Childhood obesity and inactivity levels among young Americans have risen steadily over the last few decades, and has become a major concern. Participation in regular physical activity helps prevent excess adiposity in children and youth. Recess is a regularly occurring period of time in school children's days which is an opportunity to help them…

Purpose: Chances for a healthy life are not equally distributed across society. Instead, genetic, social, and environmental factors help determine the probability that a child will be healthy and active. We investigate the probability that youth will be physically active by examining 3 consistent correlates of physical activity. The individual and…

Every European nation has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and therefore has an obligation to protect and promote, with equity and without discrimination, the rights of all children. Yet, across Europe, the majority of poor Roma children face a challenging present and a difficult future. Their possibilities to succeed in life…

This report was prepared by the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) in partnership with staff from the Child Care Bureau. NCCIC compiled data reported in approved CCDF Plans and relevant attachments submitted by Lead Agencies for a selected number of questions. The information presented reflects some of the…

The School-Based Health Alliance Census for the 2010-2011 school year is the 12th request for data from school-based health centers (SBHCs) since 1986. SBHCs are health centers that provide comprehensive care to children and adolescents in a setting that is trusted, familiar, and immediately accessible: their school. SBHCs serve at the…

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this edition of "The State of the World's Children" calls for brave and fresh thinking to address age-old problems that still affect the world's most disadvantaged children. The report is inspired by the work of innovators around the world--who are pushing…

Throughout the election year 2009, the Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) asked the question: What about the kids? This annual report discusses how ACNJ placed New Jersey's children first by: (1) Building its state-wide support base--ACNJ's Make Kids Count NJ E-Advocacy network engaged a distribution list of nearly six thousand members…

Public Law 109-95, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005 (hereinafter, referred to as PL 109-95), was signed into law four years ago to respond to the global orphans and vulnerable children crisis. It calls for the U.S. Government (USG) response to the crisis to be comprehensive, coordinated…

Purpose: This paper aims to determine educators' perceptions about the benefits of contact with nature for children's mental, emotional and social health. Design/methodology/approach: The approach was exploratory using qualitative methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with school principals and teachers as well as professionals from the…

The main aim of the study was to explore the ability of a brief developmental assessment to predict teacher-rated learning and attentional and behavioural skills in the first grade of school at both the group and individual levels. A sample of 394 children (181 males, 213 females) aged 4 years were followed to the age of 6 years, and 283 of the…

One of today's most pressing public health problems is the rise in childhood overweight and obesity. School-based health centers (SBHCs)--the convergence of public health, primary care, and mental health in schools--represent an important element in the public health toolbox for combating the challenging epidemic. When working side-by-side in a…

Objective: Examine the effect of the "California Children's Power Play! Campaign's School Idea & Resource Kits" for fourth/fifth grades on the psychosocial determinants of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and physical activity (PA). Methods: Randomized, controlled trial (n = 31 low-resource public schools; 1,154 children). Ten…

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two primary school-based interventions on children's fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption on the long term (2 years after the start of the interventions). Six primary schools were recruited and randomly assigned to (i) a daily free distribution program for the whole school or…

Background: Children's health is an important indicator of community health because children are especially vulnerable to disease. The school setting is ideal for assessing these vulnerabilities and prevalence of disease, yet the methods that produce high participation among students and their families are not usually described or evaluated. This…

This paper presents a community-school-higher education partnership approach to the prevention of childhood obesity. Public elementary school personnel, primarily teachers, participated in the design and delivery of a curriculum targeting primary caregivers of 8-9-year-old children. Theoretical framework and methodological approaches guided the…