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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Child and Adolescent Development

Goal: Promote healthy development for children and adolescents.

Young boys and girls in red jerseys celebrate on a soccer field.

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods of growth and development. Healthy People 2030 focuses on promoting healthy physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral development in children and adolescents.

Parents and teachers can take steps at home and school to support healthy development for children and adolescents. These include providing stable and supportive care, reading to children, helping them do well in school, making sure they get enough sleep, and encouraging them to get physical activity.

In addition, health care providers can track children’s physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral development through screenings and other preventive care services. This is key to finding problems early so that children and adolescents can get the support they need as they develop.

Objective Status

  • 0 Target met or exceeded
  • 4 Improving
  • 4 Little or no detectable change
  • 11 Getting worse
  • 1 Baseline only
  • 8 Developmental
  • 7 Research

Learn more about objective types

Related Objectives

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data.

Adolescents

Increase the proportion of adolescents who have an adult they can talk to about serious problems — AH‑03
Little or no detectable change
Reduce chronic school absence among early adolescents — AH‑07
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of trauma-informed early childcare settings and elementary and secondary schools — AH‑D01
Developmental
Increase the proportion of adolescents in foster care who show signs of being ready for adulthood — AH‑R02
Research
Increase the proportion of 8th-graders with reading skills at or above the proficient level — AH‑R04
Research
Increase the proportion of 8th-graders with math skills at or above the proficient level — AH‑R05
Research

Children

Increase the proportion of children who receive a developmental screening — MICH‑17
Improving
Increase the proportion of children who get sufficient sleep — EMC‑03
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who communicate positively with their parents — EMC‑01
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children whose family read to them at least 4 days per week — EMC‑02
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children who are developmentally ready for school — EMC‑D01
Developmental
Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are suspended or expelled — EMC‑D02
Developmental
Increase the proportion of children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs — EMC‑D03
Developmental
Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who get preventive mental health care in school — EMC‑D06
Developmental
Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who show resilience to challenges and stress — EMC‑D07
Developmental
Increase the proportion of children with developmental delays who get intervention services by age 4 years — EMC‑R01
Research

Economic Stability

Increase the proportion of children living with at least 1 parent who works full time — SDOH‑03
Improving

Health Care

Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who receive care in a medical home — MICH‑19
Getting worse

Infants

Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed at 1 year — MICH‑16
Improving
Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed exclusively through age 6 months — MICH‑15
Little or no detectable change

Neighborhood and Built Environment

Increase the proportion of schools with policies and practices that promote health and safety — EH‑D01
Developmental

Physical Activity

Increase the proportion of children who do enough aerobic physical activity — PA‑09
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who play sports — PA‑12
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children aged 2 to 5 years who get no more than 1 hour of screen time a day — PA‑13
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who walk or bike to get places — PA‑11
Baseline only
Increase the proportion of parents who follow AAP recommendations on limiting screen time for children aged 6 to 17 years — PA‑R02
Research

Schools

Increase the proportion of 4th-graders with reading skills at or above the proficient level — AH‑05
LHI label
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of 4th-graders with math skills at or above the proficient level — AH‑06
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in daily school physical education — ECBP‑01
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of schools requiring students to take at least 2 health education courses from grade 6 to 12 — AH‑R06
Research
Increase the proportion of public schools with a counselor, social worker, and psychologist — AH‑R09
Research

Sensory or Communication Disorders

Increase the proportion of infants with hearing loss who get intervention services by age 6 months — HOSCD‑03
Little or no detectable change

Sleep

Increase the proportion of high school students who get enough sleep — SH‑04
Getting worse

Social and Community Context

Reduce the proportion of children with a parent or guardian who has served time in jail or prison — SDOH‑05
Improving

Violence Prevention

Reduce the number of young adults who report 3 or more adverse childhood experiences — IVP‑D03
Developmental

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