JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

More than 6 million children in the United States have asthma, and more than 20% are clinically obese. Youth with asthma and obesity are susceptible to poor health outcomes, including greater asthma symptom severity and hospitalizations, reduced physical activity, and poorer quality of life. Mobile health technologies can increase access to chronic disease self-management interventions, and family members can be powerful influencers given their substantial control over a child’s behavior and home environment.

Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience persistent barriers to accessing comprehensive and developmentally appropriate sexual health education. Conventional curricula often fail to reflect their cognitive, social, and communication needs, increasing vulnerability to misinformation and sexual exploitation. Digital health interventions offer a promising avenue to deliver tailored, interactive, and accessible learning experiences for adolescents with ASD.

Spina bifida (SB) is a congenital condition that requires long-term multidisciplinary medical collaboration for treatment. Previous research has primarily focused on the negative impacts experienced by caregivers of children with SB. However, with the development of positive psychology, the concept of benefit-finding (BF) has been explored in the context of caregivers of children with various chronic illnesses. Nonetheless, in Japan, BF among caregivers of children with SB remains unexplored, and no appropriate measurement tool has been developed for this population.

Digital technologies with breastfeeding content have become an important source of information for new parents in Germany. However, little is known about the content and quality of digital breastfeeding information sources.

Adolescents’ exposure to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) content through social media platforms influences their perceptions and behaviors, although cross-country analyses in different regulatory environments are scarce.

Febrile seizures, although typically benign, can cause significant emotional distress for parents. Their diverse etiological risk factors underscore the need for further research. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) offers a cost-effective and timely method for real-time data collection. The FeverApp, an EMA-based registry for fever management, enables parents to document febrile seizures as they occur.

Physical activity (PA) is essential for the healthy development of children. However, the pervasive presence of digital technologies has made digital gaming (DG) a prominent part of children’s everyday lives. As children grow up immersed in these digital environments, concerns about reduced PA have intensified. Given that adults, particularly parents and guardians, play a central role in guiding children’s behavior, their understanding of children’s motivational drivers for both PA and DG is of particular relevance.

Responsive feeding is an integral component of nurturing care under the umbrella of early childhood development and has been recommended as an optimal feeding practice globally.

Wearable video cameras may offer a feasible approach to assess the contexts of screen use (eg, screen content and co-use) among preschool-aged children.

In the United States, Black mothers and their infants experience higher rates of maternal and infant mortality than other racial or ethnic groups. North Carolina mirrors national trends with worse perinatal outcomes for Black families compared with other groups. Most ongoing efforts to address these disparities focus on policy and systems change. Few initiatives focus on education and resource navigation for families.

Parents, as the most proximal influence on young children, play an important role in shaping toddler behaviors. Yet, evidence on how parents shape toddler screen use is limited. Little is also known about the relationship between toddler screen use and BMI. Given existing disparities in screen use and early childhood obesity, a focus on Mexican American families with toddlers is warranted.

The population of young individuals not in employment, education, or training (NEET) is highly diverse, but a common problem appears to be their mental health. NEETs due to illness or disability are of particular concern for social exclusion, but little is known of how young individuals who are NEET with and without disability make use of, and gain from, employment interventions. There is also a scarcity of research on psychological interventions and mental health outcomes among young NEETs. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has shown promising results in psychological outcomes in young adults.