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Child and Adolescent Development

Goal: Promote healthy development for children and adolescents.

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