Using a nationally representative dataset (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort) and bioecological-cumulative disadvantage framework, the present study examined school readiness among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children. It investigated the relations between salient child and family risk experiences (i.e., poverty, preterm/low birth weight, low maternal education, single motherhood, inadequate prenatal care, teen motherhood, and severe maternal depression), and kindergarten academic (i.e., reading and math) and behavioral outcomes (i.e., social competence, approaches to learning, and externalizing behaviors). Descriptive statistics (representative of children born in 2001) revealed 58.5% of AIAN children experienced poverty at least once prior to kindergarten entry and 45% experienced two or more risks. Hierarchical linear regression examining cumulative risk counts

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BACKGROUND We examined prevalence, incidence, and trajectory of obesity from kindergarten through grade 8 in one of the first states to implement annual surveillance. METHODS Participants included 16,414 children enrolled in kindergarten in Arkansas in 2004 with complete body mass index (BMI) measurements in kindergarten and eighth grade. Repeated measures of weight status were entered in multiple linear and logistic regression models with demographics and family poverty status. RESULTS The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) was lowest in kindergarten (14.9%), with subsequent incidence rates consistent at 4%. Prevalence and incidence peaked in eighth grade (24.5% and 4.9%, respectively), with 33.8% of children measuring obese at least once by eighth grade. Kindergarten obesity was a significant predictor of eighth grade obesity (odds ratio, 17.5; 95% confidence interval, 15.8‐19.3). We found statistically significant 3‐way interactions for sex, race, and time, suggesting unique patterns for Hispanic boys and black girls. CONCLUSIONS Our study documents unique longitudinal patterns of obesity from kindergarten through eighth grade that expand our understanding of risk. It demonstrates the value of public school health systems that collect routine administrative data about student BMI that is integrated with education records to foster program and policy discussions.

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Families (and sometimes courts) make important decisions regarding child physical custody arrangements post‐separation, and shared parenting arrangements are increasingly common in most developed countries. Shared arrangements may be differentially associated with parental satisfaction, and these associations may vary across countries. Using data from surveys of separated mothers in Wisconsin and Finland, the present study explores this possibility and is guided by three aims: (a) to identify child and family characteristics associated with sole and shared child placements 6 or more years after separation; (b) to estimate associations of children's post‐separation placements with maternal satisfaction with placements and expense sharing; (c) to examine whether the relationship between post‐separation placement and maternal satisfaction varies by mothers' earnings and the quality of parents' relationships. We find that Finnish mothers with shared placement are more satisfied with their placement than are their counterparts with sole placement, while we find the inverse is true for Wisconsin mothers. Moreover, parental satisfaction with shared placement, overall and relative to sole placement, varies greatly depending on the quality of a mother's relationship with the other parent; and differences in relationship quality in Wisconsin and Finland may help explain the difference in satisfaction with shared placement in the two locations. In both Finland and Wisconsin, we find mothers with shared placement are more satisfied with the way expenses are shared between parents than are mothers with sole placement. Associations between placement and satisfaction are robust to extensive controls for child and maternal characteristics.

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