Prior to March 2011, parents in the United States were advised to keep their child’s car seat rear-facing at least until the child weighed 20 pounds and turned 1 year old, at which point the car seat might safely be turned around to face forward during travel. That prevailing guideline changed when the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new recommendation that the position of car seats should be kept rear-facing until the child is 2 years old.

In the United States, the majority of retirement savings are invested in equity — shares in publicly traded companies.  Traditionally, high average returns have offset the inherent risks of investments in stocks, but that equation changed following the recent financial crisis. In the past three years, the value of equity has declined, growth has been sluggish and many forecasters have continued to predict low returns from stocks in the coming decade.

As recently as the 1990s, larger body types had positive associations in many cultures. As the mass media has spread images of ultra-slim bodies, however — and as obesity has been spotlighted as a public health issue in many countries — heavier bodies have become stigmatized across the world, even as rates of obesity are rising.

A number of criteria have been developed to measure countries’ degree of “good government”; these can include the capacity to receive aid, manage foreign direct investment or initiate trade agreements. Many of these criteria have a fixed model of what constitutes “good” and “bad” government, and the judgments that follow can have real-world consequences.

The hippocampus area of the brain controls memory and learning. Its healthy development is important for later success in life, but can be negatively affected by stress. Because stress is often greater in homes with financial difficulties, some researchers believe this could explain lower academic performance among children from families at lower socioeconomic levels.

Criticism of the U.S. entertainment industry often focuses on song lyrics, which some consider crude or violent. Whatever one’s opinion, whether such pop culture representations drive behavior or merely reflect public trends is open to question.

Sexual minority youths — those who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure of their sexuality — remain underrepresented in the academic data on youth issues. Such information is crucial for schools and education systems, in particular, as they look to design and improve outreach and intervention programs to address the health needs of this population.