This brief summarizes a longer Social Policy Report. A quarter of the world's youngest children suffer one or more forms of severe deprivation and risk, such as poverty, disease, and exposure to violence. Early childhood development (ECD) programs are considered one of the most promising approaches to providing more equitable outcomes for deprived and at-risk children and families. While the number of children and families served by ECD programs has grown, research shows that without a concurrent commitment to program quality, potential gains for children may be lost and glaring disparities in outcomes maintained.
Young adults have the highest rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, as well as high rates of STDs. Two recently published Child Trends' studies in the journal, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, assess how risk factors in adolescence and relationship characteristics in young adulthood are associated with reproductive health outcomes among this population.
The Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) announces its seventh biennial meeting on October 28-30, 2011, at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
