Parental involvement plays key role in children's academic attainment

Parental engagement has a positive effect on a child's academic attainment -- regardless of age or socio-economic status

September 19, 2019

Science Daily/University of Plymouth

New research has shown how parental engagement has a positive effect on a child's academic attainment -- regardless of age or socio-economic status.

The study, conducted by the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter, also highlighted areas of promise for how schools and early years settings can support parents in a way that improves their children's learning.

The work was commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC).

The report showed that for school-aged children, home-school partnership is hugely important -- especially where schools personalise communications about a child's progress and make them accessible, for example, through text messages.

The study also highlighted how family literacy interventions can help to boost younger children's learning, and how summer reading programmes can improve school-aged children's learning, particularly among families from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

The researchers made their conclusions by conducting a review of existing international studies on the links between parental engagement and students' learning, and comparing the findings with survey responses from head teachers in over 180 primary, secondary and early-years provisions across England. They also conducted 20 interviews with school leaders and subject experts to provide further context and explore the survey findings in more detail.

As well as the links between parental involvement and children's learning, the study explored activities delivered in or by schools and early years settings that promote and support parental engagement, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The school-wide survey showed that the majority of the 183 schools involved (72%) did not have a written policy in place around engagement applied to all parents/carers, but most respondents (80%) did consider parent engagement to be the responsibility of all staff.

Lead author Dr Nick Axford, PenCLAHRC Associate Professor in Health Services at the University of Plymouth, explained that there was no one thing that schools should do to support parent engagement, but that there were areas showing promise.

"These findings from existing studies and new surveys are interesting, because they highlight the positive link between parental engagement and children's academic attainment," he said.

"However, it takes time and planning to nurture and encourage parent support. Recommendations we would put forward include for schools to build parental engagement into their school improvement plans, and to work hard on establishing good communication with parents. The latter could even involve training and support for teachers on engaging with parents, especially as very little is provided to promote this within teacher training."

Dr Vashti Berry, PenCLAHRC Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, said: "We recognise that schools and early years settings are working in a challenging financial climate, and that much more research on how best to support parents is needed. But school leaders recognise the importance of working with parents, and there are lots of practical suggestions in the Education Endowment Foundation guide that is based on our report, so there is fertile ground for improvement."

Dr Jenny Lloyd, Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Exeter, said: "School staff recognise that engaging parents in children's learning requires the building of supportive and trusting relationships from the foundation stage all the way through to the end of secondary education. Schools need resources, systems and structures to create a continuity of care and education that involves parents."

The full study, entitled How can schools support parents' engagement in their children's learning? Evidence from research and practice is available to view on the EEF website https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/evidence-reviews/parental-engagement/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190919095220.htm

Pathways linking childhood stressors and socioeconomic status to longevity

September 18, 2019

Science Daily/Boston University School of Medicine

New research has found that individuals raised in families with higher socioeconomic status were more optimistic in midlife, and in turn, lived longer. Those who experienced more psychosocial stressors, such as parental death, frequent moves and harsh discipline, tended to encounter more stressful life events in midlife, and had greater risk of dying.

After years of generalized theories and hypothesis, research has finally pinpointed certain aspects of childhood experience linked to people living longer.

Individuals raised in families with higher socioeconomic status were more optimistic in midlife, and in turn, lived longer. Those who experienced more psychosocial stressors, such as parental death, frequent moves and harsh discipline, tended to encounter more stressful life events in midlife, and had greater risk of dying.

Prior research has shown that adverse childhood experiences are associated with higher mortality risk. However, the effects appear to be driven by a small proportion of individuals who experienced multiple "hits" of severe stressors, such as physical abuse and domestic violence. Little is known about the potential effects of milder but more common stressors and the potential benefits of favorable childhood experiences on longevity. How different aspects of childhood experiences come to influence life span has rarely been studied. These questions are addressed in a new study in the journal Psychology and Aging.

The study involved 1,042 men who had been followed since 1961 in the Normative Aging Study. Three aspects of childhood experiences, including socioeconomic status, psychosocial stressors and presence of close relationships were assessed at study entry and in 1995. Optimism, life satisfaction, stressful life events and negative affect in midlife were assessed from 1985-91. Mortality status was tracked through 2016.

A key finding was that men who recalled having more childhood stressors also tended to experience more stressors as adults, and in turn, had greater risk of dying. For example, when comparing men who had five versus one childhood psychosocial stressors, those with more childhood stressors had a three percent greater risk of dying that was due to having more adulthood stressors. These finding suggest that a continuous pattern of stressor exposure from childhood to midlife may act as a precursor to reduced lifespan.

The researchers also looked at whether and how favorable aspects of childhood experiences may contribute to longevity. In particular, men raised in families with higher socioeconomic status tended to report higher levels of optimism and life satisfaction in midlife, and in turn, had greater likelihood of having longer lives. These findings suggest that optimism and life satisfaction are resilience pathways which convey the benefits of childhood socioeconomic resources onto longer lives.

"Our findings offer novel evidence on unique and shared pathways linking specific dimensions of early life experiences to longevity," said corresponding author Lewina Lee, PhD, clinical research psychologist at the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston and assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. "We hope that our research will stimulate further work to identify and intervene on factors which lie on the pathways linking childhood experiences to later-life health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190918122459.htm

Three faces of teen popularity: Being feared, being loved, and being feared and loved

Study identifies distinct types of teen popularity; 'Machiavellian-like' teens are the most popular

September 18, 2019

Science Daily/Florida Atlantic University

In novel longitudinal study, researchers identified three distinct types of teen popularity: prosocial popular; aggressive popular; and bistrategic popular or Machiavellian. These naughty and nice Machiavellian-like teens were the most popular and were above average on physical and relational aggression as well as prosocial behavior. Just like the 'Mean Girls' in the iconic American teen comedy, they are aggressive when needed and then quickly 'make nice' to smooth out any ruffled feathers.

Adolescents place a lot of emphasis on popularity and they are keenly aware of the difference between being liked and being popular. If forced to choose, many opt for popularity.

Popularity, however, has many faces. In prior research, two groups of popular adolescents stand out: those who are aggressive and those who are prosocial. Prosocial popular teens acquire and maintain popularity through cooperation. Aggressive popular teens acquire and maintain popularity through coercion and aggressive behavior.

Yet, if you ask any teenager about popularity, you will hear about a third group, who are described as Machiavellian-like. "The most popular are feared AND loved." Just like the "Mean Girls" in the iconic American teen comedy, this group of teens can be aggressive when needed and then quickly "make nice" to smooth out any ruffled feathers.

To put this idea about teens who are both loved and feared to the test, researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Montreal in Canada conducted a novel longitudinal study to examine different types of popular adolescents. For the study, published in the journal Child Development, researchers followed 568 girls and boys in seventh and eighth grade (median age 13) for two years. Classmates identified those who were aggressive, prosocial and popular.

Results from the study identified three distinct groups of popular adolescents: prosocial popular; aggressive popular; and bistrategic popular or Machiavellian. The bistrategic group had the highest level of popularity and were above average on physical and relational aggression, as well as on prosocial behavior. They were viewed by their peers as disruptive and angry but were otherwise well-adjusted.

"Bistrategic adolescents are noteworthy not only for their very high levels of popularity, but also for the way that they balance getting their way with getting along," said Brett Laursen, Ph.D., co-author and a professor of psychology in FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "They were less prosocial than prosocial popular adolescents, but at the same time less physically and relationally aggressive than the aggressive popular adolescents. These youth are truly Machiavellian, maintaining their popularity by off-setting the coercive behavior required to maintain power with carefully calibrated acts of kindness."

As expected, prosocial popular adolescents were well-liked and well-adjusted; aggressive popular adolescents were neither.

"Prosocial popular adolescents are well-adjusted while aggressive popular adolescents are troubled on many fronts," said Amy C. Hartl, Ph.D., senior author, who conducted this study as a psychology graduate student at FAU. "The prognosis for bistrategic popular youth is mixed. Their well-adjusted social and emotional profile coupled with a moderate propensity for social dominance and rule breaking may prove good or bad depending on the environment, thus providing hope for positive long-term adjustment and concern for the same."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190918093058.htm

Emphasizing social play in kindergarten improves academics, reduces teacher burnout

September 17, 2019

Science Daily/University of British Columbia

Emphasizing more play, hands-on learning, and students helping one another in kindergarten improves academic outcomes, self-control and attention regulation, finds new UBC research.

The study, published today in the journal PLoS One, found this approach to kindergarten curriculum also enhanced children's joy in learning and teachers' enjoyment of teaching, and reduced bullying, peer ostracism, and teacher burnout.

"Before children have the ability to sit for long periods absorbing information the way it is traditionally presented in school through lectures, they need to be allowed to be active and encouraged to learn by doing," said Dr. Adele Diamond, the study's lead author, a professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. "Indeed, people of all ages learn better by doing than by being told."

Through a randomized controlled trial, Diamond and her colleagues analyzed the effectiveness of a curriculum called Tools of the Mind (Tools). The curriculum was introduced to willing kindergarten teachers and 351 children with diverse socio-economic backgrounds in 18 public schools across the school districts of Vancouver and Surrey.

Tools was developed in 1993 by American researchers Drs. Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong. Its foundational principle is that social-emotional development and improving self-control is as important as teaching academic skills and content. The program emphasizes the role of social dramatic play in building executive functions -- which includes skills such as self-control and selective attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, and planning.

"Executive functioning skills are necessary for learning, and are often more strongly associated with school readiness than intelligence quotient (IQ)," said Diamond. "This trial is the first to show benefits of a curriculum emphasizing social play to executive functioning in a real-world setting."

Previous studies had demonstrated that Tools produces better results for reading and math and on laboratory tests of executive functions. Diamond's new study demonstrates for the first time that Tools also dramatically improves writing (exceeding the top level on the provincial assessment scale), improves executive functions in the real world, and has a host of social and emotional benefits not previously documented.

Teachers reported more helping behavior and greater sense of community in Tools classes. Cliques developed in most control classes, but in few Tools classes. Late in the school year, Tools teachers reported still feeling energized and excited about teaching, while control teachers were exhausted.

"I have enjoyed seeing the enormous progress my students have made in writing and reading. I have never had so many students writing two or three sentences by the end of kindergarten," said Susan Kochan, a Tools teacher in Vancouver. "I have also enjoyed seeing the students get so excited about coming to school and learning. They loved all the activities we did so much that many students didn't want to miss school, even if they were sick."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190917140317.htm

One way childhood trauma leads to poorer health for women

Adversity linked to having births earlier and outside marriage

September 17, 2019

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Researchers have long known that childhood trauma is linked to poorer health for women at midlife. A new study shows one important reason why.

The national study of more than 3,000 women is the first to find that those who experienced childhood trauma were more likely than others to have their first child both earlier in life and outside of marriage -- and that those factors were associated with poorer health later in life.

The findings have implications for public programs to prevent teen pregnancy, said Kristi Williams, lead author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.

These results suggest that early trauma -- such as the death of a parent, physical abuse or emotional neglect -- may affect young people's decision-making in ways that they can't entirely control.

"It's easy to tell teens that they shouldn't have kids before marriage, but the message won't be effective if they haven't developed the capacity to do that because of trauma they experienced in childhood," Williams said.

"It may be necessary to do different kinds of interventions and do them when children are younger."

Williams conducted the study with Brian Karl Finch of the University of Southern California. Their results were published today (Sept. 17, 2019) in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Early childhood trauma is "shockingly" common in the United States, the researchers said in the study. One national study conducted between 1995 and 1997 found that only 36 percent of respondents reported having no such adverse childhood experiences.

Other research has shown that childhood trauma is strongly associated with multiple health risks, including cancer, diabetes, stroke and early death, Williams said. Much of this work has focused on how early adversity may have biological and neurological effects that would lead to worse health throughout life.

"But there hasn't been any attention given to how childhood adversity may affect social and developmental processes in adolescence and young adulthood -- factors that we know are also strong predictors of later health," she said.

One of those factors in women is the timing and context of first birth.

Data for this new study came from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which includes a representative sample of people who were aged 14 to 22 in 1979. The NLSY is run by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research.

Participants were interviewed every year through 1994 and once every two years since. The final sample for this study included 3,278 women.

Each participant reported whether she experienced one or more of six adverse childhood experiences before age 18: emotional neglect, physical abuse, alcoholism in the home, mental illness in the home, death of a biological parent and parental absence.

The researchers examined data on how old each participant was when she first gave birth and whether she was married, cohabiting or neither at the time.

Finally, participants rated their health at or near age 40.

Findings showed that each additional childhood trauma experienced by the participants was associated with earlier age at first birth and a greater probability for a first birth during adolescence or young adulthood compared to later (age 25 to 39).

In addition, each additional trauma was associated with a 24 percent increase in the probability of being unmarried and not cohabiting at first birth compared to the likelihood that they were married when their first child was born.

The researchers then conducted statistical tests that showed early and non-marital births were a key reason why children who experienced trauma were more likely to report poorer health at midlife.

"It is the idea of 'chains of risk' -- one thing leads to another," Williams said.

"Childhood trauma leads to social and biological risks that lead to early and nonmarital birth which can lead to health problems later in life."

The findings also cast doubt on the notion that childbearing decisions are the result only of the culture in which children grow up, she said.

Some policymakers have claimed that some people don't value marriage enough, and if they were just encouraged not to have kids until after they're married, they would be better off, Williams said.

"You can promote this 'success sequence' -- go to college, get a job, get married and have a child -- exactly in that order. But the reason some people don't do that isn't just cultural, it is structural," Williams said.

"When people experience traumas early in life, it makes it less likely that they will be able to make those positive choices."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190917115436.htm

For kids who face trauma, good neighbors or teachers can save their longterm health

September 16, 2019

Science Daily/Brigham Young University

New research shows just how important positive childhood experiences are for our long-term health -- especially for those who experience significant adversity as a child.

Studies over the past 20 years have found a correlation between the number of adverse childhood events (such as death or divorce) and worse health outcomes later in life. A new study from professor Ali Crandall and other Brigham Young University coauthors discovered that positive childhood experiences -- like having good neighbors, regular meals or a caregiver you feel safe with -- have the potential to negate harmful health effects caused by adverse childhood experiences.

"If your child has experienced trauma and you're worried about the long-term impact it could have on them, these findings show that the positive experiences in childhood lead to better adult physical and mental health, no matter what they have faced," said Crandall, assistant professor of public health at BYU.

Specifically, the study found that even when an individual had four or more adverse childhood experiences (called ACEs), having a high number of advantageous childhood experiences (Counter-ACEs) lessened the negative effect of ACEs on adult health. This is significant because the landmark 1998 ACEs study concluded that having four or more ACEs in childhood greatly increases negative health outcomes, including higher BMI, smoking rates, depression and chronic health conditions.

BYU study participants reported the number of ACEs and Counter-ACEs they experienced in childhood. ACEs include abuse, abandonment, having a family member in jail, alcoholism, mental illness, addiction, divorce or death. The full list of Counter-ACEs includes having good friends and neighbors, beliefs that provide comfort, liking school, teachers who care, having a caregiver whom you feel safe with, opportunities to have fun, feeling comfortable with yourself and a predictable home routine like regular meals and bedtimes.

Accoring to the study findings, published recently in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, nearly 75 percent of participants had at least one adverse childhood experience, while the average amount of ACEs was 2.67 per person. The average positive experience score was 8.15, with 39 percent of people having experienced all 10 of those Counter-ACEs.

Participants also reported their current health through a variety of physical measures -- like BMI, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise, sleep difficulties and if they smoked daily -- as well as their cognitive and mental health through executive functioning abilities, perceived stress, depression, internal locus of control, gratitude, forgiveness of self and challenging situations and familial closeness. Interestingly, researchers also found that the absence of Counter-ACEs led to poor adult health regardless of the number of ACEs.

"As bad as ACEs may be, the absence of these positive childhood experiences and relationships may actually be more detrimental to lifelong health so we need more focus on increasing the positive," Crandall said.

While many of the adverse childhood experiences in this study are affected by a child's family situation, Crandall said that "other adults in a child's life that are not the parent, like extended family, teachers, neighbors, friends and youth leaders all help to increase the number of counter ACEs and boosts lifelong health."

Crandall believes that increasing counter-ACES in the home is the easiest place to start and is working to educate the community about how to do this in conjunction with United Way. BYU professors Brianna Magnusson, Len Novilla, Carl Hanson and Michael Barnes were coauthors on the study.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916144004.htm

Importance of when adolescents sleep to obesity and cardiometabolic health

September 16, 2019

Science Daily/Massachusetts General Hospital

A new study led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and Harvard Medical School has found that adolescent sleep timing preferences and patterns should be considered risk factors for obesity and cardiometabolic health, and that the effects are greater in girls than in boys.

Poor quality and short duration of sleep are known to increase obesity and cardiometabolic risk among children. What's rarely been studied, however, is how sleep timing and teens' own preferences for when to sleep and engage in other activities can influence their risk of obesity and poor cardiometabolic health.

"Beyond quantity and quality, timing is a vital component of sleep because it determines if an individual's circadian clock -- the internal sleep/wake schedule -- is synchronized with the rhythms of their daily activities," says Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, division chief, General Academic Pediatrics, MGHfC, and senior investigator of a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. "This is particularly important to adolescents whose evening preferences and academic demands often result in irregular sleep schedules that may cause circadian misalignment. Our research found that 'night owls,' teenagers who prefer to go to bed late but have to get up early for school, had higher waist circumference and greater abdominal fat deposition (adiposity) than the 'morning larks,' those who prefer to go to bed early and get up early to begin their day."

The researchers emphasized the need for consistent sleep-wake patterns throughout the week, including on weekends, to reduce the risk of obesity and promote cardiometabolic health.

The research team studied 804 children who were part of Project Viva, a groundbreaking cohort study begun 20 years ago by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute that followed Boston-area mothers and children to characterize early-life factors that influence long-term health. Scientists examined chronotypes (evening versus morning preferences) and "social jet lag" (differences in sleep timing between school and free days) in children 12 to 17 years of age. Evening chronotypes and greater social jet lag were associated with higher adiposity.

"Large variability in sleep patterns across the week can disrupt normal physiology, resulting in obesity and cardiometabolic risk," explains lead author Elizabeth Cespedes Feliciano, ScD, ScM, formerly at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and now research scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

"Our study supports the importance of biological clocks in influencing obesity risk." Stronger associations with adiposity were observed for girls versus boys. "While the reasons for that difference are not fully understood, they may include biological and sociocultural influences," says Feliciano.

Helping teenagers address the effects of chronotypes and social jet lag calls for family, clinical and community-based initiatives, according to the investigators. "Families should encourage consistency in their children's sleep schedules and their bed and wake times as well as improvements in their sleep hygiene by limiting electronic media and caffeine use in the evening," says Feliciano.

Schools can also play an important role by enacting polices that delay morning start times and by making it easier for students to devote time during the school day to academic or athletic activities that are spilling more and more into the late night, says Taveras. From a clinical standpoint, she adds, physicians should start to include chronotypes and social jet lag in their preventive counseling. "Physicians should be aware of the importance of encouraging adolescents to follow consistent sleep schedules on weekdays and weekends," she says. "Adolescent girls and 'owls' may especially benefit from keeping consistent sleep schedules."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916110604.htm

Slower growth in working memory linked to teen driving crashes

September 13, 2019

Science Daily/Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

Research into why adolescent drivers are involved in motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of injury and death among 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States, has often focused on driving experience and skills. But a new study suggests that development of the adolescent brain may play a critical role in whether a teenager is more likely to crash.

The study finds that slower growth in the development of working memory is associated with motor vehicle crashes, which points to cognitive development screening as a potential new strategy for identifying and tailoring driving interventions for teens at high risk for crashes.

The study, led by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (APPC) and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is the first longitudinal study of working memory development in relation to vehicle crashes. The paper "Working Memory Development and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Young Drivers" was published today in JAMA Network Open.

The research examines data from 118 youth in Philadelphia who were part of a larger group that participated in a six-wave survey from when they were 10- to 12-year-olds, in 2005, until they were 18- to 20-year-olds, in 2013-14. The survey measured working memory development, as well as associated risk-related traits and behaviors. This group later participated in a follow-up survey on driving experience.

"We found that teens who had slower development in working memory were more likely to report being in a crash," said the lead author, Elizabeth A. Walshe, Ph.D., who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP.

Driving and working memory

Working memory, which develops through adolescence into the twenties, is a frontal lobe process associated with complex, moment-to-moment tasks essential to driving. "Safe driving involves scanning, monitoring, and updating information about the vehicle and environment while managing multiple subtasks (e.g., adjusting speed, steering, in-vehicle controls) and distractors (e.g., peer passengers and cell phones)," the researchers said in their paper. All of these tasks challenge working memory, especially when a young driver has not yet fully learned to automate many basic driving routines.

Adolescent drivers have the highest rate of crashes, injuries, and mortality. While poor skills and inexperience explain some of the risk shortly after a new driver receives a license, crash risk is inversely related to age during the early years of driving. In other words, among equally new drivers, those who are 17 years old have a higher crash rate than those who are 20 years old, which suggests a possible developmental link.

"Not all young drivers crash," Walshe said. "So we thought, what is it about those who are crashing? It could be related to variability in working memory development."

Findings

Prior research has shown a link between lower working memory capacity and reckless and inattentive driving, crashes, and poor performance on simulated driving tasks. For the current study, the researchers recruited participants from the Philadelphia Trajectory Study, a broad six-wave study conducted by researchers at APPC and CHOP. Across seven years -- when the adolescents were 11-13 years old to 18-20 years old -- this study measured the change in working memory and other characteristics. Subsequently, in 2015, 118 young adults, including 84 drivers and 34 non-drivers, took the follow-up survey on driving. Among the drivers, 25 reported having a crash history and 59 reported no crash history.

The drivers who reported crashes and those who didn't started from about the same point in working memory capacity though the trends diverged from there. The researchers found that the relative growth of working memory was associated with car crashes within three years after starting to drive. Young drivers whose trajectory of working memory growth was less-than-average in the group were more likely to report being in a crash; drivers with greater-than-average growth in working memory were more likely to say they had not been in a crash.

The analysis controlled for other risk-related factors including reckless driving and drug use.

Driving crashes: "Predictable and preventable"

The researchers say the results have important policy implications. While all 50 states have some type of graduated driver licensing (GDL) program that gradually lifts restrictions for young new drivers, the research suggests that individual assessments of adolescents' cognitive development may play an important part, too.

"If our findings hold up in larger samples with diverse youth, we will need to start assessing cognitive abilities, such as working memory, to see if some adolescents are less ready for independent driving," said Daniel Romer, Ph.D., research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. "There is considerable variation in working memory development during the teen years, and some teens may not be as ready to drive on their own without additional assistance."

Flaura K. Winston, M.D., Ph.D., founder and scientific director of the Century for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP, said that enabling teens to become safe drivers is a health concern for physicians. Prior research has focused on driving skills and experience, but this study examines cognitive development in typical adolescents and suggests that individual variation plays a critical role.

"This research points to the fact that crashes are predictable and preventable," said Winston, who also is an APPC distinguished research fellow. "It focuses attention more on the role of the driver and the driver's clinician. A clinician could identify teens who will be at an increased risk and use 'precision prevention' to tailor anticipatory guidance so that young drivers achieve independent mobility in a safe way."

Precision prevention, Winston said, could provide different types of driver training or a release from driving restrictions at different times based on their development.

The researchers said that some form of standardized screening or testing during adolescence could determine which teens have slower development of working memory. "Ideally, we'd be able to offer interventions like driver training or technologies like in-vehicle alert systems to assist new drivers who need it," Walshe said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190913111400.htm

High social support associated with less violence among male teens in urban neighborhoods

September 13, 2019

Science Daily/University of Pittsburgh

Among teen boys in urban neighborhoods with low resources, the presence of adult social support is linked to significantly fewer occurrences of sexual violence, youth violence and bullying, and to more positive behaviors, including school engagement and future aspirations, according to a new study from researchers at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The study, published today in JAMA Network Open, suggests that prevention efforts that focus on adult support can mitigate patterns of co-occurring violent behavior.

"Teen boys in urban neighborhoods are disproportionately exposed to violence and consequently are at higher risk of violence perpetration and victimization," said the study's senior author Alison Culyba, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a physician at UPMC Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Pitt's School of Medicine. "Historically, research often has focused on a single type of violence, but our study shows that there are complex co-occurring behavior patterns and shared protective factors that we need to pay attention to."

The researchers analyzed survey data from a recently completed sexual violence prevention trial that enrolled 866 adolescent boys aged 13- to 19-years-old from lower-resource neighborhoods in the Pittsburgh region. More than three fourths of the participants self-identified as black and six percent self-identified as Hispanic.

The survey included data on 40 "risk" and 18 "protective" behaviors that were classified into one of seven categories -- youth violence, bullying, sexual and/or dating violence, violence exposure and adversities, substance use, school engagement, and career and future aspirations. The participants also rated their personal level of dependable adult social support.

When it came to the data analysis, Culyba and her colleagues took a less conventional approach. "We borrowed methods that have proven effective for large scale genetic analyses," she said.

The analysis revealed interesting patterns. Teen boys with high social support engaged in approximately eight of the 40 risk behaviors -- significantly fewer than those with low social support who engaged in around 10 risky behaviors. Those who had high social support and reported more career and future aspirations were less likely to report all types of violent behavior. In contrast, among those with low social support, school engagement was an important protective factor. Feeling happy at a school that promoted diversity was strongly correlated with fewer instances of both physical and sexual partner violence and dating abuse.

The researchers also found patterns in how different violent behaviors co-occurred. The strongest correlations were between different types of sexual violence perpetration behaviors. For example, teens who endorsed posting sexual pictures of partners were 14 times more likely to also report having coerced someone who they were going out with to have sex. On the other hand, while gang involvement was infrequently associated with violence perpetration, it was more frequently reported among those who had been exposed to sexual violence, bullying or substance use.

"Our analysis revealed how interconnected these behaviors are," said Culyba. "By creating programs that help parents and mentors support teen boys, we may be able to reduce multiple types of violence at once."

The authors caution that the study is limited in that the findings don't demonstrate causative links, and further analysis of the associations is required. "It's a starting point for beginning to understand detailed patterns of violence at a much deeper level -- and for offering new opportunities for prevention," said Culyba.

Culyba notes that the findings align with the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Connecting the Dots Initiative, which encourages prevention programs that identify and address these common underlying factors through community involvement to keep kids safe.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190913111348.htm

'Time-outs' at home not associated with long-term negative effects in children

Study does not find relationship between 'time-out' as a disciplinary method and increased behavior problems

September 12, 2019

Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Researchers find no differences in emotional and behavioral health between kids whose parents reported using time-outs and those who didn't.

It's an age-old debate: are time-outs bad for kids?

Now, a new study suggests that despite sometimes getting a bad rap in the news, the common disciplinary strategy isn't linked to harmful effects in children.

Researchers compared emotional and behavioral health between kids whose parents reported using time-outs and those who didn't over a roughly eight-year period. The result: no difference.

"Some reports in the media and by select organizations have suggested that time-out is ineffective and even harmful," says lead author Rachel Knight, Ph.D., pediatric psychologist at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

"There are some alarming claims that time-outs can damage the parent-child relationship and negatively affect emotional health. But the research simply doesn't support those claims. We did not find a relationship between time-outs and negative side effects in children."

Researchers analyzed national data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation study tracking families at three different time points. Children's positivity and negativity towards parents, mental health and social skills were among measures evaluated at 36 months-old, pre-kindergarten and in fifth grade.

There was no association between reported use of time-outs and negative symptoms in later childhood, including anxiety, depression, internalizing or externalizing problems, aggression, rule-breaking behavior, or self-control, according to the findings in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

There also weren't any differences in the measure of creativity when the children were about to enter kindergarten.

Knight says that she and fellow children's health experts were concerned by the amount of inaccurate information widely available about time-outs.

"Parents are constantly questioning whether they are doing the right thing for their children," she says.

"Unfortunately the first place many parents go for advice is the Internet, social media or friends -- not a medical provider. There is a lot of conflicting information on the Web that isn't vetted or accurate."

A previous Mott-led study found that close to 30% of websites portrayed time-out negatively. Some have criticized the disciplinary strategy as having the opposite desired effect, possibly leading to escalating problem behaviors. A high-profile 2014 Time Magazine article "Are Time-Outs Hurting Your Children?" also recently re-ignited the debate.

Parents may not be aware that time-out is one of the only child discipline strategies currently recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Knight says. Time-out has been shown to be effective in addressing behavior challenges across several ages, including infants, toddlers and preschoolers, school-age children and adolescents.

"There's a wealth of research on how effective time-outs can be in reducing problematic behavior when they are used appropriately," she says. "It's a parenting strategy that's often misunderstood and misused."

Consistency, structure, a calm demeanor and positive environment are keys to effectively using time-outs, Knight says. The process should be pre-planned and understood by both parents and children rather than being introduced in the heat of the moment to avoid yelling or scolding.

"Catching" a child exhibiting good behavior is also just as important as enforcing consequences when they break the rules, she notes.

Further studies are needed, Knight says, to continue evaluating specific claims made against time outs and both their short-term and long-term effects across different populations and ages.

Experts also need to find more effective ways to communicate evidence-based information to parents and caregivers.

"As we further our understanding about how different parenting strategies impact children, we need to present findings in an easily digestible and accessible way for the public," she says.

"Our goal is to debunk misconceptions and promote the use of highly effective, evidence-based strategies that will best guide parents and families."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190912124828.htm

Social media use by teens linked to internalizing behaviors

September 11, 2019

Science Daily/Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media are more likely to report high levels of internalizing behaviors compared to adolescents who do not use social media at all.

The study, published online September 11 in JAMA Psychiatry, examined the time adolescents reported spending on social media and two types of behaviors that can be indicators of mental health problems: internalizing and externalizing. Internalizing can involve social withdrawal, difficulty coping with anxiety or depression or directing feelings inward. Externalizing can include aggression, acting out, disobeying or other observable behaviors.

The study found the use of social media for any amount of time was associated with both a greater risk of reporting internalizing problems alone and concurrent symptoms of both internalizing and externalizing problems. The study found no significant association with social media use and externalizing problems alone. Teens who spent at least three hours on social media a day had the greatest risk for reporting internalizing problems alone.

"Many existing studies have found a link between digital or social media use and adolescent health, but few look at this association across time," says lead author Kira Riehm, MSc, a doctoral student in the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School. "Our study shows that teens who report high levels of time spent on social media are more likely to report internalizing problems a year later. We cannot conclude that social media causes mental health problems, but we do think that less time on social media may be better for teens' health."

Social media use among teens is widespread. Recent polls have found that 95 percent of teens in the U.S. have access to a smartphone and close to 75 percent of teens have at least one social media account. The use of social media has both health risks and benefits. These platforms often provide ways to connect with peers and information and resources on causes important to them, but there are risks of cyberbullying and other digital aggressions.

For their study, the researchers used a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 17 from the federally funded Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (PATH) between 2013 and 2016. The study collected data over three years and the analysis involved 6,595 respondents. Each year, participants were asked how much time they spent on social media as well as questions pertaining to symptoms of internal and external mental health problems.

The study found that less than 17 percent of adolescents did not use social media. For those who did report using social media, 2,082 or 32 percent, reported spending less than 30 minutes; 2,000, or about 31 percent, reported spending 30 minutes to three hours; 817, or 12 percent, reported spending three to six hours; and 571, or 8 percent, reported spending more than six hours per day.

Researchers also found that 611 respondents, or about 9 percent, reported experiencing only internalizing problems, while 885, or 14 percent, reported experiencing externalizing problems only; 1,169, or about 18 percent, reported experiencing both internal and external problems; and 3,930, or about 59 percent, reported no/low problems. The study found no links between social media use and mental health problems and gender.

"Social media has the ability to connect adolescents who may be excluded in their daily life. We need to find a better way to balance the benefits of social media with possible negative health outcomes," says Riehm. "Setting reasonable boundaries, improving the design of social media platforms and focusing interventions on media literacy are all ways in which we can potentially find this equilibrium."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911142733.htm

Narcissism tracked from young adulthood to middle age

September 11, 2019

Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

The belief that one is smarter, better looking, more successful and more deserving than others -- a personality trait known as narcissism -- tends to wane as a person matures, a new study confirms. But not for everyone, and not to the same extent.

The study, reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, finds that the magnitude of the decline in narcissism between young adulthood and middle age is related to the specific career and personal relationship choices a person makes.

The research tracked participants across two time points. The first occurred when they were 18 and just starting out as freshmen at the University of California, Berkeley. The second was 23 years later, when participants were 41 years old. Of the original 486 participants, 237 completed a new round of evaluations.

Participants at both time points answered questions from a survey designed to assess their narcissistic traits. For the follow-up study, researchers also asked about relationship and employment history, job satisfaction, and health and well-being.

"We looked at the different facets of narcissism in adults at age 18 and again at 41," said Eunike Wetzel, a professor of psychology at Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany, who led the research with University of Illinois psychology professor Brent Roberts; Emily Grijalva, an organizational behavior professor at Washington University in St. Louis; and Richard Robins, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis. "We focused on participants' vanity, the belief in their own leadership qualities and their tendency to feel entitled."

Each facet of narcissism was associated with several negative -- and in a few cases, positive -- outcomes for the individual, the researchers found. Those who had higher levels of vanity at age 18 were prone to unstable relationships and marriages, and were more likely to be divorced by middle age. But they also reported better health at age 41. In contrast, those who felt the most entitled as young adults reported more negative life events and tended to have lower well-being and life satisfaction at middle age.

"We originally hypothesized that the leadership facet of narcissism would increase," Roberts said. "In fairness to my co-authors, that hypothesis was mine, and it turns out I was wrong."

Leadership is associated with goal persistence, extraversion, self-esteem and a desire to lead. It is considered one of the least pathological elements of narcissism, Roberts said.

"We know from past research that another component of personality, assertiveness, tends to increase during this time of life," he said. "So, I thought it was reasonable to hypothesize a similar increase in the leadership facet. This either means the past research is wrong, or our read of the leadership component of narcissism is wrong -- it may actually be more negative than we thought. We have to figure this out in future research."

Vanity appeared to be most strongly linked to life events, the researchers found. For example, vanity declined more in those who entered into serious romantic relationships and those with children. But vanity declined significantly less in middle-aged adults who had experienced more negative life events than their peers.

"We also found that narcissistic young adults were more likely to end up in supervisory jobs 23 years later, suggesting that selfish, arrogant individuals are rewarded with more powerful organizational roles," Grijalva said. "Further, individuals who supervised others decreased less in narcissism from young adulthood to middle age -- meaning that supervisory roles helped maintain prior levels of narcissism."

Despite the differences between individuals, most of the participants who responded to researchers' questions again at age 41 saw a decline in narcissism as they matured, the researchers found.

"Very few people, only 3% of participants, actually increased in overall narcissism between the ages of 18 and 41," Wetzel said. "And some remained just as narcissistic at age 41 as they had been when they were 18 years old."

"The findings should bring comfort to those who are concerned that young people are problematically narcissistic," Roberts said. "With time, it seems most people turn away from their earlier narcissistic tendencies."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911113019.htm

Increasing number of adolescents receive depression diagnosis

September 11, 2019

Science Daily/University of Turku

The proportion of young people in Finland diagnosed with depression in specialised services is increasing, showed a study based on an extensive set of national data. An increasing number of adolescents seek and get help, but the increase in service use burdens specialised services. The study was conducted by the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry at the University of Turku in Finland.

The proportion of individuals who received a diagnosis by the age of 15 in specialised services increased 53% among boys and 65 % among girls born between 1994 and 2000 compared to young people born between 1987 and 1993.

According to the lead author, Dr Svetlana Filatova from the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry, the results do not imply an increase in depression among adolescents.

"The results can most probably be explained by an increase in service use. An increasing number of depressed adolescents get help at an early stage which is positive," says Filatova.

There has been an increase in the use of psychiatric services among adolescents in the past 20 years both in Finland and worldwide.

"The increase in service use can reflect better identification of depression and a more positive attitude to mental health," Filatova continues.

Examining Temporal Changes Identifies Challenges in Healthcare

Knowledge of time trends for depression is important for disease prevention and healthcare planning. However, few studies until now have examined these for the incidence and cumulative incidence of diagnosed depression from childhood to early adulthood.

According to Docent David Gyllenberg from the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry, it is important to monitor changes in the incidence of depression to timely address challenges faced by mental health services.

"The rapid increase in the number of children and adolescents diagnosed with depression poses a burden for specialised mental health services that need to provide evidence-based treatment for a growing patient population," Gyllenberg stresses.

The data consisted of 1,240,062 persons including 37,682 individuals with a depression diagnosis who had visited specialised care at least once. 10% of females and 5% of males who had been followed up to the age of 25 had been diagnosed with depression.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911112959.htm

Adolescents with high levels of physical activity perform better in school over two years

September 10, 2019

Science Daily/University of Jyväskylä - Jyväskylän yliopisto

Adolescents with higher levels of physical activity performed better in school during transition from primary school to lower secondary school than their physically inactive peers, a new study from Finland shows. However, the researchers, from the University of Jyväskylä, found that increased physical activity did not necessarily result in improved academic performance.

Previous cross-sectional studies have reported that physically more active children and adolescents achieve better school grades than their less active peers do, but there are few longitudinal studies on the topic. A newly published study showed that adolescents with higher levels of physical activity over a follow-up period of two academic years had higher academic performance than did those who were continuously inactive. Furthermore, the study showed that increased levels of physical activity do not automatically result in improved academic performance. Instead, the results suggest that those adolescents who increased their physical activity had lower academic performance during the follow-up compared to their more active peers.

What the results mean

Highly active adolescents performed better in school compared to their less active peers. However, our results showed that increasing physical activity over a period of two academic years did not necessarily improve academic performance.

What the results do not mean

Based on our results, it is not possible to say whether physical activity improves academic performance or if adolescents with higher academic performance choose a physically active lifestyle. Therefore, no causal interpretations can be made. However, the results of the present study do not refute the findings of previous studies showing small but positive effects of physical activity on learning and its neural underpinnings.

'The link between physical activity and academic performance do not always reflect a causal relationship. It is possible that high levels of physical activity and good academic performance share the same attributes, such as high motivation towards the task at hand,' says Eero Haapala, postdoctoral researcher from the University of Jyväskylä.

The study investigated the longitudinal associations of physical activity with academic performance in 635 adolescents who were between 11 and 13 years old at baseline. Physical activity was assessed using a questionnaire and school grades were acquired from the school registers. Several confounding factors such as parental education and pubertal status were controlled for in the analyses.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190910105349.htm adolescents high levels physical activity

Strong student-adult relationships lower suicide attempts in high schools

Innovative study of social groups shows trusted adults, as well as peers, can help with prevention

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/University of Rochester Medical Center

Study of social networks in 38 high schools shows evidence that clearly identified, competent adult mentors that are connected to many students can help prevent suicide attempts.

High schools where students are more connected to peers and adult staff, and share strong relationships with the same adults, have lower rates of suicide attempts, according to a new study published by the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

The study, "Peer-adult network structure and suicide attempts in 38 high schools: implications for network-informed suicide prevention," surveyed 10,291 students from 38 high schools to determine social integration through the relationship network structure of each school.

Students were asked to name up to seven of their closest friends at their school. In a novel approach, students were also asked to name up to seven adults in their school they trust and feel comfortable talking to about personal matters. Researchers used the friendship and adult nominations submitted to build comprehensive social networks for each school.

Researchers used this data to determine whether differences in social networks between schools resulted in different rates of suicide attempts and suicidal ideation (thinking about or planning suicide). Their findings revealed the following:

• Rates of suicide attempts and ideation were higher in schools where students named fewer friends, friendship nominations were concentrated in fewer students, and students' friends were less often friends with each other.

• Suicide attempts specifically were higher in schools where students were more isolated from adults, and student nominations of adults were concentrated among fewer students (i.e. a few students had disproportionately more trusted adults vs. other students).

• Schools in which 10 percent more students were isolated from adults correlated to a 20 percent increase in suicide attempts.

• Conversely, suicide attempts were lower in schools where students and their close friends shared strong bonds with the same adult, and where a smaller number of adults were nominated by a larger share of students.

Schools in which many students name the same trusted adults "may reflect the presence of clearly identified, competent adults being connected to many students," said the study.

This focus on social networks had been relatively unexplored in previous research on suicide, according to lead author Peter A. Wyman, PhD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. "Most suicide prevention is centered on the high-risk individual," Wyman said. "We wanted this study to provide us with new ways of thinking on how to intervene to strengthen protective relationships on a broader school-level, and even on a community level."

The number of children and teens who have been brought to the emergency room for suicide attempts or suicidal ideation has nearly doubled in recent years, according to a recent study published by JAMA Pediatrics. There were 1.12 million emergency room visits for suicide attempts or suicidal ideation by children ages 5 to 18 years old in 2015, up from 580,000 in 2007.

In addition, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in the U.S. age 10 to 18 and rates have been increasing by nearly 2 percent per year.

Wyman hopes these study results could potentially help schools develop more effective, comprehensive interventions. "Despite a great deal of effort, suicide rates continue to rise. This study identifies protective schoolwide network factors, such as cohesion between adolescents' peer and adult networks. This network-informed perspective gives us some new concepts for suicide prevention," he said. "Strengthening inter-generational cohesion so that more friendship groups share a trusted adult could make it easier for youth to close the circle through that connection if a friend is at-risk."

Participating schools had wide differences in the percentage of students who nominated trusted adults. In the lowest ranked school, only 8.3 percent of students named a trusted adult, while 53.4 percent of students named a trusted adult in the highest ranked school. Authors of the study recommended looking at characteristics of school staffs, such as diversity and attitudes about youth, and the school leadership climate to better understand why these differences exist. In addition, the study recommended developing strategies to strengthen protective social networks, including training student peer group leaders to promote positive social behaviors, and working to prepare responsive adults and connect those adults into student social groups.

"The time has come for our field to think more broadly about suicide prevention," said Anthony R. Pisani, PhD, associate professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. "Individual risk factors, like depression, substance use or traumatic history, are important, but we also need to think about the health of the social ties and systems in which we are all interwoven." Wyman and Pisani have used these strategies to guide two intervention programs -- Sources of Strength and Above the Influence of Vaping -- that they have helped implement in 60 high school and middle schools across New York state. Sources of Strength, which was developed in North Dakota in the 1990s, utilizes preventative, population-based approaches by identifying peer leaders of social groups throughout schools and preparing them to become positive influences on their friends' coping behaviors. Above the Influence of Vaping is a substance abuse prevention program targeting middle schoolers developed by Wyman and Pisani that uses similar peer leader engagement methods combined with science-based peer-to-peer messaging.

Both programs have successfully worked to increase student connections with adults, and this study reinforces the need to strengthen those bonds, according to Wyman. "One of the most important predictors of lower suicide attempt rates in this study was positive youth-adult connections widely spread across the school," said Wyman, "we have to be thinking about the broader population to make sure more students are connected to adults prepared to support them."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909170800.htm

Paid family leave improves vaccination rates in infants

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/Binghamton University

Parents who take paid family leave after the birth of a newborn are more likely to have their child vaccinated on time compared to those who do not, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. The effect is stronger on families living below the poverty line.

"Currently, many people do not vaccinate their child within the recommended schedule and are late," said Solomon Polachek, professor of economics at Binghamton University. "Often this might be due to parental time constraints. When an infant is really young, these immunizations are critical, since infants are at a higher risk of infection and illness if not vaccinated properly."

In 2004, California was the first state to implement a Paid Family Leave (PFL) policy, allowing private-sector employees up to six weeks of leave with partial wage replacement to care for a newborn baby. This time not only helps parents settle into their new caregiving roles, but it also allows them time to make vital parental decisions, such as ensuring their child is vaccinated on time.

Binghamton University PhD student Agnitra Roy Choudhury, who conducted this study under Polachek's direction, looked at the National Immunization Survey to collect data regarding child vaccination rates between 19-35 months old. Specifically, the researchers looked at children born before and after the PFL policy was implemented in California and whether children received vaccinations on time compared to children in other states during the same time period. Vaccinations studied include Hepatitis-B (HepB), Diphtheria Tetatus Pertusis (DTP) and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB).

They found that the PFL policy in California granting six weeks of family leave with partial wage replacement reduced late vaccination rates in infants.

"The research finds that paid family leave (at least in California) increases the chance an infant will be inoculated for the second HepB injection by over 5 percent relative to states not implementing paid family leave, and for the DTP injection by about 1.5 percent," said Polachek. "The effects are bigger for poorer families, who are less likely to have access to paid family leave from their jobs alone."

According to Polachek, vaccinating infants on time is vital to their future health and well-being, since vaccines can ward off diseases that can impact future attendance at school. Not only do these outcomes lead to less learning for children, but also they can lead to lower earnings power.

"Poor school attendance and less early childhood learning can have consequences regarding the widening earnings distribution," said Polachek. "Paid family leave might be a viable national policy if it mitigates these detrimental effects."

Future research will focus on using more precise survey data and analyzing other states, such as New York, that have recently implemented PFL policies.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909131128.htm

Experience of being a minority puts US teens at higher risk of anxiety, depression

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/Massachusetts General Hospital

Puerto Rican teens growing up as minorities in the South Bronx are more likely to experience anxiety and depression than their peers growing up as a majority in Puerto Rico, even under similar conditions of poverty, says a new study in World Psychiatry. Researchers looked at nearly 2,000 Puerto Rican youth over two decades to understand how minority status and factors such as racism, poverty, violence and social support influence mental health. Although youth in Puerto Rico are poorer and face more homicides than young people living in the South Bronx, the experience of living as a minority group in the United States led to worse mental health outcomes.

"How others interact with you as a minority can affect your mental health and how you see yourself. The mere experience of growing up as a minority can elevate your psychiatric risks," says lead author Margarita Alegria, PhD, chief of the Disparities Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). "Exposure to racism and discrimination and the perception of low social position are consequences of minority status that may lead to depression, anxiety and feeling like 'the other,'" she adds.

The Boricua Youth Study is the first large longitudinal study examining what puts minority youth at risk for depression and anxiety. The study was conducted by Alegria and colleagues at MGH, Harvard Medical School, Columbia University and the University of Puerto Rico. Researchers looked at 1,863 Puerto Rican youth ages 15-29 living in New York's South Bronx and San Juan, Puerto Rico to explore whether growing up as part of a minority group in disadvantaged neighborhoods puts young people at risk for depression and anxiety and what factors lead to that risk. They also interviewed 1,100 parents and caregivers in both places to get their perspectives.

The researchers examined four general buckets of categories that influence mental health: environmental and social factors, cultural and minority stress, parent and peer relations, and family/individual vulnerability.

The key influencers that put teens at risk for mood disorders included perceived discrimination (i.e. neighborhood discrimination, the stress of being a minority and unfair treatment) and cultural factors (i.e. weaker ethnic identity and intercultural conflict). The strengths of childhood social support and good peer relationships explained the differences in mental health outcomes between minority/majority youth.

As a minority group, youth in the South Bronx also face complex home dynamics that could affect their mental health. Families often provide Latino youth with a sense of identity and source of connection to their culture. Researchers found that intergenerational conflicts sometimes stemmed from minority youth assimilating to New York's cultural norms.

Compared to their peers in Puerto Rico, parents in the South Bronx reported more neighborhood discrimination, a lower level of family connection and more family cultural distress. Similarly, young people in the South Bronx reported weaker ethnic identity and lower levels of familism than their peers in Puerto Rico.

The authors note that the findings have implications for immigrant youth nationally since "It is not individual risk but rather the environments and social context that could play a prominent role in the development of internalizing disorders."

Neighborhood-based interventions focused on building positive social relationships, like youth civic organizations in after school programs could be effective ways to combat anxiety and depression among minority youth, the authors add. Strong parental and peer relationships also offer these youth important buffering tools to combat the stress of discrimination and counter the negative social mirror that puts them at risk for internalizing experiences.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909170758.htm

Offering children a variety of vegetables increases acceptance

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/Elsevier

Although food preferences are largely learned, dislike is the main reason parents stop offering or serving their children foods like vegetables. A new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, demonstrated that repeatedly offering a variety of vegetables increased acceptance and consumption by children.

"In Australia, dietary guidelines for vegetable consumption by young children have increased although actual consumption is low," said lead author Astrid A.M. Poelman, PhD, CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Sensory, Flavour and Consumer Science, North Ryde, Australia. "This study introduces an effective strategy for parents wanting to address this deficiency."

This study recruited 32 families with children between the ages of four and six where low consumption of vegetables was reported. Parents completed an online survey and attended an information meeting prior to participating. Three groups were created: children introduced to a single vegetable; children to receive multiple vegetables; and a group where eating habits were not changed.

Study data were collected in several ways: two dinner meals served at the research facility during which children could eat as much of the broccoli, cauliflower and green beans as they wished; changes to actual vegetables consumed at home, childcare or school recorded through food diaries; and parents reporting on usual vegetable consumption.

Strategies of offering vegetables were parent led and home based. Families introducing one vegetable served broccoli and families trying multiple vegetables served broccoli, zucchini and peas. Parents were provided with a voucher to purchase the vegetables and given instructions on portion size and cooking instructions along with tips on how to offer the vegetables. Children were served a small piece of vegetable three times a week for five weeks. A sticker was given as a reward to children trying a vegetable.

There was no difference between groups at the start of the study for any of the methods measured. The dinner meal, during which the children ate without parents present, did not increase consumption perhaps due to an unfamiliar setting. Vegetable acceptance increased for both the single and multiple vegetable groups during the intervention. Families that offered multiple vegetables recorded an increase in consumption from .6 to 1.2 servings, while no change in consumption was observed in families serving a single vegetable or families that did not change their eating habits. Increased acceptance for multiple vegetables was noted during the five weeks of the study and sustained at three-month followup. Following the study parents reported that offering the vegetables was "very easy" or "quite easy" with the majority following the instructions provided by the study.

Dr. Poelman recommended, "While the amount of vegetables eaten increased during the study, the amount did not meet dietary guidelines. Nonetheless, the study showed the strategy of offering a variety of vegetables was more successful in increasing consumption than offering a single vegetable."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909123713.htm

Puberty changes the brains of boys and girls differently

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/European College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Scientists have found that brain networks develop differently in males and females at puberty, with boys showing an increase in connectivity in certain brain areas, and girls showing a decrease in connectivity as puberty progresses. These analyses were focused on brain regions previously identified as conferring risk for mood problems in adolescents, suggesting an association, although this needs to be tested. This work is presented at the ECNP Congress in Copenhagen, and is based on a recent peer-reviewed publication.

According to lead researcher, Dr Monique Ernst (National Institute of Mental Health / NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA), "In our study, we showed that certain brain regions develop differently in boys and girls at puberty. Functional connectivity increases in boys and decreases in girls over puberty. Our next set of studies will aim to clarify the significance of these communication changes in the maturing brain, and to identify if the changes are protective or if they increase vulnerability."

"We looked at these brain areas because they had previously been identified as conferring risk for mood problems in adolescents. We know that mood upsets, particularly anxiety and depression, occur disproportionately in girls, and that women are twice likely as men to suffer from depression following the trend emerging during puberty. We found that the puberty period is associated with significant brain changes in these mood-related brain areas; however, we need to be cautious in interpreting these changes; we need to verify that the association we see between these brain changes and the coincident mood changes are linked. This work is underway."

The researchers analysed brain scans of 147 girls and 157 boys, aged between 13 and 15, from centres in Dublin, London, Dresden, Mannheim, and Paris.They were at varying puberty stages, from having not started their puberty to being fully mature. The researchers took images of the brain activity while the adolescent volunteers were lying still in an MRI scanner. These images were corrected for age and then were analyzed in a way that measures how strongly brain regions communicate with one another (known as "functional connectivity"). The values of the functional connectivity of these regions were correlated with the level of maturity at puberty.

Monique Ernst continued, "This is a first, because in the past, brain scans of adolescents have mostly been measured against a relatively wide chronological age, whereas, here, we were able to measure brain changes directly against their puberty status. We found that for an equivalent change in puberty status, the functional connectivity in these specific brain areas increased in boys by an average of around 6.5%, but decreased in girls by an average of around 7.2% (both these results were statistically significant). Specifically, these brain areas are within the medial prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex.

Collectively these findings indicate that there are opposite changes of brain activity in boys and in girls as they go through puberty, and this male/female developmental pattern can be a key factor in in the role of pubertal development in the emergence of mood disorders. The next critical next step is to examine the role of these brain connectivities in the development of depression as these adolescents get older, using a longitudinal design."

Commenting, Dr Jaanus Harro (Division of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Psychology, University of Tartu and Psychiatry Clinic, North Estonia Medical Centre, Tallinn), said:

"This is particularly interesting in terms of demonstrating connectivity differences between boys and girls. While depression is more prevalent in females it still does occur in males too frequently, while the formal diagnostic criteria are identical. However, the neural pathways to depression in males and females might be partly different, as increasing number of gene-environment interaction studies has shown different interactions in boys and girls, on occasion quite opposite to one other. This imaging study offers a potential brain correlate to these distinct interactions, and it is quite plausible that they might arise during adolescence."

Dr Harro was not involved in this work; this is an independent comment.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909113023.htm

Children of anxious mothers twice as likely to have hyperactivity in adolescence

September 9, 2019

Science Daily/European College of Neuropsychopharmacology

A large study has shown that children of mothers who are anxious during pregnancy and in the first few years of the child's life have twice the risk of having hyperactivity symptoms at age 16. This work is being presented for the first time at the ECNP Congress in Copenhagen.

Scientists know that foetal and early life conditions can have long-term effect on subsequent health. Now a long-term study of more than 3000 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) has shown that maternal anxiety is associated with hyperactivity in their children, although the link with other ADHD symptoms such inattention is more tenuous.

ALSPAC is a long-term project based in Bristol UK, which allows scientists to track how children's health changes over time. The study recorded reported levels of some physical symptoms of anxiety such as sweating, trembling, dizziness, and insomnia in 8727 mothers in the period between early pregnancy and her child reaching 5 years of age.

The researchers were able to classify the mothers' anxiety levels, depending on how often the mothers reported signs of physical anxiety. Very broadly, the women fell into low anxiety, medium anxiety, or high anxiety class.

The researchers then checked how children performed in attention tests (when they reached 8 and a half years of age), and found that there was no difference between children in attention, no matter how anxious the mothers had been. However, testing a larger group of 3199 children at the age of 16 showed that there was a significant difference in hyperactivity symptoms, depending on how anxious the mother had been.

On average a child from a mother who had expressed moderate or high anxiety was around twice as likely to show symptoms of hyperactivity from a mother with low anxiety* Adjusting for social and demographic factors showed a similar correlation**. This means that 11% of the children from 'high anxiety" mothers, and 11% of children from "moderate anxiety" mothers showed symptoms of hyperactivity. Only 5% of children from '"low anxiety" mothers showed hyperactivity symptoms.

Dr. Blanca Bolea, led the study when she was at the University of Bristol. She is now Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in Canada. She said:

"This is the first time that a study has shown that anxiety is linked to a child's hyperactivity in later life but that inattention is not linked. One interpretation is that some symptoms of ADHD are associated with the mother's anxiety, but not all of them. More broadly, it shows that the stresses a mother experiences can show up in her child nearly a generation later; it is worth noting that all the mothers reported an increase in anxiety during pregnancy. Around 28% of the women we tested showed medium or high anxiety. We controlled for hyperactivity in 3199 children in total, and found that 224 children showed signs of hyperactivity, with the rate of hyperactivity being more than doubled if the mother had suffered from medium or high anxiety."

This is an association, so we can't 100% say that anxiety symptoms in pregnancy and early life causes later hyperactivity, other genetic, biological or environmental effects may be at play. However, this idea is supported by studies in animals. We're not sure why this might happen. It could be a that the children are responding to perceived anxiety in the mother, or it could be that there is some biological effect which causes this, for example stress hormones in the placenta having an effect on a developing brain. ADHD is a controversial illness, and there doesn't seem to be any single cause, though we know it can be hereditary. This work shows that maternal anxiety is one factor which is linked to ADHD, but we need some more research to confirm this and other causes"

Commenting, Professor Andreas Reif (University Hospital, Frankfurt) said:

"This is a very interesting study, especially given the longitudinal and transgenerational character and its large sample size. As with all studies of this design, one however must be caution not to mix association with causation. As we know that ADHD and anxious traits are correlated on the genetic level (see Demontis and colleagues, 2019), the finding could well be reflective of shared genetic influences. However, it is also important to stress that this study is not on anxiety disorders or ADHD, but rather on traits related to these disorders. For sure these data however further add to emerging picture that ADHD / hyperactivity, anxiety and bipolar disorder (Meier et al., Br J Psychiat 2018) are linked."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909095021.htm