The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the Nation's largest domestic food and nutrition assistance program for Americans with low income. SNAP-Education, commonly referred to as SNAP-Ed, is the nutrition education arm of SNAP benefits. SNAP-Ed aims to help individuals stretch their food budget while also supporting a healthier…

This paper investigates how accountability pressures under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may have affected students' rate of overweight. Schools facing pressure to improve academic outcomes may reallocate their efforts in ways that have unintended consequences for children's health. To examine the impact of school accountability, we create a unique…

The Mountain Plains Region (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming), in partnership with the Southwest Region (Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas), have combined efforts to produce the first cross-regional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed)…

BACKGROUND: Obesity in children and adolescents has become one of the most critical public health problems in the United States. Schools may play an important role in raising awareness and possibly slowing the obesity epidemic. METHODS: The purpose of this study was to gather information on parents' perception and use of body mass index (BMI)…

We performed this study to better understand communities' health priorities and willingness to participate in research in order to reduce health disparities. To include communities whose members often experience health disparities and may lack opportunities to participate in research, student interns from multiple disciplines administered the…

This article's aim is to examine correlates of middle school students' body mass index (BMI). Little research simultaneously has considered both child and parent correlates in predicting child's BMI; we examine the interrelationships between middle school students and their parent's risks and protective factors and their impact on the child's BMI.…

The relationship between chronic stress and weight management efforts may be a concern for African American (AA) women, who have a high prevalence of obesity, high stress levels, and modest response to obesity treatment. This pilot study randomly assigned 44 overweight/obese AA women with moderate to high stress levels to either a 12-week…

Obesity continues to plague U.S. school-age populations. A number of individual/structural circumstances have been identified as increasing the risk of poor health among children. The article's aim is to examine some of these circumstances and their relationship to students being overweight/obese, while highlighting resource variables as potential…

This paper investigates how accountability pressures under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may affect children's rate of overweight. Schools facing increased pressures to produce academic outcomes may reallocate their efforts in ways that have unintended consequences for children's health. For example, schools may cut back on recess and physical…

Background: Epidemic increases in childhood obesity and associated health risks are resulting in efforts to implement school policies related to nutrition and physical activity (NPA). With multicomponent policy efforts, challenges exist in characterizing the extent of policy change across the breadth of NPA policies. Methods: Aggregated policy…

Background: Foods provided in schools represent a substantial portion of US children's dietary intake; however, the school food environment has proven difficult to describe due to the lack of comprehensive, standardized, and validated measures. Methods: As part of the Arkansas Act 1220 evaluation project, we developed the School Cafeteria…

America has a serious weight problem. Two-thirds of adults and nearly one-fifth of children in the United States are overweight, placing them at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases including cancer and arthritis. Furthermore, obesity and its related health problems are placing a major strain on the U.S. health care…

Background: School-based body mass index (BMI) measurement has attracted much attention across the nation from researchers, school officials, legislators, and the media as a potential approach to address obesity among youth. Methods: An expert panel, convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2005, reviewed and provided…

Parents of children in most elementary grades in Minnesota's Independent School District 191 receive an annual notice with potentially life-altering data for their children--and they are not state test scores, attendance rates, or grades. The notice contains the child's body mass index (BMI) score, which estimates whether the student has excess…

Background: To comprehensively address the childhood and adolescent obesity epidemic, Arkansas enacted Act 1220 of 2003. Among a series of community- and school-based interventions, the Act requires each public school student to have his/her body mass index (BMI) assessed and reported annually to parents. The process of implementing this policy on…