Adverse childhood experiences, dispositional mindfulness, and adult health.

Objective: To determine whether greater dispositional mindfulness is associated with better adult health across a range of exposures to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

Methods: In 2012, a web-based survey of 2160 Pennsylvania Head Start staff was conducted. We assessed ACE score (count of eight categories of childhood adversity), dispositional mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised), and the prevalence of three outcomes: multiple health conditions (≥ 3 of 7 conditions), poor health behavior (≥ 2 of 5 behaviors), and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) (≥ 2 of 5 indicators).

Teachers' perceptions about children's movement and learning in early childhood education programmes.

Background: Efforts to improve the academic skills of preschool-aged children have resulted in approaches that tend to limit children's movement. However, movement experiences have long been considered important to children's learning and have received increased attention because of the obesity epidemic. Early childhood educators are important sources of information about if and how to promote learning and school readiness through movement, but little effort has been made to understand teachers' views on this topic.

The physical and mental health of Head Start staff: the Pennsylvania Head Start staff wellness survey, 2012.

Introduction: Despite attention to the health of low-income children in Head Start, little is known about the health of adults working for the program. The objective of our study was to compare the physical and mental health of women working in Pennsylvania Head Start programs with the health of US women who have similar sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: We used data from a web-based survey in 2012 in which 2,199 of 3,375 (65.

Obesity and food insecurity at the same table: how head start programs respond.

Introduction: Head Start is a federally funded early childhood education program that serves just over 900,000 US children, many of whom are at risk for obesity, are living in food insecure households, or both. The objective of this study was to describe Head Start practices related to assessing body mass index (BMI), addressing food insecurity, and determining portion sizes at meals.

Methods: A survey was mailed in 2008 to all eligible Head Start programs (N = 1,810) as part of the Study of Healthy Activity and Eating Practices and Environments in Head Start.

Quality of early maternal-child relationship and risk of adolescent obesity.

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine whether obesity in adolescence is related to the quality of the early maternal-child relationship.

Methods: We analyzed data from 977 of 1364 participants in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Child attachment security and maternal sensitivity were assessed by observing mother-child interaction at 15, 24, and 36 months of age.