January 10, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at the impact of COVID-19 on psychopathology in children and young people worldwide. “Our study is about tracking what the changes were in children and adolescents’ mental health from before the pandemic to during the pandemic, by bringing together findings from lots of research published in the last two years,” study author Abigail Emma Russell told us.
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December 27, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in Nature Communications delved more into autism by growing brain-like organoids. “The human brain is unique, and certain aspects of human brain development, and brain diseases, are notoriously difficult to study using animal models,” study author Alex Shcheglovitov, PhD told us. “We wanted to develop a new method to model early aspects of human telencephalic brain development in health and disease. Our approach was to make human brain organoids in a robust and reproducible manner.”
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December 6, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study in the Journal of Child Development looked at whether more hours in center-based care cause more externalizing problems. “This study revisits the question of whether increasing a child’s time in center-based care leads to increases in problem behaviors,” study author Catalina Rey-Guerra told us. “We decided to revisit this topic because, for the last four decades, there have been a lot of disagreements around the answer to this question.”
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November 29, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at developmental changes in students’ use of dimensional comparisons to form ability self-concepts in math and verbal domains. “We know that adolescent students may compare their math performance with their own reading performance to determine whether they are a ‘math person’ or ‘reading person’,” study author Sirui Wan told us.
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November 22, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes looked at longitudinal outcomes in children with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders in Zambia. “Our study is about cognitive development in children and adolescents with HIV,” study author David Bearden told us. Bearden is an assistant professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
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November 1, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology looked at the mechanisms underlying childhood exposure to blue spaces and adult subjective well-being. “Our study is about the benefits of childhood contact with blue spaces, a collective name to indicate all the areas with waterbodies or watercourses, such as the sea, lakes and rivers,” study author Valeria Vitale told us. “We were hoping to find a positive link between the exposure to blue spaces during childhood and adult well-being and explore potential pathways that may explain this relationship.”
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October 11, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in Child Development looked at whether older children verify adult claims because they are skeptical of those claims. “When children between four and seven years old are told something surprising, for example that a smaller object is heavier than a much larger object, they will frequently pick up those objects,” study author Samuel Ronfard, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto at Mississauga told us. “Older children engage in such exploratory behavior more frequently than younger children.”
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September 29, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
Two in three parents report that their children feel self-conscious about their appearance.
A national poll found that one in five parents report their teens avoid some activities due to their insecurities and one in three parents report their kids have been treated unkindly due to their appearance.
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August 31, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
Having a partner was more beneficial at avoiding loneliness during the first wave of COVID-19 than having children.
Research published in the European Journal of Ageing found that whilst those without children and those without a partner were more likely to be lonely, those without a partner underwent a notable shift in their loneliness in the early stages of the pandemic.
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July 30, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
Children who participate in extra-curricular activities are happier than their peers who spend their time playing video games or on social media.
Whether it be music lessons, clubs, catch ups with friends or sports practice, children who did out of school activities had greater wellbeing.
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