Obesity, bullying top childhood health concern

 WASHINGTON, June 18 (Xinhua) -- As the U.S. presidential election season unfolds, a new poll released Monday found that many of the country's adults want the candidates to address childhood obesity¹ and bullying² as top priorities.

Researchers from the University of Michigan recently asked adults to name the top child health concerns that the presidential candidates should address. In a survey of more than 2,100 adults, participants selected the single most important child health issue from a list of 24 common child health concerns. Overall, childhood obesity ranked highest, to be followed by bullying, drug abuse and child abuse and neglect.

About one in six adults, or 17 percent, ranked childhood obesity as top priority, and one in 7 (15 percent) put bullying as the top concern. Drug abuse was ranked highest by 11 percent and eight percent chose child abuse and neglect. Together, these four priorities were the choice of over half of U.S. adults. Answers did not differ based on the respondents' political party affiliation³ or race/ethnicity.

Researchers say the high ranking of childhood obesity is consistent with previous poll results and other national data, and reinforces the need for policies to help children and parents.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。