New Report Sheds Light on Latino Family Dynamics


Walking

There are often preconceived notions in regards to Latinos and their family dynamics. Already the country’s largest racial/ethnic minority group, which is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, Latinos represent a diverse group of people with distinct differences depending on where they are from and the language they use. New research has confirmed what many already knew about Latino families: they are tightly-knit, resilient, and generally stable. The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families has recently released a new brief series entitled “La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources.” The series is one of the first ever to give the complete “breakdown” of Latino households, examining data about mothers, ...

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What will it Cost Families to Raise a Child?



  Any parent can tell you that raising a child requires a lot of time, patience, love, and understanding. In a more practical sense, it also requires an investment of the monetary kind. Raising a child is an expensive undertaking and, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), it has become more expensive than ever. A new report entitled “The Cost of Raising a Child” estimates that, for a child born in 2015, a “middle-income” married-couple family will need to spend anywhere between $12,350 and $13,900 annually until the child turns 17. When it is all added up, families are expected to spend an average of $233,610 on child-rearing expenses. Lower income families are expected to spend $174,690; for higher income families, the cost is anticipated to be ...

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Florida Children Falling Behind in Health, Economic Well-Being



A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a research nonprofit that tracks the health and well-being of children and families found that Florida’s children are falling behind in economic well-being and health as the state ranked 40th on the report’s list of states. National trends find that children overall are getting healthier; however, the report found that Florida’s children in 2014 were less likely to be insured, more likely to be born at low birth weight, and abuse drugs and alcohol at higher rates than children in other states. Overall, Florida ranked 47th in terms of child health. Florida is home to over 4.3 million Latinos, according to the Pew Research Center. This is 23% of their overall state population and 51% of these are native-born residents. In Florida, ...

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Report: Latino, Other Minority Kids Face Uphill Battle for Success



U.S. Latino, black, and American Indian children have greater obstacles to success than white and Asian children, according to a new report, NPR reports. The report, called Race for Results from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, explores the intersection of kids, race and opportunity. The report includes a score that compares how racial/ethnic children are progressing on 12 key milestones from birth to adulthood—such as math proficiency, high school graduation data, teen birth rates, employment prospects, family income and education levels, and poverty levels—at the national and state levels. The higher the score (up to 1,000), the better children fare. Asian children have the highest score at 776, followed by white children at 704. Among Latinos, only eight states had ...

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Yale Rudd Center Brief: Older Children Still Vulnerable to Marketing



New research by the Yale Rudd Center explains how marketing negatively not only affects young children, but also impacts adolescents aged 12 and older. “[The food industry] considers children ages 12 and older to be appropriate targets for marketing that encourages consumption of products that can harm their health. Yet recent research provides convincing evidence that unhealthy food marketing also negatively affects children 12 years and olde,” Yale Rudd Center notes in the report. Highlights from the report include: The adolescent brain is highly vulnerable to marketing, especially when it’s pushing really tempting stuff. The ways kids are being targeted – through social media and mobile phones – can seem like fun and games. Making it even harder to ...

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Video: How You Can Change School Food for the Better



Parent advocates can use RuddRootsParents.org to learn how to improve the food in their children's schools. Watch this video on how it ...

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Salud America! Gets $2.1M to Expand Network, Fuel Advocacy to Reduce Latino Childhood Obesity



Mexican-American children ages 2-19 are more likely to be obese or overweight than their peers. That’s why we're excited to announce that Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children has received a two-year, $2.1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for its ongoing pursuit of policy and environmental solutions to the epidemic of Latino childhood obesity across the nation. Salud America! will expand its 2,000-member network and develop an innovative system to support, inform, and empower advocates to prevent Latino childhood obesity. This Web-based advocacy support system will unite science and multimedia experts to produce a continuous stream of evidence-based news, research, training, and education on Latino ...

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Bilingual Fotonovela Teaches Latinas How to Reduce Their Diabetes Risk



The National Diabetes Education Program's new bilingual fotonovela, Do it for them! But also for yourself (Hazlo por ellos! Pero por ti también), helps Latinas at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The fotonovela uses role models to demonstrate how women can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes through increased physical activity, healthy food choices, and weight loss. The fotonovela tells the story of three friends, Elisa, Raquel, and Lourdes, who work at a local dry cleaners/laundry facility. All of them have children. Elisa is Mexican, married, and has two small children. Her wise and humorous mother, Doña Emma, gives her lots of advice about how to be healthy. Raquel is from Puerto Rico. She is single and raising her 13-year-old sister. Lourdes is from ...

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Should Everything Be Bigger in Texas (i.e., Even Waistlines)?



Check out this infographic on obesity in Texas from the Cancer Alliance of ...

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