In infancy, genes are the key influence on a child's ability to deal with stress. But as early as 6 months of age, parenting plays an important role in changing the impact of genes that may put infants at risk for responding poorly to stress.

Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on. These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the "Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung" (IUF) in Duesseldorf.

In many cases, when abusive parents with multiple children target just one child for emotional or physical cruelty, authorities often remove the abused child from the home and return the non-abused siblings.

Strategies for decreasing a child’s risk for obesity often focus on improving eating habits and maintaining a high level of physical activity. While this is one way to address the issue, another way to reduce the risk of childhood obesity could simply come down to positive parenting, according to a Temple University study published in the November issue of Child Abuse & Neglect.

Children with older delinquent siblings are at high risk for becoming juvenile delinquents themselves. Researchers have been studying family interventions that prevent young high-risk children from following in the footsteps of their older siblings.

The first few days at school can be an anxious time as children face the challenge of a new environment and making new friends but according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, children show signs of stress three to six months before term even starts.

How do sweet children turn into delinquents seemingly right before our eyes? A unique study appearing in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that, in children, a highly reactive autonomic nervous system, which regulates our cardiovascular, digestive and respiratory functions, paired with a stressful family environment leads to increased instances of maladaptive personality change.

Divorce puts children at higher risk of Ritalin use compared to kids whose parents stay together, says new research by a University of Alberta sociologist, who cautions that this doesn't necessarily mean that divorce is harmful to a child. The study appears in this week's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.