Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish baseline values on physiological parameters for 7-11 graders (n = 146) in a rural area of Alabama and to examine whether differences existed among the adolescents in the county. Design: Descriptive. Setting: Many adolescents in the southern portion of the United States suffer disproportionately…

The purpose of this project was to compare an integrated health and physical education curriculum, focused on reducing media use and on increasing physical activity in middle school adolescents, to traditional and nonintegrated health and physical education curricula. Two middle schools' health and physical education classes were assigned to an…

Poor nutrition is a major risk factor affecting proper development of children. However, there is limited knowledge about the way in which this subject is being integrated into professionals' work in early childhood education programs dealing with situations of children-at-risk. A study on this subject was conducted with 60 professionals who…

Although Latinos have been a rapidly growing population in the US, little is known about how mental health symptoms may present in Latino children especially in the context of those living in poverty and exposed to violence. We explored the level of violence exposure and trauma symptoms in Latino youth and the relationship of these factors with…

Background: Previous research on psychiatric and health disparities according to level of cognitive functioning has focused on adults within an American healthcare context. The current study compares children with and without cognitive and developmental delays in Quebec, Canada, using physician billing data from a longitudinal study of low-income,…

This snapshot of children on the California border examines the well-being of children along the U.S.-Mexico border, comparing California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It indicates more than one-quarter of all California residents are foreign born (26%), compared to 8% of residents in non-border states. In Texas, the percentage of the population…

Asserting that molds growing in schools can be harmful to children's health and learning, this guide offers information about the issue. It provides an overview of the basics, then addresses testing, types of molds, molds and health, monitoring schools for mold, mold prevention and clean-up tips for schools, and what parents should do if they…

This guide's primary focus is to recommend good health and safety practices to helpensure safer schools in Washington state. Some of the safety practices that are recommended affect school operationand maintenance, repairs and minor construction, as well as the school's administrative organization and lines of communication. The guide also focuses…

This progress report investigated two key questions regarding the Healthy Schools Act and pesticide use in California's schools. First, has the act reduced overall pesticide use in California's largest school districts? Second, having had a year to come into compliance, are surveyed districts meeting their responsibilities? Based on a survey of…

This guide was prepared while working with many Massachusetts schools to remove items that contain mercury and to find suitable alternatives. It contains fact sheets on: mercury in science laboratories and classrooms, mercury in school buildings and maintenance areas, mercury in the medical office and in medical technology classrooms in vocational…

This report explains that all adults must watch out for all children, cautioning that marketing is harmful to children. Advertisers are aggressively targeting age groups that, until recently, have been considered off-limits and occupying more of children's psychic and physical space. The report presents a commitment by mothers to all children to…

This brief documents the numbers of children living in different types of kinship environments, characteristics of those environments, and services these children receive. Data come from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families, a nationally representative survey of households with people under age 65 that measures economic, health, and…

The number of Americans without health insurance fell in 1999. This was partly driven by improvements in the extent to which children have health care coverage. Many children who gained coverage were poor children, suggesting that efforts to enroll more Medicaid-eligible children into coverage and to implement the State Children's Health Insurance…

Children are at greater risk than adults for lead poisoning because children absorb lead more readily than adults, and a small amount of lead in children's bodies can do a great deal of harm. Some of the causes and effects of childhood lead poisoning and suggests some lead poisoning prevention strategies that parent educators can share with…

Children who lack health insurance do not have access to preventive care, placing them at greater risk of serious illness. This special report of the Voices for Illinois Children describes federal and state efforts to address the problem of uninsured children and issues that will need to be monitored as Illinois begins to help children access…