Children and Adolescents’ Health Literacy in the United States of America

For a little over two decades, the United States has prioritized adult health literacy as a national health objective through the Healthy People initiatives. National objectives specific to children and adolescents’ well-being were first introduced in Healthy People 2020, but both Healthy People 2020 and Healthy People 2030 objectives do not include children and adolescents’ health literacy. Though not an explicit health literacy initiative, the National Health Education Standards include guidelines for health curricula for schools that, if followed, would meet a significant portion of the health literacy development needs of children and adolescents in the United States. However, there are multiple systemic-level factors that impact the extent to which these standards are implemented. This chapter provides an overview of how the government, education system, and other entities are responding to the health literacy needs of the US population and children and adolescents, specifically. Insights and examples of how multiple entities may work together to address the health literacy development needs of children and their communities, particularly those who experience inequities across multiple health and educational outcomes, are provided.