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Children born small for gestational age (SGA) may be at risk for earlier puberty and adverse long-term health sequelae. This study investigates associations between SGA and age at menarche using secondary data on 1,027 female children in a population-based U.S. birth cohort that over-sampled non-marital births, which in the U.S. is a policy-relevant population. SGA was defined as <10th percentile of weight for gestational age compared to the national U.S. distribution. We estimated unadjusted and adjusted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models of associations between SGA and age at menarche in years, as well as unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models of associations between SGA and early menarche (before age 11). SGA was not significantly associated with earlier age at menarche, even when adjusting for maternal sociodemographic characteristics, prenatal smoking, and maternal pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity. Similarly, SGA was not significantly associated with the odds of menarche occurring before age 11. However, maternal non-Hispanic Black race-ethnicity, Hispanic ethnicity, and pre-pregnancy obesity all had independent associations with average earlier age at menarche and menarche before age 11. Thus, maternal risk factors appear to play more influential roles in determining pubertal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate associations between postpartum depression in fathers and children's behaviors at age 5 in a national high-risk U.S. sample. Study design: A secondary data analysis of 1,796 children in a national birth cohort study that oversampled non-marital births was conducted. Paternal depression was assessed 1 year after the child was born and children's behaviors were assessed by their primary caregivers when the children were 5 years old. Unadjusted and adjusted negative binomial regression models of associations between paternal depression and child behavior scores and logistic regression models of associations between paternal depression and high scores (at least 1.5 or 2.0 standard deviations above the mean) were estimated. Results: In negative binomial regression models that adjusted for child, paternal, and family characteristics and maternal depression, paternal depression was associated with a 17% higher total externalizing behavior score (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR): 1.17; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.07–1.27), a 17% higher aggressive subscale score (IRR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.08–1.27), and an 18% higher delinquent subscale score (IRR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.03–1.35). In adjusted logistic regression models for scores ≥2.0 standard deviations above the mean, paternal depression was associated with high total externalizing scores (e.g., Odds Ratio (OR): 3.09; 95% CI: 1.77–5.41), high aggressive behavior scores (OR: 2.40; 95% CI: 1.30–4.43), and high delinquent behavior scores (OR: 2.08; 95% CI: 1.01–4.27). There were suggestive but non-robust associations between paternal depression and attention problems and no associations between paternal depression and internalizing behaviors or social problems. Conclusion: Fathers' depression at age 1 was associated with children's externalizing behaviors at age 5, an important developmental stage when children transition to school. These findings suggest a need to identify and support fathers with depressive symptoms to promote optimal child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") recently asserted that the use of criminal background checks as an employment screening tool may have a disparate impact on African Americans and Hispanics, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC and some private claimants have even filed lawsuits against employers claiming disparate impact violations based on statistics that show African Americans and Hispanics are considerably more likely to have criminal records than other racial groups. Yet, certain federal regulatory agencies require participants in their industries to subject employees to criminal background checks as a condition of employment. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") is one such agency. The SEC has promulgated a rule requiring industry employers to fingerprint employees and disqualify those that have been convicted of certain types of crimes. This Note discusses the requirements of a disparate impact claim and the EEOC's position that criminal background check policies have a disparate impact on minorities. This Note further examines how technological changes in the securities industry have led to an unnecessarily broad application of the SEC's fingerprint rule, resulting in potential Title VII liability for employers and contributing to the low number of African American and Hispanics in the securities industry. Finally, this Note proposes that the SEC could alleviate the potential Title VII liability created by the fingerprinting requirement by narrowing the scope of the fingerprint rule to bring it within the business necessity defense to Title VII [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses findings of a study which examined the effect of children's health on the labor supply of mothers in the U.S. The child health-related push and pull factors affecting the supply of mothers are described. A model was presented to analyze the effect of poor child health on the labor supply of mothers. Characteristics used in wage analysis include age, race/ethnicity, nativity, education, work history and health status.