Background: In health education, there is a risk of giving overly prescriptive recommendations, potentially activating conflicting in-group norms that reduce message receptiveness. For example, the notion of 'unhealthy youth' is a stereotype which suggests that young people are expected to make unhealthy choices. If such in-group norms are…

Many youth programs focused on improving health outcomes have not examined parent/caregiver perceptions post-participation even though they may significantly influence youth behaviors. The primary purpose of this study was to examine changes in adult perceptions of youth- and family-related behavior after youth participated in a 12-week…

Objective: To assess social and familial environmental influences on fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption of fourth- and fifth-graders living in a culturally diverse, urban setting. Design: In 2006, students from 9 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms from a public school in the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Region were recruited as part of the…