COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy helps protect infants from needing hospital care for COVID-19
CDC study results reinforce importance of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy
June 24, 2022
Science Daily/Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
In a new study sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers provide additional evidence that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy helps protect babies younger than 6 months from being hospitalized due to COVID-19. The risk of COVID-19 hospitalization among babies was reduced by about 80 percent during the Delta wave (July 1-December 18, 2021) and 40 percent during the Omicron wave (December 19-March 8, 2022).
"Our results reinforce the importance of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy to protect both the women and their babies from COVID-19," said co-author Bria Coates, MD, Critical Care physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Although protection was lower during the Omicron period, compared to the Delta period, even a moderate reduction in risk is important, because COVID-19 vaccines are not likely to be available for babies younger than 6 months old in the foreseeable future."
The study included infants younger than 6 months of age who were admitted to 30 pediatric hospitals in 22 states from July 1, 2021, to March 8, 2022.
Dr. Coates and colleagues found that most infants (90 percent) who needed intensive care due to COVID-19 infection were born to mothers who were not vaccinated during pregnancy.
Infants aged younger than 6 months old are at high risk for complications of COVID-19, including severe respiratory failure or death and account for a disproportionately high percentage of hospitalizations among those aged 0-4 years. This study included data on 537 babies who were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 21 percent were admitted to the intensive care unit and 12 percent required mechanical ventilation, or extra help getting enough oxygen to the body, or vasoactive infusions. Two babies died because of COVID-19 and two required advanced life support that helps the body get enough oxygen; mothers of these babies were not vaccinated.
Researchers also found that effectiveness of maternal COVID-19 vaccination against COVID-19 hospitalization for babies was higher among women vaccinated after 20 weeks of pregnancy, versus early in pregnancy.
"While protection for the baby is important, it is critical to remember that COVID-19 vaccines protect women against severe illness during pregnancy and reduce complications from COVID-19," said Dr. Coates, who also is the Crown Family Research Scholar in Developmental Biology.
When considering the timing of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, the CDC and professional medical organizations, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, recommend COVID-19 vaccination as soon as eligible and at any point in pregnancy. The CDC recommends that women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or might become pregnant in the future get vaccinated and stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220624115417.htm
Preadolescents exposed to high levels of air pollution in their first years of life display changes in brain connectivity
June 15, 2022
Science Daily/Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)
Higher exposure to air pollution is associated with higher functional brain connectivity among several brain regions in preadolescents, while exposure to traffic noise was not, according to a study led by ISGlobal, an institution supported by "la Caixa" Foundation. The findings also identify the first years of life as the most sensitive period of exposure to air pollution.
Traffic-related air pollution and noise are affecting an increasing number of people worldwide. "We already know that children are particularly vulnerable to the effect of these exposures, because of their immature metabolism and developing brain," says ISGlobal researcher and senior author Mónica Guxens. In fact, several studies by Guxens and others have found an association between exposure to traffic-related air pollution during early childhood and alterations in the brain structure.
In this study, the research team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to explore whether higher exposure to air pollution or noise could also be associated with possible alterations in brain connectivity (i.e. the way in which different brain regions interact). "The use of MRI has opened up new possibilities in epidemiological research for investigating the structure and the functioning of the brain," says Guxens.
The researchers used data of 2,197 children from the Generation R Study, born between April 2002 and Jan 2006 and living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Using land use models, they estimated levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx and NO2) and particulate matter (PM) at the participants' homes at different time periods: during pregnancy, from birth to 3 years, from 3 to 6 years, and from 6 years of age to the age at which the MRI scan was performed. Noise levels due to traffic road were estimated using existing noise maps. Between 9 and 12 years of age, the participants were invited to undergo an MRI scan in the resting state (i.e. with no external stimuli).
The findings show that higher exposures to NO2 and PM2.5 absorbance (an indicator of black carbon particles) from birth to 3 years, and to NOx from 3 to 6 years of age were associated with higher functional brain connectivity among several brain regions in the preadolescents. The associations were identified in brain areas predominantly involved in two networks that have strongly opposing functions: the task negative (or "default-mode") network tends to be activated in resting conditions and the task positive network tends to be activated during tasks that demand attention. "We still have to understand the consequences of this increased activity of both networks in resting conditions, but for now we can say that the brain connectivity in children exposed to higher levels of air pollution is different from what we would expect," says Laura Pérez-Crespo, first author of the study.
The period from birth to 3 years was the one with the highest susceptibility to air pollution, and black carbon was the pollutant most associated with brain connectivity changes. As the authors note, the main source of black carbon and nitrogen oxide gases in European cities are diesel vehicles. Noise exposure at home was not associated with differences in brain connectivity, even though several studies show that noise affects cognitive development in children.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220615113249.htm
Nicotine-sired male offspring at risk of addiction behavior and memory impairments
June 8, 2022
Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Parental smoking is a significant risk factor for developing smoking behavior and nicotine dependence in offspring. These findings suggest that parental nicotine exposure may promote addiction-like behaviors in subsequent generations. Given the significance of cigarette smoking for public health, preventing nicotine use among adolescents is critical to ending tobacco use disorder and decreasing e-cigarette use.
In a novel study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) have discovered that paternal nicotine taking is associated with addiction-like behaviors, cognitive deficits, and anxiety-like behaviors in male offspring. These heritable effects were associated with reduced expression of Satb2, a transcription factor, in the hippocampus of male offspring. Increasing Satb2 expression in the hippocampus rescued the memory deficits associated with paternal nicotine taking in male offspring.
"Understanding how voluntary nicotine-taking changes germ cells and/or seminal fluid and how these modifications translate into neuroadaptations and behavioral phenotypes in subsequent generations is necessary for understanding the heritability of parental drug taking," says Heath D. Schmidt, PhD, Associate Professor and lead author of the article. "Findings from these studies highlight vulnerable populations at risk for developing nicotine dependence, cognitive impairments, and/or mental health disorders."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608161405.htm
High optimism linked with longer life and living past 90 in women across racial, ethnic groups
June 8, 2022
Science Daily/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Higher levels of optimism were associated with longer lifespan and living beyond age 90 in women across racial and ethnic groups in a study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"Although optimism itself may be affected by social structural factors, such as race and ethnicity, our research suggests that the benefits of optimism may hold across diverse groups," said Hayami Koga, a PhD candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School and lead author of the study. "A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death. Our findings suggest that there's value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy aging across diverse groups."
The study will be published online on June 8, 2022, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
In a previous study, the research group determined that optimism was linked to a longer lifespan and exceptional longevity, which was defined as living beyond 85 years of age. Because they had looked at mostly white populations in that previous study, Koga and her colleagues broadened the participant pool in the current study to include women from across racial and ethnic groups. According to Koga, including diverse populations in research is important to public health because these groups have higher mortality rates than white populations, and there is limited research about them to help inform health policy decisions.
For this study, the researchers analyzed data and survey responses from 159,255 participants in the Women's Health Initiative, which included postmenopausal women in the U.S. The women enrolled at ages 50-79 from 1993 to 1998 and were followed for up to 26 years.
Of the participants, the 25% who were the most optimistic were likely to have a 5.4% longer lifespan and a 10% greater likelihood of living beyond 90 years than the 25% who were the least optimistic. The researchers also found no interaction between optimism and any categories of race and ethnicity, and these trends held true after taking into account demographics, chronic conditions, and depression. Lifestyle factors, such as regular exercise and healthy eating, accounted for less than a quarter of the optimism-lifespan association, indicating that other factors may be at play.
Koga said that the study's results could reframe how people view the decisions that affect their health.
"We tend to focus on the negative risk factors that affect our health," said Koga. "It is also important to think about the positive resources such as optimism that may be beneficial to our health, especially if we see that these benefits are seen across racial and ethnic groups."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608161431.htm
Pregnant women's drinking correlates with their partner's drinking
June 8, 2022
University of Eastern Finland
Pregnant women's use of alcohol correlates with that of their partner, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital shows. Paying attention to both parents' use of alcohol may help to prevent drinking during pregnancy, as well as fetal exposure to the adverse effects of alcohol.
Exposure to alcohol is detrimental to fetal development, and there is no known safe limit of exposure. The harmful effects of alcohol may manifest during the child's development and growth in many ways. The risk of alcohol use during pregnancy has previously been assessed mainly on the basis of the expectant mother's previous use of alcohol, but not on the basis of their partner's drinking habits.
The new study looked at the alcohol consumption of 14,822 Finnish women and their partners before and during pregnancy. The study covered a total of 21,472 pregnancies between 2009 and 2018.
In 86% of the pregnancies, the expectant mother reported having used alcohol before pregnancy, and 4.5% also during pregnancy. In 25% of the pregnancies, women reported that they had stopped drinking only after learning about their pregnancy, which means that the fetus may have been exposed to alcohol in the early stages of pregnancy. However, partners generally did not reduce their alcohol consumption before or during pregnancy.
Before pregnancy, partners' alcohol use was strongly linked to the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed by women, how often they binge drank, and whether their drinking met the criteria for risk use. A weaker, yet significant association was observed also during pregnancy. In women who consumed alcohol during pregnancy, the quantity of alcohol used, for example, was affected by their partner's use of alcohol.
Women who reported having used alcohol during pregnancy were usually heavy drinkers before pregnancy. Younger women had higher alcohol use risk scores before pregnancy, but during pregnancy their alcohol consumption did not differ from other age groups.
According to the researchers, the results show that, in order to protect the fetus from exposure to alcohol, both parents should reduce their alcohol consumption already when planning pregnancy. Both parents need information on the harmful effects of alcohol on the fetus, and when assessing the risk of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the use of alcohol should be taken into account not only for the expectant mother, but also for the partner. The partner's support may help to avoid alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
"Our findings are well in line with those from other European and American studies. There can, of course, be great local variation in maternal drinking between different sub-populations. When it comes to partners, we noticed that Finns seem to reduce their alcohol use less than what has been observed in other Nordic studies, but otherwise that, too, is in line with other Western countries," Senior Researcher Olli Kärkkäinen from the University of Eastern Finland says.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608112622.htm
Whole-body learning can boost children's letter sound recognition -- the first step toward reading
Children who move while learning sounds of letters significantly improve their ability to recognize individual letter sounds
June 8, 2022
Science Daily/University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Science
Children who move while learning sounds of letters significantly improve their ability to recognize individual letter sounds. This is the conclusion of a new study conducted by the University of Copenhagen's Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports and Denmark's National Centre for Reading, in collaboration with 10 Copenhagen area school classes.
Reading is a complex and crucial skill that impacts the ability of youth to perform as students, across social contexts and in their eventual working lives. Therefore, it is important to develop reading skills during childhood.
Children get twice as good with difficult letter sounds
Now, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Denmark's National Centre for Reading has focused on whether whole-body learning in instruction, known as embodied learning, has a positive impact on children's ability to learn letter sounds.
"Our research demonstrated that children who used their whole body to shape the sounds of letters became twice as proficient at letter sounds that are more difficult to learn compared to those who received traditional instruction," says PhD student Linn Damsgaard of UCPH's Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.
With regards to difficult letter sounds, she adds, "There are many difficult letter sounds in Danish and these sounds are particularly important, because once children become proficient at them, it has already been shown that they will be better readers."
The project included 149 children, 5 -- 6 years old, who had just started school. They were divided into three groups: one that stood up and used their whole body to shape letter sounds; a seated group that shaped letter sounds with their hands and arms; and a control group that received traditional, seated instruction during which they wrote letters out by hand.
The study also demonstrated that students who shaped difficult letter sounds with hand movements while seated also had a greater increase in proficiency than the control group.
Giving beginner readers the best start possible
Associate Professor Jacob Wienecke of UCPH's Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports led the study and explains the project's background:
"The overarching goal is to learn more about which methods can be used to give beginner readers a good start. The idea is that if, through play and movement, we can reach children where they are and where their strengths truly lie -- and we can create a form of learning that combines reading with play -- then that's truly positive."
Previously, the researchers demonstrated that the children felt more motivated by teaching methods which incorporated physical movement. Associate Professor Jacob Wienecke hopes this will provide an opportunity to inspire teachers and school managers to prioritise movement across subjects.
The study also investigated whether a direct effect of embodied learning could be found through children's reading of individual words. This was not possible, which may be due, among other things, to the fact that the children were at such an early stage of their literacy development that they could not yet transfer their knowledge of letter sounds to reading words. Or, as PhD student Linn Damsgaard describes it: "Just because you learn the notes and sounds of a flute, doesn't make you a master."
The study is the first in the world to examine the effect of linking whole-body movement to the learning of letters and their sounds. It is published in Educational Psychology Review as: Effects of Eight Weeks with Embodied Learning on 5-6 Years Old Danish Children's Pre-reading Skills and Word Reading Skills: The PLAYMORE Project, DK.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608091403.htm
New insights on infant word learning
June 7, 2022
Science Daily/Indiana University
A lot is unknown about how infants begin to connect names with objects, a critical skill for later language development. A new study by Indiana University researchers offers a fresh perspective on how infants reach this milestone in human development.
The work, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is led by Linda Smith, Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington, and Elizabeth Clerkin, a postdoctoral researcher in the department.
Before they can speak, infants between the ages of 7 and 11 months begin to pair the words they hear with the everyday objects in their surroundings. To explain this phenomenon, the field of developmental psychology has focused on "naming moments," when the names and objects are presented to the infant at the same time.
However, the names of objects are rarely spoken in tandem with the objects, and the brain's hippocampal memory system, which can form strong memories from singular events, may not be mature enough in infants for them to form durable memories of those rare direct co-occurrences between objects and names.
"Our study shows that a different perspective is potentially needed to explain how infants are making these links by looking at the time outside naming moments," Clerkin said. "We focus on understanding how infants are developing their memories for the objects and categories more generally."
In other words, early language learning may be tied to memory representations that build up over time, rather than to repeated connections between words and objects.
To conduct their study, Smith and Clerkin looked at infants' daily encounters with the objects in their surroundings, during which infants build up "a deep and robust familiarity" with their environment. The researchers compiled a catalog of objects and the heard names of objects as they occurred in infants' daily lives. They then considered how these experiences align with infant memory systems in a way that would make it possible to link objects and names at those scarce moments of co-occurrence.
Specifically, the researchers drew upon 67 hours of audiovisual mealtime recordings of 14 infants, ranging from 7 to 11 months old, sampling statistical regularities of the infants' everyday interactions with people and objects. These data are part of a much larger dataset called the Home View Project, for which Smith's lab outfitted infants with head cameras so that parents or caretakers could record several hours of daily activity in their homes.
"When scientists think about how it is that infants managed to learn words, they've traditionally focused on internal cognitive mechanisms," Smith said. "This assumption about co-occurring names and objects is not wrong, but if you look at the infants' learning environment more broadly, you see their learning task -- and the mechanisms by which this learning may occur -- differently. We need to study the structure of these learning environments, not just the internal cognitive mechanism, because that will tell us more about what needs to be in place for children to learn language."
A full understanding of the learning environment could enable researchers and clinicians to develop interventions for children who are considered "late talkers," revealing ways in which the environment could be augmented to help children who are learning language more slowly than their peers.
This broader view of object name learning ultimately aligns with a memory system operating in the brain's neocortex that is known to be functional in infancy and builds up memory representations over long stretches of time, Smith said.
She added that when well-established memories are re-activated by new information, the new information is rapidly integrated into the existing memory. A single instance of hearing the word "table," for example, will make sense when it is heard in the context of visual memories of a table.
It's across these two "timescales of experience" -- and the workings of the neocortical memory system -- that the researchers assert infants make their first links between words and objects.
"The idea is that over long periods of time, traces of memory for visual objects are being built up slowly in the neocortex," Clerkin said. "When a word is spoken at a specific moment and the memory trace is also reactivated close in time to the name, this mechanism allows the infants to make a connection rapidly."
The researchers said their work also has significant implications for machine learning researchers who are designing and building artificial intelligence to recognize object categories. That work, which focuses on how names teach categories, requires massive amounts of training for machine learning systems to even approach human object recognition.
The implication of the infant pathway in this study suggests a new approach to machine learning, in which training is structured more like the natural environment, and object categories are learned first without labels, after which they are linked to labels.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220607182305.htm
Healthy development thanks to older siblings
If expectant mothers are exposed to stress their child can develop behavioral problems -- but this is less often the case for children with siblings
May 31, 2022
Science Daily/Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
During the first years of their lives, children develop the cognitive, social and emotional skills that will provide the foundations for their lifelong health and achievements. However, exposure to environmental stressors during critical periods of life can have negative long-term consequences for their development. One of the most critical stressors for children is maternal stress, which is known to have a detrimental effect on children's health and well-being, already in utero.
In a new study, a Leipzig-based team of researchers including scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig University (UL), the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) used longitudinal data from the LINA (Lifestyle and environmental factors and their Influence on the Newborn Allergy risk) cohort to test 373 German mother-child pairs, from pregnancy until 10 years of age.
Mothers were asked to fill in three validated questionnaires, to assess their stress levels and their child's behavioural problems. First, the researchers assessed which social and environmental factors were linked to an increase in maternal stress levels during pregnancy, and the long-term consequences of maternal stress on the occurrence of child behavioural problems. Second, the researchers assessed whether the presence of siblings had a positive effect on the occurrence of child behavioural problems, by directly reducing stress levels and increasing children's psychological well-being, or by indirectly buffering the negative consequences of maternal stress.
Prenatal stress can cause behavioural problems in the child
The results of the study demonstrated that socio-environmental stressors, like the lack of sufficient social areas in the neighbourhood, were clearly linked to an increase in maternal stress levels during pregnancy. Moreover, mothers who had experienced high stress levels, like worries, loss of joy or tension, during pregnancy were also more likely to report the occurrence of behavioural problems when their children were 7, 8 or 10 years old. "These results confirm previous findings about the negative impact that even mild forms of prenatal stress might have on child behaviour, even after several years, and highlight the importance of early intervention policies that increase maternal wellbeing and reduce the risks of maternal stress already during pregnancy," explains Federica Amici (UL, MPI-EVA), one of the researchers involved in the project.
On a more positive note, the study also found a lower occurrence of behavioural problems in children with older siblings. "Children who have older brothers or sisters in their households are less likely to develop problems, which suggests that siblings are crucial to promote a healthy child development," explains Gunda Herberth (UFZ), coordinator of the LINA study.
Higher social competence thanks to older siblings?
This study further suggests that the presence of older siblings directly reduced the likelihood of developing behavioral problems, but did not modulate the negative effects of maternal stress on child behaviour. How could older siblings reduce the occurrence of behavioural problems in children? By interacting with their older siblings, children may develop better emotional, perspective taking and problem solving skills, which are linked to higher social competence and emotional understanding. Moreover, the presence of older siblings may provide learning opportunities for parents, who might thus develop different expectations and better parental skills.
"We were especially impressed by the important role that siblings appear to play for a healthy child development," concludes Anja Widdig (UL, MPI-EVA, iDiv). "We hope that our findings will draw attention to the importance of public health policies that directly target children and their siblings, and promote a healthy environment for their well-being and the development of high-quality sibling relationships."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220531102708.htm
Pregnant moms and depression: Study links rising symptoms to kids' behavioral issues
May 31, 2022
Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles
Children whose mothers experience rising levels of depression from the period before pregnancy until the months just after giving birth are at greater risk of developing emotional, social and academic problems during their youth, UCLA psychology researchers and colleagues report.
Their recently published seven-year study, which tracked mothers and their offspring from preconception until the children were 5 years old, is the first to demonstrate how changes in mothers' level of depression over time may impact early childhood behavior and emotional well-being, the authors said.
"Our findings suggest that increases in mother's symptoms of depression from preconception to postpartum contribute to children's lower attention and behavioral control, which can raise the risk of problems across the life span," said lead author Gabrielle Rinne, a UCLA psychology graduate student. "Parents should know, however, that this can be addressed through early childhood intervention."
For the two-part study, the researchers first analyzed data on 362 women -- most of whom were Black or Hispanic and from low-income backgrounds -- collected as part of a study by the Community Child Health Network, a collaboration among health scientists from UCLA and other institutions, along with community partners, that investigated disparities in maternal and child health among poor and minority families.
The women, all of whom already had a young child, were followed through a subsequent pregnancy and were interviewed on four occasions about their symptoms of depression -- once before becoming pregnant, twice during pregnancy and again approximately three months after their baby's birth -- with researchers tracking how these symptoms changed over time.
Just under 75% of the women reported low symptoms of depression that didn't change over the study period, while 12% had low symptoms that significantly increased and 7% had persistently high symptoms.
For the second part of the study, the researchers followed 125 of these women several years later. When their children were 4, or preschool age, the mothers were asked to describe in detail their child's temperament and behavior -- particularly their experiences of emotional distress and their ability to regulate their emotions.
Then, at age 5, the children performed a task requiring focused attention. Looking at an iPad screen showing a series of fish, they were asked to identify the direction the fish in the middle was facing while ignoring the direction of all the other fish. Higher scores on this task reflect a greater ability to concentrate and inhibit attention to surrounding stimuli, Rinne said.
Children of mothers whose depression had increased from preconception through the postpartum period performed significantly worse on the computer task than those whose mothers had reported consistently low symptoms of depression. Interestingly, there were no differences in performance between kids whose mothers had experienced consistently high depression and those whose mothers had consistently low depression.
The findings are published in the Journal of Affective Disorders(free access through June 15).
"This study suggests that a pattern of increasing depression may adversely affect children," said senior author Christine Dunkel Schetter, a distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA who had a lead role in study design and in interview development. She noted that not all of these kids are destined to experience problems but emphasized that "they are at higher risk of socio-emotional and behavioral issues and problems at school."
Children whose mothers consistently reported low symptoms of depression, she said, are not at risk.
"Moms who experience depression or stress at multiple times should know the effects this can have on young children," Dunkel Schetter added. "They can seek evaluation and treatment from a doctor or mental health professional for their children and themselves."
The importance of getting treatment for maternal depression
"The addition of a child to the family is a significant emotional and psychological adjustment that can involve both joy and distress," Rinne said. "Maternal depression is one of the most common complications of pregnancy and postpartum."
In Los Angeles County, she pointed out, estimates of depression during pregnancy and in new mothers range as high as 25%.
The study's findings, Rinne said, support "the importance of comprehensive mental health care at multiple periods of the reproductive life course," beginning even before pregnancy and continuing afterward -- especially for mothers who are feeling elevated level of distress at any point.
Los Angeles County resources for maternal mental health care in pregnancy are available here. If a mother is depressed but too busy to see a doctor or therapist, she may be able to find help through evidence-based apps online. Newer forms of digital mental health treatment can also be effective, Dunkel Schetter said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220531151954.htm
New research challenges established ideas about infant crying
May 20, 2022
Science Daily/Aarhus University
When will my infant child stop crying so much?
If you are a new parent who, in a more or less sleep-deprived state, googles this question, then the answer could reassure you.
Many top google hits will refer you to an old study which concludes that infant crying normally peaks at around the age of six weeks, after which it decreases markedly and stabilises at a low level after three months.
Typically referred to as the 'cry curve', parents might expect their infants to cry radically less after the initial peak. However, a new study from Denmark, challenges this "cry curve" pattern, by pooling data from parents in 17 different countries.
"We've created two mathematical models that reasonably represent the available data. Neither of them show that the duration of crying falls so markedly after five weeks, which is what is otherwise seen in the graphs that are presented to parents. The available data shows that crying is still a significant part of many infants' repertoire after six months," says Christine Parsons, who is an associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University.
Widely used cry curve
The researchers behind the study have compiled data from 57 research articles from all over the world, in which parents have registered how much their infants cry every day.
The normal pattern of crying, the "cry curve" which parents are presently often referred to, is based on an American study from 1962, which only focuses on the first twelve weeks of a child's life.
"It's a graph that new parents are often presented with. If you google 'infant crying' you'll see lots of images of this particular graph. Therefore, we thought it would be interesting to model all the available data to see what type of pattern best represents the data, and test if this is consistent with the original 'cry curve'," says Arnault-Quentin Vermillet, the first author of the article.
Important tool for clinicians
Crying is one of the first forms of communication used by infants to get their parents' attention. The infant's cognitive and emotional development is stimulated when parents react to the child's signals appropriately.
New parents often seek help from the healthcare system if they are worried that their child is crying too much.
According to Christine Parsons, it is therefore important that both healthcare professionals and parents have a correct and precise understanding of normal patterns of crying for infants.
"For clinicians in particular, it's important because their job is to help, support and reconcile the expectations of any worried parents. It's important that clinicians have up-to-date data on what is normal for infant crying, so that they can best support new parents. When parents consider their child to cry excessively, this can be associated with negative consequences for both parent and child," she explains.
Cry patterns vary a lot
A widely-used definition for excessive crying, or colic, is when a baby cries for more than 3 hours per day, more than 3 days over a week. In the first 6 weeks after birth, colic has been estimated as affecting between 17 and 25% of infants.
The researchers at Aarhus University have drawn up two new models for the infant cry pattern. One of them shows infant crying peaks after four weeks. The other shows that infants cry a lot and at a stable level during the first weeks, after which the level falls.
However, neither model indicates a steep decline, as otherwise appears to be the case from the "original cry pattern."
According to Christine Parsons, another noteworthy finding in the study is how different crying patterns are among babies- both within and across national borders.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520132846.htm
Reducing air pollution can support healthy brain development
June 22, 2022
Science Daily/Simon Fraser University
A new study finds that having a portable air cleaner in the home can reduce the negative impacts of air pollution on brain development in children.
Simon Fraser University researchers collaborated with U.S. and Mongolian scientists to study the benefits of using air filters to reduce exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, and assessed the impact on children's intelligence.
The researchers note that their randomized controlled trial is the first study of its kind to document the impacts of air pollution reduction on cognition in children.
Beginning in 2014, the team recruited 540 pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to participate in the Ulaanbaatar Gestation and Air Pollution Research (UGAAR) study. Ulaanbaatar has some of the worst air quality in the world, well exceeding guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The women were less than 18 weeks into their pregnancies and non-smokers who had not previously used air filtering devices in their homes. They were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention group. The intervention group was provided with one or two HEPA filter air cleaners and encouraged to run the air cleaners continuously for the duration of their pregnancies. The air cleaners were removed from the home once the child was born.
The researchers later measured the children's full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) at four years of age using the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.
They found that the children born to mothers who had used the air cleaners had an average FSIQ that was 2.8-points higher than the group that did not use an air cleaner during pregnancy.
"These results, combined with evidence from previous studies, strongly implicate air pollution as a threat to brain development," says Ryan Allen, professor of environmental health in SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences. "But the good news is that reducing exposure had clear benefits."
Children in the intervention group also had significantly greater average verbal comprehension index scores, which is consistent with results from previous observational studies. The research suggests that a child's verbal skills may be particularly sensitive to air pollution exposure.
More than 90 per cent of the world's population breathes air with particulate matter concentrations above the WHO guidelines. The researchers suggest the population-level impact of air pollution on brain development could be substantive even if the individual-level effects are modest.
Their study results indicate that reducing exposure to air pollution during pregnancy could improve children's cognitive development around the world.
"Air pollution is everywhere, and it is preventing children from reaching their full potential," adds Allen. "Air cleaners may provide some protection, but ultimately the only way to protect all children is to reduce emissions."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220622100735.htm
30-year study links childhood obesity and fitness to midlife cognition
June 16, 2022
Science Daily/Monash University
A new study of the impact of childhood fitness and obesity on cognition in middle age, followed over 1200 people who were children in 1985 for over 30 years, has found that better performance on physical tests is related to better cognition later in life and may protect against dementia in later years. Importantly these findings are not impacted by academic ability and socioeconomic status at childhood, or by smoking and alcohol consumption at midlife
The world's first study of the impact of childhood fitness and obesity on cognition in middle age, followed over 1200 people who were children in 1985 for over 30 years, has found that better performance on physical tests is related to better cognition later in life and may protect against dementia in later years.
Importantly these findings are not impacted by academic ability and socioeconomic status at childhood, or by smoking and alcohol consumption at midlife.
Led by Dr Jamie Tait and Associate Professor Michele Callisaya from the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, based at Peninsula Health and Monash University in Melbourne, along with investigators from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania, the landmark study is published today (TBC) in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
It is known that children who develop muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance due to sport and activity have better health outcomes later in life. Higher adult fitness is also associated with better cognition and reduced risk of dementia later in life.
Following over 1200 people from 1985 when they were between 7 and 15 years old all the way to 2017-19, this is the first significant study to look for links between objectively measured fitness and obesity in childhood with cognition in middle age, with the idea that early activity levels, fitness and metabolic health may protect against dementia in our older years.
In 1985, 1244 participants aged 7-15 years from the Australian Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study were assessed for fitness (cardiorespiratory, muscular power, muscular endurance) and anthropometry (waist-to-hip ratio).
These participants were followed up between 2017 and 2019 (aged 39-50, average age 44) in respect to their cognitive function using a series of computerised tests.
According to Associate Professor Callisaya this is the first study demonstrating a relationship between phenotypic profiles of objectively measured fitness and obesity measures at childhood, with midlife cognition.
The researchers found that children with the highest levels of cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness and lower average waist-to-hip ratio had higher midlife scores in tests of processing speed and attention, as well as in global cognitive function.
Because a decline in cognitive performance can begin as early as middle-age, and lower midlife cognition has been associated with a greater likelihood of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older age, Associate Professor Callisaya states that it is important to identify factors in early life that may protect against cognitive decline during later life.
"Developing strategies that improve low fitness and decrease obesity levels in childhood are important because it could contribute to improvements in cognitive performance in midlife," she said.
"Importantly the study also indicates that protective strategies against future cognitive decline may need to start as far back as early childhood, so that the brain can develop sufficient reserve against developing conditions such as dementia in older life."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220616121556.htm
Dog-assisted interventions lead to lower stress levels in children
The new study compared cortisol levels in elementary school children in the UK who participated in dog-assisted intervention sessions
June 15, 2022
Science Daily/PLOS
Dog-assisted interventions can lead to significantly lower stress in children both with and without special needs, according to a new study using salivary cortisol levels published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Kerstin Meints of University of Lincoln, UK, and colleagues.
Prolonged exposure to stressors can cause adverse effects on learning, behavior, health and wellbeing in children over their lifespan. Several approaches to alleviating stress have been explored in schools including yoga, mindfulness, meditation, physical activity, teaching style interventions and animal-assisted interventions.
In the new study, the researchers tracked levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the saliva of 105 eight- to nine-year-old children in four mainstream schools in the UK as well as 44 similarly aged children from seven special education needs schools in the UK. The children were randomly stratified into three groups: a dog group, relaxation group or control group. In the dog group, participants interacted for 20 minutes with a trained dog and handler; the meditation group involved a 20-minute relaxation session. Sessions were carried out twice a week for four weeks.
Dog interventions lead to significantly lower cortisol levels in children in both mainstream and special needs schools. In mainstream schools, children in the control and relaxation groups had increases in mean salivary cortisol over the course of the school term. However, children who participated in either group or individual sessions with dogs had no statistically significant increase in cortisol. In addition, their cortisol levels were, on average, lower immediately after each dog session. For children with special educational needs, similar patterns were seen, with decreases in cortisol after dog group interventions. The authors conclude that dog interventions can successfully attenuate stress levels in school children but point out that additional research into the ideal amounts of time and contact with dogs for optimal effect is needed.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220615142152.htm
Helping middle school students achieve more
June 15, 2022
Science Daily/University of California - Davis
One in five students in the United States will not earn a high school diploma -- and young adolescents who fall behind in school risk never catching up, leading to unemployment, poor health and poverty, research has shown.
But a new University of California, Davis, study of intermediate school students in urban California and New York shows promise for underachievers. Researchers found that early intervention with teachers, training students that intelligence is malleable and learning achievable, caused struggling students to flourish and improve their grades.
"These results were exciting," said the study's lead author, Tenelle Porter, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Human Ecology who studies the psychology of education. "Here we show that we can change people's minds about how education works -- that abilities can improve with effort, and struggling students can see progress."
The study was published June 14 in the journal Psychological Science.
Porter explained that there is often a mindset among children, their families and even teachers that students who are low achievers in middle school may never catch up -- that intelligence levels will not increase much after early adolescence.
The study showed, however, that implementing an educational philosophy called a mindset intervention, which holds that the brain, like a muscle, can be strengthened and trained -- combined with training teachers how to implement the program in classrooms -- raised grades a couple of percentage points over a year, on average. The intervention used in this case was a particular program called "Brainology."
The study was the first of its kind to include the effect teachers have on the technique, which proved to be doubly effective, grade-wise, to delivering the message by computer to each student without teacher involvement. Underachieving students benefited more than students who already had higher grades.
"Students learned, 'wow, I can be smarter,'" Porter said.
The randomized study included nearly 2,000 ethnically diverse sixth and seventh grade students and 50 teachers in 12 schools located in Orange County and New York City during an entire school year prior to COVID-19 closures. The method was delivered alternatively in math, science and English courses to test the results in different subject areas.
"We can be confident this method works in various subjects," Porter said.
In Brainology, used in hundreds of schools throughout the United States and internationally, students learn the foundation of a growth mindset by studying how the brain works and how it grows smarter through effort, learning and use of effective strategies, researchers said.
In the study, teachers were given a prominent role in delivering the intervention. This conveys to students, researchers said, that teachers endorse a growth mindset and believe students can improve. Teachers delivered three of every four lessons in Brainology and led students in actively processing the material. For example, teachers might ask students to identify subjects where they wanted to improve and help them design a plan for maximizing their learning in those subjects, demonstrating the concept of malleable intelligence.
Ongoing support was provided to teachers. They were given a curriculum guide, video-based resources, in-person training, and were taught pedagogical techniques for communicating growth mindsets to students. In addition, staff with expertise in growth mindset and teaching observed Brainology lessons regularly and provided coaching throughout the intervention, researchers said. Teachers' mindset beliefs grew as well, they said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220615134703.htm
Pre-school play with friends lowers risk of mental health problems later
Children who learn to play well with others at pre-school age tend to enjoy better mental health as they get older, new research shows
June 14, 2022
Science Daily/University of Cambridge
Children who learn to play well with others at pre-school age tend to enjoy better mental health as they get older, new research shows. The findings provide the first clear evidence that 'peer play ability', the capacity to play successfully with other children, has a protective effect on mental health.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed data from almost 1,700 children, collected when they were aged three and seven. Those with better peer play ability at age three consistently showed fewer signs of poor mental health four years later. They tended to have lower hyperactivity, parents and teachers reported fewer conduct and emotional problems, and they were less likely to get into fights or disagreements with other children.
Importantly, this connection generally held true even when the researchers focused on sub-groups of children who were particularly at risk of mental health problems. It also applied when they considered other risk factors for mental health -- such as poverty levels, or cases in which the mother had experienced serious psychological distress during or immediately after pregnancy.
The findings suggest that giving young children who might be vulnerable to mental health issues access to well-supported opportunities to play with peers -- for example, at playgroups run by early years specialists -- could be a way to significantly benefit their long-term mental health.
Dr Jenny Gibson, from the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: "We think this connection exists because through playing with others, children acquire the skills to build strong friendships as they get older and start school. Even if they are at risk of poor mental health, those friendship networks will often get them through."
Vicky Yiran Zhao, a PhD Student in PEDAL and first author on the study added: "What matters is the quality, rather than the quantity, of peer play. Games with peers that encourage children to collaborate, for example, or activities that promote sharing, will have positive knock-on benefits."
The researchers used data from 1,676 children in the Growing up in Australia study, which is tracking the development of children born in Australia between March 2003 and February 2004. It includes a record, provided by parents and carers, of how well the children played in different situations at age three. This covered different types of peer play, including simple games; imaginative pretend play; goal-directed activities (such as building a tower from blocks); and collaborative games like hide-and-seek.
These four peer play indicators were used to create a measure of 'peer play ability' -- the underlying ability of a child to engage with peers in a playful way. The researchers calculated the strength of the relationship between that measure and reported symptoms of possible mental health problems -- hyperactivity, and conduct, emotional and peer problems -- at age seven.
The study then analysed two sub-groups of children within the overall cohort. These were children with high 'reactivity' (children who were very easily upset and difficult to soothe in infancy), and those with low 'persistence' (children who struggled to persevere when encountering a challenging task). Both these traits are linked to poor mental health outcomes.
Across the entire dataset, children with a higher peer play ability score at age three consistently showed fewer signs of mental health difficulties at age seven. For every unit increase in peer play ability at age three, children's measured score for hyperactivity problems at age seven fell by 8.4%, conduct problems by 8%, emotional problems by 9.8% and peer problems by 14%. This applied regardless of potential confounding factors such as poverty levels and maternal distress, and whether or not they had plentiful opportunities to play with siblings and parents.
The effect was evident even among the at-risk groups. In particular, among the 270 children in the 'low persistence' category, those who were better at playing with peers at age three consistently had lower hyperactivity, and fewer emotional and peer problems, at age seven. This may be because peer play often forces children to problem-solve and confront unexpected challenges, and therefore directly addresses low persistence.
The benefits of peer play were weaker for the high reactivity sub-group, possibly because such children are often anxious and withdrawn, and less inclined to play with others. Even among this group, however, better peer play at age three was linked to lower hyperactivity at age seven.
The consistent link between peer play and mental health probably exists because playing with others supports the development of emotional self-control and socio-cognitive skills, such as the ability to understand and respond to other people's feelings. These are fundamental to building stable, reciprocal friendships. There is already good evidence that the better a person's social connections, the better their mental health tends to be. For children, more social connections also create a virtuous cycle, as they usually lead to more opportunities for peer play.
The researchers suggest that assessing children's access to peer play at an early age could be used to screen for those potentially at risk of future mental health problems. They also argue that giving the families of at-risk children access to environments which promote high-quality peer play, such as playgroups or small-group care with professional child minders, could be an easily deliverable and low-cost way to reduce the chances of mental health problems later.
"The standard offer at the moment is to put the parents on a parenting course," Gibson said. "We could be focusing much more on giving children better opportunities to meet and play with their peers. There are already fantastic initiatives up and down the country, run by professionals who provide exactly that service to a very high standard. Our findings show how crucial their work is, especially given that the other risk factors jeopardising children's mental health could often be down to circumstances beyond their parents' control."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220614095614.htm
How mother-youth emotional climate helps adolescents cope with stress
June 10, 2022
Science Daily/University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Transition to middle school can be a stressful time for adolescents. They must adjust to a new peer group and social environment while going through the developmental changes of puberty. A recent University of Illinois study looks at how emotional aspects of parenting can help youth better cope with peer stressors during this transitional period.
The researchers evaluated emotional closeness between fifth-graders and their mothers, gauging how it predicted the youths' ability to deal with social challenges when they started middle school the following year. They combined observations of mother-youth interactions with measures of the youths' biological stress response capacity.
The study is part of a larger, ongoing project in the research lab of Kelly Tu, examining the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents and the role of parental involvement. Tu is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) at U of I, and co-author on the paper.
"Adolescents often turn to their mothers to discuss peer problems. As mothers give advice, it's not just what they tell adolescents that matter, but also how they are conveying those messages. Therefore, moving beyond mothers' specific suggestions for coping, here we focus on the emotional climate of these conversations," explains Xiaomei Li, doctoral candidate in HDFS and the paper's lead author.
The researchers invited mothers and adolescents in the last semester of fifth grade to the research lab, asking them to spend five minutes talking about a peer problem the youth was facing. The youth also filled out questionnaires reporting on how they typically cope with peer stress, once during fifth grade and again after they started sixth grade the following school year. Being able to engage in active forms of coping -- attempting to resolve the problem and managing one's reactions -- is typically considered more beneficial for youths' successful adaptation to new environments, the researchers say.
During the five-minute conversation, trained observers rated maternal affect (such as smiles, physical and verbal affection, frustration or tension) and dyadic connection or cohesiveness (such as taking turns and communicating smoothly). The researchers also measured youths' biological response in the form of their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), gauging the baseline RSA at rest while they watched a slide show of nature images. RSA measures the variations in heart rate, and higher baseline RSA indicates greater capacity to respond to stressful situations by regulating the heart rate.
"Stress response is a multi-level mechanism which includes behavioral strategies and biological reactions. We wanted to observe how some common biological markers of the stress response system might inform how youth engage in behavioral strategies to cope with stress, in addition to how their mothers may support them," Li says.
Youth who experienced more positive affect and greater cohesiveness during their conversations with mothers reported more active coping and advice seeking from parents in middle school. In comparison, youth whose mothers displayed less positive affect (or more criticism and lack of interest) and who were less cohesive with their children during the conversation were less able to actively cope with social stress when starting middle school. This was particularly noticeable for kids with lower baseline RSA.
"For some youth who may be biologically dispositioned to be vulnerable to stress, such as displaying lower baseline RSA, the mother's positive, warm affect and a cohesive, collaborative conversation atmosphere appear to be especially important for the development and use of active coping," Li says.
One takeaway from these findings is for parents to think about how to create a positive and supportive space to talk with their children about their problems, Tu explains.
"As a parent, you could be giving great advice. But what our study shows is that how parents talk with their children matters for how adolescents cope with stress. Conversations that are less warm and supportive could undermine parents' efforts to help. And youth are less likely to seek parents' advice in the future," she adds.
Tu and Li say there may also be cultural differences in parental emotional closeness and how much it matters to youth. Study participants included a diverse sample of 57% White, 10% Black, 13% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Asian, and 14% other/mixed race. While the ethnic groups were too small to analyze separately, the researchers recognize the need to better understand cultural factors in future studies.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220610120205.htm
Screen time, alcohol, and poor sleep for girls: How the pandemic has impacted teens in Australia
June 6, 2022
Science Daily/University of Sydney
Australian teens had overall improvements in sleep over the two years and some improvements in dietary choices during lockdown, however these were offset by increases in already concerning levels of screen time and worrying trends of alcohol use and poor sleep among girls.
Led by the University of Sydney and published in BMJ Open today, the study adds important new data to the growing chorus of concern around the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on young people. It also emphasises the importance of tailoring support and interventions to address specific concerns and groups -- such as adolescent girls -- who appear to be most impacted.
"We know these lifestyle risk behaviours are common among young people, but we also know they are key predictors of chronic diseases later in life, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental disorders," said lead author Dr Lauren Gardner, Research Fellow at the Matilda Centre for Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use in the Faculty of Medicine and Health.
"It's important that we understand how to best support young Australians moving forward, regardless of the course of the pandemic, and invest in prevention and health promotion activities."
About the study
The research drew on self-reported longitudinal survey data from 983 Australian adolescents (average age 12.6 years at baseline) enrolled in the The Health4Life Study.
It analysed data over a two-year period from before (2019) to during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) -- looking at the 'Big 6' health behaviours: diet, physical activity, recreational screen time, sleep and alcohol and tobacco use.
The researchers also examined if differences over time were associated with gender and lockdown status across three Australian states -- New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
Key findings:
Compared to pre-pandemic levels, there were increases in the prevalence of excessive recreational screen time (86% to 94%), insufficient fruit intake (20% to 30%), and increased alcohol (2% to 10%) and tobacco use (1% to 4%)*.
Overall, the prevalence of insufficient sleep decreased over the two-year period (by 26%), regardless of lockdown status.
Being in lockdown was associated with improvements in sugar sweetened beverage consumption (39% lower than those not in lockdown) and discretionary food intake (27% lower than those not in lockdown).
For females, there was an increase in the prevalence of insufficient sleep (24% higher than males) and alcohol use* (134% higher than males).
Although the prevalence of insufficient physical activity and insufficient vegetable intake did not change over time, nor were there differences based on lockdown status, these behaviours remain concerning, with 82% not achieving 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day and 84% not eating the recommended five serves of vegetables per day.
*The increase in alcohol and tobacco use over time was expected as the cohort aged and remained relatively low, however, the greater increase in alcohol use among females was unexpected.
"The Health4Life study gave us a unique opportunity to assess changes in key health behaviours in a large and geographically diverse sample. Due to Australia's state-based public health restrictions, approximately one-third of the sample was subjected to the Greater Sydney stay-at-home orders at the second time point, allowing us to look at how different levels of restrictions impacted these behaviours," said Dr Gardner.
Comparison to the international experience
Director of the Matilda Centre, Professor Maree Teesson said the new study reinforces other international research highlighting the varied impact of the COVD-19 pandemic across countries and within regions.
"The full extent of the impact of the pandemic on children and young people is being recognised internationally. This study is the first to examine those impacts on Australian teens," said Professor Teesson.
"We need a COVID recovery plan -- as proposed by Australia's Mental Health Think Tank -- that helps our young people get back on track for a healthier future."
"Supporting young people to improve or maintain positive health behaviours is important. Research such as this can help us start to understand the interplay between health behaviours and mental health to ensure we provide targeted interventions to those who need it the most."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220606105622.htm
Physical abuse less likely when spanking is eliminated
June 3, 2022
Science Daily/University of Michigan
When parents in countries worldwide use spanking as a behavior deterrent, their children are more likely to become a victim of physical abuse, say University of Michigan researchers.
A new U-M study analyzed the connection between spanking and physical abuse in 56 low- and middle-income countries, as well as examined the extent to which physical abuse might be reduced if spanking were eliminated.
For this international study, researchers defined spanking as an open-handed hit on the child's behind, not with an object such as a belt or stick. A situation becomes "physically abusive" when the parents beat up the child or strike the head or face.
International law and cultures vary as to what type of physical punishment parents can inflict upon their kids. Julie Ma, the study's lead author and associate professor of social work at UM-Flint, said typically law enforcement would not intervene in spanking cases, but it might in physical abuse cases where the child is at higher risk of injury.
Researchers used nationally representative data from more than 156,000 children, ages 1-4, in the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. The sample ranged from 109 kids in St. Lucia in the Caribbean to 13,077 children in Nigeria.
Spanking, the findings indicate, was associated with higher odds of physical abuse. When translated to a hypothetical sample of 100 children, about 32 of them were spanked. Among those 32 kids, seven reported experiencing physical abuse. The elimination of spanking would result in four fewer children who were exposed to physical abuse, the results show.
The probability of physical abuse decreased by 14% when comparing children who were spanked (22%) with those who were not (8%).
More organizations call for eliminating all forms of violence against children, but the latest findings further support that child welfare advocates should continue to discourage parents and caregivers from using spanking, which would also reduce physical abuse, the researchers say.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220603100121.htm
Children who attend schools with more traffic noise show slower cognitive development
June 2, 2022
Science Daily/Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)
Road traffic noise is a widespread problem in cities whose impact on children's health remains poorly understood. A new study conducted at 38 schools in Barcelona suggests that traffic noise at schools has a detrimental effect on the development of working memory and attention in primary-school students. The findings of this study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, have been published in PLoS Medicine.
The study, which forms part of the BREATHE project and was led by researchers Maria Foraster and Jordi Sunyer, included 2,680 children between 7 and 10 years of age. In order to assess the possible impact of traffic noise on cognitive development, the researchers focused on two abilities that develop rapidly during preadolescence and are essential for learning and school attainment: attention and working memory.
Attention includes processes such as selectively attending to specific stimuli or focusing on a specific task for a prolonged period of time. Working memory is the system that allows us to hold information in the mind and manipulate it over a short period of time. When we need to continuously and effectively process information stored in the working memory, we use what is known as complex working memory.
The field work for the study was carried out over a 12-month period in 2012 and 2013, during which participants completed the cognitive tests four times. The aim of these tests was not only to assess working memory and attention, but also to study their evolution over time. Over the same period, noise measurements were taken in front of the 38 participating schools, as well as in the playgrounds and inside classrooms.
On completion of the yearlong study period, the findings showed that the progression of working memory, complex working memory and attention was slower in students attending schools with higher levels of traffic noise. By way of example, a 5 dB increase in outdoor noise levels resulted in working memory development that was 11.4% slower than average and complex working memory development that was 23.5% slower than average. Similarly, exposure to an additional 5 dB of outdoor traffic noise resulted in attention capacity development that was 4.8% slower than average.
Differences Between Inside and Outside the Classroom
In the analysis of outdoor noise at schools, higher average noise level and greater fluctuation in noise levels were both associated with poorer student performance on all tests. Inside the classroom, greater fluctuation in noise levels was also associated with slower progress over the course of the year on all cognitive tests. However, children exposed to higher average classroom noise levels over the course of the year performed worse than students in quieter classrooms only on the attention test, but not on the working memory tests.
"This finding suggests that noise peaks inside the classroom may be more disruptive to neurodevelopment than average decibel level," commented ISGlobal researcher Maria Foraster, lead author of the study. "This is important because it supports the hypothesis that noise characteristics may be more influential than average noise levels, despite the fact that current policies are based solely on average decibels."
"Our study supports the hypothesis that childhood is a vulnerable period during which external stimuli such as noise can affect the rapid process of cognitive development that takes place before adolescence," explained ISGlobal researcher Jordi Sunyer, last author of the study.
Noise Exposure at Home
The researchers used the 2012 road traffic noise map of the city of Barcelona to estimate the average noise level at each participant's home. In this case, however, no association was observed between residential noise and cognitive development.
"This could be because noise exposure at school is more detrimental as it affects vulnerable windows of concentration and learning processes," commented Maria Forester. "On the other hand, although noise measurements were taken at the schools, noise levels at the children's homes were estimated using a noise map that may be less accurate and, in any case, only reflected outdoor noise. This, too, may have influenced the results."
The study adds to the body of evidence on the effects of transport on children's cognitive development, which to date have been observed at schools exposed to aircraft noise as well as at schools exposed to traffic-related air pollution. The researchers underscored the need for further studies on road traffic noise in other populations to determine whether these initial findings can be extrapolated to other cities and settings.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220602140809.htm
Team sports linked to fewer mental health difficulties for kids
However, kids who exclusively play individual sports more likely to face mental health challenges
June 1, 2022
Science Daily/PLOS
A large-scale study of U.S. children and adolescents has found that participation in a team sport is associated with fewer mental health difficulties, but that kids who are exclusively involved in an individual sport -- such as tennis or wrestling -- may face greater mental health difficulties than kids who do no sports at all. Matt Hoffmann of California State University, U.S.A., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 1, 2022.
Previous research has consistently suggested that youth participation in organized sports might help protect against mental health difficulties. However, some studies have linked youth sports participation to worse mental health, so more detailed research is needed to determine which approaches to sports might be most beneficial.
To shed new light, Hoffmann and colleagues analyzed data on the sports habits and mental health of 11,235 kids aged 9 to 13. Parents and guardians reported on several aspects of the children's mental health by filling out a form known as the Child Behavior Checklist. The researchers looked for any associations between the mental health data and the kids' sports habits, while also accounting for other factors that might impact mental health, such as household income and overall physical activity.
In line with the researchers' expectations, the analysis showed that kids involved in team sports were less likely to have signs of anxiety, depression, withdrawal, social problems, and attention problems.
The researchers also expected individual sports to be associated with fewer mental health difficulties, even if to a lesser extent than for team sports. However, they instead found that children who exclusively played individual sports tended to have greater mental health difficulties than those who did not play sports at all. Nonetheless, for female kids, participation in both team and individual sports was associated with a lower likelihood of rule-breaking behavior than non-sports participation.
Overall, these findings add to a growing body of evidence that playing team sports is positively associated with mental health for children and adolescents. The authors suggest that further research could help clarify the link they observed between individual sports and worse mental health difficulties, and longitudinal observations are needed to investigate any causal relationships between sport participation and mental health.
The authors add: "Children and adolescents who played exclusively team sports, like basketball or soccer, had fewer mental health difficulties than those who did not participate in any organized sports. However, to our surprise, youth who participated in only individual sports, such as gymnastics or tennis, had more mental health difficulties compared to those who did not participate in organized sports."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220601142809.htm