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Body mass index is a common proxy for proportion of body fat. However, body mass index may not classify youth similarly across ages and ethnicities. We used sex- and ethnic-specific receiver operating characteristic curves to determine how obesity classifications compared between body mass index and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry-based body fat percent. Male and female participants 9- to 18-years-old (n = 944; 487 female) were measured 1 to 13 times (1999-2012; 4,411 observations). Body mass index identified < 50% of those classified as obese from body fat percent. Specificity was 99.7%, and sensitivity was 35.8%. Using area under the curve and standard error values, body mass index performed significantly better for: Male versus female at 10 years, Asian versus European female except at 13-, 15-, and 16-years-old, Asian female versus male except at 10- and 15-years-old, and for European male versus female, 9- to 11-years-old (p < 0.05). Our findings provide evidence that users of body mass index should use caution when comparing body mass index across age, sex, and ethnicity.

This article argues the study of traditions is an integral part of the human sciences and then concentrates on how to study traditions. In section 1, we outline a pragmatic approach to traditions, before illustrating our case in section 2 by analysing three features of British government - public sector reform, Thatcherism and joined-up governance. We seek to show it is possible to decenter the idea of tradition and analyse traditions at several levels. Finally, in section 3, we discuss the problems posed when analysing traditions at different levels of generality; including, reifying traditions, essentialism, identifying traditions, and creating traditions.

This article seeks to place the study of British government in a broader context by exploring the potential contribution of an anti-foundational epistemology. We seek to ‘reinvent’ a self-conscious, sceptical and tentative approach rooted in philosophy and history. The first section defines the Westminster model and the family of linked narratives: traditional sceptics, social science, radical theory, new public management. The second section outlines an anti-foundational epistemology, focusing on the notions of traditions, narratives, decentering and dilemmas. The third section applies this approach to one prominent school of thought about British government: policy networks. We argue that an anti-foundational approach will decenter networks, shifting the locus of analysis from the institutions to individuals, and focus on dilemmas to explain how networks change. Finally, we conclude there is no essentialist account of British government, only complex and diverse narratives, and no tool kit for solving problems, only lessons drawn from many stories.