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Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) for Child Protective Services are groups of citizen-volunteers throughout the United States who are federally mandated to evaluate local and state child protection systems. This study presents a profile of 332 CRP members in 20 states with regards to their demographic information, length of time on the panel, and attitudes regarding the variables that promote and hinder collaboration between the panels and state child welfare agencies. Results indicate that the average review panel member tends to be a professional, middle-aged female with an advanced degree. Better communication (between child protective services and the CRPs) and clearer goals/objectives for CRPs were the most cited suggestions of how CRPs and child welfare agencies can work together. Lack of funding and the defensiveness of the child welfare agency were seen as the top obstacles to such collaboration. Policy implications and avenues of further study are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

Examine how experiencing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influenced adolescent independent eating occasions (iEOs) and iEO-related parenting practices from the perspective of parents and adolescents Cross-sectional remote interviews were conducted for this basic qualitative research study. Participants were a purposive sample of multiracial/ethnic adolescents aged 11–14 years and their parents from households with low income (n = 12 dyads) representing 9 US states. The main outcome measures were iEOs and iEO-related parenting practices. Data were analyzed using directed content analysis. About half of the parents indicated that their adolescents had more iEOs during the COVID-19 pandemic and that there were changes in the types of foods consumed during iEOs. In contrast, most adolescents indicated their iEOs had not changed remarkably in frequency or foods consumed since the onset of the pandemic. Most parents reported no change in how they taught their adolescents about healthy food, the rules for foods/beverages permitted during iEOs, or how they monitored what their adolescents ate during iEOs; adolescent reports were in general agreement. Most parents indicated that family members were home together more often during the pandemic, which increased cooking frequency. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' iEOs varied, and the parenting practices used to influence iEOs remained stable during the pandemic. Families experienced having more time together and cooking at home more often. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the U.S. National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute's (NFBJI's) investigation concerning the election process for blind voters during the 2008 presidential election. Study shows that 94 percent of legally blind people are registered voters and almost all of them voted in the election. This tends to boost NFBJI advocacy in the future. However, there are also areas in need of improvement though the overall voting experience is positive.

The articles examines the moral rights and obligations that should accompany public infrastructure in a technological society. The author focuses on the digital divide, a political euphemism used to name the technology gap that separates people along lines of race and class. The difference principle of John Rawls accepts social and economic inequalities only when they satisfy two conditions that are vital to this discussion of the digital divide. An overview of the digital divide in the U.S. is presented.

The article predicts a shortage in professional manpower in environmental health in the U.S. for 2007. An estimated 38,000 professionals are believed to be insufficiently trained or lack experiences for current responsibilities. They include occupational health nurses and physicians, hazardous materials managers and institutional environmental health specialists.

Multi-level factors act in concert to influence child weight-related behaviors. This study examined the simultaneous impact of variables obtained at the level of the home environment (e.g., mealtime ritualization), parent (e.g., modeling) and child (e.g., satiety responsiveness) with the outcomes of practicing healthy and limiting unhealthy child behaviors (PHCB and LUCB, respectively) in a low-income U.S. sample. This was a cross sectional study of caregivers of preschool children ( n = 432). Caregivers were interviewed using validated scales. Structural equation modeling was used to examine associations with the outcomes. Adjusting for study region, demographics and caregiver’s body mass index, we found significant associations between PHCB and higher mealtime ritualizations (β: 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11; 0.32, more parental modeling (β: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.27; 0.49) and less parental restrictive behavior (β: −0.19, 95% CI: −0.29; −0.10). More parental covert control (β: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.35; 0.54), more parental overt control (β: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.03; 0.25) and less parental permissive behavior (β: −0.25, 95% CI: −0.34; −0.09) were significantly associated with LUCB. Findings suggest the synergistic effects of mealtime ritualizations and covert control at the environmental-level and parental modeling, overt control, restrictive and permissive behavior at the parent-level on the outcomes. Most factors are modifiable and support multidisciplinary interventions that promote healthy child weight-related behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the work-family interface in a cross-cultural comparison between two nationally representative samples from the United States (n = 1,860) and Singapore (n = 1,035) with emphasis on work-family conflict. Family-to-work conflict was negatively related to marital satisfaction in both Singapore and the United States, although the effect was stronger in the United States. Similarly, family-to-work conflict was positively related to job satisfaction in the United States but was negatively related in Singapore. As expected, schedule flexibility was negatively related to depression in the United States, but in Singapore the relationship was positive. These findings suggest that theoretical relationships in the work-family interface developed in the more culturally individualistic West may need to be adapted when studying populations in the more collectivist East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Positive parenting is a correlate of resilience in rural Latinx early adolescents. • Effortful control is associated with resilience concurrently, but not across time. • Fathers' parenting is longitudinally linked to Latinx early adolescents' resilience. • Early adolescents' effortful control and resilience appear to be stable across time. The present study examined individual and environmental factors that are linked to resilience in a sample of rural Midwestern Latinx early adolescents in the United States (N = 123, mean age = 11.53 years; 56.9% female). Using resilience theory and the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework, we examined the associations of mothers' and fathers' positive parenting to early adolescents' (EAs) effortful control and resilience across two time points, and examined bidirectional relations between effortful control and resilience. Using structural equation modeling, we found positive concurrent associations at Time 1 (T1) between mothers' positive parenting and EAs' effortful control and resilience. Fathers' T1 positive parenting was positively associated with EAs' T1 effortful control, but not their resilience. Although mothers' positive parenting was not longitudinally associated with EA resilience, fathers' T1 positive parenting was associated with EAs' resilience at Time 2 (T2). Positive concurrent associations between effortful control and resilience were found at both time points; however, bidirectional effects were not significant. Our results suggest that resources such as positive parenting and effortful control have important implications for positive youth development in ethnic minority EAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Capture of cancer stage at diagnosis is important yet poorly reported by health services to population-based cancer registries. In this paper we describe current completeness of stage information for endometrial cancer available in Australian cancer registries; and develop and validate a set of rules to enable cancer registry medical coders to calculate stage using data available to them (registry-derived stage or 'RD-Stage')., Methodology: Rules for deriving RD-stage (Endometrial carcinoma) were developed using the American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) TNM (tumour, nodes, metastasis) Staging System (8 th Edition). An expert working group comprising cancer specialists responsible for delivering cancer care, epidemiologists and medical coders reviewed and endorsed the rules. Baseline completeness of data fields required to calculate RD-Stage, and calculation of the proportion of cases for whom an RD stage could be assigned, was assessed across each Australian jurisdiction. RD-Stage (Endometrial cancer) was calculated by Victorian Cancer Registry (VCR) medical coders and compared with clinical stage recorded by the patient's treating clinician and captured in the National Gynae-Oncology Registry (NGOR)., Results: The necessary data completeness level for calculating RD-Stage (Endometrial carcinoma) across various Australian jurisdictions varied from 0 to 89%. Three jurisdictions captured degree of spread of cancer, rendering RD-Stage unable to be calculated. RD-Stage (Endometrial carcinoma) could not be derived for 64/485 (13%) cases and was not captured for 44/485 (9%) cases in NGOR. At stage category level (I, II, III, IV), there was concordance between RD-Stage and NGOR captured stage in 393/410 (96%) of cases (95.8%, Kendall's coefficient = 0.95)., Conclusion: A lack of consistency in data captured by, and data sources reporting to, population-based cancer registries meant that it was not possible to provide national endometrial carcinoma stage data at diagnosis. In a sample of Victorian cases, where surgical pathology was available, there was very good concordance between RD-Stage (Endometrial carcinoma) and clinician-recorded stage data available from NGOR. RD-Stage offers promise in capturing endometrial cancer stage at diagnosis for population epidemiological purposes when it is not provided by health services, but requires more extensive validation., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This study evaluated adolescents' evening patterns in activities, social contact, and location to better understand antecedents to adolescents' sleep onset time (SOT). The SOT is important for sleep duration and related health outcomes. Using a nationally representative sample of 15- to 18-year-old adolescents from the American Time Use Survey (N = 10,341; 47% female; 57% white), structural equation modeling demonstrated that late SOTs mediated links between evening activities, social contact, locations, and shorter sleep durations. Passive leisure, time in public locations, and time with friends late in the evenings were associated with later SOTs, whereas homework and active leisure did not. Parents and practitioners can use this information to carefully evaluate evening activities, social contact, and location to support healthy SOTs for adolescents across time., (© 2023 Society for Research on Adolescence.)

Aims: Decades of scientific research have found optimism to have wide-ranging effects on individuals' health and well-being. Researchers have largely examined optimism in adults, but have begun addressing the benefits of optimism in adolescents. Challenges and stressors in adolescence can threaten youths' subjective well-being; therefore, identifying factors that contribute to the growth of optimism could have important health implications. However, researchers have more often examined the effect of optimism on youth outcomes rather than factors that might positively or negatively contribute to the development of optimism., Methods: We assessed how salient developmental tasks (resilience, ethnic pride, and school attachment), family stress, and depressive problems individually contribute to Latinx youths' optimism at two time points (N = 123, 58.8% female, M age = 11.54 years)., Results: We found support for associations between both resilience and school attachment and optimism, but findings were weaker across time and with stressors included in the model. Depressive problems also appeared to weaken optimism across time., Conclusion: Given the established links between optimism and health, it will be important for researchers to continue to identify factors that contribute to the development of youth optimism, and assess whether they could be used in interventions to foster optimism., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Identification of risk factors is critical to preventing the childhood obesity epidemic. Risk factors that contribute to obesity are multifactorial. However, limited research has focused on identifying obesity risk factors using an ecological approach., Methods: Baseline self-report survey data from the STRONG Kids program were used. The sample consisted of 329 parent-child dyads recruited from childcare programs in east-central Illinois. Child height and weight were measured and converted to age- and sex-specific z-scores using standard growth charts. An ecological model provided the theoretical framework for the selection of 22 previously reported childhood obesity risk factors. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors., Results: Of 22 potential risk factors, three were found to be significantly associated with child overweight/obesity. These included child nighttime sleep duration (χ(2)=8.56; p=0.003), parent BMI (χ(2)=5.62; p=0.01), and parental restrictive feeding for weight control (χ(2)=4.77; p=0.02). Children who slept for 8 hours and less were 2.2 times more likely to be overweight/obese [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3-3.7), whereas children with an overweight/obese parent were 1.9 times more likely to be overweight/obese (95% CI: 1.12-3.2). Finally, children whose parents used restrictive feeding practices were 1.75 times more likely to be overweight/obese (95% CI: 1.06-2.9)., Conclusions: Using an ecological approach, we conclude that childhood obesity prevention efforts may benefit from targeting the key risk factors of child sleep duration, parent BMI, and parental restrictive feeding practices as focus areas for obesity prevention.

Comprehensive Family Services (CFS) is a strengths-based and partnership-oriented approach to casework implemented through multiple initiatives. This study examines the relationship between the practice of CFS and satisfaction of clients, foster parents, and community partners. CFS indicators are paired with statewide customer satisfaction survey results. CFS practices are associated with significantly higher customer satisfaction that improved over time for all groups. Although causality cannot be determined, the relationship is consistent, robust, and meaningful.