Trends and Patterns in US Pediatric Care Coordination, 2016-2022.

Pediatric care coordination (PCC) has been shown to improve quality of care and health outcomes. This study documents trends and patterns in parent-reported receipt of PCC between 2016 and 2022 (n=279,546). Rates of PCC declined throughout this period and were particularly low for children with special health care needs.

Assessments of working group effectiveness in the planning of the New Jersey Kids Study: An applied mixed-methods study on the science of team science.

Introduction: The New Jersey Kids Study (NJKS) is a transdisciplinary statewide initiative to understand influences on child health, development, and disease. We conducted a mixed-methods study of project planning teams to investigate team effectiveness and relationships between team dynamics and quality of deliverables.

Methods: Ten theme-based working groups (WGs) (e.

Small for gestational age and age at menarche in a contemporary population-based U.S. sample.

Children born small for gestational age (SGA) may be at risk for earlier puberty and adverse long-term health sequelae. This study investigates associations between SGA and age at menarche using secondary data on 1,027 female children in a population-based U.S.

Clinical and functional characteristics of children and young adults with cerebral palsy and co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Background: Emerging research shows that children and young adults (CYAs) with cerebral palsy (CP) are at higher risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, little is known about the clinical and functional characteristics of CYAs with these co-occurring disorders.

Aim: To estimate associations between a diagnosis of ADHD among CYAs with CP and clinical and functional characteristics.

Paternal depression in the postpartum year and children's behaviors at age 5 in an urban U.S. birth cohort.

Objective: To investigate associations between postpartum depression in fathers and children's behaviors at age 5 in a national high-risk U.S. sample.

Chronic health conditions and adolescents' social connectedness.

This study investigated associations between chronic developmental/behavioral and physical health conditions and social connectedness of adolescents using rich population-based data from a national U.S. birth cohort study.

Early Childcare Precarity and Subsequent Maternal Health.

Purpose: We examined prospective associations between early childcare precarity, or the security and reliability of childcare arrangements, and subsequent maternal health.

Study Design: We conducted a secondary analysis of survey responses from mothers of 2,836 children in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing study. We assessed the following childcare measures: insecure childcare, insecure childcare with missed work, inadequate childcare, and emergency childcare support.

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments.

This study investigates the effects of welfare reform-a major policy shift in the United States that increased low-income mothers' employment and reliance on earnings instead of cash assistance-on the quality of the home environments mothers provide for their preschool-age children. Using empirical methods designed to identify plausibly causal effects, we estimate the effects of welfare reform on validated survey and observational measures of maternal behaviors that support children's cognitive skills and emotional adjustment and the material goods that parents purchase to stimulate their children's skill development. The results suggest that welfare reform did not affect the amount of time and material resources mothers devoted to cognitively stimulating activities with their young children.

Municipal social expenditures and maternal health disparities: a study of linked birth and hospitalisation records.

Background: Local government expenditures provide services and benefits that can affect health but the extent to which they are associated with narrowing or widening of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health is unknown. We examined race/ethnicity-stratified and education-stratified associations between municipal social expenditures-those on housing, transportation, education, and other society-wide needs-and serious life-threatening maternal health conditions in a large US state.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used individual birth records for 1 003 974 births in the state of New Jersey from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2018 linked to individual maternal hospital discharge records and municipality-level characteristics for 564 municipalities.

Trends in Elective Deliveries in California and New Jersey.

Introduction: Cesarean section deliveries in the U.S. increased from 5% of births in 1970 to 32% in 2020.

Small-for-Gestational-Age and Vocabulary and Achievement Test Scores at Age 9 Among Children Born at Term in a Contemporary U.S. Sample.

Introduction: Children that are small-for-gestational-age (SGA) at birth are at an increased risk for cognitive impairment, even if born at term (37-41 weeks). This study examined associations between sex-specific SGA and vocabulary and achievement tests in 9 year old children born at term using a contemporary population-based US sample.

Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of 2144 children born at term in 1998-2000 who participated in a US birth cohort study that oversampled non-marital births, which in the U.

Association of Increasing the Minimum Wage in the US With Experiences of Maternal Stressful Life Events.

Importance: Exposure to stressful life events (SLEs) before and during pregnancy is associated with adverse health for pregnant people and their children. Minimum wage policies have the potential to reduce exposure to SLEs among socioeconomically disadvantaged pregnant people.

Objective: To examine the association of increasing the minimum wage with experience of maternal SLEs.

Racialized police use of force and birth outcomes.

Objective: To estimate associations between police use of force (PUOF) in local jurisdictions and birth outcomes of Black women compared to White women.

Methods: Using birth records linked to municipal police department data on PUOF incidents, we estimated associations between overall and racialized PUOF and birth outcomes of 75,461 Black women and 278,372 White women across 430 municipalities in New Jersey (2012-2016).

Results: Overall PUOF was not associated with birth outcomes of Black or White women.

Effects of Welfare Reform on Positive Health and Social Behaviors of Adolescents.

This paper explores a missing link in the literature on welfare reform in the U.S.-the effects on positive health and social behaviors of adolescents, who represent the next generation of potential welfare recipients.

Association Between Housing Affordability and Severe Maternal Morbidity.

Importance: The number of people living in unaffordable housing (relative to income) is projected to continue increasing as housing cost inflation outpaces incomes in the US. Although reproductive-aged women have disproportionately high housing costs, particularly around the time of childbirth, data on associations between housing costs and maternal health and the role of publicly supported affordable housing programs in mitigating those associations are lacking.

Objective: To estimate associations between area-level rental housing costs and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) and assess the potential mitigating role of publicly supported affordable housing.

Racial differences in the impact of maternal smoking on sudden unexpected infant death.

Background: Prenatal smoking increases the risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). Whether exposure patterns and associations differ by race requires further study.

Objectives: Determine if patterns of exposure and associations between SUID and maternal smoking before and during pregnancy differ by race.

Gestational Age at Term and Teacher-Reported Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptom Patterns.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate associations between gestational age and teacher-reported attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related symptom patterns at age 9 years among children born at term (37-41 weeks).

Study Design: A secondary data analysis of approximately 1400 children in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, a US birth cohort study that oversampled nonmarital births, was conducted. At age 9 years, students were evaluated by their teachers using the Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised Short Form that included subscales for symptoms of hyperactivity, ADHD, oppositional behavior, and cognitive problems/inattention.

Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach.

Maternal depression is associated with adverse impacts on the health of women and their children. However, further evidence is needed on the extent to which maternal depression influences women's economic well-being and how unmeasured confounders affect estimates of this relationship. In this study, we aimed to measure the association between maternal depression and economic outcomes (income, employment, and material hardship) over a 15-year time horizon.

Elective Deliveries and the Risk of Autism.

Introduction: Cesarean section and induced deliveries have increased substantially in the U.S., coinciding with increases in autism spectrum disorder.

Generational Shifts in Young Adult Cardiovascular Health? Millennials and Generation X in the United States and England.

Objectives: To compare cardiovascular (CV) risks/conditions of Millennials (born 1981-1996) to those of Generation X (Gen X; born 1965-1980) at ages 20-34 years, across 2 countries (United States, England), by gender.

Methods: Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (United States) and Health Survey for England, we estimated weighted unadjusted and adjusted gender-specific proportions of CV risk factors/conditions, separately for Millennials and Generation X in each country. We also further calculated sex-specific generational differences in CV risk factor/conditions by income tercile and for individuals with normal body weight.

Effects of welfare reform on household food insecurity across generations.

This study estimates the effects of welfare reform in the 1990s, which permanently restructured and contracted the cash assistance system in the U.S., on food insecurity-a fundamental form of material hardship-of the next generation of households.

Municipality-Level Variation in Severe Maternal Morbidity and Association With Municipal Expenditures in New Jersey.

Importance: Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) is a major risk factor for maternal mortality, yet little is known about geographic variation in SMM or factors associated with geographical variation at the local level. Municipal governments incur substantial expenditures providing services that are an essential part of residents' lives, but associations between municipal expenditures and SMM have not been previously examined.

Objective: To investigate variation in rates of SMM across municipalities in New Jersey, the contributions of individual-level characteristics and municipal expenditures to that variation, and associations between municipal expenditures and SMM.

Depression in the Postpartum Year and Life Course Economic Trajectories.

Introduction: Perinatal depression affects 13% of childbearing individuals in the U.S. and has been linked to an increased risk of household economic insecurity in the short term.

INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS OF WELFARE REFORM: ADOLESCENT DELINQUENT AND RISKY BEHAVIORS.

This study investigates effects of welfare reform in the United States on the next generation. Most previous studies of effects of welfare reform on adolescents focused on high-school dropout of girls or fertility; little is known about how welfare reform has affected other teenage behaviors or boys. We use a difference-in-difference-in-differences framework to identify gender-specific effects of welfare reform on skipping school, fighting, damaging property, stealing, hurting others, smoking, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs.