We report on a standardized survey of height and weight status of children attending the New Hampshire Head Start Program during the 2007-2008 school year. Baseline prevalence estimates of overweight and obesity are needed for obesity prevention activities and intervention. We selected a random one-stage cluster sample and screened 629 children…

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…

Childhood overweight and obesity is a public health concern not just because of its growing prevalence but also for its serious and lasting health consequences. Though height and weight measures are easy to obtain and New Hampshire Head Start sites measure height and weight of their enrollees, there are numerous challenges related to accurate…

Increased numbers of young children who are overweight have become a significant health problem in the United States. Public health investigators have hypothesized that increased caloric intake and low levels of physical activity may be associated with the troubling trend of weight problems among children. To enhance preschool children's moderate…

Objective: To explore weight control beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and practices among rural Kansas women, and to characterize the relationship of these women with their primary-care providers around weight control. Design: Qualitative research using focus groups. Setting: Three separate communities of rural Kansas. Participants: Six focus groups…

This study examined the potential impact of parents on the long-term results of an immersion program for the treatment of adolescent obesity. Teenagers participated in a 4- to 8-week therapeutic camp. Those who continued losing weight 8- to 12-months postcamp were identified as "Losers"; those who regained weight were considered…

There is growing evidence that experiential avoidance and psychological inflexibility plays a role in a variety of clinical presentations, including health problems. The present study presents preliminary data on a new measure of these processes in relation to difficult weight-related thoughts, feelings, and actions: The Acceptance and Action…

Objective: The Training Interventions and Genetics of Exercise Response (TIGER) study is an exercise program designed to introduce sedentary college students to regular physical activity and to identify genetic factors that influence response to exercise. Participants: A multiracial/ethnic cohort (N = 1,567; 39% male), age 18 to 35 years,…

This study aimed to analyze the effects of an intervention strategy during the school recess on physical activity (PA) levels, by gender, age and body mass index (BMI). The sample comprises 158 Portuguese children aged 6 to 12 years. Weight and height were objectively measured. PA was assessed by accelerometry during the recess in pre-intervention…

This study aimed at evaluating possible effects of massage interventions on developmental progress in the infants born with low birth weight (LBW). Forty infants (17 boys, 23 girls) who were born in St. Petersburg in 2000 through 2002 and met a conventional definition of LBW (less than 2500 g at birth) entered the study. Of these, 36 (17 boys, 19…

Innovative approaches are urgently needed to improve behavioral treatment for weight loss. The weight regain that is so common after treatment may be a result of an environment that makes it challenging to adhere, long-term, to a dietary and physical activity regimen. This study was designed to test, via a 12-week open trial, the preliminary…

Soft drink consumption has increased by 300% in the past 20 years, and 56-85% of children in school consume at least one soft drink daily. The odds ratio of becoming obese among children increases 1.6 times for each additional can or glass of sugar-sweetened drink consumed beyond their usual daily intake of the beverage. Soft drinks currently…

Problem: Sexual minority youths are youths who identify themselves as gay or lesbian, bisexual, or unsure of their sexual identity or youths who have only had sexual contact with persons of the same sex or with both sexes. Population-based data on the health-risk behaviors practiced by sexual minority youths are needed at the state and local…

The authors examined the relative effectiveness of 3 different approaches to the experience of body dissatisfaction compared to a control and ruminative attention control condition, with respect to increasing weight and appearance satisfaction. One hundred female undergraduates (mean age = 24.38, SD = 9.39) underwent a body dissatisfaction…