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                 Friday Notes

Friday Notes is intended to share current information, resources and notices.

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                         July 29, 2011
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In this issue
2011 Indicators of Child Well-Being Released
Child Death Review Testimony
Social Safety Net Can Lessen Obesity
Federal Interagency Forum Releases Data on Key Indicators of Child Well-Being
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011 summarizes a set of measures on important aspects of children's lives that federal agencies collect.

The 2011 report, the 15th in an ongoing series published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, focuses on seven domains of child well-being, including family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety and behavior.

Some highlights:
  • There were 50.6 births for every 1,000 unmarried women ages 15-44 in 2009; 41 percent of all births were to unmarried women.    
  • In 2009, the adolescent birth rate was 20.1 per 1,000 adolescents ages 15-17, lower than the 2008 rate of 21.7 and the 2007 rate of 22.1 per 1,000. The rate has decreased for two consecutive years, continuing a decline briefly interrupted in 2005-2007; the longterm reduction began 1991-1992.    
  • Younger children are more frequently victims of child maltreatment than are older children. In 2009, there were 21 substantiated child maltreatment reports per 1,000 children under age 1, compared with 12 for children ages 1-3, 11 for children ages 4-7, 9 for children ages 8-11, 8 for children ages 12-15, and 6 for adolescents ages 16-17.
  • In 2009, 21 percent of all children ages 0-17 (15.5 million) lived in poverty. This is up from the low of 16 percent in 2000 and 2001. The poverty rate for all children increased from 18 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2009. This trend is consistent with expectations related to the recent economic downturn.  
  • The percentage of infants born preterm declined for the third straight year in 2009, to 12.2 percent, down from a high of 12.8 percent in 2006. The percentage of infants born with low birthweight did not change between 2008 and 2009.
You can read the full report and other highlights at childstats.gov.
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Covington Testifies on Child Death Review

Teri Covington, who began child death review in Michigan and is now Senior Program Director of the National Resource Center for Child Death Review, testified in front of the Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, on July 12.

 

Read Teri Covington's full testimony here.

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Study: Stronger Social Safety Net Leads to Decrease in Stress, Childhood Obesity
Social safety net programs that reduce psychosocial stressors for low-income families also ultimately lead to a reduction in childhood obesity, according to research by a University of Illinois economist who studies the efficacy of food assistance programs on public health.

Craig Gundersen, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at Illinois, says food and exercise alone are not to blame for the extent of obesity among children in the United States. Psychosocial factors, such as stressors brought about by uncertainty about the economy, income inequality, and a fraying social safety net also must be considered, he says. The study was recently published in the journal Obesity Reviews.

"Energy-in, energy-out is important, but energy imbalance isn't the only thing leading to overweight status among children," said Gundersen, the executive director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory at Illinois. "We also know that people have very different ways of responding to the same amount of food intake and exercise, and one of the factors that may influence how people react to eating and exercise is through the amount of stress they're under."

Gundersen says stressors are particularly prevalent for low-income children, a demographic group that has high rates of obesity in the U.S. and other developed countries. Read more.

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Contributors to this Issue
Associated Press
AHIP HI-Wire
HealthDay
MPHI
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Quick Links . . .


Evidence Links Increases in Public Health Spending in Declines in Preventable Death

A recent Health Affairs article suggests that increased public health investments can produce measurable improvements in health, especially in low-resource communities.

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 Cell Phones Don't Seem to Pose Cancer Risk to Kids: Study Children who use cell phones don't seem to face an increased risk of brain cancer, compared to children who don't use them, a new study contends. But, the study authors and other experts cautioned that more research is needed.  

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Kids From Unplanned Pregnancies Tend to Lag Behind, Lower Socioeconomic Status

Young children born after unplanned pregnancies tend to have a smaller vocabulary and poorer non-verbal and spatial abilities than other children, but these problems are actually due to socioeconomic factors, a new study suggests.

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Special Needs Kids Bullied More, Fare Poorly at School

Many special needs kids who struggle with medical, emotional or behavioral issues often face tough social and academic troubles in school, a new study suggests.

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Poor Health Linked to Very Preemie Birth Stabilizes by Adolescence Children who are born at extremely low birth weights (below 2.2 pounds) are susceptible to a number of chronic health conditions, such as asthma. But, new research suggests that between 8 and 14 years of age, any lingering chronic illness in extremely low birth weight babies tends to stay about the same -- not getting better, but also not getting worse, with the one exception being obesity.

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More Kids Eating Calorie-Packed Take-out Food

The obesity epidemic is being fueled still further by a growing trend among kids to eat out and bring take-out food home, University of North Carolina researchers say.

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Americans Show Rising Support for Abortion Rights: Poll

Despite recent moves by some states to restrict access to abortion, more Americans now support a woman's right to choose than they did two years ago, a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds.

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The Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Healthblur image MCMCH is made up of
member organizations who share a commitment to the health of
Michigan's women, children and families.
To learn more go to http://www.mcmch.org or email info@mcmch.org.

             Amy Zaagman - Executive Director - azaagman@mcmch.org
     Jennifer Gorchow - Communications Manager - jgorchow@mcmch.org 
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