Additional information
by Nancy S. Landale (Editor), Susan M. McHale (Editor), Alan Booth (Editor)
In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on the early origins of adult health. A growing body of evidence documents that maternal health before conception, prenatal and perinatal exposures, and conditions in childhood play critical roles in health over the life course. Scientific understanding of the multiple and interacting influences on child health and their role in later health continues to evolve rapidly, but greater attention to how families shape the conditions of early life that underlie childhood health is needed. This volume aims to advance understanding of this topic, with attention to mechanisms through which health disparities emerge and are sustained across the lifespan.
Back Jacket
An adult's health is determined not only by stress levels, food choices, and recreational habits. Science is paying increased attention to the roles of prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood conditions in shaping health and well-being across the lifespan.
Families and Child Health brings clarity to this complex and multifaceted topic. This comprehensive volume presents analyses of the interactions between the "nature" and "nurture" components of the equation, providing current findings on in utero nutrition and development and examining the roles of social determinants and family discord in the creation of health disparities. Contributors emphasize opportunities for prevention and intervention and make the case for interdisciplinary collaboration. Among the topics covered in depth are:
- Early developmental origins of chronic disease.
- Lifecourse exposures and social disparities in child health.
- The science of designing, implementing, and evaluating programs and policies for child health.
- Effects of early psychosocial deprivation on children's cognitive and social development.
- The family-friendly workplace and its impact on child and family health.
- Integrating perspectives on children's health.
Families and Child Health is bedrock reading for researchers, professors, and graduate students in disparate fields such as policy analysis, human development, family studies, sociology, social welfare, family demography, public health, health science, clinical psychology, social psychology, behavioral medicine, and public policy. Policymakers will also find it of considerable importance.
Author Biography
Nancy Landale, Ph.D., is Liberal Arts Research Professor of Sociology and Demography at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Landale's areas of interest include family demography, children's health, immigration and immigrant incorporation, and the Hispanic population. She is widely known for her research on the implications of migration to the U.S. mainland for family processes and maternal/infant health among Puerto Ricans. Her current work focuses on the educational and health outcomes of Mexican children of immigrants.
Susan McHale, Ph.D., is Director of the Social Science Research Institute and The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium and Professor of Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on children's and adolescents' family roles, relationships, and daily experiences and how these family dynamics are linked to youth development and adjustment. Alan Booth, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development & Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. He has been a senior scientist in Penn State's Population Research Institute since 1991. Dr. Booth has co-organized the university's National Symposium of Family Issues since its inception in 1993. He is the author of more than 100 scholarly articles, four books, and editor of 16 volumes. He was editor of Journal of Marriage and The Family from 1985-1991. Dr. Booth directed a 20 year study of marital instability in a national sample of 2000 married persons. The project has been the basis for many studies on the causes of divorce, the effects of divorce on children's well-being, remarriage and step families, as well as the effects on psychological distress, educational achievement, romantic relationships and family formation of having a non-resident parent.
