Maternal and Child Health Library
This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html
September 18, 2009
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Special Notice: This year's observance of Child Health Day (October 5,
2009) focuses on ensuring that all children and youth, including those
with special health care needs, have the services and support necessary
for full community inclusion through medical homes. The MCH Library's
Child Health Day Web page contains resources on this topic from the
American Academy of Pediatrics' National Center for Medical Home
Implementation, the Medical Home Portal, and the National Medical Home
Autism Initiative. Additional resources, including an archive of Child
Health Day materials, are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/childhealthday.html.
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1. NIH Releases New Tool to Enhance Access to Information
on Funded Grants, Contracts, and Products
2. Brief Focuses on State Policies and Social-Emotional
Development in Young Children
3. Workshop Elicits Public Input on Child Health and
Health Disparities
4. Article Investigates Associations Between Maternal
Literacy Levels and Cognitive Home Environment in Families with Low
Incomes
5. Study Examines Relationship Features and Likelihood of
Consistent Condom Use in Adolescents
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1. NIH RELEASES NEW TOOL TO ENHANCE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON FUNDED
GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND PRODUCTS
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online
Reporting Tool (RePORT) has launched RePORTER, a system to make funding
data, research results, and products for NIH grants and contracts
available to the public. The system combines NIH project databases and
funding records, PubMed abstracts, full-text articles from PubMed
Central, and information from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with
a search engine. Users can locate descriptions and funding details on
NIH-funded projects along with research results that cite the NIH
support. RePORTER is the newest tool on the RePORT Web site, NIH's
online repository of reports, data, and analyses of research-related
funding. RePORTER is available at http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm.
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2. BRIEF FOCUSES ON STATE POLICIES AND SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN
YOUNG CHILDREN
Promoting Social-Emotional Wellbeing in Early Intervention Services: A
Fifty-State View examines how states have leveraged different policy
choices to support the integration of social-emotional development into
early intervention services. The brief, published by the National
Center for Children in Poverty with support from the Commonwealth Fund,
is based on a survey of 48 state early intervention (Part C)
coordinators to determine whether states were maximizing current
policies, including fiscal policies, to provide effective child
development and prevention services to young children, especially those
at risk for social-emotional delays. The report is organized into four
parts. Part 1 provides an overview of Part C of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. Part 2 explains the study rationale and
methodology. Part 3 lays out the findings of the study. Part 4 presents
a summary of the key findings, the implications for public policy, and
recommendations. The report is available at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_885.pdf.
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3. WORKSHOP ELICITS PUBLIC INPUT ON CHILD HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
Focusing on Children's Health: Community Approaches to Addressing
Health Disparities: Workshop Summary discusses the association between
early-life socioeconomic conditions and adult health-related behaviors,
morbidity, and mortality and opportunities to influence health early in
the life course. The report, published by the National Academies Press,
summarizes the presentations and discussions that occurred during a
public workshop held on January 24, 2008, that was co-sponsored by the
Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Roundtable on Health Disparities; the
IOM's Board on Children, Youth, and Families; the Satcher Health
Leadership Institute of the Morehouse School of Medicine; and the
Healthcare Georgia Foundation. The purpose of the workshop was to
advance the dialogue about health disparities by facilitating
discussion among stakeholders in the community, academia, health care,
business, policy, and philanthropy. Topics include the evidence linking
early childhood life conditions and adult health, the contribution of
the early life course to observed racial and ethnic disparities in
health, and successful models that engage both community factors and
health care to affect life course development. The report is available
at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12637 (requires sign-in for free .pdf download).
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4. ARTICLE INVESTIGATES ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN MATERNAL LITERACY LEVELS
AND COGNITIVE HOME ENVIRONMENT IN FAMILIES WITH LOW INCOMES
"Literacy may be a more specific indicator of risk than educational
level in low-income families," write the authors of an article
published in the September 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine. Children who grow up in low-income households have
an increased risk of developmental delay and poor school achievement,
contributing to an ongoing cycle of poverty. A contributing factor is
the cognitive home environment, and the impact of socioeconomic status
on the cognitive home environment is, in part, related to low maternal
education level. This article reports on a study that sought to
determine the degree to which maternal literacy level accounts for
associations between educational level and the cognitive home
environment in households with low incomes.
The study sample consisted of 278 mother-newborn dyads who were
enrolled from November 1, 2005, through November 30, 2006, in a
longitudinal study of early childhood development. Mothers were
assessed during two different time periods, first during the mothers'
postpartum hospital stays and second when the infants were 6 months
old. Independent variables included maternal literacy level and
maternal education level; the dependent variable was cognitive home
environment, which was assessed using StimQ, a questionnaire designed
for use in research and clinical settings that is based on a structured
interview with the child's caregiver. StimQ has four subscales, which
measure the following: (1) availability of learning materials, (2)
shared reading activities, (3) frequency and quality of teaching
activities parents engage in with their children, and (4) verbal
interactions between parents and their children.
The authors found that
- Most mothers were immigrants of Latina ethnicity, and mean
maternal
educational grade level was 10.5.
- In unadjusted analyses, maternal literacy level of ninth grade or
higher was associated with increases in scores for overall StimQ and
each of the four subscales; maternal educational level of ninth grade
or higher was associated with increases in scores for overall StimQ and
three of the four subscales.
- In simultaneous multiple linear regression models including both
literacy and educational levels and all potential confounders, literacy
level continued to be associated with scores for overall StimQ and all
subscales except teaching, whereas maternal educational level was no
longer significantly associated with scores for StimQ or any of its
subscales; maternal educational level of ninth grade or higher was no
longer significantly associated with increases in scores for overall
StimQ or any of its subscales.
The authors conclude that, "given the relationship between low literacy
level and parenting behaviors known to be related to child outcomes,
pediatricians should consider developing strategies to identify mothers
with low literacy levels in order to support the cognitive home
environments for children of low-literacy parents."
Green CO, Berkule SB, Dreyer BP. 2009. Maternal literacy and
associations between education and the cognitive home environment in
low-income families. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
163(9):832-837. Abstract available at http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/163/9/832?rss=1.
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5. STUDY EXAMINES RELATIONSHIP FEATURES AND LIKELIHOOD OF CONSISTENT
CONDOM USE IN ADOLESCENTS
"The findings from this research move our understanding of adolescents'
condom use consistency forward by focusing on dating relationship
qualities and characteristics," state the authors of an article
published in the September 2009 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and
Reproductive Health. Inconsistent condom use elevates an adolescent's
risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). How young people's
relationship types and qualities are linked to their sexual behavior is
unclear. The article describes findings from a study to examine how
positive and negative characteristics of adolescents' sexual
relationships are associated with their use of condoms. The study
builds on prior research by evaluating a comprehensive range of
relationship qualities, as reported by adolescents, and focuses on
consistent condom use.
Data for the study were drawn from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships
Study, a representative survey of students in 7th, 9th, and 11th grades
in 2001. The study sample included females and males ages 12-19 who
reported on their current or most recent relationship and had had sex
with that dating partner (n=269). The dependent variable -- consistent
condom use -- was based on adolescents' responses to how often they
used condoms with their current or most recent dating partner. The
study assessed six measures of negative relationship qualities
(controlling behavior, conflict, partner mistrust, perceived partner
inferiority, jealousy, nonexclusivity agreement); four measures of
positive relationship qualities (intimate self-disclosure, enmeshment,
passionate love, relationship salience); and five demographic
characteristics of the relationship (ongoing, duration, age heterogamy,
racial and ethnic heterogamy, school heterogamy, and sexual experience
asymmetry). The analyses also included indicators commonly used to
predict condom use (age, gender, race and ethnicity, family structure,
parents' education, parental monitoring, parental communication about
dating and sex, self-esteem, grades, previously sexually inexperienced,
and delinquency).
The authors found that
- Most of the negative relationship qualities were negatively
associated with consistent condom use. The one exception was that
having a nonexclusive relationship was positively associated with using
a condom every time.
- Every positive relationship quality was associated with reduced
odds of consistent use.
- Relationship duration was negatively associated with consistent
condom use. However, the association between duration and consistency
of condom use was in part explained by salience (feelings of importance
of the relationship).
- Associations between relationship qualities and consistency of
condom use were similar for males and females, with one exception: an
increased conflict score was associated with lowered odds of consistent
condom use among females, but not among males.
"Adolescents in all types of relationships are at risk for STDs and
pregnancies, and programmatic response should attend to the full range
of risk," conclude the authors.
Manning WD, Flanigan CM, Giordano PC, et al. 2009. Relationship
dynamics and consistency of condoms use among adolescents. Perspectives
on Sexual and Reproductive Health 41(3):181-190. Abstract available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4118109.html.
Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library
resource:
- Adolescent Health: Resource Brief at
http://mchlibrary.info/guides/adolescent.html
- Sexuality Education: Resource Brief at
http://mchlibrary.info/guides/sexuality.html
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and
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