Stressful social circumstances, particularly constrained economic resources, have been linked to behavioral problems in young children and to symptoms of depression and anxiety in mothers. Using data Mathematica collected for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, researchers sought to...

This cross-sectional study examined over 7,000 low-income children between the ages of 3 and 5 living in Cincinnati. The authors hypothesized that children who lived farther from playgrounds, closer to fast food restaurants, and in unsafe neighborhoods might be more likely to be overweight. They...

The current emphasis on increasing physical activity in young children has arisen in response to the childhood obesity epidemic. The authors suggest that efforts to increase physical activity in young children might be more successful if we emphasize other outcomes, besides obesity, and use...

This article examines the relationship between maternal infant-feeding style and adiposity in childhood to determine whether feeding style explains any of the association between maternal obesity and childhood obesity. Researchers found little relationship between maternal feeding style during...

The characteristics of neighborhoods can influence how and where people spend their time, and unsafe neighborhoods are often thought to contribute to the obesity epidemic by decreasing outdoor activity. Despite a hypothesized link between neighborhood safety and obesity, this was the first study...

Does breastfeeding or the age at which other foods are introduced to infants affect the risk of obesity in early childhood? Research on this question has produced mixed results. Among the studies examining the association between infant feeding and fatness during early childhood, this is the...

Do preschool children have a higher prevalence of obesity, spend less time playing outdoors, and spend more time watching television when they live in a neighborhood that their mothers perceive as unsafe? This study of three-year-olds in 20 U.S. cities found that if mothers perceive their...

A better understanding of environments in which physical activity occurs is critical to increasing physical activity. Research on the relationship between levels of physical activity and the availability of park/playground areas is limited because there are no instruments to assess the quality...

By 3 years of age, children are at significantly higher risk for behavior problems if their mothers experience mental health problems, substance use, or domestic violence in the year after delivery. These maternal conditions often occur together, and as the number of maternal conditions...