Feature Channels: Family and Parenting

• share
• favorite_border

Hanging out with friends after school and on the weekends is a vital part of a teen’s social life. But for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, social activity outside of school is a rarity, finds a new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, autism expert and assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. He says that limited peer relationships can be detrimental to health and that promoting group activities is key for teens with ASDs.

• share
• favorite_border

A Kansas State University research group is jumping ahead to improve nutrition and physical activity among young children and prevent childhood obesity. The researchers are reaching 3- to 5-year-olds and their parents through activities conducted at child care facilities.

• share
• favorite_border

The majority of children experience personal changes and changes in relationships one year after their sibling has died from cancer; however, positive and negative changes are not universal. These are the findings from the first study – published online November 3, 2011 in Cancer Nursing – to examine changes in siblings after the death of a brother or sister to cancer from three different perspectives: mothers, fathers and siblings.

• share
• favorite_border

Drs. Martin Finkel and Esther Deblinger, co-founders of the CARES Institute at UMDNJ, are available to discuss child sexual abuse, the "stranger danger" myth and how parents can protect their children from becoming victims.

• share
• favorite_border

The ethical lapses at Penn State have provided some important lessons, says a prominent counselor and psychologist.