Latest findings from the influential Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon hold out the possibility that a streamlined family management intervention offered at the right moment to high-risk households can improve teenagers' academic performance and prospects.

Child development research and our understanding of cognitive and behavioral difference owe a lot to twin studies, but a multiple birth pressure groups says the needs of the children it represents are being neglected in exactly the areas science has been keenest to scrutinize.

They aggravate ADHD symptoms in some children; they have no food value, and no-one is any better off for swallowing them – so why don’t we ban E-number food coloring?

If the diagnosis of children’s developmental needs is the proper basis for service design, might not children also have a role as designers of their own learning environments? UK policy makers have been saying yes, but who knows quite what it means in practice or what impact it is having?

“If you tell people enough times that they’re rubbish, they’re going to be rubbish, particularly the most vulnerable… “ a prominent UK child psychologist reflects on the damage UK society may have done to its children out of fear, anxiety and intolerance.

A California study of the likely consequences of allowing schools license to modify substance abuse and violence prevention programs to meet everyday teaching needs suggests that it might not do much harm – most of the time.

An ill-defined concept lacking any useful scale of measurement, or a vital attribute of a rounded personality that ought to be an integral part of every child’s education? Emotional intelligence goes under Newsweek's online microscope.

Is a sudden rise in UK care proceedings more evidence of the damage being done to the cause of prevention and child protection in the politically-manipulated aftermath of the Baby Peter case?

Strengthening Families did what it said on the program “tin” when the developers oversaw the trials and could guarantee that their instructions were followed, but evidence from a first community-wide experiment suggests that, carelessly handled, it might put some vulnerable, disadvantaged young people at even greater risk of antisocial behavior.

Urban sociologist Richard Sennett’s meditation on the enduring, potentially revolutionary value of “good work” and craftsmanship includes messages for program developers about the dark side of expertise and the historical pitfalls of knowledge transfer.

Poverty is a key marker of slow intellectual development in young children. Likewise, maternal depression heightens the risk of poor behavior. But the two don’t work together, says a new analysis of data from the Millennium Cohort Study by researchers from the University of York.

A European study of the interplay between a mother's responsiveness to her child and genetically determined body chemistry is nudging forward understanding of the timeless conversation between genes, environment and development.

Turning up the music, not sitting down for meals, family members coming and going as they please – the familiar chaos of everyday life can damage children’s cognitive development and behavior, say researchers in Virginia.

New evidence from Ireland suggests that the Incredible Years parenting program travels well, by providing a cost effective way to enhance children’s behavior far from its birthplace in Seattle.

Developmental studies in the Netherlands suggest that concentrating on the educational failings of children showing a propensity toward antisocial behavior may give them a better chance of escaping later trouble than enlisting them in specifically-designed conduct interventions.

Just about everyone agrees that a balanced diet is a good idea, but a study behind bars may provide the first solid evidence that eating the right things boosts young people’s mental health.

If the World Bank is right, obesity could eventually cost the global economy as much as malnutrition. If one of the indirect effects of encouraging hard-pressed mothers to work is to drive their children into unhealthy eating habits – perhaps policy makers need to think again.

First results from a Netherlands study of a stress management program for schoolchildren were promising, but two years later just about all that remains is a greater awareness among those who took part of what it means to suffer from a rampant 21st century condition.

Spanking young children impairs their cognitive development. Or it might be the case that the bad behavior associated with certain developmental problems makes it more likely that parents will resort to spanking their children. Either way, a long-term US study suggests that the hitting only ever does more harm.

In a bold statement highlighting the role and responsibilities of family doctors, the US Academy of Pediatrics says the first step toward a community-wide effort to preventing violence and bullying among young people is to recognize the problem as a public health matter.

Discrepancies between parents’ and teachers’ reports of children’s bad behavior tend to be discarded as evidence of unreliable findings; but new analysis of data from a long-term New Zealand study suggests another reading which may have implications for child development theory: most children act out only in certain contexts.

Does a deteriorating relationship between partners damage the health and hinder the development of their children – or is it more likely that difficult children will fracture their parents’ relationship. The poet Philip Larkin was right, says Otago's Gordon Harold.