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Researchers have found that mothers who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at greater risk for maltreating their children than are mothers who do not. Using a population-based sample of 2,508 participants from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, researchers examined the associations between IPV, parenting stress, and major depression relating to mothers' mistreatment of their three-year-old children.

A study funded by the National Institutes of health and other federal agencies shows that it's possible to teach preschoolers the pre-reading skills they need for later School success, while at the same time fostering the socials skills necessary for making friends and avoiding conflicts with their peers. The findings address long standing concerns on whether preschool education programs should emphasize academic achievement or social and emotional development.

Adverse experiences early in life can lead to minor childhood behavior problems, which can grow into serious acts of teen violence, according to new research. This "cascading effect" of repeated negative incidents and behaviors is the focus of an article in the November/December edition of the journal Child Development.

How children are affected by out-of-home care depends not only on the qualities of their teacher and the classroom, but also on the nature of the children's relationship with their caregivers. That's the finding of a new study on the level of the stress hormone cortisol in children in full-day child care. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone in humans, tends to be at its highest levels in the early morning and gradually declines over the course of the day.

Healthcare leaders gathered at the Keck School of medicine at the University of Southern California health Science campus to discuss the critical issue of obesity and the challenges it brings to uninsured, under-insured, and lower-income communities. According to LA Public health, one out of every five adults in LA County is obese (2005).

Characteristics present in the four social environments in which young people live - families, peers, schools, and neighborhoods - contribute both positively and negatively to whether teens misuse alcohol, with risk from one area possibly being magnified or decreased by attributes of another.

Children who become very upset when their parents fight are more likely to develop psychological problems. But little is known about what happens beyond these behavioral reactions in terms of children's biological responses. A new study has found that children who are very distressed when their parents fight also have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Gaucher disease is a rare genetic disorder that occurs when a person lacks an enzyme called glucocerebrosidase. The most common form of this disorder is type 1 Gaucher disease. Type 1 Gaucher disease can start at any age, but recently it has been shown that about half of all patients are diagnosed before 18 years of age.