Adolescent health and well-being are abysmal due to low and declining physical activity rates, increasing mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and minimal opportunities to engage in meaningful social experiences. Adolescents who live in communities that are underserved face greater risks for experiencing health disparities…

HealthySteps (HS) is an evidence-based integrated model designed to provide enhanced primary care services to young children and families. This article describes the strategies HS specialists use, adapt, and innovate while maintaining fidelity to the model to meet the unique needs of diverse settings, circumstances, and communities. The authors…

Research tells a bleak story of U.S. children and youth with unmet mental health needs (anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.). One-in-five children and adolescents experiences a mental health condition in a given year. One-in-ten high school students attempted suicide one or more times during the past year. And 59% of youth with major…

This Statistical Compendium to the report "The State of the World's Children 2024: The Future of Childhood in a Changing World," offers vital statistics on child survival, development, and protection worldwide, supporting UNICEF's commitment to tracking progress toward global goals for children's and women's rights. It includes the…

It is anticipated that the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated societal response will have wide-ranging impacts on youth development and mental health. Sleep is crucial for child and adolescent health and well-being, and the potential for sleep problems to emerge or worsen during and following the pandemic is high.…

Background: In 2014, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE), the only statewide school system in the United States, predominately enrolled children (keiki) from underserved communities and lacked school nurses or a school health program. Chronic absenteeism due to health concerns was identified as a barrier to academic success. Methods: The DOE…

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health problems of children and adolescents in the United States (U.S.). A "collective" and "coordinated" national economic and social reconstruction effort aimed at shoring up services to promote children's MEB, like the Marshall Plan that helped…

When children and youth feel unsafe, adults need to act. The damaging effects that feeling unsafe and being exposed to violence have on young people and their ability to succeed are well-established. These scientific insights make clear the urgency with which the people of this country must intervene in schools and communities to change the…

Children's mental health services have experienced major cuts since 2010. In parallel, our education system has undergone a period of significant transformation. In this paper, I discuss the implications of these developments for the mental health of children and young people. This includes examination of the differing ways in which mental health…

While finding effective solutions to child and adolescent health problems is very much a scientific endeavor, getting those solutions into widespread practice largely is not. This paper applies lessons from business and engineering to highlight the shortcomings of current approaches to science translation. In challenging the status quo, the paper…

The physical, mental and emotional effects of a concussion vary from one individual to another. Concussion symptoms can affect a student's ability to participate in physical activity and academics. To ensure the proper recognition and care of a concussion, along with the necessary return-to-activity and return-to-learning procedures, the educator…

The 35th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "KIDS COUNT"® Data Book examines the unprecedented declines in student math and reading proficiency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on education. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals that between 2019 and 2022, fourth-grade reading…

Beginning in 2011, Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) started publishing the Paterson Kids Count Data Book, a one-stop source for child well-being data on the state's third largest city. Paterson Kids Count includes the latest statistics, along with five-year trend data, in the following areas: demographics, family economic security,…

The landscape of childhood health and disease has changed over the past century, and school nurses are now in a unique position to address the conditions that lead to chronic disease, such as obesity. Measuring body mass index (BMI) during childhood and adolescence is the recommended method for screening and/or monitoring obesity in school…

After almost one year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, killing over 1 million people and putting futures into doubt, the impact of the virus on the world's children and young people is becoming clearer -- and increasingly alarming. Children face a trifecta of threats: direct consequences of the disease itself, interruption in essential services…