifiable risk factor that is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes in the offspring, so reducing prenatal smoke exposure would have far reaching benefits. Another behavior is breastfeeding, which has been shown to have protective effects against the incidence of atopic dermatitis. This finding has important implications for prevention, as parents who have a strong family history of atopic disease could be encouraged to breastfeed their child.
2. I would study the association between breastfeeding and the incidence of atopic dermatitis using a prospective birth cohort study. I think it would be important to include social factors when studying this association, as there are likely a number of SES factors that could confound this association. For example, atopic dermatitis is associated with lower SES and mothers from low SES groups may be unable to breastfeed because they need to go to work. I would also include measures of social class, social support, and stress. In addition, breastfeeding is perceived differently in different social groups, and these different practices are influenced by culture, family values, financial stressors, professional responsibilities, etc… So in this study I would start by learning more about all the factors that influence breastfeeding practices, consider conducting small focus groups in my population of interest to identify additional factors, and make sure to include these variables in my measurements.
3. Yes, absolutely! It is essential to study how these behaviors influence health outcomes because it can inform how, when, where to tailor interventions at the individual, community, and government level. It is also important to study how these behaviors may have a differential impact on health outcomes depending on factors such as age, culture, social class, etc…in order to focus policy efforts and target resources to the most vulnerable groups.