Duane F. Alexander (1940-2020).

This article is in memory of Duane F. Alexander, who directed the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) from 1986 to 2009. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Depressive symptoms during pregnancy and the concentration of fatty acids in breast milk.

The aim of the present study was to examine the association between depressive symptoms in pregnancy and the concentration of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) in breast milk. Women (n = 287) enrolled in the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in pregnancy (< 20 and 24-29 weeks) and had LCPUFAs measured in breast milk (4 months postpartum). Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between depressive symptoms and breast milk LCPUFAs.

Preventing young children's injuries: analysis of data from a population-based surveillance.

The objective of this study is to determine prevention strategies for potentially serious injury events among children younger than 3 years of age based upon circumstances surrounding injury events. Surveillance was conducted on all injuries to District of Columbia (DC) residents less than 3 years old that resulted in an Emergency Department (ED) visit, hospitalization, or death for 1 year. Data were collected through abstraction of medical records and interviews with a subset of parents of injured children.

Breastfeeding and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid intake in the first 4 post-natal months and infant cognitive development: an observational study.

The aim of this study was to examine infant feeding and the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) concentration of breast milk and formulas in relation to infant development. The prospective Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition Study (n=358) collected data on breastfeeding, breast milk samples and the formulas fed through 4months post-partum. At 12months of age, infants' development was assessed (Mullen Scales of Early Learning).

A prospective study of maternal anxiety, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms in relation to infant cognitive development.

Aim: Our objective was to examine the associations between maternal psychological health (trait anxiety, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms) during pregnancy or postpartum and infant visual, language, motor, and overall cognitive development.

Study Design And Methods: In the prospective Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study (2001-2006), central North Carolina women completed self-administered questionnaires during pregnancy to assess trait anxiety and depressive symptoms. An in-person interview assessed maternal perceived stress and depressive symptoms in the 4th postpartum month.

Improving cost-effectiveness of epidemiological studies via designed missingness strategies.

Modern epidemiological studies face opportunities and challenges posed by an ever-expanding capacity to measure a wide range of environmental exposures, along with sophisticated biomarkers of exposure and response at the individual level. The challenge of deciding what to measure is further complicated for longitudinal studies, where logistical and cost constraints preclude the collection of all possible measurements on all participants at every follow-up time. This is true for the National Children's Study (NCS), a large-scale longitudinal study that will enroll women both prior to conception and during pregnancy and collect information on their environment, their pregnancies, and their children's development through early adulthood-with a goal of assessing key exposure/outcome relationships among a cohort of approximately 100 000 children.

Assault-injured adolescents presenting to the emergency department: causes and circumstances.

Objectives: To describe the causes and circumstances of conflict leading to assault injury among urban youth seeking care in the emergency department.

Methods: The authors conducted in-person and telephone interviews with a convenience sample of 143 youth aged 12-19 years presenting to two urban emergency departments with an interpersonal assault injury. Patients were interviewed about the nature and circumstances of their injury.

Bullying and symptoms among school-aged children: international comparative cross sectional study in 28 countries.

Background: There have been no large-scale international comparisons on bullying and health among adolescents. This study examined the association between bullying and physical and psychological symptoms among adolescents in 28 countries.

Methods: This international cross-sectional survey included 123,227 students 11, 13 and 15 years of age from a nationally representative sample of schools in 28 countries in Europe and North America in 1997-98.

Headache, stomachache, backache, and morning fatigue among adolescent girls in the United States: associations with behavioral, sociodemographic, and environmental factors.

Background: Data on the prevalence and co-occurrence of multiple somatic symptoms among US adolescent females as they are influenced by sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental factors is limited.

Objectives: To describe the health status of adolescent US females measured by the prevalence, frequency, and co-occurrence of headache, stomachache, backache, and morning fatigue and to investigate associations between selected risk and protective factors.

Design, Setting, And Participants: School-based, cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of adolescents in the 6th through 10th grades in the US.

Prevalence of and risk factors for depressive symptoms among young adolescents.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, risk factors, and risk behaviors associated with depressive symptoms in a nationally representative, cross-sectional sample of young adolescents.

Design: A school-based survey collected through self-administered questionnaires in grades 6, 8, and 10 in 1996.

Setting: Schools in the United States.

A cross-national study of violence-related behaviors in adolescents.

Background: Violent behavior among adolescents is a significant problem worldwide, and a cross-national comparison of adolescent violent behaviors can provide information about the development and pattern of physical violence in young adolescents.

Objectives: To determine and compare frequencies of adolescent violence-related behaviors in 5 countries and to examine associations between violence-related behaviors and potential explanatory characteristics.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Cross-sectional, school-based nationally representative survey at ages 11.

Adolescent assault injury: risk and protective factors and locations of contact for intervention.

Background: Violence is a large contributor to morbidity and mortality among adolescents. Most studies assessing markers for violent injury are cross-sectional. To guide intervention, we conducted a case-control study to explore factors associated with assault injury and locations to reach at-risk adolescents.

Relationships between bullying and violence among US youth.

Objective: To determine the extent to which bullying and being bullied, both in and away from school, is associated with involvement in violent behavior.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A US representative cross-sectional sample of 15 686 students in grades 6 through 10 in public and private schools completed the World Health Organization's Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey in 1998.

Main Outcome Measures: Self-report of weapon carrying, weapon carrying in school, physical fighting, and being injured in a physical fight.

The National Children's Study of environmental effects on child health and development.

Increasing recognition that children may be more susceptible than adults to environmental exposures and that they experience potentially life-long consequences of such exposures has led to widespread support for a large new cohort study in the United States. In this article, we propose a framework for a new cohort study of children, with follow-up beginning before birth and continuing to age 21 years. We also describe the administrative structure that has been built to develop the proposal further.

Pediatric environmental health competencies for specialists.

Background: Because environmental health problems are complex and require specialty training, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association initiated a 3-year postgraduate fellowship in Pediatric Environmental Health.

Objective: To develop competencies for the specialty of Pediatric Environmental Health and appropriate measures (performance indicators) for the achievement of these competencies.

Methods: The President of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association appointed a 6-member Fellowship Oversight Committee to guide the development of the Fellowship Program and to draft competencies for fellows in Pediatric Environmental Health.

Multiple risk behavior and injury: an international analysis of young people.

Background: Multiple risk behavior plays an important role in the social etiology of youth injury, yet the consistency of this observation has not been examined multinationally.

Objective: To examine reports from young people in 12 countries, by country, age group, sex, and injury type, to quantify the strength and consistency of this association.

Setting: World Health Organization collaborative cross-national survey of health behavior in school-aged children.

Injury surveillance in the ED: design, implementation, and analysis.

Comprehensive, population-based surveillance for nonfatal injuries requires uniform methods for data collection from multiple hospitals. To show issues related to design and implementation of multihospital, emergency department (ED), injury surveillance, a city-wide system in the United States is discussed. From October 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996 all injury-related ED visits among District of Columbia residents <3 years of age were ascertained at the 10 hospitals where city children routinely sought care.