Behavioral and Social Sciences

Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can ...

Mental health and substance use disorders among children, youth, and young adults are major threats to the health and well-being of younger populations which often carryover into adulthood. The costs of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders, which create ...

Socioeconomic conditions are known to be major determinants of health at all stages of life, from pregnancy through childhood and adulthood. "Life-course epidemiology" has added a further dimension to the understanding of the social determinants of health by showing an ...

The assessment of young children’s development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children ...

The National Children’s Study (NCS) is planned to be the largest long-term study of environmental and genetic effects on children’s health ever conducted in the United States. It proposes to examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and ...

From a public health perspective, motor vehicle crashes are among the most serious problems facing teenagers. Even after more than six months of being licensed to drive alone, teens are two to three times more likely to be in a ...

Walk into any first-period high school classroom and it's obvious: teenagers are exhausted. Sleep deprivation is an epidemic as widespread as obesity—and just as damaging. Fortunately, science has answers and Dr. Helene Emsellem has solutions that all parents can use. Affecting the lives of more ...

The presence and intensity of media influences television, radio, music, computers, films, videos, and the Internet are increasingly recognized as an important part of the social ecology of children and youth, and these influences have become more visible and volatile ...

Scholars--and adults in general--have pondered for centuries the mysterious processes that influence the ways in which children gradually become adults. The development of professional organizations and journals devoted to adolescence, as well as increasing appreciation in academia and the world ...