A systematic literature review was conducted to assess the utility of Positive Youth Development (PYD) concepts in promoting positive sexual health behaviors in young minority adolescents (n = 12 studies). Interventions reported significant associations between PYD-focused interventions and ever having sex, sexual partners in the last 30 days,…

Substance use and alcohol abuse during pregnancy are significant public health concerns. Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a withdrawal syndrome that infants exposed to opioids may experience in the first few days of life. For most infants with NAS, exposure to opioids occurs during pregnancy while they are fetuses. Similarly, prenatal alcohol…

Background: As pregnant mothers increasingly engage in shared decision making regarding prenatal decisions, such as induction of labor, the patient's level of activation may influence pregnancy outcomes. One potential tool to increase patient activation in the clinical setting is mobile applications. However, research is limited in comparing…

During pregnancy, low-income women are at high risk for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but they are unlikely to receive mental health services. As a follow-up to Narayan et al. (2017), we provide a detailed picture of pregnant women's mental health service (MHS) need versus utilization. Results suggested that the majority of…

This article reviews the research base on the development of prenatal attachment and profiles four programs that foster this essential prenatal relationship: CenteringPregnancy®, the Practical Resources for Effective Postpartum Parenting program (PREPP), Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), and Moms2B.

Psychiatric disorders are more common in the mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID) after the birth of their child. We aimed to assess the relationship between women's psychiatric contacts and subsequent offspring with ASD/ID. We linked three Western Australian registers to investigate pre-existing…

Background: To reduce teen pregnancy rates, prevention programs must be consistently available to large numbers of youth. However, prevention efforts have been historically conducted with little emphasis on ensuring program sustainability. This study examined the needs and barriers to sustaining teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) programming in…

The urgency of the analyzed issue is due to the study of the basic issues of medical ecology: the dynamics of demographic indicators, the correlation of somatic and reproductive public health, depending on the influence of physical factors of the urban environment on public health on the basis of medical and geographic mapping. The article aims at…

This executive summary describes the research that was conducted based on the following question: "How could a philanthropic investment of $1 billion dramatically increase upward social mobility for low-income individuals and families?" The intent of the research was to create a series of roadmaps that illustrate how investments of $1…

To ensure that "Reducing the Risk," a successful teen pregnancy prevention education curriculum, remains relevant for today's youth, covers all information youth need to know in order to make better choices, and is delivered in a standardized way, adaptations were made and enhancements were added. This article describes results of a…

Sexual and reproductive health and well-being plays a central role in the lives of young adults. Having the ability to plan whether and when to become pregnant, to protect against sexually transmitted infections, and to receive essential medical care during pregnancy, for example, have important effects on young people's lives--including their…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with gastrointestinal (GI) problems, but the nature of this association is unclear. Parents to siblings, concordant or discordant for ASD (N = 217), participated in a web survey covering mother's weight gain during pregnancy, maternal viral/bacterial infection and use of antibiotics, duration of…

Background: Contraception non-use among sexually active adolescents is a major cause of unintended pregnancy (UP). Methods: In this cross-sectional study we sought to identify overall and sex-specific correlates of contraception non-use using the 2015 Philadelphia Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) (N = 9540). Multivariate regression models were…

Basic knowledge of human reproduction can help youth prepare for puberty and make later classes focused on advanced reproductive health topics manageable. With the intention of potentially informing the creation of learning materials, we conducted a needs assessment among children ages 7 to 12 in our suburban Chicago community to ascertain their…

Reproductive health indicators in Nigeria remain among the poorest in the world. Modern contraceptive prevalence rate has remained practically at the same level since 2003. Whereas contraceptive use is higher in urban compared with rural areas, the majority of urban women are not using a modern contraceptive method. Low contraceptive use in the…