University of Florida News

GAINESVILLE —With just a few shopping days left before Christmas, a University of Florida professor urges parents to leave a good book or two for their children under the tree this year.

GAINESVILLE —The availability and aggressive marketing of synthetic growth hormone can lead to short stature in children being treated as a disease or disorder when often there may be no real problem, say professors at the University of Florida.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Blacks are twice as likely as whites to care for their aging relatives, University of Florida researchers report.

GAINESVILLE—Thanks to an idea that struck Steve Freedman while he was shaving nine years ago, thousands of Florida children now have access to affordable medical care.

GAINESVILLE— Cheryl Amey was a 30-year-old single mother of four living in poverty when she realized the only chance for a better life was to go back to school and get a college degree.

GAINESVILLE — The “Goosebumps” series might frighten kids today into sleeping with the lights on, but these tales are tame compared to stories written in the 17th and 18th centuries that told of children baking in ovens, being eaten or transforming into wild animals.

GAINESVILLE — Temperament plays a major role in how children learn, says a University of Florida researcher who has found differences in personality type by race, age and gender.

GAINESVILLE — Now that the computer has replaced the water cooler and the back fence as a source for gossip and debate, a University of Florida professor is analyzing computer chat groups for views and opinions on this year’s presidential and vice-presidential debates. “I wanted to begin to understand how public opinion is formed and distributed in a new medium,” said Marilyn Roberts, a UF advertising professor and expert on political communication.

GAINESVILLE — Prestigious labels on brand-name clothes are so important to children that they jeopardize the success of much-touted school uniform policies, says a University of Florida researcher.

GAINESVILLE — Talking to friends about the death of a parent is more helpful for teens than discussing it with family, a new University of Florida study finds.