What’s New in the Research on Childhood Obesity?

2030: Adult Obesity Rates if the Current Trajectory Continues

Trajectory of Adult Obesity Rates in the U.S project Virginia to be 50%-55% Obese by 2030. Research shows obese children are very likely to become obese adults.

 Arthur Weltman presented “Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Effects of Lifestyle Intervention” at the September’s Works In Progress Meeting.

Related posts are available under Research, Works In Progress Meetings, Health

Presentation Audio and Slides

Key Points from Weltman’s Talk:

  • Obese youth who do not show signs for Metabolic Syndrome are still at risk for several health conditions. A Type 2 diabetic diagnosis is just “the tip of the iceberg” with many health problems lying below the surface. There is a constellation of risk factors are already there. Continue reading

“Conflict and debate?! Okay, I’m listening!”

Laurie Jean, Adolescent Educator at SARA, the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, gave us her thoughtful insights on the bullying prevention conference co-hosted by Youth-Nex, this summer. She was one of 500 teachers, law enforcement personnel and others, who attended the statewide event held at Charlottesville High School.

Bullying Prevention conference slide

Related posts can be found under Bullying.

Walking past tables covered in white paper and coffee urns, I expected little from yet another conference as I entered the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center. I rarely find much useful substance amid conferences’ broad, non-targeted material. As I settled into a folding seat in the back of the theater, a wave of empathy for my students came over me as I recalled many of the sensations of attending a mandatory high school assembly. Continue reading

Youth-Nex and CASTL Researchers Compete in Annual Sloboda Bukoski Cup

By Angela Henneberger, recent Curry graduate and YN researcher (PhD, Applied Developmental Science, ’12)

Valerie Futch, Angela Henneberger, Peter Lovegrove, and Michelle Maier

Valerie Futch, Angela Henneberger, Peter Lovegrove, Michelle Maier (not pictured: Ross Larsen, Chris Hafen)

The 2012 annual Society for Prevention Research (SPR) convention was held on May 29–June 1, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC.  It is very exciting to me that the theme of this year’s conference was “Promoting Healthy Living Through Prevention Science.”  This Spring, I had the opportunity to attend the Youth-Nex summit, a gathering of prominent researchers in the field of prevention and positive youth development. Continue reading

Improving PYD Interventions – YN Panel Video

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn

Related posts available under YN Working Conference April 2012

We’re lucky enough to have captured on video the Youth-Nex Working Conference —where six panels and 23 scholars congregated to further scientific understanding of how to promote effective youth development through the Positive Youth Development (PYD) lens.

Be a part of the discussion chaired by Jeanne Brooks-Gunn: “Learning from Prevention Science and Developmental-Intervention Approaches to Improve PYD Interventions and Evaluations.”  We welcome your comments.  Video.

In the light of the need to provide research and action that integrates PYD into what we already know, Dr. Tolan recently posited: Continue reading