Gender role orientation is associated with health-related quality of life differently among African-American, Hispanic, and White youth.

Purpose: This study examined the association between gender role orientation (GRO) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in youth, and how this relationship may differ between males and females as well as among African-American, White, and Hispanic individuals. GRO has been reported to influence serious health outcomes including cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and mortality rates. However, few studies have examined the link between GRO and health outcomes for children, even though gender identity is formed in childhood.

Common pathways toward informing policy and environmental strategies to promote health: a study of CDC's Prevention Research Centers.

This study examined the roles academic researchers can play to inform policy and environmental strategies that promote health and prevent disease. Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) engage in academic-community partnerships to conduct applied public health research. Interviews were used to collect data on the roles played by 32 PRCs to inform policy and environmental strategies that were implemented between September 2009 and September 2010.

Academic-health department collaborative relationships are reciprocal and strengthen public health practice: results from a study of academic research centers.

Background: Collaborations between academic institutions and state and local health departments have been shown to enhance the public health core functions of Assurance by improving the public health workforce's knowledge and skills. Few studies have analyzed how academic-health department collaborations enhance Assessment and Policy Development core functions. This qualitative study explores types of collaborations between health departments and Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) and how they align with the core functions.

A new taxonomy for stakeholder engagement in patient-centered outcomes research.

Despite widespread agreement that stakeholder engagement is needed in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), no taxonomy exists to guide researchers and policy makers on how to address this need. We followed an iterative process, including several stages of stakeholder review, to address three questions: (1) Who are the stakeholders in PCOR? (2) What roles and responsibilities can stakeholders have in PCOR? (3) How can researchers start engaging stakeholders? We introduce a flexible taxonomy called the 7Ps of Stakeholder Engagement and Six Stages of Research for identifying stakeholders and developing engagement strategies across the full spectrum of research activities. The path toward engagement will not be uniform across every research program, but this taxonomy offers a common starting point and a flexible approach.

Association of externalizing behavior disorder symptoms and injury among fifth graders.

Objective: Injury is the leading cause of death among American youth, killing more 11-year-olds than all other causes combined. Children with symptoms of externalizing behavior disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) may have increased risk. Our aims were to determine: (1) whether increasing symptoms of ADHD and CD associate positively with injuries among a community sample of fifth graders; and (2) whether symptoms of ADHD and CD have a multiplicative rather than additive association with injuries among the sample.

Training and technical assistance to enhance capacity building between prevention research centers and their partners.

Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has administered the Prevention Research Centers Program since 1986. We quantified the number and reach of training programs across all centers, determined whether the centers' outcomes varied by characteristics of the academic institution, and explored potential benefits of training and technical assistance for academic researchers and community partners. We characterized how these activities enhanced capacity building within Prevention Research Centers and the community.

Association of family stressful life-change events and health-related quality of life in fifth-grade children.

Objective: To examine the association of recent family-related stressful life-change events (SLEs) with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in fifth graders.

Design: Population-based, cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Three US metropolitan areas; 2004-2006.

The association of activity level, parent mental distress, and parental involvement and monitoring with unintentional injury risk in fifth graders.

Objective: Extend findings with young children by examining the strength of association of activity level, parent mental distress, and parental involvement and monitoring with fifth graders' unintentional injuries.

Methods: Ordinal logistic regression models were used to predict unintentional injury frequency among 4745 fifth-graders. Examined predictors included demographics, parent reports of mental distress, temperamental activity level (tendency to be fidgety, restless, and constantly in motion), and parental involvement and monitoring in adolescents' lives.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 in women: a MACS approach to testing for invariance across racial/ethnic groups.

This study used data from 3 sites to examine the invariance and psychometric characteristics of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 across Black, Hispanic, and White mothers of 5th graders (N = 4,711; M = 38.07 years of age, SD = 7.16).

Neighborhood characteristics favorable to outdoor physical activity: disparities by socioeconomic and racial/ethnic composition.

This paper uses a socioecological framework to investigate socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in neighborhood characteristics that are associated with outdoor physical activity. We surveyed 632 parents of 5th graders about perceptions of their neighborhood social processes and collected systematic observations of the physical environment on their block-face of residence. Higher poverty neighborhoods and non-White neighborhoods have better accessibility; however, they are less safe, less comfortable, and less pleasurable for outdoor physical activity, and have less favorable social processes.

Prevalence, characteristics, and associated health and health care of family homelessness among fifth-grade students.

Objectives: We describe the lifetime prevalence and associated health-related concerns of family homelessness among fifth-grade students.

Methods: We used a population-based, cross-sectional survey of 5147 fifth-grade students in 3 US cities to analyze parent-reported measures of family homelessness, child health status, health care access and use, and emotional, developmental, and behavioral health and child-reported measures of health-related quality of life and exposure to violence.

Results: Seven percent of parents reported that they and their child had experienced homelessness (i.

Project HeartBeat! Concept, development, and design.

Major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors begin development in childhood and adolescence. Project HeartBeat! studied early development of these risk factors as growth processes. Growth, body composition, sexual maturation, major CVD risk factors, and cardiac structure and function were monitored every 4 months for up to 4 years among 678 children and adolescents (49.

Effects of apolipoprotein E genotype on blood cholesterol in adolescent girls.

Background: Few investigations have examined whether associations between the apolipoprotein E genotype (apo E) and total cholesterol or LDL-C are modified or explained by other characteristics. The objective of this study was to explore effects of behavioral characteristics, physical growth, body composition, sexual maturation, and endocrine function on age trajectories of total cholesterol and LDL-C by apo E in adolescent girls.

Methods: Participants were 247 Caucasian adolescent girls followed for 4 years.

Evaluation of AAP guidelines for cholesterol screening in youth: Project HeartBeat!

Background: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) criterion for screening for hypercholesterolemia in children is family history of hypercholesterolemia or cardiovascular disease or BMI > or =85th percentile. This paper aims to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) of dyslipidemia screening using AAP criteria along with either family history or BMI.

Methods: Height, weight, plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, and family history were obtained for 678 children aged 8, 11, and 14 years, enrolled from 1991 to 1993 in Project HeartBeat!.

Blood lipids in children: age-related patterns and association with body-fat indices: Project HeartBeat!

Background: Longitudinal data on the normal development of blood lipids and its relationships with body fatness in children and adolescents are limited. Objectives of the current analysis were to estimate trajectories related to age for four blood lipid components and to examine the impact of change in body fatness on blood lipid levels, comparing estimated effects among adiposity indices, in children and adolescents.

Methods: Three cohorts, with a total of 678 children (49.

Physical activity, energy intake, sedentary behavior, and adiposity in youth.

Background: It is unclear to what extent factors affecting energy balance contribute to the development of body fatness in youth. The objective of the current study was to describe the relationship of physical activity, energy intake, and sedentary behavior to BMI, fat free-mass index (FFMI), and fat mass index (FMI) in children aged 10-18 years.

Methods: In the subsample studied, participants were 245 girls and 227 boys (aged > or =10 years at entry or during follow-up assessments, or aged 11-14 years at entry) followed for 4 years from entry at ages 8, 11, or 14 years.

Findings from Project HeartBeat! Their importance for CVD prevention.

Project HeartBeat! was a longitudinal "growth" study of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and body composition in childhood and adolescence. Its findings demonstrate patterns of change from ages 8 to 18 years in anthropometric indicators of adiposity, blood lipid components, and blood pressure measurements, as well as the varying inter-relations among these patterns. Especially noteworthy are differences among associations between the two components of BMI (kg/m(2))-the lean or fat-free mass index, and the fat mass index-and each of several CVD risk factors.

Racial/Ethnic disparities in the mental health care utilization of fifth grade children.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine racial/ethnic differences in fifth grade children's mental health care utilization.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from a study of 5147 fifth graders and their parents in 3 US metropolitan areas from 2004-06. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine racial/ethnic differences in mental health care utilization.

Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination among fifth-grade students and its association with mental health.

Objectives: We sought to describe the prevalence, characteristics, and mental health problems of children who experience perceived racial/ethnic discrimination.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from a study of 5147 fifth-grade students and their parents from public schools in 3 US metropolitan areas. We used multivariate logistic regression (overall and stratified by race/ethnicity) to examine the associations of sociodemographic factors and mental health problems with perceived racial/ethnic discrimination.

Substance use and delinquency among fifth graders who have jobs.

Background: Working for pay is associated with substance use and delinquency among older adolescents, although information is scant about younger youth who work. This study investigates associations between self-reports of having a job and substance use and delinquent behaviors in a sample of U.S.

Weight status, quality of life, and self-concept in African American, Hispanic, and white fifth-grade children.

This study examined the association between weight status and quality of life (QOL) in fifth-grade African American, Hispanic, and white children and the potential mediation of this relationship by self-concept. A sample was recruited from fifth-grade public school students in three sites, of whom 599 were African American (40%), Hispanic (34%), or white (26%). During a home interview, physical and psychosocial QOL and global and body-specific self-concept were measured.

Community engagement in Prevention Research: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention Research Centers' National Community Committee.

The Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports prevention research using community-based participatory research (CBPR) and other community engagement approaches. This paper describes the development of the PRC's National Community Committee (NCC), how the committee strengthened the national program's commitment to CBPR, the impact the committee's activities have had on national initiatives, and the lessons learned from supporting a national community approach in a prevention research program. Community representatives from each PRC's community committee were invited to share and exchange resources, knowledge, and skills to guide the national program.

Influences of physical and social neighborhood environments on children's physical activity and obesity.

Objectives: We investigated the association between physical and social neighborhood environments and fifth-grade students' physical activity and obesity.

Methods: We collected data on 650 children and their primary caregivers during phase 1 of Healthy Passages, a multisite, community-based, cross-sectional study of health risk behaviors and health outcomes in children. We conducted independent systematic neighborhood observations to measure neighborhood physical characteristics, and we analyzed survey data on social processes.

Positive parenting and early puberty in girls: protective effects against aggressive behavior.

Objective: To determine whether positive parenting practices are associated with less aggressive and delinquent behavior in early-maturing girls.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Interviews with a community sample of children and their caregivers were conducted in their homes or in a research setting.