Ryan White

We know that kids who grow up with a lot of adversity are far more likely to suffer poor health and early death as adults. But how well do we understand the means by which early trauma is translated into health problems decades later? Researchers are still teasing apart the mechanisms at work.

One of the silver linings of the ongoing measles outbreak has been the attention it's placed on the controversial practice of vaccine exemptions. Smart, surprising coverage of Mississippi's tough policy on these exemptions shows why they matter, and how states differ.

If you write about children’s health or health policy more generally, there’s one topic you won't be able to escape this year: the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The program’s funding will expire in September 2015 unless Congress renews it. Advocates say the program fills a vital need.

Is America’s ongoing obesity epidemic merely a tale of changing social and cultural norms, or do our genes play a starring role as well? Or is the key contained in the nexus between the two? New research sheds light on the historically shifting role of a gene that raises one's risk of obesity.

New research links the presence of smartphones and screens in kids' bedrooms to less sleep in fourth- and seventh-graders. And less sleep can be a risk factor for obesity, poorer school performance and other health problems. But kids getting less sleep is not a new trend.

As the calendar winds to a close, it’s worth taking a quick look back at some of the research from the past year that enlarged our understanding of the ways in which early childhood exerts an enduring influence on lifelong health.

On Wednesday, the White House hosted a summit on early education where President Obama touted a $1 billion public-private spending package to bolster high-quality preschool and Early Head Start programs. That may sound like an education story, but it's worth remembering it's a health story, too.

There's been growing awareness in recent years that our social and physical environment influences obesity rates. Now researchers say they have further evidence to support the idea that secondhand smoke and roadway pollution add to BMI increases and obesity.

A massive new cohort study was supposed to help researchers and policy makers better understand how environmental factors shape children's health into adulthood. But delays, leadership changes and soaring costs have put the study's future in jeopardy.

A conference held last week in San Francisco marked the rising prominence of childhood adversity as a key concept in public health circles. The event also highlighted recent data that give a newly detailed look at how childhood adversity plays out across, race, class, and geographic boundaries.