Families and child health

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on the early origins of adult health. A growing body of evidence documents that maternal health before conception, prenatal and perinatal exposures, and conditions in childhood play critical roles in health over the life course. Scientific understanding of the multiple and interacting influences on child health and their role in later health continues to evolve rapidly, but greater attention to how families shape the conditions of early life that underlie childhood health is needed. This volume aims to advance understanding of this topic, with attention to mechanisms through which health disparities emerge and are sustained across the lifespan.

I. Biosocial Influences on Early Childhood Health.- The Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease.-H ow Can We Overcome the Biological Inertia of Past Deprivation?.- Anthropological Perspectives on the Developmental Origins of Adult Health.-D evelopmental Origins of Disease and Health Disparities: Limitations and Future Directions.-T he Effects of Early Severe Psychosocial Deprivation on Children's Cognitive and Social Development: Lessons from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project.- II. Role of Family Dynamics in children's Health.- Family Discord and Child Health: An Emotional Security Formulation.-F amily Influences on Children's Mental and Physical Health: Some Contributions of and Challenges to the Emotional Security Theory.- Emotional Insecurity and Child Health: Implications and Future Directions.-C ould Emotional Security Theory help advance family-focused preventive interventions?- III. Link to the Social Environment through Families.- Lifecourse Exposures and Socioeconomic Disparities in Child Health.- Lifecourse Exposures and Socioeconomic Disparities in Child Health: Opportunities for Intervention.-S ocial Class and Child Health: Our Complexity Complex.- IV. Impact of Social Polices & Programs on Children's Health.- The Pro Family Workplace: Social and Economic Policies and Practices and their Impacts on Child and Family Health.- Work-Family Strain and Health Care for Children.- Harder Than Rocket Science? The Science of Designing and Implementing Strong Family Friendly Policies.- Emerging Evidence from Research that Can Improve Social Policies and Programs to Impact Child Health.- V. Conclusions: Integrating Perspectives on Child Health.-