Early intervention can reduce disability in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Screening for autism spectrum disorder in young children identifies those at increased likelihood of diagnosis who may need further support. This study assessed in "utero" exposure to maternal obesity and diabetes and offspring performance on…

Gastrointestinal disturbances (GIDs) are relatively common in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study assessed associations between maternal obesity, diabetes, preeclampsia, and asthma and likelihood of ASD with GIDs. This retrospective cohort study included 308,536 mother-child pairs of singletons born between 2001 and…

Schools are a critical setting for improving child nutrition and food security and preventing obesity in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture mandates that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--Education, known as CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL) in California, implements obesity prevention efforts that utilize…

Background: Obesity continues to be a public health concern in the United States, yet limited research exists on the impact of obesity and weight gain among Asian Americans. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to illuminate the lived realities and physical, mental, and social impacts of obesity on overweight and obese Asian Americans in…

Ample evidence documents rising student obesity in summer months and falling student obesity during the school year. One theory for this pattern is that out-of-school days lack some of the structure and health-promoting behaviors that schools provide. Given this observed seasonal pattern, a natural question is whether there is room for policies…

Objective: To gain insight into the extent of body mass index (BMI) change during an academic year for children with overweight or obesity at entry to an early learning programme with nutrition and physical activity components ("Head Start"). We explored whether meeting with families to discuss weight and nutrition and age of entry in…

Objective: The growing prevalence of obesity among college students is a major public health issue, as over one-third are overweight or obese. This study used gender-stratified multivariate analyses to examine psychological distress and social contextual factors as key determinants of obesity. Participants: Students of a large public university in…

Background: This study describes a method for harmonizing data collected with different tools to compute a rating of compliance with national recommendations for school physical activity (PA) and nutrition environments. Methods: We reviewed questionnaire items from 84 elementary schools that participated in the Childhood Obesity Research…

This integrative review examined correlates, mechanisms, and consequences of teacher bias experienced in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in primary and secondary schools in the United States. Education Resource and Information Center, Sociological Abstracts, and Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts were searched to identify…

Although numerous studies have shown that child obesity is associated with internalizing symptoms, relatively few studies have examined the role of parenting behaviors on this relationship. Youth meeting obesity status may be at higher risk of psychosocial maladjustment when exposed to more vulnerable parenting contexts. The current study…

STEM-related educational outreach offers students enriching opportunities to become more familiar with science, in terms of how it relates to their daily lives and with respect to possible career paths that they might want to follow. At the same time, graduate student trainees providing that outreach act as important resources for elementary and…

The current study was designed to examine one possible weight stigma-reduction mechanism: school-level weight diversity. It was hypothesized that greater weight diversity among same-sex peers at school would attenuate the negative association between weight and academic achievement. Across 26 urban public middle schools, 5,991 sixth-grade students…

Maternal and infant health indicators are often used to gauge the overall health of a nation. Understanding the current state of maternal and infant well-being, health behaviors, and social determinants of health across several domains offers the opportunity to kindle ideas for interventions to improve well-being. This report features indicators…

Because children with visual impairments tend to be inactive, they are 1.5 times more likely to be considered overweight or obese than are their sighted peers. Although some barriers to physical activity have been identified (for example, lack of opportunity and transportation issues); little has been done to empirically identify predictors of…

To reduce the risk of pediatric obesity, behaviorally-focused parental education is needed. This study examined the feasibility of guided goal setting in a pediatric obesity prevention intervention for low-income parents of young children. Parents from Head Start participated in a six-week nutrition, activity, and parenting intervention that…