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U of T Research Demonstrates How Children Learn About Prejudice

By Guest PostMarch 24, 2012Generalanjum nayyar, children, elementary school, external instruction, kang and inzlicht, kids, michael inzlicht, negative experience, prejudice, red group, sonia kang, toronto, university of toronto

How do children come to realize that they themselves might be targets of prejudice? It may depend on their age. New research conducted at the University of Toronto shows that a six-year-old may be influenced most by direct instruction about prejudice, but once that child gets closer to 10, she begins to rely more on her own experiences.

“Young children are information hungry – they are eagerly searching for general rules to help in mapping out their social worlds,” write researchers Sonia Kang, an assistant professor in the Department of Management at U of T Mississauga and the Rotman School of Management, and Professor Michael Inzlicht of the Department of Psychology in this month’s Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. (more…)

Extreme Poverty: 2.8 Million Children in the U.S. Live on $2 per Day

By Guest PostFebruary 26, 2012Economyamerican children, children, economic climate, food stamp program, gallon of milk, h luke shaefer, harvard kennedy school, households, income, kathryn edin, national poverty center, poverty, poverty trends, snap

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— One in five households with children in poverty are surviving on the cash equivalent of a half gallon of milk per person per day in a given month.

The National Poverty Center has released a new report that examines poverty trends between 1996 and 2011. The number of households with children who are in extreme poverty in a given month—living at $2 or less in income per person per day—in 2011 totaled roughly 1.46 million households, including 2.8 million kids. This number is up from 636,000 households in 1996, nearly a 130 percent increase. (more…)

Adolescents with Autism Spend Free Time Using Solitary, Screen-Based Media

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Scienceadolescent, asd, autism spectrum disorder, benjamin cooper, children, email, intellectual disabilities, internet chatting, language impairment, micah mazurek, non social media, paul shattuck, screen based technology, social media, Technology, television, university of missouri, video games

*MU researcher encourages capitalization on interest in screen-based technology, cautions against overuse*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be fascinated by screen-based technology. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that adolescents with autism spend the majority of their free time using non-social media, including television and video-games.

“Even though parents and clinicians have often observed that children with ASD tend to be preoccupied with screen-based media, ours is the first large-scale study to explore this issue,” said Micah Mazurek, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. “We found that 64 percent of adolescents with ASD spent most of their free time watching TV and playing video and computer games. These rates were much higher than among those with other types of disabilities. On the other hand, adolescents with ASD were less likely to spend time using email and social media.” (more…)

Elderly Can Be as Fast as Young in Some Brain Tasks, Study Shows

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011Science25 year olds, asterisks, children, computer screen, decision making tasks, elderly, faster response, gail mckoon, jessica love, john opfer, large number, nonwords, ohio state, quick decisions, roger ratcliff, small number

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings.

But recent research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed.

In fact, healthy older people can be trained to respond faster in some decision-making tasks without hurting their accuracy – meaning their cognitive skills in this area aren’t so different from younger adults. (more…)

Parents’ Behavior Linked to Kids’ Videogame Playing

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2011Health, Technologychild parent relationship, children, moral reasoning, parental behavior, videogame behavior, videogame playing

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Children who think their parents are poor monitors or nag a lot tend to play videogames more than other kids, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers. (more…)

MU Study Identifies Protective Factors that Help Women Recover from Childhood Violence

By Guest PostJuly 13, 2011Healthabusive intimate relationships, children, domestic violence, economic stability, economic sustainability, kim anderson, mental health problems, model, police involvement, positive adult role models, post traumatic stress disorder, psychological problems, ptsd, risk factors for ptsd, school of social work, university of missouri, women

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to be in abusive intimate relationships and experience psychological problems such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A University of Missouri researcher has found that certain protective factors foster resilience and increase the likelihood that the cycle of violence will end for women who, as children, were exposed to their mothers’ battering.

Kim Anderson, associate professor in the MU School of Social Work, found that women are less likely to suffer from PTSD if they are more resilient, or better able to overcome adversity. In regard to childhood protective factors that increase adult resilience, Anderson found that mothers who were employed full-time had a positive influence on their children’s recovery from witnessing domestic violence. (more…)

Children Who Seldom Smile, Laugh or Hug a Parent Might be at Risk for Depression

By Guest PostJuly 8, 2011Healthamy gentzler, charles george, children, daniel shaw, history of depression, hugging a parent, laboratory assessment, maria kovacs, negative emotions, negative moods, nestor lopez duran, positive displays, positive emotions, smiling and laughing, thomas olino, university of michigan, university of pittsburgh, vulnerability to depressive disorders

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A new study from the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh shows that even if a child isn’t crying, frowning or displaying other negative emotions on a consistent basis, another warning sign is when a child shows fewer positive displays, like hugging a parent or smiling and laughing.

“Surprisingly, it seems that it is low levels of happiness, as opposed to high levels of sadness, what may help explain why these kids too often develop depressive disorders,” said Nestor Lopez-Duran, an assistant professor of psychology at U-M and one of the study’s authors. (more…)

Q&A: Creating a Safe Haven For Children

By Guest PostApril 28, 2011General, Healthandrea asnes, assessment, bridging program, child abuse, child abuse program, children, dart, detection, john leventhal, leventhal, new haven, pediatrics, physical abuse, referral and treatment, sexual abuse, yale daily bulletin

For over 25 years, Dr. John M. Leventhal has been fighting a battle to protect the lives of hundreds of children who come through one of the child abuse programs at Yale.

He has won many struggles along the way, but to win the war, he says, the program needs to be armed with more state and federal support, as well as support from individuals and foundations.

“Finding ways to protect children who can’t defend themselves is part of what wakes me up in the morning and motivates me to continue this tough, but important work,” says Leventhal, professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Child Abuse Programs at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. (more…)

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