Children who viewed TV ads for Kids Meals were commonly unable to recall milk or apples, items added to make the meals healthier. Instead many kids thought apples were french fries.
A new parent’s health literacy can affect their ability to follow recommendations to protect infants from injury, finds a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The adult offspring of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to have arthritis, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.
Investigators examined a group of 13,036 adults and found that 20.4 per cent of respondents had been diagnosed with arthritis by a medical professional.
Extra sales taxes on soda may not do anything to improve people’s health, according to new research from health economist Jason Fletcher of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Children are experts at getting into danger. So, how can parents help prevent the consequences? One answer, University of Iowa researchers say in a new study, is for parents to better understand how their children rate hazards and then use conversation to explain why certain situations can be dangerous. Results appear in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Case Western Reserve University music educator Lisa Huisman Koops realized during the daily 20-minute commute to her daughter’s preschool that the family vehicle might be an ideal—and overlooked—place to develop a child’s awareness and interest in music. The family car, she thought, could provide an option for harried parents who say they lack time for such music appreciation.
Some doctors are too quick to prescribe antidepressants to parents who have suffered the death of a child either during pregnancy or within the first month of life, according to a study conducted by Florida State University researcher Jeffrey R. Lacasse.
Most parents of kids with and without nut allergies don’t support schoolwide bans on nut-containing products, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
A majority of parents in a new study reported infant feeding and activity behaviors believed to increase the child’s risk for later obesity. In addition, these behaviors varied according to the self-reported race and ethnicity of the parents.
Parents can help motivate kids to be more physically active, but the influence may not result in an improvement in their children’s weight, finds a new evidence review in the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Fathers who returned after military service report having difficulty connecting with young children who sometimes don’t remember them, according to a study released this week.
A new study finds gender differences in parenting and household labor persist among a group of highly motivated physician-researchers in the early stages of their career.
Does having a television in the bedroom contribute to youth weight gain? In a recent national study, researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center found that having a bedroom television was a significant predictor of adolescent weight gain
The percentage of the family food budget spent on away-from-home food has steadily increased since the 1970s and so has the amount of calories families consume.
Just 12 percent of parents without insurance coverage take breastfeeding support classes that can offer crucial support and encourage new moms to breastfeed
A new study comparing siblings who were fed differently during infancy suggests that breast-feeding might be no more beneficial than bottle-feeding for 10 of 11 long-term health and well-being outcomes in children age 4 to 14.
Make mealtime a family time. If you can get together for meals even a few times a week, family meals mean healthier eating – and more. For National Nutrition Month®, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics encourages all families to make a commitment to eating more meals together and “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right.”
Remember that slim kid in school – the one with the cook-from-scratch mom? He’s likely one of the fittest dudes at your high school reunion according to new research from Cornell University, published online in the journal PLOS ONE.
Many mothers with children on life-sustaining medical devices, such as ventilators and breathing or feeding tubes, suffer physical and psychological distress from the stress of juggling treatments, appointments, therapies and daily family pressures. A pilot study tested an intervention to help them cope.
Despite their strong pro-family values, evangelical Christians have higher than average divorce rates — in fact, being more likely to be divorced than Americans who claim no religion, according to findings as cited by researchers from Baylor University.
A scientific survey of 1.8 million Americans reveals that parents and non-parents have similar levels of life satisfaction, according to a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The U.S. teen birth rate fell rapidly between 2008 and 2012. The Great Recession played the biggest role in the decline, explaining more than half of the drop, but a new study shows that that the timing of the introduction of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant also had a significant impact on the staggering drop in teen birth rates.
The creator of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" said the shows have been called "one of the best public service campaigns to prevent teen pregnancy." A new Indiana University research study finds the opposite to be true. The paper accepted for publication in the journal Mass Communication and Society presents findings that such teen mom shows actually lead heavy viewers to believe that teen mothers have an enviable quality of life, a high income and involved fathers.
Smartphones, laptops, tablets and video games were happily crossed off many the wish lists of many young children and teens this Christmas. But for parents, giving children electronic devices has to be about more than just saving Christmas, it has to be about making sure kids are safe when they start getting online.
Common advice to new parents is that the more words babies hear the faster their vocabulary grows. Now new findings show that what spurs early language development isn't so much the quantity of words as the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.
University of Washington researchers evaluated about 20 parenting programs and found five that are especially effective at helping parents and children at all risk levels avoid adolescent behavior problems that affect not only individuals, but entire communities.
Whether it’s “A Christmas Story,” “The Santa Clause” or “Elf,” dads play a vital role in recent popular Christmas media. In real-life holiday scenarios, fathers do as well…and that’s true whether dads are merry makers or Christmas curmudgeons.
According to the Saint Leo poll, 84 percent of Americans say they agree with a policy of not allowing smart phones and other handheld devices at the table during family dinner. That number climbed to 87 percent when a family has guests joining them for dinner—with women even less tolerant than men (89 percent of women compared to 84 percent of women) of phones when guests are present.
Arizona State University Associate Professor and family therapist Larry Dumka offers insight into making the most of the season by focusing on things that really matter to you and those you love.
A new book by Murray Straus, founder and co-director of the Family Research Lab and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, brings together more than four decades of research that makes the definitive case against spanking, including how it slows cognitive development and increases antisocial and criminal behavior.
A prison sentence may not always have negative consequences for children of the incarcerated, says University of California, Irvine sociologist Kristin Turney. In a new study, she finds that when an uninvolved dad spends time behind bars, there are no negative effects on his parenting.
These pressures are particularly palpable during the holiday season. We often think our kids will be disappointed if we can’t measure up to their expectations at the holidays, and when we think it’s our job to keep them happy, we shudder at the thought of disappointing them. Dr. Aaron Cooper, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and author of I Just Want My Kids To Be Happy (Late August Press, 2008), provides expert tips to parents as they set and manage their children’s expectations during the holidays.
Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.
More people than ever are living alone. That’s according to a new family profile from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University. Researchers found the percentage of households with just one person has more the doubled since 1960 from 13 to 27 percent.
Medical researchers point to developmental factors, specifically the decline of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, as an explanation for why children get less sleep as they become teenagers. But a new study suggests that social ties, including relationships with peers and parents, may be even more responsible for changing sleep patterns among adolescents.
Research shows that working a job that doesn’t keep 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours can hurt the relationships between parents and adolescents, increasing the likelihood that children will engage in delinquent behaviors. However, the researchers found that in some circumstances, an unconventional work schedule can be a benefit for children.
How malleable are we? Youths who experienced early maternal deprivation — specifically, time in an institution such as an orphanage — show similar responses to their adoptive mother and to strangers in a brain structure called the amygdala; for children never raised in an institutional setting, the amygdala is far more active in response to the adoptive mother alone.
Parents, let your children get messy in the high chair: They learn better that way. That's according to a new study from the University of Iowa, which concludes that a 16-month-old's setting and degree of interaction enhances his or her ability to identify nonsolid objects and name them. Results published in the journal Developmental Science.
Do drinking and marriage mix? That depends on who’s doing the drinking — and how much — according to a recent study by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).
A new University of Michigan study found that the state immunization registry – the public health database that tracks vaccinations– can be an effective tool to encourage influenza vaccinations during a pandemic.
Does the use of government assistance by parents make their children more likely to use welfare, too? Yes, suggests research coauthored by University of California, San Diego economist Gordon Dahl. The question has been a difficult one and has fueled policy debates for decades