LifeStyle Habits

Many lifestyle habits developed in childhood and adolescence (such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and experimentation with tobacco and substance use) can have a major impact on health later in life and contribute to leading causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The scope of what child health psychologists can contribute is much broader than many have yet recognized.

"That means the choices that children and teenagers make early in life, and the activities that they engage in, can have serious implications for their physical health and well-being when they grow up. Because these health-compromising behaviors are typically initiated when a person is young, there is a need to more effectively prevent their onset and reform public health approaches to prevention. That is where child health psychologists can help."

"There is a pressing need to readdress prevention efforts targeted toward our nation's young people and their families, and child health psychologists are well-poised to advance this mission. Specialists in childhood behavior have a lot of good expertise that should now be employed to play a greater role in disease prevention."

while there are numerous lifestyle and behavioral prevention programs available both within and outside the public health sector, too few have been designed specifically for younger people.

"Increasingly, the energy in public health is being focused on the lives of children because we know these lifestyle habits form early and may carry forward into adulthood. Child health psychologists and other advocates for children's health need to be more involved at all levels of prevention research, applied work, and policy making in helping young people adopt good self-care."