American journal of preventive medicine
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Earlier development of cardiovascular disease risk factors in blacks versus whites may result from differences in maintaining health behaviors. Age-specific racial differences in maintaining health behaviors from ages 18 to 50 years were determined. ⋯ Fewer blacks than whites maintained four or more optimal health behaviors until age 50 years, but maintenance was low among both races.
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Observational Study
Change in Children's Physical Activity: Predictors in the Transition From Elementary to Middle School.
Interventions to promote physical activity in children should be informed by knowledge of the factors that influence physical activity behavior during critical developmental transitions. The purpose of this study is to identify, from a comprehensive, multidomain set of factors, those that are associated with change in objectively measured physical activity in children as they transition from elementary to middle school. ⋯ Interventions designed to increase children's physical activity should include strategies that target multiple domains of influence.
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Comparative Study
A National Comparison of Suicide Among Medicaid and Non-Medicaid Youth.
In the U.S., youth enrolled in Medicaid experience more risk factors for suicide, such as mental illness, than youth not enrolled in Medicaid. To inform a national suicide prevention strategy, this study presents suicide rates in a sample of youth enrolled in Medicaid and compares them with rates in the non-Medicaid population. ⋯ The population-based profile of suicide among youth enrolled in Medicaid differs from the profile of youth not enrolled in Medicaid, confirming the importance of Medicaid as a "boundaried" suicide prevention setting.
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Determining whether the prevalence of gun ownership is associated with youth suicide is critical to inform policy to address this problem. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the prevalence of household gun ownership in a state and that state's rate of youth suicide. ⋯ Because states with high levels of household gun ownership are likely to experience higher youth suicide rates, these states should be especially concerned about implementing programs and policies to ameliorate this risk.
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Little is known about associations between the reasons parents refuse or delay vaccines for their children, their responsiveness to vaccine counseling, and their children's vaccination status at various ages. Since 2015, Michigan has required parents to attend education sessions at local health departments to receive nonmedical exemptions. This requirement provides an opportunity to study otherwise opaque aspects of vaccine refusal. ⋯ Different reasons for refusal are associated with different patterns of vaccination behavior. Furthermore, results suggest that education sessions may overcome vaccine refusal in some cases, and that distinct refusal reasons mark real differences in parental motivations regarding vaccination choices. These differences in parental motivations may indicate the existence of different sites for potential pro-vaccination interventions.