With more than one in four children in England overweight, and more than one in seven obese (DH, 2007), improving children’s diet and lifestyle is a pressing issue for public policy. At the same time, policy-makers are keen to promote ‘pro-social’ behaviours, such as volunteering, and other positive activities among young people. In this research strand we will use longitudinal microdata, low cost experiments and evaluations of existing schemes to encourage positive activities, to assess ‘what works’ in this difficult but important area.
