February 28, 2024
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teenagers who grow up in large families have poorer mental health than their peers who grew up in a family with fewer siblings.
Researchers from Ohio State University found that in an analysis of children growing up in the US and China, a larger number of siblings had ramifications for the mental health of teenagers.
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February 27, 2024
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in Cities and Health looked at associations between real-time, self-reported adolescent mental health and urban and architectural design concepts. “First, we designed a walking route (1.7km) with seven stops, and quantified the actual spaces according to a number of features of pedestrian and transit oriented design,” study author Leia Minaker told us. “Next, we took 70 kids between nine and 17 years old on a walk, and had them fill out these surveys at each stop.”
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January 16, 2024
by Patricia Tomasi
autistic children in the aftermath of events on October 7th, 2023 in Israel. “Following the unprecedented attacks by Hamas on October 7th, we sought to understand the psychological experience of autistic and non autistic children and their parents,” Dr. Judah Koller of the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told us.
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December 22, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Parents are feeling the pressure this holiday season.
Data from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at University of Michigan Health found one in five parents think their children have unrealistic expectations of the holiday, and one in four parents admit they themselves set overly idealistic expectations for the holidays.
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October 31, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Lancet looked at autism in England with regard to assessing under-diagnosis in a population-based cohort study of prospectively collected primary care data. “People often think of autism as a childhood condition, and historically, autism has mostly been diagnosed in children,” study author Elizabeth O’Nions told us. “Many autistic adults were not diagnosed when they were children, either because autism didn’t exist as a diagnosis when they were young, or the criteria were narrower, meaning that only a very small number of people were considered to be autistic at the time.”
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October 30, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Children who are close to their parents early in life are more likely to be kind, helpful and prosocial when they grow up.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge found that children who had a strong bond with their parents early in their life were more likely to treat others kindly and act with empathy.
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October 10, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Immunity looked whether there was a potential link between early life stress and the onset of mental disorders. “Individuals who suffer childhood abuse/neglect are much more likely to develop mental diseases, including depression and schizophrenia,” study author Wok-Suk Chung told us. “Additionally, stress has been shown to elicit a decrease in the number of excitatory synaptic connections in the brain and impair their functions. However, the underlying mechanism by which early life stress induces synaptic and behavioral symptoms later in life have been unclear.”
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October 3, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine looked at adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and aging-associated functional impairment in a national sample of older community-dwelling adults. “In recent years, there has been growing interest and research in how stress and traumatic events that happen in childhood can impact people’s health in their early adult years, from increasing people’s risk of depression all the way to other diseases like diabetes,” study author Victoria M. Lee told us.
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September 28, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Middle school can be rough.
Now research has backed up that if you’re not attractive or athletic in middle school, it can be a nightmare.
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September 12, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at infection detection in faces and children's development of pathogen avoidance. “We were interested in understanding whether children ages four to nine years old can avoid and recognize sick faces,” study author Tiffany S. Leung told us. “Previous studies have reported that adults can use faces to recognize when someone is sick and make judgements about whether to approach or avoid them."
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