Does Moving a Child Create Adult Baggage?

Author: Pamela Paul

Publication Name: The New York Times

Date of Publication: July 9, 2010

Summary:

Research has shown that a variety of adult problems has stemmed from moving houses in one’s adolescent life. Psychologist, sociologists, and epidemiologists notice that children that move often do worse in school and have behavioral problems than children that are stationary.

Americans are a highly mobile bunch and according to Professor Oishi, “American levels of well-being can be explained in part by residential differences.” People that move frequently say they have less “quality relationships.” People that moved a lot as children were reported to have less “self-satisfaction” and “well-being” as adults. These are the two characteristics used to measure adult happiness.

However the personality of the child also matters, whether they are introverted or extroverted. Those that are extroverted tend to remain the same while introverts are more deeply impacted. It is shown that a child reacts differently to the different reasons for moving. Military children handle moving better because children in military schools are in the same situation. However, relocation due to a job may adversely affect a child as well as relocation due to divorce or foreclosure because of the financial and relationship problems that may follow.

The age group that it affects the most though is the kids that are still in middle school. Being a pre-teenager with hormones and puberty is already a lot to handle. Adding in moving to a different place makes the tween years so much more appealing. Middle school kids will be more affected than older kids or younger kids in high school or elementary school.

Links to Study: N/A

Article:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/fashion/11StudiedMoving.html?ref=psychology_and_psychologists

Submitted By: Tina Nguyen

Hey stupid! How your eating habits can make you dumb.

AUTHOR: Susan Carnell, Ph.D.

PUBLICATION NAME: Psychology Today

DATE OF PUBLICATION: October 10, 2009

SUMMARY: It has long been known that nutrition can affect your mental and physical capacity. Without the proper nutrients, your body becomes weaker and less capable of regular tasks. But, there is also evidence that what we eat can effect the how we think.

A study was conducted to prove this idea. Researchers fed rats a high-fat diet for ten days and found that, not only were they exhausted after slight exercise, they became more forgetful and less successful at finding rewards in a maze.

Another study was conducted on elderly obese and thin people. Interestingly, the brains of the obese showed greater shrinkage of the temporal, frontal, and subcortical areas than those of the lean people. Taking into account the fact the diabetes has a similar affect on the brain, the researchers still found that weight played a role in the atrophy.

On the other hand, not eating enough fats can also cause problems with the function of the brain. Anorexic patients actually perform worse at tasks which test the flexible thinking of the prefrontal cortex. Also, women who claim to be dieting to lose weight tend to have slower reaction times and poorer recall in word memory tests.

Basically, eating a healthy diet can keep your mind and body sharp, but don't stress too much over the things that you eat because that's never good.

LINKS TO STUDY: None

ARTICLE: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bad-appetite/200910/hey-stupid-how-your-eating-habits-can-make-you-dumb

SUBMITTED BY: Rosemary Barrass

Can autism be diagnosed in infants? New study says yes.

AUTHOR: Robbie Woliver

PUBLICATION NAME: Psychology Today

DATE OF PUBLICATION: August 18, 2010

SUMMARY: At the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, doctors conducted a study with newborn babies. At first this study had nothing to do with detecting Autism, but soon doctors began to realize that there was a connection between a certain symptom that the babies had and Autism. Every baby that had this symptom was later diagnosed with autism later on in life. This possible discovery could prove to be very helpful to children with Autism because if it is detected earlier in a child's life, treatment can be given at an earlier age. This would greatly benefit children with Autism as Autism is usually detected around 3-5 years of age.

However, one of the limiting factors of this study is the fact that only very ill babies were included. The unit that was in charge of this study was the intensive care unit, so the only reason that the symptoms connected with Autism were detected was because of how closely each baby was being watched by doctors. Also, healthy babies were not included in this study.

This discovery could prove incredibly useful to future children with autism. If autism could potentially be diagnosed during a child's infancy, then treatment could be given earlier, which would help a child much more in their life.

LINKS TO STUDY: none listed

ARTICLE: Can autism be diagnosed in infants? New study says yes.

SUBMITTED BY: Kimmy Guzzetta

Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

Author: Pamela Paul

Publication Name: The New York Times

Date of Publication: August 25, 2010

Summary:The article, “Can Preschoolers Be Depressed” by Pamela Paul, the cases of different preschoolers found to have been diagnosed with depression and how these children interact are discussed. The first example is about a boy named “Kiran” (a fake name to keep the boy’s identity anonymous). He seemed to be a good child while growing up, until his parents noticed that his actions were not as lively and bright as a normal preschooler should be. When Kiran was 5, he was diagnosed with preschool depression.

Depression was originally thought to have only affected adults, and not something that is found in children. Diagnosis of depression for preschoolers has also been a debate because of the belief that children cannot have such a mental disorder. However, ongoing studies show that children can in fact go through depression despite the young age and that depression can surface in children as young as 2 or 3. Although the fact that children can become depressed is true, it is extremely difficult to diagnose the child because there is little that a young child can directly tell about what is going on in their mind and life.

Studies also show that parents who are also depressed, particularly the mother, have a higher chance of their own children having depression. The children become afraid that they are bad children, and that their parents do not love them. In an effort to correct this thinking in children, they are sent to psychotherapy, with a parental unit, to go through “play therapy.” Another type of therapy is known as the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, or P.C.I.T in which parents are taught to “encourage their children to acquire emotion regulation, stress management, guilt reparation and other coping skills” (Paul). PCIT was originally started in the 1970s and has now been modified to work for depression.

Although there are no definite results, PCIT is known to be a proficient method if the parents are an active part of their child’s process of overcoming depression. Psychologist Alicia Lieberman at U.C.S.F. said that “if you intervene early enough to change negative conditions, rather than perpetuate negative behaviors, you really are preventing the development of a full-fledged diagnosis.”


Links to Study: none

Article: Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

Submitted by Julia Wong