One in three children in this country is overweight or obese. One in five children lives in food-insecure households that struggle to put food on the table. Both problems affect millions of children. Both can occur in the same child at the same time. Both are linked to poor academic performance, behavior problems, and high rates of school…

Positive behavior support, with its emphasis on teaching desired actions rather than punishing undesirable actions, can be a powerful tool for managing young people's behavior. In recent years, positive behavior support (PBS) strategies have been promoted as alternatives to traditional discipline for children and youth. School use of PBS has been…

Children and youth who participate in out-of-school-time (OST) programming are more likely than their non-participating peers to do well in school, get sufficient physical exercise, and avoid involvement in risky behaviors. However, there are concerns that there are inequities in access to OST programs, particularly for those from lower-income…

The present experiment extended and replicated the use of functional analysis and a peer-mediated intervention to decrease disruptive behavior displayed by children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in an afterschool program. After determining that the participants displayed off-task behavior maintained by peer attention via…

This investigation identifies unique risk and protective factors for internalizing and externalizing problems among 8- to 12-year-old, low-income, African American children and tests cumulative risk and protective models. A total of 152 mother-child dyads complete questionnaires. Receipt of food stamps, mother's distress, and child maltreatment…

Findings from the first round of evaluation of an afterschool youth development program are presented. This program, the 4H Afterschool Activity Program, incorporated a specific curriculum of aggression reduction, the BrainPower program, into its ongoing activities, which cover a wide range from homework assistance to arts and crafts. The…

Evaluates the preventive effect of an after-school culturally-based arts program with low-income urban children. The specific objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in adaptive functioning and in problem behaviors for program participants. Main findings indicated that the participating children experienced an increase in self-esteem,…

Related children's experience in after-school programs to first grade performance. Found that staff positivity was associated with fewer boys' behavior problems, whereas staff negativity was related to boys' poorer reading/math grades. Program flexibility was associated with better boys' social skills. More frequent negative peer interactions in…