News & Updates

American children are less likely to die during childhood, less likely to live in poverty, less likely to be at risk for hunger, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the fourth annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2000.

About 55 percent of 9th through 12th graders participated in volunteer activities in 1999, a 10 percent increase from 1996.

A special indicator from the America's Children report showed that 66 percent of children entering kindergarten can recognize letters of the alphabet, and 29 percent could recognize the sounds associated with letters that begin words.

A research team has developed new techniques to help police interviewers and child protective service workers get more accurate information from victims of child abuse.

The NICHD Study of Early Child Care has found that fathers who had high levels of self esteem were more involved in caring for their children than were fathers with lower self esteem.

Researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development report in the current issue of Alcoholism: Cinical and Experimental Research (Volume 24, Number 5) results from the first study to determine whether future drinking may be predicted by response to stress during infancy.

A team of researchers funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has found that infants who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) have abnormalities in several parts of the brainstem.

Parents and other caregivers are more likely to place infants to sleep on their backs when advised to do so by their infants' doctors, according to the latest analysis of the National Infant Sleep Position Study (NISP).

In the largest, most comprehensive evidenced-based review ever conducted of research on how children learn reading, a Congressionally mandated independent panel has concluded that the most effective way to teach children to read is through instruction that includes a combination of methods.

A new study suggests that Americans probably gain about a pound during the winter holiday season-but this extra weight accumulates through the years and may be a major contributor to obesity later in life.

Adding two substances found in breast milk to infant formula boosted the average intelligence scores in a group of 18-month-old children significantly, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

In the largest study of its kind, antibiotic treatment to eliminate bacterial vaginosis failed to prevent premature birth, according to a study supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and coauthored by researchers at the NICHD and several other institutions.

Overweight mothers who breast feed their infants may lose weight through a sensible diet and exercise program-without fear of harming their infants-a study by NICHD-funded researchers has found.

Compared to adolescents in other parts of the industrialized world, U.S. students are less likely to watch television.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) jointly will support an international research network to improve the health of women and children throughout the world.

The first of a number of studies sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has shown that treatment with a synthetic version of the hormone secretin offered no more benefit for children with autism than did treatment with a placebo.

Consuming the amount of caffeine equivalent to that found in one to two cups of coffee does not appear to increase a pregnant woman's chances of having a miscarriage.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care has established that there is no consistent relation between the hours infants and toddlers spend in child care and these children's cognitive, linguistic or social development.

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala and Mrs. Tipper Gore today announced the start of a new component of the successful "Back to Sleep" campaign that will focus on reducing the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) among African Americans.

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Stanford University have discovered the gene for Rett syndrome, a heartbreaking disorder which gradually robs healthy infant girls of their language, mental functioning, and ability to interact with others.