Each year since 1997, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics has published a report on the well-being of children and families. The "America's Children" series provides accessible compendiums of indicators drawn across topics from the most reliable official statistics; it is designed to complement other more…

Even in the absence of major disabilities, children born prematurely are at high risk for academic delays and deficits. Research suggests that some differences in outcomes may relate to problems with self-regulation, especially attention regulation. Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in attention regulation is…

A randomized controlled trial of two formats of a program (Women Take PRIDE) to enhance management of heart disease by patients was conducted. Older women (N = 575) were randomly assigned to a group or self-directed format or to a control group. Data regarding symptoms, functional health status, and weight were collected at baseline and at 4, 12,…

Objective: This study investigates the relative contributions of global self-esteem, body mass index (BMI), dieting behaviors, and perceived parental control and care on body satisfaction among a nonclinical sample of college students. Participants and Methods: Participants (49 males and 299 females) reported weight and height (to calculate BMI)…

Many family-based treatments for pediatric obesity teach specific parenting practices related to weight management. Although youth in these programs show increases in positive health behaviors and reductions in the extent to which they are overweight, most remain overweight after treatment. A recent trend is to create tailored programs for…

This study analyzed the increase in head circumference (HC) of 85 autistic infants (64 boys and 21 girls) during their first year of life. The data were collected from their "mother-and-baby" notebooks. This notebook is a medical record of the baby's growth and development delivered to the parents of all babies born in Japan. This is a…

Body mass index (BMI) is increasingly recognized as an inadequate measure for determining obesity in children. Therefore, the aim within this study was to investigate other indirect methods of body fat assessment that could potentially be used in place of BMI. Twenty-four children (boys: 13.8 [plus or minus] 0.8 yr; girls: 13.3 [plus or minus] 0.5…

Objective: This study aimed to replicate and extend previous work showing an association between maternal pre-pregnancy adiposity and risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children. Methods: A Swedish population-based prospective pregnancy-offspring cohort was followed up when children were 5 years old (N = 1,714).…

This long-term, prospective study evaluated repeatedly school readiness and adjustment at kindergarten and first grade of children with extreme intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR; n = 20) in relation to controls (n = 19). Methods included individual testing of cognitive competence, self-perception, motivation, loneliness and academic…

Objectives: To prospectively investigate associations between overweight and depressive symptoms in Asian and Hispanic adolescents. Methods: Data included 780 Hispanic and 375 Asian students. Structural equation model was used to prospectively explore moderation effects of gender, ethnicity, and acculturation on associations of overweight, body…

Previous research fails to find a consistent association between obesity and acculturation for children. We theorize that social isolation shelters children of immigrants from the U.S. "obesiogenic" environment, but this protective effect is offset by immigrant parents' limited capacity to identify and manage this health risk in the United States.…

In light of the recent rise in childhood obesity, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have received renewed attention. Using panel data on over 13,500 primary school students, we assess the relationship between SBP and NSLP participation and (relatively) long-run measures of child weight. After documenting a…

The effectiveness of a media literacy program in preventing eating disorders among adolescents is studied. Media literacy can be effective in helping reduce shape and weight concern and other eating disorder risk factors in adolescents over the long term.

This issue of the American Psychologist (April 2007) includes two reviews of the literature on the effects of behavioral programs to reduce body weight. One review (T. Mann et al., 2007) concentrates on dietary interventions and finds little evidence that diets are of benefit. The second review (L. H. Powell, J. E. Calvin III, & J. E. Calvin Jr.,…

As young people transition through childhood to adolescence, they often face developmental challenges that can impede their quest to become flourishing, healthy adults. While both males and females experience difficulties, there are certain risk factors to which males are more susceptible. Compared with females, males tend to be more likely to…