Children and Youth in Sickness and in Health

Janet Golden, Richard Meckel, Heather Munro Prescott

Six original essays reflect the growing scholarly interest in the history of childhood and youth, particularly issues affecting child health and welfare. These important new essays show how changing patterns of health and disease have responded to and shaped notions of childhood and adolescence as life stages.Until the early 20th century, life-threatening illnesses were a sinister presence in the lives of children of all social classes. Today, many diseases and threats to child health have been eliminated or alleviated. Yet critical problems remain. New threats such as AIDS and violence take a steady toll. Child health remains an active concern for all families. Despite the development of health care policies, social welfare policies, and effective medication, the home remains-as it was in the Colonial period-the most critical site of care. Parents are still central to the preservation of children's health. This work imposes a holistic view of this experience for children and families. By examining the child's perspective of illness, the authors make an important contribution to the understanding of illness as part of the developmental process of growing up.

Providing the first comprehensive history of child health in the United States, this book offers a thorough historical account of the ways that professionals and the state have addressed child health problems.

ContentsSeries Forewordby Miriam Forman-BrunellviiAcknowledgmentsxiIntroductionxiiiPart IEssays11Levels and Trends of Death and Disease in Childhood, 1620 to the PresentRichard A.Meckel32Stories of Childhood Health and DiseaseHeather Munro Prescott253A Sound Mind for the Child###8217;s Body: The Mental Health of Children and YouthKathleen Jones434Children###8217;s Health: Caregivers and Sites of CareJanet Golden675Teaching Children about HealthElizabeth Toon856The Federal Government and Child HealthKriste Lindenmeyer107Part IIDocuments1277Recounting Health and Illness129vi CONTENTS8Advice on Child Health1439Images of Child Health and Providers15710Institutions for Children17311Mental Hygiene18312Child Health and the State195Part IIIBibliography20513Demographic and Epidemiologic Surveys20714Framing Child Death, Disease, and Health21115Health Care and Health Care Providers21516Child Health, Philanthropy, and the State221Index227Contributors241