News Archive: Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health
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2005
New Spanish-language substance abuse prevention materials available online — Dec. 2005
RAND Health substance abuse prevention materials, Getting to Outcomes, have now been released in a Spanish-language version. These documents, including a manual and accompanying worksheets, are targeted at schools, community groups and other agencies who have an interest in reducing drug and tobacco use among youth.
Spanish-language version
More on substance abuse research
Higher mortality among low-birthweight infants in hospitals serving minority populations — Dec. 2005
Previous research has suggested that high rates of infant mortality among Black low-birthweight infants may be due to racial disparities in care. Instead, this study investigates whether higher mortality rates among Black infants are due to a lower quality of care provided to all low-birthweight infants at hospitals which tend to serve large numbers of minority patients.
Read abstract
Health care access issues affect parental perceptions of their children's primary care experiences — Dec. 2005
Among parents who rated their children's primary medical care experiences, access to needed care and to a regular source of care had more of an impact on the experience was rated than whether or not the patient had health insurance.
Adolescent patients with depression may be less productive at school and work — Dec. 2005
Adolescent primary care patients who are screened for depression and found to have symptoms are at increased risk for impairment in school or work productivity, highlighting the importance of primary care physicians who are sensitive to these symptoms.
Health-related risky behaviors associated with increased violence in youth — Oct. 2005
An examination of the relationship between adolescents' perceptions of life satisfaction, behavioral risks, and acts of violence. Results suggest that higher levels of life satisfaction is associated with less violence,and that health-related risk-taking behaviors related to sex, drugs, and alcohol are associate with higher rates of violence.
RAND Health staff member joins the Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families in Los Angeles — Oct. 2005
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has appointed RAND Health researcher Mark A. Schuster, MD, PhD, as a Commissioner on the Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families. The Commission advises the Mayor and City Council on policy and legislative issues related to children, youth, and families. Dr. Schuster is the Director of the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion.
Improved health services research furthers understanding of perceived barriers to medical care — Oct. 2005
Researchers combine a variety of research techniques to more fully understand the barriers to care experienced by health care consumers and to contribute to the improvement of health services research methods.
Food prices linked to weight gain in children — Sep. 2005
Lower prices of vegetables and fruits are associated with lower gains in body mass index (BMI) among elementary school children in the U.S. Effects are larger for children in poverty, children already at risk for overweight, and Asian and Hispanic children.
Improving maternal and child health care — Aug. 2005
The illness and death rates of mothers and their young children in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania can be reduced with more coordinated care and increased family involvement.Screening for lead exposure among Mexican-American youth in the U.S. — July 2005
Lead exposure remains a serious health problem. Public health officials should consider demographic, socio-economic, housing, cultural, and linguistic factors when designing lead screening and abatement interventions for Mexian-American youth.Concurrent smoking and drinking among adolescents increases rate of deviant behavior — July 2005
Compared to young people who smoked and drank consistently throughout their teens and early twenties, those who drank consistently but smoked only occasionally had lower rates of deviant behavior and were less likely to have a history of arrest and substance use problems.
Use of mental health care among youths in 1997 and 2002 (registration req'd)
Increased use of mental health services among youths may be a promising trend, but it does not guarantee that the increase actually benefited the youths who were most in need. Future research should seek to identify whether these services are reaching those youths.More on mental health care for youth (Posted 07/05.)Screening for gonorrhea in urban emergency departments. Many uninsured or medically underserved women use inner-city emergency departments as their usual source of health care. ÊUsing new gonorrhea screening technology Êthat Êprovides same-visit results can prevent later reproductive problems in young women and provide costs savings to society. (Posted 06/05.)
Saturated in beer: Youth awareness of beer advertising — June 2005
Television beer ads increase beer advertising awareness in children as young as 9, and even higher awareness among 14-year-olds. Beer advertisers should avoid the use of animated characters that appeal to youth.
Is television content causally related to adolescent sexual behavior? Results of several new studies based on the RAND Television and Adolescent Sexuality data set indicate that practitioners should discuss television portrayals of sex with adolescents to help them identify and avoid any adverse effects the media might have on their sexual behavior.
Related study: Worksite parenting programs promote healthy adolescent sexual development More on the sexual behavior of adolescents (Posted 06/05.)Substance abuse trajectories from early adolescence to emerging adulthood — June 2005
Research comparing smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use from early adolescence to young adulthood identifies periods of vulnerabilities and suggests multiple prevention approaches to reach at-risk youths.
Recent testimony on school-based drug prevention
What motivates young adults to quit smoking? — June 2005
A recent study tracked smokers from middle school to age 29 and found that successful intervention programs should continue to target peer influences. The findings also suggest that certain social transitions, e.g., new parenthood, may also present opportunities for intervention.
Effect of public policy on adolescent cigar use — June 2005
Using data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, RAND researchers found that youth cigar demand is sensitive to price but not tobacco-control regulations.
Asthma may not be underdiagnosed in minority children. A recent study found no evidence to suggest that minority children with asthma symptoms are underdiagnosed with asthma. Determining factors in the process of acquiring an asthma diagnosis may be necessary to better understand racial and ethnic disparities in asthma prevalence.
More on childhood asthma (Posted 05/05.)Custom foot orthotics improve pain for children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). In children with JIA, custom-made semirigid foot orthotics with shock-absorbing posts significantly improve pain and activity compared with prefabricated off-the-shelf shoe inserts or supportive athletic shoes worn alone. (Posted 05/05.)
Young adults are at significant sexual risk for HIV infection. Rising prevalence of HIV suggests that prevention programs should target individuals who use alcohol frequently and who are victims of violence. More on HIV research (Posted 04/05.)
Universal preschool creates benefits that surpass costs. Investing public money to make preschool available to every 4-year-old in California would generate an estimated $2 to $4 in benefits for every dollar spent. News release (Posted 03/05.)
Improving pediatric asthma care. For patients who received care at intervention clinics, the overall process of asthma care improved significantly as well as asthma-specific quality of life. More on pediatric asthma care (Posted 03/05.)
Lighting up tomorrow? — Mar. 2005
Teens who smoke underestimate the addictiveness of cigarettes; those who don't smoke underestimate the social appeal of cigarettes.
Preventing substance abuse among teens — Mar. 2005
Papers presented in this special symposium illustrate the importance of creating substance prevention programs that are developmentally appropriate for teens.
Childhood obesity and societal trends — Mar. 2005
Almost no data are available to assess how the lives of children have changed during the “obesity epidemic.” What are children and adolescents now doing with their time that they did not do before? This two-part report looks at recent trendsPsychotropic medication use among children in the child welfare system. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the first nationally representative study of children who enter the child welfare system, finds that children in child welfare settings receive psychotropic medications at a rate between 2 and 3 times that of children treated in the community. More attention needs to be focused on the prescribing of psychotropic medications in child welfare settings. More on maternal, child, and adolescent health research | More on sociodemographic determinants of health research (Posted 03/05.)
Certain types of alcohol advertising may influence adolescent drinking — Feb. 2005
Advertising that links alcohol to everyday life — such as beer displays in grocery stores and concession stands at sporting events — may lead to adolescent drinking. Alcohol prevention programs can help counter the effects of alcohol advertising from these sources.
The quality of public mental health services for CA children. Public mental health clinics that serve CA children vary in their adherence to quality standards. Efforts to improve care should be directed broadly across clinics, with highest priority being given to documenting safe practices, particularly for children prescribed psychotropic medication. More on mental health research (Posted 02/05.)
Project ALERT affects how teens respond to peer influences to smoke — Feb. 2005
A new study that analyzed the mechanisms by which Project ALERT reduces teen smoking and drinking finds that the program's greatest impact is on dispelling peer influences that encourage smoking and personal beliefs about the positive consequences of drinking.
HIV-positive parents limit hugs and kisses. More than one third of HIV-positive parents fear transmitting HIV to their children or catching an infection from their child. Consequently, more than a quarter of the parents avoided some type of normal interaction with their children, such as kissing, hugging, and sharing utensils. More on HIV research (Posted 02/05.)
Communicating about sex in Filipino American families. Parents and grandparents in Filipino American families think sexual values should not be discussed openly. Adolescents believe open discussion is necessary. The result: bilateral withdrawal from family communication about sex. More about this study (Posted 01/05.)
Improving care for adolescent depression. A quality improvement program implemented in primary care settings reduced adolescents' depressive symptoms and improved their quality of life. Study findings underscore the need to provide access to psychotherapy for depressed adolescents. Press release | More on mental health research (Posted 01/05.)
Sexual victimization of adolescent women. Seven percent of adolescent women in a large national sample reported having been forced into sexual intercourse, and 8% of them were revictimized in the following year. As do other studies, these findings suggest that forced sex may be a symptom of a generally risky interpersonal life context that facilitates victimization and consequent revictimization. More on adolescent health research (Posted 01/05.)
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