Relationship quality tied to good health for young adults

June 24, 2016
Science Daily/University at Buffalo
For young people entering adulthood, high-quality relationships are associated with better physical and mental health, according to the results of a new study.

"Health benefits begin to accrue relatively quickly with high-quality relationships and supportive contexts," says Ashley Barr, assistant professor in UB's Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. "And then we see detrimental effects from low-quality relationships -- particularly, those low-quality relationships that last a long time."

Over the last few decades, the transition into adulthood has been extended, according to Barr. Younger people today are waiting longer to get married than those in previous generations, and they're waiting longer to finish school. During this period, they're moving in and out of relationships.

"Much of the research literature focuses on relationships and health in the context of marriage," says Barr. "The majority of our respondents were not married, but these relationships are still impactful to health, for better or for worse."

This is Barr's second study to look at how the quality of relationships during the transition into adulthood affects health. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

She previously conducted research with an all-African-American sample that suggested patterns of instability in relationships mattered when it came to depressive symptoms, alcohol problems and how people reported their general health.

Given those findings, the researchers wanted to see if the same patterns held true in a very different sample.

And they did.

Using the Iowa Youth and Families Project, a sample of all-white youth coming from two-parent, married families in rural Iowa, Barr says about one-third of the sample experienced relatively large changes in their relationships over a two-year period.

"We took into account satisfaction, partner hostility, questions about criticism, support, kindness, affection and commitment," says Barr. "We also asked about how partners behave outside of the relationship. Do they engage in deviant behaviors? Is there general anti-sociality?"

Barr says the longer people are in high-quality relationships, or the faster they get out of low-quality relationships, the better their health.

"It's not being in a relationship that matters; it's being in a long-term, high-quality relationship that's beneficial," she says. "Low-quality relationships are detrimental to health. The findings suggest that it's better for health to be single than to be in a low-quality relationship."

Barr says the attention to changes in these relationships is important, particularly in the context of the extended transition to adulthood.

"It's rare today for young adults to enter a romantic relationship and stay in that relationship without ever changing partners or relationship characteristics," she says. "We now have two studies that found similar patterns and similar implications for those changes."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160624135858.htm

Stress contagion possible amongst students, teachers

June 27, 2016
Science Daily/University of British Columbia
Teacher burnout and student stress may be linked, according to a new study. The work is the first of its kind to examine the connection between teacher burnout and students' cortisol levels, which are a biological indicator of stress.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/06/160627124928_1_540x360.jpg
UBC researchers have found a potential link between student stress and teacher burnout. (stock image)
Credit: © petunyia / Fotolia

The study is the first of its kind to examine the connection between teacher burnout and students' cortisol levels, which are a biological indicator of stress.

Researchers collected saliva samples from over 400 elementary school children and tested their cortisol levels. They found that in classrooms in which teachers experienced more burnout, or feelings of emotional exhaustion, students' cortisol levels were elevated. Higher cortisol levels in elementary school children have been linked to learning difficulties as well as mental health problems.

"This suggests that stress contagion might be taking place in the classroom among students and their teachers," said Eva Oberle, the study's lead author and newly appointed assistant professor with the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at UBC's school of population and public health. "It is unknown what came first -- elevated cortisol or teacher burnout. We consider the connection between student and teacher stress a cyclical problem in the classroom."

Oberle said a stressful classroom climate could be a result of inadequate support for teachers, which may impact teachers' ability to effectively manage their students. A poorly managed classroom can contribute to students' needs not being met and increasing stress. This could be reflected in elevated cortisol levels in students.

Alternatively, stress could originate from students, who may be more challenging to teach because of increases in anxiety, behavioural problems, or special needs. In this scenario, teachers could feel overwhelmed and report higher levels of burnout.

"Our study is a reminder of the systemic issues facing teachers and educators as classroom sizes increase and supports for teachers are cut," said Oberle.

"It is clear from a number of recent research studies that teaching is one of the most stressful professions, and that teachers need adequate resources and support in their jobs in order to battle burnout and alleviate stress in the classroom," said UBC education professor Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, the study's co-author and director of HELP. "If we do not support teachers, we risk the collateral damage of students."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627124928.htm

Thinking 'I can do better' really can improve performance

June 30, 2016
Science Daily/Frontiers
Telling yourself 'I can do better,' can make you do better at a given task, a study has found. Over 44,000 people took part in an experiment to discover what motivational techniques really worked. The researchers tested which physiological skills would help people improve their scores in an online game.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/06/160630102038_1_540x360.jpg
Telling yourself I can do better, can really make you do better at a given task, say researchers.
Credit: © dima_sidelnikov / Fotolia

Over 44,000 people took part in an experiment to discover what motivational techniques really worked. In conjunction with BBC Lab UK, Professor Andrew Lane and his colleagues tested which physiological skills would help people improve their scores in an online game.

This complex study examined if one motivational method would be more effective for any specific aspect of a task. The methods tested were self-talk, imagery, and if-then planning. Each of these psychological skills was applied to one of four parts of a competitive task: process, outcome, arousal-control, and instruction.

People using self-talk, for example telling yourself "I can do better next time" -- performed better than the control group in every portion of the task.

The greatest improvements were seen in self-talk-outcome (telling yourself, "I can beat my best score"), self-talk-process (telling yourself, "I can react quicker this time"), imagery-outcome (imagining yourself playing the game and beating your best score), and imagery-process (imagining yourself playing and reacting quicker than last time).

They also found a short motivational video could improve performance. Participants watched a short video before playing the online game. The coach for these videos was, none other than, four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, an athlete known for advocating mental preparedness in addition to physical training.

If-then planning was found to be one of the least successful of this study, despite being an effective tool in weight management and other real life challenges.

Professor Lane said: "Working on, 'Can You Compete?' was inspirational and educational; since we have been developing online interventions to help people manage their emotions and doing this across a range of specific contexts from delivering a speech to fighting in a boxing ring, from taking an exam to going into dangerous places."

Over 44,000 people participated in the study, an astounding number considering that the majority of psychological experiments have fewer than 300 participants. The participants were divided into 12 experimental groups and one control group, also impressive, because most studies have two or three experimental groups.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160630102038.htm

Lack of sleep increases a child's risk for emotional disorders later

NIH-funded study reveals long-term emotional effects of poor sleep

July 22, 2016
Science Daily/University of Houston
Children who experience inadequate or disrupted sleep are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders later in life according to recent research. The study seeks to determine the precise ways inadequate sleep in childhood produces elevated risk for emotional disorders in later years.
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Clinical psychologist Candice Alfano is the director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston, a clinical research center at the University of Houston focused on helping children, adolescents and adults manage and overcome their sleep and emotion-related problems.
Credit: Thomas Campbell

Candice Alfano, a clinical psychologist and associate psychology professor at the University of Houston, says children who experience inadequate or disrupted sleep are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders later in life. Funded by a grant from the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the study seeks to determine the precise ways inadequate sleep in childhood produces elevated risk for emotional disorders in later years.

"In particular, we are interested in understanding how children appraise, express, regulate and later recall emotional experiences, both when sleep is adequate and when it is inadequate," said Alfano, who is the principal investigator of the study and director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston (SACH). "We focus on childhood, because similar to problems with anxiety and depression, sleep habits and patterns develop early in life and can be enduring."

Alfano and co-investigator Cara Palmer, who is a postdoctoral fellow at SACH, are identifying distinct emotional processes that, when disrupted by poor sleep, make children vulnerable to developing anxiety and depression. To pinpoint these cognitive, behavioral and physiological patterns of emotional risk, they are temporarily restricting sleep in 50 pre-adolescent children between the ages of 7 to 11.

Their findings reveal that inadequate sleep impacts children's emotional health not only by creating more negative emotions, but also by altering positive emotional experiences. For example, after just two nights of poor sleep, children derive less pleasure from positive things, are less reactive to them and less likely to recall details about these positive experiences later. When their normal nightly sleep habits are adequate in duration, however, they're finding these emotional effects are less apparent.

"Healthy sleep is critical for children's psychological well-being," Alfano said. "Continually experiencing inadequate sleep can eventually lead to depression, anxiety and other types of emotional problems. Parents, therefore, need to think about sleep as an essential component of overall health in the same way they do nutrition, dental hygiene and physical activity. If your child has problems waking up in the morning or is sleepy during the day, then their nighttime sleep is probably inadequate. This can result for several reasons, such as a bedtime that is too late, non-restful sleep during the night or an inconsistent sleep schedule."

Alfano says studying the link between sleep disruption and maladaptive emotional processing in childhood is essential, because that's when sleep and emotion regulatory systems are developing. The increased need for sleep and greater brain plasticity during childhood suggests this to be a critical window of opportunity for early intervention. The combined societal costs of anxiety and depressive disorders are estimated to be more than $120 billion annually, underscoring the need for early identification of risk factors and effective intervention methods.

A recent article appearing in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews authored by Palmer and Alfano reviewed the scientific literature on sleep and emotion regulation, partly to inform the methods of their NIH study. Their article provides evidence that without adequate sleep, people are less likely to seek out positive or rewarding experiences if they require effort, such as social or leisure activities. Over time, they say, these behavioral changes can elevate risk for depression and an overall poorer quality of life.

"There are multiple emotional processes that seem to be disrupted by poor sleep," Alfano said. "For example, our ability to self-monitor, pick up on others' nonverbal cues and accurately identify others' emotions diminishes when sleep is inadequate. Combine this with less impulse control, a hallmark feature of the teenage years, and sleep deprivation can create a 'perfect storm' for experiencing negative emotions and consequences."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160722104137.htm

Negative attention from teachers can lead to more negative student behaviors

New classroom observation method can provide researchers, principals with tool for observing teachers

August 8, 2016
Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia
Researchers have developed a new method for observing and measuring teacher interaction with every child in a classroom. As a result of testing this method within K-3 classrooms, they found that students who receive more negative attention from teachers experience increases in problems with emotional regulation, concentration and disruptive behaviors.

Previous research has found that student-teacher interactions during the school day are important factors in behavioral and academic outcomes for the students. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri College of Education have developed a new method for observing and measuring teacher interaction with every child in a classroom. As a result of testing this method within K-3 classrooms, Wendy Reinke, an associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology, found that students who receive more negative attention from teachers experience increases in problems with emotional regulation, concentration and disruptive behaviors. The researchers also found teachers gave African-American students, boys, and students who received free or reduced lunch more negative attention than other students.

"Finding an efficient, accurate and consistent way to observe teachers' interactions with students is important, not only for educational research, but also for evaluating and coaching teachers," said Reinke, who also is the co-director of the Missouri Prevention Center. "Student-teacher interaction is important because students will repeat actions if those actions garner attention. If a teacher gives attention to a student for prosocial behavior, such as praising them for good work, then the student is more likely to do similar good work in the future. If a teacher gives attention to a student for problem behavior, such as reprimanding them for disrupting the class, the student also may be more likely to repeat this behavior -- especially if this is the only way to get a teachers' attention."

The observational model developed by Reinke and her fellow researchers is called the Brief Student-Teacher Classroom Interaction Observation (ST-CIO) model and features a five-minute observation developed to quickly assess teacher interactions. Classroom observers can use the ST-CIO to monitor short student-teacher interactions to determine the nature of those interactions (positive or negative) and is efficient enough to allow observers to make note of teacher interactions with every student in the classroom in a relatively short period of time.

In their study, Reinke and her team used the ST-CIO to observe 53 teachers and 896 students in K-3 classrooms. They found that their observational method allowed them to capture nuanced interactions that were consistent with previous research. Reinke says this model can help researchers more efficiently study student-teacher interaction, as well as serve as a tool for principals.

"We have shown that this method is an effective and efficient tool for researchers," Reinke said. "However, the method is very simple to practice and could provide principals doing classroom observations or coaches and consultants working with teachers with a tool to observe teachers and give them consistent, valuable feedback. This feedback can be helpful to provide teachers with awareness of how they interact with students. This will help teachers learn to direct positive attention toward students with whom they may be having regular negative interactions."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160808150536.htm

College students who misuse stimulants more likely to have ADHD, substance-use disorder

August 8, 2016
Science Daily/Massachusetts General Hospital
A new study finds that college students who misuse stimulant drugs are more likely to have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder or substance-use disorder than are students not misusing stimulants.

"Our data suggest that college students who misuse prescription stimulant medications are more likely to exhibit clinically relevant psychiatric dysfunction," says Timothy Wilens, MD, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and co-director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, corresponding author of the report. "In addition to higher levels of ADHD, conduct disorder, and alcohol or drug use disorders, the majority of those misusing stimulants met or approached criteria for stimulant-use disorder."

Stimulant drugs are widely prescribed to treat ADHD, which is believed to affect up to 8 percent of U.S. college students, and several studies have documented frequent nonmedical use -- either without a prescription or taking higher-than-prescribed doses -- particularly among college students. One recent study found that almost two thirds of college students had been offered stimulants for nonmedical use and 31 percent had actually used them over a four-year period.

The current study differs from previous investigations in that -- instead of relying only on participants' answers to survey questions about their use of stimulants and other drugs, alcohol consumption and other factors including quality of life -- it relied on structured interviews that have been validated for the diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders, including substance-use disorders. Wilens explains, "Someone may report on a survey that they misused stimulants on 'a handful of occasions' and have never been diagnosed with a substance-use disorder. But during the intensive interview process it may be found that they mixed prescription stimulants with alcohol and that they had problematic interactions with others that led to legal action. While that misuser may deny having a stimulant-use disorder, when systematically queried, it may be found that he or she met or approached the criteria for a full disorder."

Study participants were all enrolled as undergraduates in Boston-area colleges and universities and were ages 18 to 28. As part of the enrollment process they were screened for "college lifestyle" factors, which included whether they had been diagnosed or treated for ADHD, whether they had ever misused stimulant medications, and their use of alcohol or other drugs. For the purpose of this study, stimulants were considered those approved by the FDA for treatment of ADHD, and even a single reported nonmedical use categorized a participant as a stimulant misuser.

Of the 300 students who were enrolled, 100 were classified as misusers based on their responses to the recruitment surveys, and 200 were considered control participants. Both groups included individuals diagnosed with ADHD, and those who never misused their prescriptions were included in the control group. The structured interviews were conducted by specially trained interviewers with backgrounds in psychology, and the results reviewed by a panel of child psychiatrists and licensed psychologists, who confirmed diagnoses indicated by interview results. Participants with potentially serious substance-use issues were referred to local treatment centers.

Stimulant misusers were more likely than controls to have been diagnosed with ADHD or to have exhibited related symptoms -- being easily distracted, having trouble paying attention -- during childhood. They also were more likely as adults to have difficulty following instructions and to dislike tasks requiring attention. Misusers were more likely to meet criteria for substance-use disorder -- including use of drugs and alcohol together -- and 67 percent actually met or approached criteria for stimulant-use disorder. They acquired or purchased stimulants from friends or acquaintances, were more likely than controls to indicate they used any drugs to "get high" and reported a lower overall sense of well being.

"Not everyone is driven to misuse prescription stimulants simply to 'get high'," Wilens explains. "Some misusers may be pressured to use a friend's prescription if they believe it will improve academic performance, which is not likely if combined with alcohol or other drugs. We know that untreated ADHD is associated with increased risk of alcohol- and drug-use disorders, so it is not surprising that we found high rates of co-occurring ADHD and of stimulant-use and overall substance-use disorders in those misusing stimulants."

An associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Wilens adds, "It's possible that pre-existing cognitive deficits may lead some individuals to develop stimulant misuse as they try to self-medicate. The extent of an actual stimulant-use disorder in those who misused stimulants at all suggests that this problem may be more prevalent and severe than previously thought. And finding in this population that immediate-release stimulants have a much higher likelihood of being misused than do extended-release stimulants emphasizes the usefulness of prescribing extended-release versions or possibly nonstimulant ADHD drugs for college students."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160808120703.htm

Positive teacher-student relationships boost good behavior in teenagers for up to 4 years

August 9, 2016
Science Daily/University of Cambridge
The first study to look at the impact of the relationship with teachers on adolescent behavior finds that a positive teacher-student relationship can be as effective as anti-bullying programs at improving well-being in young people.

A new study has found that having a positive relationship with a teacher around the age of 10-11 years old can markedly influence the development of 'prosocial' behaviours such as cooperation and altruism, as well as significantly reduce problem classroom behaviours such as aggression and oppositional behaviour.

The research also found that beneficial behaviours resulting from a positive teacher-student relationship when a child is on the cusp of adolescence lingered for up to four years -- well into the difficult teenage years.

Researchers found that students with a more positive relationship with their teacher displayed towards peers, on average, 18% more prosocial behaviour (and 10% more up to two years later), and up to 38% less aggressive behaviour (and 9% less up to four years later), over students who felt ambivalent or negative toward their teacher.

Positivity toward their teacher also resulted in students displaying an average of 56% less 'oppositional defiant' behaviour: such as argumentativeness and vindictiveness toward authority figures. This was still reduced by 22% up to three years later.

In fact, the researchers found the beneficial effect on behaviour was as strong, if not stronger, than that of established school-based 'intervention programmes' such as counselling and other anti-bullying therapies.

The importance of good teacher relationships on infant behaviour was already known, and programmes have been designed to help preschool teachers improve relationships with pupils, which in turn improves pupil behaviour.

Researchers say the latest results suggest that developing similar programmes for those who teach students in early adolescence has the potential to promote better classroom behaviour in schools that may otherwise rely more on exclusionary practises -- such as detentions, or being sent out of class -- to manage student behaviour.

"Teachers play an important role in the development of children. Students who feel supported tend to be less aggressive and more prosocial, and we now have evidence that this is the case from preschool right through to adolescence," said the study's lead author Dr Ingrid Obsuth.

"Educational and school policies should take this into consideration when supporting teachers in fostering their relationships with students," she said.

The research was conducted by members of the Violence Research Centre at Cambridge's Institute of Criminology, along with colleagues from ETH Zurich and the University of Toronto. The findings are published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

The researchers analysed data from eight 'waves' of a major longitudinal study of culturally-diverse Swiss youth being schooled across Zurich. The latest study involved 1,067 students randomly sampled across 56 of the city's schools.

Only students who experienced a change of teacher between ages 9 and 10 were used for the study, with data gathered from teachers, students and their parents on an annual and later biannual basis.

Using the multitude of data from interviews and surveys across the years*, the research team used an innovative statistical technique that enabled them to 'score' the children on over 100 different characteristics or experiences that could potentially account for good or bad behaviour -- from background to past behaviour, parenting to student and teacher genders.

They then matched students in pairs with highly similar scores in all respects except one: how they felt about their teacher, and how the teacher felt about them. This allowed researchers to emulate a 'randomised-controlled trial' -- the most rigorous way of establishing causal links. The only difference between the students in each pair was that one had the 'treatment' of a positive relationship with their teacher, and the other, the 'control', did not.

While the researchers approached data collection from both sides of the teacher-student relationship, they say that it is how the student perceives the relationship that is most important for behaviour. Students who saw themselves as having a more positive relationship with their teacher engaged in fewer aggressive behaviours right up to age 15.

Cambridge's Prof Manuel Eisner, senior author on the study, said: "Most adults remember some teachers that they admired and that fit their learning needs, and others that they felt hard done-by. This is not necessarily only because they have more or less supportive teachers. Each child will respond differently to a teacher's style and personality. Our study shows that once a child develops an impression of a teacher, one way or the other, it can have significant long-term effects on their behaviour."

"While this is the first study to look at the effect of teacher-student relationships on adolescents, our findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that bonds with prosocial others -- whether peers, teachers or institutions -- are a protective factor against children engaging in problem behaviours," he said.

Added Obsuth: "Ideally, building healthy and supportive teacher-student relationships would become part of the curriculum in teacher training and intervention programmes as a way of improving adolescent well-being."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160809121813.htm

Early exposure to too much manganese causes attention deficits in rats

Findings in lab study support concerns about adverse effects on children of exposure to too much manganese early in development
August 23, 2016
Science Daily/University of California - Santa Cruz
Too much manganese early in development causes lasting attention deficits and other impairments in rats. Studies of children and adolescents have associated excess manganese in the diet with attention deficits, but confounding factors in those studies have made it impossible to show a cause and effect relationship. The new study is the first to establish a causal link between exposure to elevated manganese in the diet and attentional dysfunction in an animal model.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/08/160823125350_1_540x360.jpg
Blood sample with manganese test result. (stock image)
Credit: © jarun011 / Fotolia

Manganese is an essential element, required by the body in trace amounts. High levels of exposure can have neurotoxic effects, however, leading to a condition called "manganism" in adults exposed to manganese dust or fumes in mining, welding, and other industrial occupations.

Studies of children and adolescents have associated excess manganese in the diet with attention deficits, but confounding factors in those studies have made it impossible to show a cause and effect relationship. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent neurobehavioral disorder in children, but its cause remains unclear and probably involves many different factors.

The new study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first study to establish a causal link between exposure to elevated manganese in the diet and attentional dysfunction in an animal model, according to senior author Donald Smith, professor of environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz.

"There are many environmental and biological factors that have been associated with increased risk for attention deficits in children, so it's very challenging to understand which factors may actually contribute to or cause attention deficits," Smith said. "Our study clarifies the effects of a single environmental agent, and it allowed us to tease out the specific nature of the deficits it causes, which is extremely difficult if not impossible to do in human studies."

The most common source of exposure to excess manganese is drinking water from wells, because groundwater in some areas is naturally high in manganese. Soy-based infant formulas also have much higher levels of manganese than breast milk. The exposure levels used in the rat study were chosen to produce increases in manganese intake (relative to the normal intake of baby rats) comparable to the relative increases that would be experienced by infants and young children exposed to contaminated drinking water, soy-based formulas, or both.

The impairments seen in the exposed rats were comparable in magnitude to the attentional dysfunction seen in children with ADHD, Smith said. A previous study by Smith's lab found that manganese exposure also causes deficits in fine motor abilities in rats, and he noted that similar deficits in coordination and dexterity are often seen in children with ADHD.

In the new study, newborn rats were exposed to 0, 25, or 50 milligrams of manganese per kilogram of body weight per day, for either the first 21 days after birth or for the duration of the study (about six months). Behavioral testing for attention and impulsivity began when the rats were about 80 days old and continued six days a week for three months, using a well-accepted protocol. The animals were trained to focus their visual attention on a wall in the testing chamber with five ports and to respond to a brief flash of light within one port by poking their nose into that port. The researchers introduced distractions by delivering a puff of scented air into a different port within the test chamber.

"The odor-based distractor is very hard for the animals to ignore because they have very strong olfactory senses," Smith said. "With thousands of response trials over months of testing, we were able to obtain very detailed information to assess specific functions that we can compare to the assessments used for children."

The impairment caused by manganese exposure was most pronounced in the area of selective attention, assessed by response accuracy in the presence of a distracting odor. Deficits were also seen in other areas related to attention, but manganese exposure did not affect impulse control.

The results also showed that the susceptibility to manganese changed as the animals grew and matured. They were particularly sensitive to the neurotoxic effects during the early postnatal period, before weaning. According to Smith, the dependence of toxicity on the dose as well as the timing and duration of exposure is complicated for a substance like manganese that also has a beneficial biological function.

"The typical dose-response curve for biologically essential elements is U-shaped: too little is bad, too much is bad, and you want to be somewhere in the middle. This study shows that vulnerability also changes over the course of neurodevelopment," he explained.

In the experiment, the rats got a constant dose relative to their body weight, but their sensitivity to it changed as they aged. At the lower dose level (25 mg/kg/d), animals exposed throughout the study actually showed less impairment than those exposed only during the early postnatal period. At the higher dose level, the level of impairment from the longer exposure was the same as the effects of the early life exposure.

"The lower dose exposure over the early life period produced lasting deficits in attention, but if that same dose was continued into adulthood, it helped lessen the deficits caused by the earlier exposure. At the higher dose, however, they were unable to recover," Smith said.

He noted that such complex responses to differences in dose, timing, and duration of exposure may underlie the inconsistencies in published studies of the relationship between blood levels of manganese in humans and neurobehavioral deficits.

"It's difficult if not impossible to reconstruct the exposure histories of children," Smith said. "If we knew their exposure histories more thoroughly, we would likely find stronger associations with the neurobehavioral deficits."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160823125350.htm

Direct and active parent involvement key to healthy living for kids

August 24, 2016
Science Daily/Public Health Ontario
Parents who directly and actively engage their children in healthy living behavior -- instead of passively 'supporting' the behavior -- are significantly more likely to see their kids meet guidelines when it comes to physical activity, healthy eating and screen time, new research has found.

"In Canada, more than 30 per cent of children are overweight or obese," says Dr. Heather Manson, chief of health promotion, chronic disease and injury prevention at PHO. "Given the important role parents play in the lives of their children, we were keen to determine what types of parental behaviours were more likely to be associated with healthy living for their children. We learned that simple encouragement is not enough -- active parental support is essential."

Dr. Manson and fellow PHO researchers Daniel Harrington and Evelyn Pyper looked at the relationships between parental support for their children's physical activity, healthy eating and screen time behaviours and the likelihood that their child was meeting Canadian guidelines for healthy living.

•    Physical activity -- parents who reported taking their children to places where they could be physically active (e.g., parks, playgrounds, sports programs) were twice as likely to report that their kids met physical activity guidelines. Another finding was that parents who took part in physical activity with their children were 35 per cent more likely to report that their kids met physical activity guidelines compared to those who did not.
•    Canadian guidelines suggest that kids between 5-17 years old take part in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day.
•    Healthy eating -- parents who served raw fruits and vegetables as snacks between meals were almost five times more likely to report that their kids met fruit and vegetable (FV) guidelines. Parents who regularly eat meals with their family away from the TV were 67 per cent more likely to report that their kids consumed the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables compared to parents who did not.
•    Canadian guidelines recommend 4 to 8 servings per day, depending on age and sex of child.
•    Screen time -- parents who enforced rules about their kids' screen time were twice as likely to report that their kids met screen time guidelines. Interestingly, the researchers found that kids were less likely to meet screen time guidelines if families watch TV together or if there were several TVs in the house.
•    Canadian guidelines recommend that kids 5-17 years of age limit recreational screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824084358.htm

Heredity a major factor in ADHD, binge eating and alcohol dependence

September 5, 2016
Science Daily/Linköping Universitet
It is mostly hereditary factors that lie behind adults with ADHD often developing alcohol dependence and binge eating, concludes new research. Since heredity plays such a large role, it is important that ADHD is treated at an early stage, and that measures are taken to prevent individuals developing these disorders later in life.

It is principally hereditary factors that lie behind adults with ADHD often developing alcohol dependence and binge eating. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from Linköping University. Since heredity plays such a large role, it is important that ADHD is treated at an early stage, and that measures are taken to prevent individuals developing these disorders later in life.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received most attention in children, but 2.5-5% of the global adult population also has ADHD. Andrea Johansson Capusan, consultant in psychiatry, focusses in her thesis on binge eating and alcohol dependence in adults with ADHD symptoms. Both disorders are more common in adults with ADHD than in the general population. Andrea Johansson Capusan has investigated in particular how much of the correlation between the disorders can be explained by hereditary factors and how much by environmental factors.

The Swedish Twin Registry has enabled her to compare identical twins, who share 100% of their genes, with fraternal twins, whose genetic makeups are no more similar to each other than any pair of siblings. Twin pairs grow up in the same environment, but are affected by individual environmental factors, such as diseases and their circles of friends. In twin studies, researchers investigate whether correlations are stronger in identical twins than in fraternal twins. This can help them to determine whether the correlation between different conditions can best be explained by a person's genetic background giving higher susceptibility to a condition, or whether environmental factors are significant. The four studies that are included in the thesis have examined more than 18,000 twin pairs aged between 20 and 46 years. The twins have completed questionnaires about the ADHD symptoms they have experienced, their consumption of alcohol and other substances, and binge eating behaviour.

"We have shown for the first time that the correlation between ADHD symptoms and binge eating in women depends mainly on a common hereditary susceptibility for the two disorders. Much of the correlation between alcohol dependence and ADHD can also be explained by genetic factors. The remainder of the correlation is explained by environmental factors that are particular for the individual, which is interesting. It seems that having a common environment while growing up is not significant," says Andrea Johansson Capusan.

Since her research suggests that certain individuals inherit a susceptibility for both ADHD symptoms and dependency disorders or binge eating, Andrea Johansson Capusan believes that these problems must be treated in parallel.

"When treating adults who come with dependency disorder or substance-abuse behaviour, it's important to remember that ADHD is very common in these patients. And conversely-it's important to treat ADHD early in order to prevent alcohol dependence and binge eating later in life," says Andrea Johansson Capusan.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160905114804.htm

Early-life language stimulation, skills may prevent childhood depression

Children with language deficits are significantly more likely to experience depression by third grade

September 7, 2016
Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia
Children who experience low levels of language learning stimulation beginning at three years of age are more likely to experience language delays by first grade and are three times more likely to develop depression by third grade, new research indicates.

Keith Herman, a professor in MU's College of Education, found that children who experience low levels of language learning stimulation beginning at three years of age are more likely to experience language delays by first grade and are three times more likely to develop depression by third grade.

"It is clear that the amount of language that children are exposed to early on is very important for their development," Herman said. "Whether it is through pre-school classes, interactions with parents and siblings or through consuming media such as television and books, exposure to greater amounts of language and vocabulary will help prepare children to succeed socially and academically when they begin school. If children already are experiencing language and subsequent social and academic deficits by the first grade, chances are they will continue to fall further behind in school each year, which can lead to negative self-perceptions and depressive symptoms by third grade."

Herman and a team of researchers examined data from 587 children and households in Hawaii. The data included children's language skills and exposure to language stimulation in the home beginning at age three. The children were tested on their language skills in the first grade and then tested for depressive symptoms in the third grade. The children who had higher language exposure and stimulation as three-year-olds were more likely to have adequate to better-than-average language skills in first grade. They also were much less likely to experience depression by the third grade. Children who did not receive adequate language stimulation early in life were much more likely to have poor language skills and ultimately experience depression.

"These findings are important because we have been able to identify key stages of child development that can help determine the mental health of children later in their academic careers," Herman said. "By understanding that the amount of language a child is exposed to early in life is important, we can create interventions and programs that can help parents and childcare providers improve language exposure during this critical development age. Also, we can identify first graders who may lack language skills and give them extra attention to help catch them up academically and socially before they develop depression."

The study, "Language Delays and Child Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Early Stimulation in the Home," was published in Prevention Science. The study was coauthored by Daniel Cohen, Sarah Owens, Tracey Latimore, Wendy M. Reinke, Lori Burrell, Elizabeth McFarlane and Anne Duggan. Keith Herman also is the co-director of the Missouri Prevention Center, which brings community members and researchers together to help schools and families apply techniques that promote social and academic success.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160907135142.htm

Chronic stress increases level of a protein that decreases availability of mood-regulating chemical

September 13, 2016
Science Daily/Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
One way chronic stress appears to cause depression is by increasing levels of a protein in the brain that decreases the availability of an important chemical that regulates our mood, scientists report.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/09/160913134017_1_540x360.jpg
Anilkumar Pillai (left) and Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Chirayu D. Pandya.
Credit: Phil Jones AU Senior Photographer

They have found elevated levels of transglutaminase 2, or TG2, in the brains of mice experiencing chronic stress -- an animal model of depression -- as well as the prefrontal cortex of depressed people who committed suicide.

High TG2 levels in the mouse translated to atrophy of neurons, depression-like symptoms and reduced levels of TrkB, the receptor for brain derived neurotrophic factor, a brain-nourishing molecule that also aids connectivity, said Dr. Anilkumar Pillai, neuroscientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

When scientists overexpressed TrkB, it relieved the depression-like symptoms in their animal model. "If you don't have enough BDNF, then all the serotonin in the world won't help," said Pillai, corresponding author of the study in the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Likewise, when they directly reduced TG2 levels using a drug or a viral vector, more BDNF signaling occurred and depressive symptoms abated, said Pillai, who suspects that the protein may be a powerful new target in the fight against depression.

They found TG2 levels increased in their animal model following administration of stress hormones and after several weeks of actual stress that mimics the lives of chronically stressed individuals. Both produced classic depressive behavior and increased TG2 levels in the prefrontal cortex, a region involved in complex thoughts, decision-making as well as mood and personality expression.

Serotonin is a major neurotransmitter in the brain involved in many functions, including mood regulation. Serotonin levels in a depressed patient's blood should be high because serotonin signaling in the brain is low, Pillai said. Blood levels can be used to help diagnose the condition that affects about 350 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability, according to the World Health Organization. Many cell types make serotonin. Interestingly, the vast majority of serotonin is made in the gut, but neurons do make some of their own, Pillai said.

Astrocytes make BDNF, whose levels are also low in depression. Although just how the two work together is an unfolding mystery. In this study, Pillai and his team further linked them by showing that treatment that increases serotonin availability -- as most antidepressants do -- also increased levels of the BDNF receptor thru the action of RAC1. TG2 converts serotonin to RAC1, a protein that helps rejuvenate the BDNF receptor, TrkB.

Now the MCG scientists have shown that in depression a healthy balance of all these is upset, as elevated TG2 makes less serotonin available, leaving insufficient levels to enable proper communication between neurons. The brain also is more vulnerable as the increased level of activated RAC1 is inexplicably degraded, which leads to less instead of more BDNF signaling.

"Increased amounts of TG2 will eventually lead to decreased levels of RAC1, and BDNF signaling is just not happening," Pillai said.

Next steps include looking for other drugs that lower TG2 levels. For the study, researchers used cysteamine, whose clinical uses today include treatment of a rare genetic condition in which a buildup of crystals can cause kidney failure. Unfortunately, the drug creates an odor that has patients bathing multiple times daily. They also want to directly measure serotonin levels following treatment, although Pillai notes that increased BNDF signaling should be significant to alleviate symptoms.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160913134017.htm

ADHD symptoms persistence into adulthood

September 19, 2016
Science Daily/Wiley
Sixty percent of children with ADHD in a recent study demonstrated persistence of symptoms into their mid-20’s, and 41 percent had both symptoms and impairment as young adults.

Investigators noted that rates of ADHD persistence into adulthood have varied greatly in earlier studies, depending on how information is collected and analyzed. In a 16-year follow-up of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (the "MTA"), they found that a combination of parent and self-reports plus a symptom threshold that is adjusted for adulthood (rather than based on traditional childhood definitions of ADHD) may be optimal.

"There has been a lot of recent controversy over whether children with ADHD continue to experience symptoms into adulthood," said Dr. Margaret Sibley, lead author of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry study. "This study found that the way you diagnose ADHD can lead to different conclusions about whether or not an adult still has the disorder that started in childhood. First, if you ask the adult about their continued symptoms, they will often be unaware of them; however, family members or others who know them well often confirm that they still observe significant symptoms in the adult."

Dr. Sibley added that if the classic childhood definition of ADHD is used when diagnosing adults, many cases will be missed because symptom presentation changes in adulthood. "By asking a family member about the adult's symptoms and using adult-based definitions of the disorder, you typically find that around half of children with moderate to severe ADHD still show significant signs of the disorder in adulthood."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160919110059.htm

Sleep habits, adolescent drug and alcohol use linked

September 19, 2016
Science Daily/University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
A possible link between adolescent sleep habits and early substance abuse has been identified by researchers. The study found that both sleep duration and sleep quality during late childhood predict alcohol and cannabis use later in adolescence.

A study led by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pitt Department of Psychology has identified a possible link between adolescent sleep habits and early substance abuse. The study, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that both sleep duration and sleep quality during late childhood predict alcohol and cannabis use later in adolescence.

"Treating problems with drugs and alcohol once they exist and preventing them can be challenging, and we are always looking for modifiable risk factors," said Brant P. Hasler, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology, and lead author of the study. "Doing what we can to ensure sufficient sleep duration and improve sleep quality during late childhood may have benefits in terms of reducing the use of these substances later in life."

Researchers analyzed 186 boys from western Pennsylvania whose mothers completed the Child Sleep Questionnaire as part of a larger longitudinal study of low-income boys examining factors associated with vulnerability and resilience. Based on questionnaire results from when the boys were 11 years old, their sleep time and sleep quality were calculated. At ages 20 and 22, the young men were interviewed about lifetime cannabis and alcohol use.

After accounting for race, socioeconomic problems, neighborhood danger, self-regulation, and internalizing and externalizing problems, both sleep duration and sleep quality at age 11 were associated with early substance use throughout adolescence.

The study participants who slept the least, compared to the participants who slept the most, were more likely to report earlier use, intoxication and repeated use of both alcohol and cannabis. Every hour less of sleep at age 11 was associated with a 20 percent acceleration to the first use of alcohol and/or cannabis, Dr. Hasler added.

Worse sleep quality was associated with earlier alcohol use, intoxication and repeated use. Worse sleep quality was associated with earlier cannabis intoxication and repeated use, but not first use.

"After considering other possible influences, we were able to determine that sleep problems are preceding the substance use problems," Dr. Hasler added. "Addressing sleep may now be something we can add into the package of our substance abuse prevention and treatment efforts."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160919133447.htm

Studying: Is it bad for your health to pull an all-nighter?

September 19, 2016

Science Daily/Texas A&M University

A late night at the library, copious amounts of energy drinks or coffee and class notes from the last month; surely you’ll be able to ace the exam if you just spend the next 24 hours focused on the material. Unfortunately, procrastination and sleep deprivation do much more harm than good

A sleep deprived brain is dysfunctional

We will all probably encounter sleep deprivation at some point in our lives, whether willingly or unwillingly. Still, if you think staying awake all night is beneficial to your study habits, think again.

"Sleep deprivation's effect on working memory is staggering," said David Earnest, PhD, a professor with the Texas A&M College of Medicine who studies circadian rhythms (our 24-hour body clocks). "Your brain loses efficiency with each hour of sleep deprivation."

Most people need at least seven to eight hours of sleep at night for the body and brain to function normally. So, if you stay up all night, missing out on the recommended amount of sleep, your brain will be equally as weary -- rendering a sharp decrease in performance for specific learning and memory tasks.

All-nighters activate short-term, not long-term memory

Let's face it, we only pull all-nighters when we've fallen behind and are trying to rapidly catch up on information or a project. But quickly trying to cram this information into our brains only uses short-term memory -- and long-term memory is what we need to recall and retain most facts.

"When we try to learn information quickly, we're only enabling short-term memory," Earnest said. "This memory type extinguishes rapidly. If you don't 're-use' information, it disappears within a period of a few minutes to a few hours. Cramming doesn't allow information to assimilate from short-term to long-term memory, which is important for performing well on a project or exam."

Remember Dory's short-term memory problems in Finding Nemo? That's your brain on an all-nighter.

Use it, or you'll lose it

Earnest said studying in small increments, well in advance of an exam, is your best bet to achieve a good score. In other words, use it or you'll lose it.

"It's fruitless to prepare for an exam hours beforehand," he said. "The optimal study method is to stay on top of things and prepare by studying in small chunks (20 to 30 minutes), multiple times per day, three to four days in advance of the test. By going through information numerous times, you're allowing your brain to move those facts to long-term memory for better recall."

"I tell our medical students that verbal rehearsal is what moves content from short-term to long-term memory," Earnest continued. "Repeating information, whether out loud or verbalizing it in your thoughts, helps spur this process forward."
 

Study earlier for better retention

As the day wears on, the brain also becomes wearier. This daily rhythm in cognitive performance is controlled by our body clocks, and performance for learning and memory is higher during the morning and day, not late at night.

"As the day progresses into the night, the brain's performance significantly decreases," Earnest said. "So, by studying all night, you're essentially swimming upstream and fighting against your body's natural rhythms. Peak cognitive efficiency occurs much earlier in the day."

Instead of staying up all night, Earnest recommends studying as much as you can until bedtime and waking up early in the morning before a test to go over the material again. "Sleep rejuvenates by providing an opportunity for the metabolism, body and brain to slow down and recover," he said. "It's crucial that it's not missed."
 

Ditch the sound bite mentality

It's easy to become overwhelmed with the tasks in front of you, especially since there are only so many hours in a day to achieve our goals.

"The problem is our society thinks in sound bites," Earnest said. "We believe we can comprehend information at the last minute, which is unwise. "If we perpetuate this habit in college, it will have a great impact on us both academically and personally. Establishing good habits early on is the key to success."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160919162837.htm

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Better, cost-effective depression treatment for teens identified

September 20, 2016
Science Daily/Seattle Children's Hospital
Depression can create a huge cost burden on patients and institutions, and for teenagers that includes issues like missed school and the costs of healthcare for families. A new study identifies a cost-effective treatment that yields promising results for depressed teens.

Depression can create a huge cost burden on patients and institutions, and for teenagers that includes issues like missed school and the costs of healthcare for families. A new study in JAMA Pediatrics, led by Seattle Children's Research Institute and Group Health Cooperative, identifies a cost-effective treatment that yields promising results for depressed teens.

"We used a collaborative care approach to treat teen depression, which included having a depression care manager who worked with the patient, family and doctors to develop a plan and support the teen in implementing that plan," said Dr. Laura Richardson, an adolescent medicine physician and researcher at Seattle Children's. "We were pleased to find that this collaborative approach was significantly more effective in treating depression than standard care with only a small increase in costs."

Collaborative care led to better results

Richardson and her co-investigators worked with nine Group Health Cooperative primary care clinics in Washington to test the collaborative care approach in adolescents aged 13 to 18.

Teens in the intervention received an initial engagement session with a clinician, evidence-based treatments delivered in the primary care clinic and regular monitoring by the care manager for one year. The control group received depression screening results and were encouraged to access mental health services available to them through Group Health Cooperative.

"One of the hallmarks of depression is lack of motivation, so having a care manager to keep a patient on track turned out to be pivotal," Richardson said. "Whether the care manager was ensuring a patient got the prescription they need, providing psychotherapy or coordinating care among providers, the continuity in care made a difference for these teens."

After one year, the adolescents who received the intervention had five times greater odds of having their symptoms go into remission than the control group who received standard care. By the end of the study, nearly 70% of adolescents in collaborative care had a significant decrease in their symptoms compared to 40% of teens in standard care.

Richardson adds that teens who seek help for depression can become frustrated by the burden of making appointments, finding providers and accessing services, and when that happens they are less likely to comply with care.

"If a patient struggles to navigate the system and the depression remains untreated for a period of time, it can become harder to treat," she said.

Similar costs, better outcomes

One of the most important findings was the cost comparison of standard care versus the collaborative care approach. The intervention had an additional cost of just $883 above usual care.

With such a small added upfront cost, Richardson says the collaborative care approach may help teens deal with depression before it becomes intractable. It also provides them with tools they can use if their depression recurs, which may further reduce long-term costs for both the patient and the healthcare system.

"If we can get depressed teens effective treatment and start them on a healthy path, it results in a positive experience and a drive to engage in care," Richardson said. "This approach could help adolescents develop healthy habits toward getting care for depression, and that can set them up for a much better future."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160920083933.htm

ADHD diagnosis puts girls at much higher risk for other mental health problems

October 4, 2016
Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles
Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are at higher risk than girls without ADHD for multiple mental disorders that often lead to cascading problems such as abusive relationships, teenage pregnancies, poor grades and drug abuse, psychologists report.

The researchers, who conducted by far the most comprehensive analysis of girls and ADHD, report:

•    37.7 percent of girls with ADHD met criteria for an anxiety disorder, compared with only 13.9 percent of girls without ADHD.
•    10.3 percent of girls with ADHD were diagnosed with depression compared with only 2.9 percent without ADHD.
•    42 percent of girls with ADHD were diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, compared with just 5 percent of girls without it. Oppositional defiant disorder is characterized by angry, hostile, irritable, defiant behavior. To meet the diagnosis for oppositional defiant disorder, a child must display at least four of eight symptoms for at least six months that result in significant academic, social and family problems.
•    12.8 percent of girls with ADHD were diagnosed with conduct disorder compared with only 0.8 percent without ADHD. Conduct disorder is similar to oppositional defiant disorder, but with more severe behavioral problems, such as committing violent acts, setting fires and hurting animals.

"We knew the girls with ADHD would have more problems than the girls without ADHD, but we were surprised that conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder were at the top of the list, not depression or anxiety," said Steve Lee, a UCLA associate professor of psychology and senior author of the study. "These conduct disorders, more than anxiety and depression, predict severe adult impairments, such as risky sexual behavior, abusive relationships, drug abuse and crime."

Symptoms of ADHD include being easily distracted, fidgeting, being unable to complete a single task and being easily bored. The disorder occurs in approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of children in the United States, and figures in many other industrialized countries with compulsory education are comparable, Lee said. ADHD can begin in pre-school kids and can persist into high school and into adulthood, especially when it's accompanied by oppositional conduct disorder.

The psychologists analyzed 18 studies of 1,997 girls, about 40 percent (796) of whom had ADHD. Most of the girls were between ages 8 and 13. Most ADHD studies focused on boys, or compared girls with ADHD to boys with ADHD -- not to girls without ADHD.

ADHD is often harder to detect in girls than in boys because girls with the disorder may appear disengaged, forgetful or disorganized, and perceived as "spacey" and stay "under the radar" without being referred for assessment and treatment, said lead author Irene Tung, a UCLA graduate student in psychology and National Science Foundation graduate research fellow.
 

Students of all races prefer teachers of color

October 5, 2016
Science Daily/New York University
Middle and high school students, regardless of their race and ethnicity, have more favorable perceptions of their Black and Latino teachers than of their White teachers, finds a new study.

"Minority teachers may be perceived more favorably by minority students because they can serve as role models and are particularly sensitive to the cultural needs of their students," said study author Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, assistant professor of international education at NYU Steinhardt. "However, in our study, we were surprised to find that minority teachers are not just viewed more highly than White teachers by minority students, but in many cases by White students as well."

The findings, published in the latest issue of Educational Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association, underscore the importance of having a diverse workforce of teachers.

The demographic divide between teachers and students is of growing public concern. Racial and ethnic minority students make up the majority of students in public schools, especially in urban areas. In contrast, less than 20 percent of teachers are racial or ethnic minorities.

"An overwhelmingly White teacher force is working with a majority non-White student population," Cherng said.

People typically view the demographic divide through longstanding racial achievement gaps, and scholars have argued that teachers of color may work particularly well with students of color. This concept of race matching -- where, for instance, Black students prefer or perform better with Black teachers -- has been shown to boost student achievement.

In the new study, the researchers examined whether student perceptions of their teachers varied based on the teachers' race. Cherng and his coauthor Peter Halpin, assistant professor of applied statistics at NYU Steinhardt, analyzed data from the 2009-2010 school year of the Measure of Effective Teaching study. The researchers focused on data from 1,680 teachers in 200 urban schools, along with their more than 50,000 students in grades six through nine.

The Measure of Effective Teaching study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, used in-depth surveys to gather students' perceptions of their teachers' instructional practices. The students were asked questions on seven measures core to their experiences in the classroom, including whether their teacher treats students with respect, explains difficult concepts clearly, makes class interesting, and tries to understand students' feelings.

The researchers found that students perceived Black and Latino teachers more favorably than White teachers. These patterns remained largely intact, particularly for Latino teachers, even after considering factors such as student performance, teacher working conditions, and other measures of teacher efficacy. Latino teachers were better perceived across all measures, while students perceived Black teachers (more than their White peers) to hold students to high academic standards and support their efforts, to help them organize content, and to explain ideas clearly and provide feedback.

Interestingly, the researchers found mixed evidence of race matching among students of color: Latino students did not have particularly favorable perceptions of Latino teachers, but Black students did have positive perceptions of Black teachers -- and Asian American students preferred Black teachers even more than did Black students.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005141118.htm

Fewer indications of ADHD in children whose mothers took vitamin D during pregnancy

October 7, 2016
Science Daily/University of Southern Denmark Faculty of Health Sciences
Children of mothers who took vitamin D during pregnancy with resultant high levels of the vitamin in the umbilical blood have fewer symptoms of ADHD at the age of 2½ years.

These were the findings in a new study from the Odense Child Cohort just published in The Australia & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

 "And for every 10 nmol/L increase in the vitamin D concentration in umbilical blood, the risk of a being among the 10% highest score on the ADHD symptom scale fell by 11%," explains one of the study's initiators, Professor Niels Bilenberg.

1,233 children from Odense Municipality were monitored in the study. Vitamin D was measured in umbilical blood, and mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) when their child was 2½ years old. The CBCL questionnaire can be used to identify early symptoms of ADHD, even though an ADHD diagnosis cannot be made at that age.

"And the trend was clear: those mothers who had taken vitamin D, and had a vitamin D level (25OHD) in their umbilical blood over 25 nmol/L, had children with lower ADHD scores," continues Bilenberg. "This was after we had corrected for other factors that could explain the link, such as the mother's age, smoking, alcohol, obesity, education, number of children, psychiatric disease in the parents, child's sex, age and seasonal variation."

The link between vitamin D and early ADHD symptoms has not been described before, and has therefore attracted attention.

"We were very surprised that the link was so clear," say two of the study's other authors, medical students Jens Bull Aaby and Mats Mossin, "as there was no previous awareness that this link could be identified at such an early age. It's impossible to say with which children will develop ADHD later on, but it will be interesting to further follow up those children who were at the highest end versus the normal range of the ADHD scale."

The study offers no explanation as to how vitamin D can protect against ADHD, but other studies have shown that vitamin D plays an important role in the early development of the brain.

"We had an idea about it," says Aaby, "but we cannot say with certainty that vitamin D protects against early symptoms of ADHD. Our study only indicates that there is a link that we cannot explain in any other way."

Facts: Odense Børnekohorte is a joint study between Odense University Hospital, the Psychiatric Service of the Region of Southern Denmark, Odense Municipality, and the University of Southern Denmark. In the study, 2,500 mothers and their children are being monitored from early pregnancy to the child's 18th birthday. The children are now 3-5 years old and a number of follow-up studies are planned.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161007105202.htm

Teachers could be making students’ anxiety worse

October 12, 2016
Science Daily/Michigan State University
The anxiety that comes with feeling like an outsider in the classroom can hinder students’ learning and, ironically, teachers could be making it worse, according to a new study by a Michigan State University researcher.

Scholarship students, first-generation college students and minorities feel intense pressure to perform well -- much of which is perpetuated by stereotypes that society, including teachers, reinforce, said Peter De Costa, assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, who specializes in identity and language learning.

And unfortunately, those perceived identities could affect students' access to resources.

"If your identity is defined by your social class -- for example, working class -- you're not going to have the resources that someone who came from a wealthier family might have," De Costa said. "Students could also be seen through the lens of gender or religion, and if teachers already have a stereotype of students' ethnic groups, it could advantage or disadvantage them."

Instead, it's important to realize how events and time periods throughout students' lives shape their identities -- something teachers often forget, he said.

The concept is called scalar analysis, which De Costa used in 2008 to study the trajectory of five girls at a Singapore high school where he taught.

In his study, published in the journal Linguistics and Education, De Costa illustrates his argument with the story of Daniella, a high-achieving student from Vietnam who came to the high school on a government-issued scholarship.

While Daniella was at the top of her class in Vietnam, she was simply average in Singapore. Yet, because of her perceived elite status, envious students often excluded Daniella from classroom conversations and activities. Eventually, she crumbled under pressure and became even more socially isolated.

Daniella's story may have turned out differently if her peers and teachers had better understood the many layers of Daniella, which in turn could have relieved her self-induced anxiety, De Costa said.

Those layers: pre-2008, as an only child whose parents viewed her as a ticket to a better life; a mediocre student in 2008; and post-2008, where she envisioned moving to the United States to live a better life, but failed.

"For someone who's used to being the star in her previous school, this was terrible for her," De Costa said. "Daniella went from high profile to invisible. Essentially, Daniella moved from princess to nobody."

So what should teachers do?

For starters: Don't judge a book by its cover. In addition, teachers should explore resources for all students, De Costa said. And, why not turn such experiences into teaching moments for students?

"As teachers, we need to be committed to educational justice and rethink how we position our students," he said. "It's not always so simple and our perception matters."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161012095932.htm