HHS HealthBeat (September 28, 2010)

All-rounded kids

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A mentally stimulating school is important for kids. So is preschool and home life.

At the University of Texas, Robert Crosnoe tracked some 1,300 children in low and advantaged socio-economic backgrounds from preschool into fifth grade. Crosnoe says they did best with stimulating preschool, school and home environments:

"It’s the intersection of different settings. It’s all the different places that kids are, and how they come together that really matters." (6 seconds)

Kids from poorer families at least did better if they had one or two stimulating environments. Crosnoe says kids from better-off families – who probably had more enrichment in general – needed all three to show a difference.

The study in the journal Child Development was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 21, 2011