The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative: An Overview of the Longest-Running Statewide Marriage Initiative in the U.S., a new research brief from the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, US Department of Health and Human Services, presents findings from an evaluation of the country’s only statewide marriage initiative.

New reports from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS):

• Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Plans That Required No Employee Contribution to the Premium Cost, 1998-2004 (Statistical Brief #155)
• Dental Expenditures in the 10 Largest States, 2004 (Statistical Brief #156)
• Regional Differences in Total and Out-of-Pocket Expenditures for Selected Types of Office-Based Visits, 2004 (Statistical Brief #157)
• Prescription Drug Expenditures in the 10 Largest States for Persons under Age 65, 2004 (Statistical Brief #158)
• Out-of-Pocket Expenditures on Health Care among the Nonelderly Population, 2004 (Statistical Brief #159)
• A Comparison of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Characteristics for the Private Sector for the Years 2001 and 2004, by Average Payroll (Statistical Brief #160)
• Attitudes toward Health Insurance and Their Persistence over Time, Adults 2003-2004 (Statistical Brief #161)
• Additional Imputations of Employer Information for the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey since 1996 (Methodology Report #17)
• Updates to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component List Sample Design, 2004 (Methodology Report #18)

The PRI Library has received an announcement from the University of Colorado Population Center for a summer short course on biodemography.

A Child’s Day: 2003 (PDF) reports findings on children’s well-being and daily activities from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The report is part of the Census Bureau’s Current Population Reports series. Topics addressed include education, eating with parents, praise from parents, child care, sports participation, and National School Lunch Program participation.

Science journals around the world will publish theme issues on poverty and human development in October 2007. More than 160 journals will participate in the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development, organized by the Council of Science Editors.

Participating journals include American Journal of Public Health, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Nature, Reproductive Health Matters, Science, and The Lancet.

Presentation materials (audio, slides, and references) from the NIH Conference on Understanding and
Reducing Disparities in Health (October 23-25, 2006) are available for download.

The NHANES Dietary Supplement Use (PDF) Questionnaire files for 2003-2004 are now available on SodaPop and PopNet.

Rwanda is planning to become the first African nation to place limits on family size, according to a BBC News report.

The current issue of American Journal of Health Promotion contains several articles linking the built environment with physical fitness. HealthBehaviorBlog provides a round-up of the articles.

The latest issue (volume 7, number 1) of The Stata Journal is now available online to PRI affiliates. To access the journal, log in with your POP username and password.