Stress in the kids room

The birth of a younger sibling activates long-lasting stress reactions in young bonobos

September 7, 2022

Science Daily/Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ)/German Primate Center

Researchers examined various markers in the urine of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus). The researchers found that the birth of a second young animal resulted in the older sibling in a five-fold increase in the stress hormone cortisol and a reduced immune response. The physiological changes were detectable up to seven months after birth and were independent of the usual weaning processes the young animals experience with age.

The birth of a second child is a remarkable experience not only for the parents, but also for the older sibling. From human behavioral studies it is known that the change in the family constellation is a confusing and stressful time for the older child, frequently accompanied by clinginess, depressive conditions, and temper tantrums. So far, it was unknown to which extent this stress is also physiologically detectable.

Verena Behringer, a scientist at the German Primate Center (DPZ) -- Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, has investigated this question in one of our closest living relatives. In a study she conducted with Andreas Berghänel, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, and an international research team, she examined various markers in the urine of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus). The researchers found that the birth of a second young animal resulted in the older sibling in a five-fold increase in the stress hormone cortisol and a reduced immune response. The physiological changes were detectable up to seven months after birth and were independent of the usual weaning processes the young animals experience with age (eLife).

The study was conducted at the LuiKotale research station in the Congolese rainforest. Two habituated bonobo groups live close to the field station. For more than 650 hours, the researchers observed the behavior of 17 young animals that had become a sibling for the first time and were between two and eight years old at sibling birth. At the same time, they collected 319 urine samples from the bonobos before and after the birth of the sibling.

"As the young animals grow up, there are various processes of social weaning or food change that can also stimulate stress reactions," says Verena Behringer, a scientist in the Endocrinology Laboratory at the German Primate Center and lead author of the study. "These include, for example, that the young do no longer suckle or is carried less after a certain moment. To disentangle the weaning process with age from sibling birth, we analyzed urine samples and behavioral observations before and after the birth of the sibling in the older bonobo and put them into perspective."

Verena Behringer analyzed the urine samples in the laboratory for the concentrations of three different substances: cortisol, neopterin and triiodothyronine (T3). Cortisol is a hormone secreted in response to a stressor, neopterin is produced by the activated defense cells of the immune system, and T3 is a thyroid hormone that regulates metabolic activity in the body. The concentration of these markers in urine provides insides into the physiological state of young bonobos. The research showed that urinary cortisol levels in the older siblings increased fivefold when their younger sibling was born and remained at that level for up to seven months. At the same time, neopterin concentrations decreased, suggesting a reduced immune response. The thyroid hormone T3, on the other hand, showed no significant change.

"The young bonobos suddenly experience an extreme state of stress with the birth of their sibling," Verena Behringer explains these results. "The cortisol levels were unusually high for a long period, regardless of whether the youngster was two or already eight years old at sibling birth. This persistent stress reaction has a negative effect on the immune defense. Since the concentration of thyroid hormone showed no change, we can assume that the stress response is not stimulated by energetic stressors, such as sudden end of suckling."

This assumption was also confirmed by the recorded behavioral data. For example, the researchers observed the extent to which the older sibling were suckling, how much body contact they still had with their mother, and how often they were carried. All weaning processes, which can appear as additional stressors, were either completed before sibling birth, showed no sudden change with birth, or were only significant in young individuals and disappeared as the young bonobos grew older.

"For the first time, our study shows that sibling birth is a really stressful event for the older sibling," Verena Behringer summarizes. "However, there is no need to worry. It is very likely that this stress is tolerable, and maybe leads to a higher stress resistance of the older siblings later in life. After all, younger siblings are not only competitors, but they are also important social partners who have a positive influence on our development."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220907105437.htm

Eating behaviors of parents play a role in teens' emotional eating

September 7, 2022

Science Daily/Elsevier

Emotional eating, or eating as a coping mechanism for negative, positive, or stress-driven emotions, is associated with unhealthy dietary patterns and weight gain. A research article featured in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, discusses adolescent vulnerability to emotional eating and how various feeding practices used by parents, such as restriction, food as reward, and child involvement, influence eating behavior.

"Emotional eating was previously found to be more learned than inherited. This study examined not only the interaction between parents when feeding their children, but also what children learned from watching their parents eat," said lead author Joanna Klosowska, MSc, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.

The initial study was conducted in 2017 with 218 families. Additionally, longitudinal data collected in 2013 were also available. One parent from each family completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire, as well as the Child Feeding Practices Questionnaire, and both adolescent and parent completed the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Emotion regulation was assessed with the Dutch version of the child-reported FEEL-KJ questionnaire. The adolescent's body weight and height were measured by researchers.

Over the four years between 2013 and 2017, covering the time from late childhood to middle adolescence, changes occurred in some parental practices. Parents reported higher monitoring and healthy modeling feeding practices, while the reported levels of food restriction and the healthy environment remained unchanged. During the same time period, adolescents reported a considerable increase in emotional eating from below the average in 2013 to above the average in 2017, according to the norms for the Dutch population. Additionally, the maladaptive way in which they regulated their emotions was also associated with emotional eating.

Food as a reward and monitoring food increased emotional eating especially in instances where the adolescent employed maladaptive strategies in regulating their emotions. Child involvement in meals had an opposite effect since it was associated with higher levels of emotion regulation and lower levels of emotional eating. Interestingly, a parent's restrained eating behavior was linked to less emotional eating in adolescents.

"This study suggests that parents continue to play an important role in their child's eating behavior into their teen years," said Klosowska. "Additional research is needed to understand the impact restrained eating demonstrated by a parent impacts the emotional eating of a child."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220907093354.htm

Positive neighbor involvement important if teens don't develop mother-child bond

August 31, 2022

Science Daily/University of Michigan

Teens who live in neighborhoods with trusted, engaged adults can still develop critical social skills that were not nurtured early in life, according to a new University of Michigan study.

Previous studies have shown the importance of early mother-child bonding that contributes to teens having social skills, such as positive behaviors that optimize relationships with others, solid academic performance and self-management of emotions.

But what happens when that connection isn't formed? Social cohesion -- or the trust and bonds among neighbors -- can benefit the adolescents, researchers said.

The study focused on social skills among 15-year-olds as a function of early attachment between mothers -- also considered primary caregivers -- and their 3-year-old kids, as well as neighborhood social cohesion.

Data from 1,883 children ages 1, 3 and 15 came from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative study of children born in 20 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000.

The present study asked 39 questions to determine the children's attachment, such as "is easily comforted by contact or interaction with mother when crying or otherwise distressed." A higher score indicated a greater level of security in the child's attachment with the mother.

To measure adolescent social skills, behavior questions were asked of the 15-year-old participants. High scores in child attachment were positively correlated with increased adolescent social skills, the study showed.

At age 3, some of the traits reflecting closeness would be "hugs or cuddles with mother without being asked to do so," "responds positively to helpful hints from mother," and "when a mother says follow, child does so willingly."

High scores in neighborhood social cohesion at age 3 were positively correlated with increased adolescent social skills. And when the bond between the mother-child wasn't strong, the impact neighbors had on kids' social skills was important, the research indicated.

"Children who live in neighborhoods with a high degree of social cohesion may have more opportunities to engage within their community and interact with other trusted adults, as well as form friendships with children," said study lead author Sunghyun Hong, a doctoral student of social work and psychology.

These connections with other sources of support may be the driving force behind the buffering impact of social cohesion on social skills for children who had insecure attachments to their caregivers

"This underscores the value of children having access to supportive and loving relationships with the mother and the surrounding community, even from early childhood," Hong said.

The data was collected in the late 90s to early 20s, in which mothers were frequently the primary caregivers. However, in recent decades, the definition of primary caregivers has been expanding with families having diverse forms, including more fathers who are engaged in co-parenting and are the sole primary caregiver. Thus, if the research involved father, the study's results would be similar, Hong said.

The findings, which appear in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, show that living in a neighborhood with high social cohesion is as important as having high attachment security to the mother," she said.

"This means that when we think about policies and programs to empower our children in the community, we must consider directly supporting the family relations and investing in their surrounding community relations," Hong said.

The study's co-authors were U-M psychology graduate student Felicia Hardi and Kathryn Maguire-Jack, associate professor of social work.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220831095034.htm

Humble leaders can help make groups more effective

Study of teachers links leadership to psychological empowerment

August 31, 2022

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Leaders of teacher groups who were thought of as humble helped improve professionalism and collaboration among team members, new research has shown.

The study, done in China, found that teachers in the Chinese equivalent of professional learning communities (PLCs) were more willing to share their knowledge and expertise when they rated their PLC leaders as being higher in humility.

The reason was that humble leaders made teachers feel more empowered to share their knowledge because they felt psychologically safe to take risks, said study co-author Roger Goddard, professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University.

"A little humility on the part of leaders goes a long way in helping groups be more productive and collaborative," Goddard said.

"When people feel their leader admits mistakes and is open to learning from others, everyone contributes more and makes these groups more effective."

Goddard conducted the study with Yun Qu of Beijing Normal University in China and Jinjie Zhu, a doctoral student in education at Ohio State. The study was published online recently in the journal Educational Studies.

In the United States and elsewhere, PLCs are designed to facilitate professional development through discussions in which teachers share their best practices and what they have learned through their experiences in the classroom.

"Teachers can feel fairly isolated in the classroom," Goddard said. "PLCs help teachers build a sense of community and learn from each other about how to improve classroom instruction."

In China, the equivalent of PLCs are called Teaching Research Groups (TRGs). The leaders of TRGs are experienced teachers who are not traditional administrators, but do serve as supervisors and coordinators and are involved in teacher evaluations, lesson planning and teacher selection.

This study involved 537 teachers from 238 TRGs in a variety of both urban and rural schools in China.

Teachers rated their TRG leaders on three dimensions of humility: their willingness to view themselves accurately, such as admitting when they didn't know how to do something; their appreciation of others' strengths; and their teachability, such as being open to other teachers' advice.

Results showed that teachers who rated their TRG leaders as being higher in humility were more likely to report that they shared their knowledge and expertise in TRG meetings.

"The whole point of these groups is for teachers to share their knowledge, so the fact that humble leaders inspired individuals in their groups to be more willing to do this is very significant," Goddard said.

The study also found why humble leaders were so effective in helping their teachers share their knowledge.

Results showed that in TRGs with more humble leaders, teachers reported higher levels of psychological safety -- they felt they could take risks and knew that others would not act in a way to undermine their efforts.

That feeling of safety led them to feel more psychologically empowered: They felt their jobs had meaning, they had autonomy to do their work, and they felt they were competent and that their work had impact in the school.

So humble leadership led to teachers feeling psychologically safe, which made them feel empowered and ultimately led them to share their experience and knowledge more fully with their colleagues, Goddard said.

"This feeling of teachers that they could safely share their knowledge comes from having a leader who has humility -- an openness to learning from others, a willingness to revise opinions, and an appreciation for the strengths of others," he said.

While this research was done in China, Goddard said he believes the results would be similar in the United States and elsewhere.

"There's a lot of evidence that suggests trust is a key part of successful organizations. And feeling psychologically safe and empowered to share your knowledge in the workplace is part of building trust, and that's what humble leaders help create," he said.

"That is as true in the United States as it is in China."

In the same way, the results should be applicable outside of education.

"Many of the same principles that make successful organizations cut across cultures and fields. It makes sense that humble leaders will build trust and better relationships that will increase the effectiveness of any groups that have to work together," Goddard said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220831095002.htm

Sharing on social media makes us overconfident in our knowledge

Sharing articles on social media, even when we haven't read them, can lead us to believe we are experts on a topic

August 30, 2022

Science Daily/University of Texas at Austin

Sharing news articles with friends and followers on social media can prompt people to think they know more about the articles' topics than they actually do, according to a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Social media sharers believe that they are knowledgeable about the content they share, even if they have not read it or have only glanced at a headline. Sharing can create this rise in confidence because by putting information online, sharers publicly commit to an expert identity. Doing so shapes their sense of self, helping them to feel just as knowledgeable as their post makes them seem.

This is especially true when sharing with close friends, according to a new paper from Susan M. Broniarczyk, professor of marketing, and Adrian Ward, assistant professor of marketing, at UT's McCombs School of Business.

The research is online in advance in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. The findings are relevant in a world in which it's simple to share content online without reading it. Recent data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism show only 51% of consumers who "read" an online news story actually read the whole article, while 26% read part, and 22% looked at just the headline or a few lines.

Broniarczyk, Ward and Frank Zheng, a McCombs marketing doctoral alum, conducted several studies that support their theory. In an initial one, the researchers presented 98 undergraduate students with a set of online news articles and told them they were free to read, share, or do both as they saw fit. Headlines included "Why Does Theatre Popcorn Cost So Much" and "Red Meats Linked to Cancer."

Next, they measured participants' subjective and objective knowledge for each article -- what the students thought they knew, and what they actually knew. Reading articles led to increases in both objective and subjective knowledge. Sharing articles also predicted increases in subjective knowledge -- even when students had not read what they chose to share, and thus lacked objective knowledge about the articles' content.

In a second study, people who shared an article about cancer prevention came to believe they knew more about cancer than those who did not, even if they had not read the article.

Three additional studies found this effect occurs because people internalize their sharing into the self-concept, which leads them to believe they are as knowledgeable as their posts make them appear. Participants thought they knew more when their sharing publicly committed them to an expert identity: when sharing under their own identity versus an alias, when sharing with friends versus strangers, and when they had free choice in choosing what to share.

In a final study, the researchers asked 300 active Facebook users to read an article on "How to Start Investing: A Guide for Beginners." Then, they assigned students to a sharing or no sharing group. All participants were told the content existed on several websites and saw Facebook posts with the sites. Sharers were asked to look at all posts and choose one to share on their Facebook page.

Next, in a supposedly unrelated task, a robo-advised retirement planning simulation informed participants that allocating more money to stocks is considered "more aggressive" and to bonds "more conservative," and they received a customized investment recommendation based on their age. Participants then distributed a hypothetical $10,000 in retirement funds between stocks and bonds: Sharers took significantly more investment risk. Those who shared articles were twice as likely to take more risk than recommended by the robo-advisor.

"When people feel they're more knowledgeable, they're more likely to make riskier decisions," Ward said.

The research also suggests there's merit to social media companies that have piloted ways to encourage people to read articles before sharing.

"If people feel more knowledgeable on a topic, they also feel they maybe don't need to read or learn additional information on that topic," Broniarczyk said. "This miscalibrated sense of knowledge can be hard to correct."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220830165307.htm

Brain activity during sleep differs in young people with genetic risk of psychiatric disorders

August 30, 2022

Science Daily/eLife

Young people living with a genetic alteration that increases the risk of psychiatric disorders have markedly different brain activity during sleep, a new study shows.

The brain activity patterns during sleep shed light on the neurobiology behind a genetic condition called 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) and could be used as a biomarker to detect the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders in people with 22q11.2DS.

22q11.2DS is caused by a gene deletion of around 30 genes on chromosome 22 and occurs in 1 in 3000 births. It increases the risk of intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epileptic seizures. It is also one of the largest biological risk factors for schizophrenia. However, the biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms in 22q11.2DS are unclear.

"We have recently shown that the majority of young people with 22q11.2DS have sleep problems, particularly insomnia and sleep fragmentation, that are linked with psychiatric disorders," says co-senior author Marianne van den Bree, Professor of Psychological Medicine at Cardiff University, UK. "However, our previous analysis was based on parents reporting on sleep quality of their children, and the neurophysiology -- what's happening to brain activity -- has not yet been explored."

An established way of measuring brain activity during sleep is an electroencephalogram (EEG). This measures electrical activity during sleep and features patterns called spindles and slow-wave (SW) oscillations. These features are hallmarks of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and are thought to aid memory consolidation and brain development. "Because sleep EEG is known to be altered in many neurodevelopmental disorders, the properties and coordination of these alterations can be used as biomarkers for psychiatric dysfunction" explained lead author Nick Donnelly, Clinical Lecturer in General Adult Psychiatry at the University of Bristol, UK

To explore this in 22q11.2DS, the team recorded sleep EEG over one night in 28 young people aged 6-20 years old with the chromosome deletion and in 17 unaffected siblings, recruited as part of the Cardiff University Experiences of Children with copy number variants (ECHO) study, led by Prof. van den Bree. They measured correlations between sleep EEG patterns and psychiatric symptoms, as well as performance in a recall test the next morning.

They found that the group with 22q11.2DS had significant alterations in sleep patterns including a greater proportion of N3 NREM sleep (slow-wave sleep) and lower proportions of N1 (the first and lightest sleep stage) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, compared with their siblings. Those carrying the chromosome deletion also had increased EEG power for both slow-wave oscillations and spindles. There was also an increase in the frequency and density of spindle patterns and stronger coupling between the spindle and slow-wave EEG features in the 22q112.DS group. These changes may reflect alterations in the connections within and between areas of the brain that generate these oscillations, the cortex and the thalamus.

Participants also took part in a 2D object location task before sleep, where they had to remember where matching cards were on a screen. They were tested again on the same task in the morning, and the team found that in those with 22q11.2DS, higher spindle and SW amplitudes were associated with lower accuracy. By contrast, in participants without the chromosome deletion, higher amplitudes were linked to higher accuracy in the morning recall test.

Finally, the team estimated the impact of the differences in sleep patterns on psychiatric symptoms in the two groups using a statistical method called mediation. They calculated the total effect of genotype on psychiatric measures and IQ, the indirect (mediated) effect of EEG measures, and then the proportion of the total effect that may be mediated by EEG patterns. They found that the effects on anxiety, ADHD and ASD driven by the 22q11.2 deletion were partially mediated by sleep EEG differences.

"Our EEG findings together suggest a complex picture of sleep neurophysiology in 22q11.2DS and highlight differences that could serve as potential biomarkers for 22q11.2DS-associated neurodevelopmental syndromes," concluded co-senior author Matt Jones, Professorial Research Fellow in Neuroscience, University of Bristol, UK. "Further study will now need to clarify the relationship between psychiatric symptoms, sleep EEG measures and neurodevelopment, with a view to pinpointing markers of brain circuit dysfunction that could inform doctors which patients are most at risk, and support treatment decisions."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220830131627.htm

Insufficient sleep in teenagers is associated with overweight and obesity

August 24, 2022

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

Adolescents who sleep less than eight hours a night are more likely to be overweight or obese compared to their peers with sufficient sleep,according to research presented at ESC Congress 2022. Shorter sleepers were also more likely to have a combination of other unhealthy characteristics including excess fat around the middle, elevated blood pressure, and abnormal blood lipid and glucose levels.

"Our study shows that most teenagers do not get enough sleep and this is connected with excess weight and characteristics that promote weight gain, potentially setting them up for future problems," said study author Mr. Jesús Martínez Gómez, a researcher in training at the Cardiovascular Health and Imaging Laboratory, Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), Madrid, Spain. "We are currently investigating whether poor sleep habits are related to excessive screen time, which could explain why older adolescents get even less sleep than younger ones."

This study examined the association between sleep duration and health in 1,229 adolescents in the SI! Program for Secondary Schools trial in Spain. Participants had an average age of 12 years at baseline with equal numbers of boys and girls.

Sleep was measured for seven days with a wearable activity tracker three times in each participant at ages 12, 14 and 16 years. For optimal health, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises sleeping 9 to 12 hours a night for 6 to 12 year-olds and 8 to 10 hours for 13 to 18 year-olds. To simplify the analysis, the study used 8 hours or more as optimal. Participants were categorised as very short sleepers (less than 7 hours), short sleepers (7 to 8 hours), and optimal (8 hours or more).

Overweight and obesity were determined according to body mass index. The researchers calculated a continuous metabolic syndrome score ranging from negative (healthier) to positive (unhealthier) values that included waist circumference, blood pressure, and blood glucose and lipid levels.

At 12 years of age, only 34% of participants slept at least 8 hours a night, and this dropped to 23% and 19% at 14 and 16 years of age, respectively. Boys tended to get less sleep. Teenagers who got the most sleep also had better quality sleep, meaning they woke up less during the night and spent a higher proportion of the time in bed sleeping compared to those with shorter sleep. The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 27%, 24% and 21% at 12, 14 and 16 years of age, respectively.

Associations between sleep duration, overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome score were analysed after adjusting for parental education, migrant status, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, smoking status, energy intake, city (Madrid or Barcelona) and school.

Compared with optimal sleepers, overweight/obesity was 21% and 72% more likely in very short sleepers at 12 and 14 years, respectively. Short sleepers were 19% and 29% more likely to be overweight/obese compared with optimal sleepers at 12 and 14 years, respectively. Similarly, both very short and short sleepers had higher average metabolic syndrome scores at 12 and 14 years compared with optimal sleepers.

Mr. Martínez Gómez said: "The connections between insufficient sleep and adverse health were independent of energy intake and physical activity levels, indicating that sleep itself is important. Excess weight and metabolic syndrome are ultimately associated with cardiovascular diseases, suggesting that health promotion programmes in schools should teach good sleep habits. Parents can set a good example by having a consistent bedtime and limiting screen time in the evening. Public policies are also needed to tackle this global health problem."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220824102909.htm

Preterm birth's link with educational attainment explored in U.K. primary and secondary schoolchildren

Preterm children experience higher rates of poor school attainment, but only kids born very preterm remain at risk by the end of secondary school

August 17, 2022

Science Daily/PLOS

All children born before full term are more likely to have poorer attainment during primary school compared with children born full term (39-41 weeks), but only children born very preterm -- before 32 weeks -- remain at risk of poor attainment at the end of secondary schooling, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Neora Alterman, Maria Quigley of Oxford Population Health, U.K., and colleagues.

Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 complete weeks of gestation, accounts for approximately 11% of births globally. Previous studies have shown that children born preterm are at higher risk of poorer academic attainment in primary school compared with children born at full term. However, few studies have followed these children through secondary school, or examined the full spectrum of gestational ages at birth.

In the new study, the researchers used data on children born in England from 2000-2001 who were surveyed in the population-based UK Millennium Cohort Study. Of 11,695 children in that sample, the authors analyzed data on attainment in primary school (at age 11) for 6,950 pupils, and information on secondary school attainment (at age 16) for 7,131 pupils.

At the end of primary school, 17.7% of children had not achieved the expected level in both English and Mathematics. Compared to full term children, children born before 32 weeks or at 32-33 weeks were more than twice as likely not to meet these benchmarks (adjusted relative risk; aRR=2.06, 95% CI 1.46-2.92; aRR=2.13, 95% CI 1.44-3.13). Children born late preterm, at 34-36 weeks, or early term, at 37-38 weeks, were at smaller increased risk of not achieving expected attainment (aRR=1.18, 95% CI 0.94-1.49; aRR=1.21, 95% CI 1.05-1.38).

At the end of secondary school, 45.2% of pupils had not passed at least five General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations including English and Mathematics. Following adjustment, children born very preterm, before 32 weeks, had a 26% elevated risk of not passing five GCSEs (aRR=1.26, 95% CI 1.03-1.54), with 60% of students in this group not achieving five GCSEs. However, children born at any gestation between 32 and 38 weeks were not at elevated risk compared to children born at full term. Further studies are needed in order to confirm this result.

The authors conclude that children born very preterm may benefit from screening for cognitive and language difficulties prior to school entry to guide the provision of additional support during schooling.

The authors add: "Our study showed that birth at any gestational age earlier than full term was associated with poorer attainment at the end of primary school. However, at the end of compulsory education, these pupils had similar outcomes to their peers, except for pupils born at less than 32 weeks, who remained at risk of low attainment."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220817144026.htm

Early-term births associated with higher rate of ADHD as reported by teachers

August 12, 2022

Science Daily/Rutgers University

Among children born at term (37-41 weeks), those born before 39 weeks are more likely to experience symptoms associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

ADHD, which affects more than 10 percent of U.S. school-age children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, manifests early in childhood with symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity or inattention, and has known links to preterm birth (less than 37 weeks gestation). The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, is one of only a few to investigate the associations between gestational age at term (37-41 weeks) and a diagnosis or symptoms of ADHD. It is the first to include reports from teachers.

"Teachers' reports, in conjunction with maternal reports and physician evaluations, provide valuable input for the diagnosis of ADHD," said Nancy Reichman, author of the study and a professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "Mother-reported symptoms generally reflect behaviors in the home or in small family or social groups, while teacher-reported symptoms reflect behaviors in a structured educational setting by professionals who work with a large number of children and observe the range of behaviors that students exhibit in classrooms."

Reichman and her team, which included Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School neonatology fellow Geethanjali Linguasubramanian, sought to estimate the associations between gestational age at term and 9-year-old children's symptoms of ADHD reported by their teachers.

They analyzed data on about 1,400 children in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, a U.S. birth cohort study that randomly sampled births in 75 hospitals in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000 and re-interviewed mothers over nine years. During the nine-year follow-up, consent was obtained to contact the children's teachers, who were asked to evaluate their students using the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale-Revised Short Form, which includes symptoms of hyperactivity, ADHD, oppositional behavior and cognitive problems or inattention.

Overall, the Rutgers researchers found that children born early-term (37-38 weeks) had significantly higher scores on the teacher rating scales than children who were full-term (39-41 weeks) for hyperactivity, ADHD and cognitive problems or inattention, but that gestational age wasn't significantly associated with oppositional behavior.

Specifically, the researchers found that each week of gestational age at term was associated with 6 percent lower hyperactivity scores and 5 percent lower ADHD and cognitive problems or inattention scores, and that birth at 37 to 38 weeks was associated with 23 percent higher hyperactivity scores and 17 percent higher ADHD scores when compared with birth at 39 to 41 weeks.

"The findings add to growing evidence supporting current recommendations for delaying elective deliveries to at least 39 weeks and suggest that regular screenings for ADHD symptoms are important for children born at 37 to 38 weeks," Reichman said.

Preterm infants are at increased risk for ADHD because of immature brain development, she said. "Significant growth and development in various kinds of brain cells are observed between 34 and 40 weeks of gestation," said Reichman. "Infants born at full-term likely benefit from the additional one to two weeks of brain growth in utero compared with those born early-term."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220812224142.htm

Seven-month-old babies already have a sense of symmetry

August 8, 2022

Science Daily/University of the Basque Country

A collaborative study examined the spontaneous looking patterns of 7-month-old babies when presented with mosaic-like sequences with a symmetrical and asymmetrical structure. The results show that these babies quickly detect whether a mosaic has a symmetrical structure, suggesting a robust, automatic ability to extract structure from complex images.

The UPV/EHU's Gogo Elebiduna research group is a pioneer in the field of psycholinguistics; it conducts research of various kinds to obtain knowledge about how the language faculty is acquired, represented and organised in the brains of speakers, and about the nature of the universal characteristics of language representation and processing.

The group's Ikerbasque research fellow Irene de la Cruz-Pavía conducted a study in collaboration with the University of Padua researcher Judit Gervain and which was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE; it explores the ability of 7-month-old infants to perceive structural symmetry in abstract, mosaic-like visual patterns. This research was carried out at the University of Paris. "We examined the spontaneous looking patterns of almost 100 infants when presented with mosaic-like sequences displaying symmetrical and asymmetrical structures," the researchers explained.

These mosaics comprised two categories of square tiles (A and B) that differed in terms of their colour scheme and internal shape. These tiles were arranged to create mosaics with symmetrical (e.g. ABA, ABABA) or asymmetrical (e.g. AAB, AABBA) structures. The study found that the infants "discriminated between structurally symmetrical and asymmetrical mosaics, and that the length of the sequence (3 or 5 tiles) or the level of symmetry did not significantly modulate their behaviour." These results suggest that infants quickly detect structural symmetry in complex visual patterns: "Babies as young as 7 months have a robust, automatic ability to detect that a structure is symmetrical. This ability coincides with those found in studies we conducted using other stimuli, such as sign language or speech, demonstrating that babies are simply very good at detecting structures and regularities," said the researcher in the UPV/EHU's Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies.

Ability of babies to extract structure and rules from various media

As the Ikerbasque research fellow pointed out, "the grammar of a language consists of the set of structures and rules of a language. I want to understand to what extent infants' abilities to extract structures, detect regularities and learn rules are specific to language or whether they are found in other areas." "We conducted this study using information that is visual but which is not language. With these mosaics, we were able to see how babies were capable of extracting structure from different media."

The researchers stress that this study allows them to better understand "these infants' fundamental skills, which will enable them to start initially with some of the more accessible parts of grammar and gradually build up to something as complex as the grammar of a language. What we want to understand is this: what are the fundamental abilities of babies when it comes to detecting structure?"

"We have many more questions to answer," they concluded. "In this study we were able to determine that babies are able to detect structures spontaneously and quickly. Now we want to understand when this ability begins, and the degree of detail with which they analyse that structure and what aspects of the mosaics allow them to detect its structure (the shape, the colour, both...)."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220808162226.htm

Moms' problems linked to adolescent attachment issues

Mothers' own experiences with caregivers may be important driver within this relationship

August 9, 2022

Science Daily/University of Houston

Psychology research finds that moms with personality disorder symptoms impact their adolescent children who subsequently show a higher likelihood of insecure attachment which can impact their socio-emotional development and mental health.

It should come as no great surprise that mothers have profound influence on their children. But what about mothers who have their own personality disorder symptoms, such as problems getting along with others? New research finds, for the first time, that maternal personality disorder symptoms impact their adolescent children who subsequently show a higher likelihood of insecure attachment.

Secure attachment is the goal -- it is when children feel comforted by the presence of their parent of caregiver and is a significant factor for socio-emotional development and mental health in youth. Previous research has shown that insecure attachment is associated with depression and anxiety, delinquency and substance use problems, and poorer social competence in children.

"When mothers struggle in their own interpersonal relationships, the passing on of secure attachment and healthy relationship functioning to adolescent offspring seem to be impeded," reports Carla Sharp, professor of psychology and director of the University of Houston Developmental Psychopathology Lab, in the journal Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation. "Maternal interpersonal problems were associated with higher levels of insecure attachment in adolescent offspring such that adolescents would either dismiss the need for attachment with their moms or show angry preoccupation with the relationship with their moms."

While mothers' problems have long been shown to be associated with maladaptive adult attachment in close or romantic relationships, this is the first study to examine relationships with offspring attachment. The research could inform interventions to prevent or reduce youth psychopathology and other negative outcomes.

Parent-child attachment security continues to play an important role through adolescence, which is thought to be the second most critical developmental window after infancy and early childhood.

Sharp and team interviewed 351 psychiatric inpatient adolescents (average age of 15 and 64% female) and their biological mothers. Participants were asked about distressing interpersonal behaviors that they find "hard to do" (e.g., "It is hard for me to feel close to other people") or "do too much" (e.g., "I try to please other people too much"). Children were assessed on their ability to describe their attachment experiences coherently and collaboratively and to reflect on these experiences and their impact on them.

The team also examined whether mothers' recalled bonding with their own mothers to explain the relationship with their children. It did.

"The way that parents recalled their experiences with their caregivers is likely impacted by their own interpersonal functioning and may impact the relationship that they build with their children," said Sophie Kerr, first author of the article and graduate student of Sharp's.

Those results will drive researchers to further examine mechanisms of intergenerational risk to tailor interventions aimed to improve parent-child relations and attachment.

"Findings highlight the mediating role of the mothers' recalled experiences with caregivers in the impact of their interpersonal problems on adolescents, suggesting interventions that enhance interpersonal function such as mentalization-based interventions may be helpful for mothers with interpersonal problems and personality pathology," said Sharp.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220809141259.htm

Targeting impulsivity early in adolescence could prevent later behavioral disorders

Study supports early intervention to halt cascading chain

August 9, 2022

Science Daily/Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

Tendencies toward impulsivity in early adolescence are linked with a variety of poor outcomes in later adolescence, including antisocial personality disorder and alcohol use disorder. However, by the time teenagers reach mid-adolescence, it may be too late to target impulsivity to prevent the development of these behavioral disorders.

Past research has shown the link between impulsivity and these disorders, but not how it unfolds. Now, a new study based on data tracking hundreds of Philadelphia youth over more than a half-dozen years details the complex pathway connecting impulsivity, alcohol use, and antisocial behavior.

The findings suggest that targeting adolescents who exhibit high levels of impulsivity in early adolescence could halt a cascading chain of events that leads to late-adolescence antisocial personality disorder (APD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

"Kids with impulse control problems are at risk for a variety of adverse outcomes, such as drug use, acting-out behavior, and antisocial behavior," said study co-author Dan Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "What we've found is that you've got to start mitigating impulsivity before it starts influencing behaviors that lead to substance use and antisocial behavior disorders. Once adolescents are on a trajectory of engaging in those behaviors, it may become more difficult to prevent disorders later in adolescence than it is to treat impulsivity itself."

The open-access study, published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health, was conducted by researchers from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), University of Amsterdam, University of Oregon, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Trajectory Study

The study is based on data from the Philadelphia Trajectory Study, a six-wave study during which participants ages 10 to 12 were interviewed annually from 2004 to 2010, with a final two-year follow-up in 2012. The current study relies on five years of self-reported data, from waves 3 through 6. During the final wave the participants were 18 to 21 years old. The study was based on data from 364 adolescents (at wave 3) of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The researchers said that to the best of their knowledge, "this is the first study to investigate cascading mediating links between impulsivity, alcohol use, and antisocial behavior across adolescence."

Adolescent impulsivity and antisocial behavior

The researchers found that from early to mid-adolescence, changes in impulsivity predicted changes in antisocial behavior and alcohol use. But by the time the participants had reached mid- to late adolescence, changes in impulsivity no longer predicted those behaviors. Instead, it was engaging in antisocial behavior that predicted subsequent symptoms of both alcohol use and antisocial personality disorders.

"It is also important to target antisocial behavior to interrupt the cascade that predicts both alcohol use disorder and antisocial personality disorder," said the lead author, Ivy Defoe, an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam and a former postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. "In fact, the study showed that increases in antisocial behavior in mid- to late adolescence further predicted increases in impulsivity as well. This is consistent with labeling theory that suggests that individuals who show antisocial behavior are subsequently labeled as 'antisocial' or 'rule-breakers,' which causes them to further exhibit attributes that are associated with such behavior."

In view of the mental health crisis among adolescents, it is critical to identify youths with conditions that can lead to later disorders. Screening for such conditions is one way to alert parents about the risks and to refer youths for treatment. As the researchers said, "Intervening early is critical to further avoid the consequences of impulsivity which are more difficult to reverse once psychopathology has developed." Such interventions, the researchers said, could include mindfulness training and family-based interventions in which parents and caregivers work to help their child overcome harmful impulsive tendencies.

Most of the participants were from families with a low-middle socioeconomic status (SES). The researchers found that socioeconomic status was a significant predictor of impulsivity at each wave of the study. "Future research could further investigate the mechanisms by which early exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage influences heightened impulsivity during adolescence, including impacts on child executive functioning and parenting behaviors," the researchers said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220809194924.htm

How college students perceive academic stress affects their mental well-being

Students who are nonbinary, female or in their second year of college are most affected by academic stress

August 9, 2022

Science Daily/Rutgers University

Academic stress takes a toll on the mental well-being of certain groups of college students more than others - a correlation further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Rutgers New Jersey Medical School study.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers found a significant correlation between perceived academic stress and poor mental well-being in all the students, but most acutely in those who are nonbinary, female or those who were in the second year of a four-year program.

"This study shows that college students are not uniformly impacted by academic stress or pandemic-related stress and that certain groups should be offered additional resources and support," said study author Xue Ming, a professor of neurology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "The findings support prior studies that have shown that nonbinary adults face adverse mental health outcomes when compared to male- and female-identifying adults."

According to the American Psychological Association, up to 87 percent of U.S. college students cite education as their primary source of stress - arising from demanding course loads, studying, time management, classroom competition, financial concerns, family pressures and difficulty adapting to new environments - but few studies have looked at how that stress directly affects mental health.

The study sought to determine if a relationship exists between college students' perceived academic stress and their mental well-being, to identify groups that could experience varying levels of academic stress and mental health and to explore how the perception of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting stress levels.

Researchers surveyed 843 college students between ages 18 and 30 in each academic year of study using questions from the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), which measures mental well-being and positive mental health, and questions from the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS), which assesses sources of perceived academic stress and measures three main academic stressors: academic expectations; workload and examinations; and academic self-perceptions of students.

Nonbinary students reported the highest stress levels and worst psychological well-being, followed by female students. Both groups also reported higher COVID-19-related stress than males. Second-year students reported higher academic stress levels and worse mental well-being than students in other academic years. First-year students scored the best on the Perception of Academic Stress Scale, including stress resulting from COVID-19.

The researchers believe that second-year students as a group might be more affected by academic stress because they start taking more advanced courses, manage heavier academic workloads and explore different majors. Other factors could include increased studying and having less well-established social support networks and coping mechanisms compared with upperclass students.

"Colleges should consider offering tailored mental health resources to these groups to improve students' stress levels and psychological well-being," Ming said. "To raise awareness and destigmatize mental health, colleges can distribute confidential validated assessments, such as the PAS and SWEMWBS, in class and teach students to self-score so they can monitor their stress and mental well-being."

The researchers also recommend colleges provide stress-management and coping strategies such as mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy as well as offer stress-reduction peer support groups to help build resilience.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220809194856.htm

Air pollution, including during wildfires, shows ill effects in children

Markers for inflammation, cardiac regulation

August 5, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - Davis

New research linking air pollution data from federal monitors in the Sacramento area of California, including during significant fires, is showing ill effects of pollution exposure among children, a new University of California, Davis, study suggests.

Blood samples show that children have elevated markers of inflammation, such as interleukin 6, if they were exposed to higher air pollution. Further, higher air pollution was linked to lower cardiac autonomic regulation in children, which impacts how fast the heart beats and how hard it pumps, according to the study.

In the study, published Aug. 3 date in the journal New Directions for Child and Adolescent Research, researchers looked at blood samples from more than 100 healthy children ages 9-11 in the Sacramento area where pollutants near their homes were recorded by the Environmental Protection Agency. The study was authored by Anna M. Parenteau, a doctoral student, and Camelia E. Hostinar, associate professor, both from the UC Davis Department of Psychology. The work took place at UC Davis.

These findings are important because exposure to pollutants released during wildfires has been related to numerous negative health outcomes in children, who have smaller bodies and organ systems than adults, including asthma and decreased lung function, as well as neurodevelopmental outcomes like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and deficits in school performance and memory, researchers said.

Looked at particulates

Researchers looked at fine particulate matter data from the EPA (PM2.5) -- or the fine particles that can penetrate lungs and pass into the bloodstream -- finding the children's blood contained markers of systemic inflammation. Additionally, PM2.5, which refers to particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller by the EPA, was linked to lower cardiac autonomic regulation assessed using an electrocardiogram. Specifically, researchers used data files maintained by the EPA, which have daily air quality summary information from each outdoor monitor in the country.

In total, 27 of the children studied had inflammation markers in their blood recorded during significant fires when their neighborhoods recorded significant levels of PM2.5 in the air. These times when fires were burning included during the Mendocino Complex Fire in 2018, which was active about 100 miles from the lab where blood was drawn. The findings were similar to those found in an earlier study, in which the blood of young primates was collected by UC Davis researchers after significant wildfires.

"By examining daily and monthly levels of particulate matter in relation to children's inflammation and autonomic physiology, this study further demonstrates the immediate consequences of exposure to air pollution, which may increase risk of future disease," Parenteau said. Furthermore, Parenteau added: "As climate change continues to impact children and families, it is paramount to understand the impact of environmental contaminants such as air pollution on children's physiology."

Previous studies with children have shown significant associations between ambient air pollution and allergic sensitization, respiratory symptoms, and ultra-structural and cellular changes to their lungs and airways, researchers said.

Researchers have found children may be especially susceptible to the effects of air pollution, given that, compared to adults, they have a higher intake of contaminants and greater lung surface area relative to their body weight.

Continued developmental research on environmental contaminants can sound the alarm about the effects of air pollution and inform policy changes that could promote long-term population health, researchers concluded.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220805091228.htm

How learning about wellbeing can benefit university students' own wellbeing

Studying wellbeing science could be a key way of improving how today's students cope with the pressures they face

August 5, 2022

Science Daily/Swansea University

Studying wellbeing science as part of their courses could be a key way of improving how today's students cope with the barrage of stressors they face, according to research.

Students are a high-risk population for mental ill-health and face increasing academic demands, high levels of loneliness and sustained financial pressures, which can adversely impact on mental health.

Now a Swansea University team have taken a closer look at just what impact an optional wellbeing science module offered to undergraduates would have on students' wellbeing.

The research, by Professor Andrew Kemp and his co-authors consultant clinical psychologist Dr Zoe Fisher, of the University's Health and Wellbeing Academy and PhD student Jessica Mead, has just been published in the journal Teaching of Psychology .

Professor Kemp, who is research lead at the School of Psychology, said: "The wellbeing of university students is deteriorating, highlighting a critical role for institutions to better support student wellbeing."

Previous studies have explored the impact of positive psychology on student wellbeing, but this module created by the team moved beyond positive psychology, focusing on promoting a sense of connection to self, others, and nature.

He said: "Research tells us that wellbeing can be influenced by issues such as inequality and anthropogenic climate change. Our module encourages reflection on these issues and what students might do to within their capacity to address major societal issues of importance.

"While the capacity of individuals to promote their own wellbeing is greater than their capacity to promote collective and planetary wellbeing, there remains tremendous scope for individuals themselves to promote collective and planetary wellbeing alongside larger collaborative efforts through for example, volunteering and effective activism."

The team used questionnaires to assess students' feelings of wellbeing before and after completing the module, alongside the results from a control group which did not complete the module. Comparisons with published norms, further highlighted the beneficial impact of the module.

The team say its research is significant for several key reasons:

• students are at high risk of developing mental health difficulties;

• improvements in wellbeing have been shown to reduce future healthcare costs; and

• the findings demonstrate that wellbeing can be improved despite great hardship and suffering.

Professor Kemp explained the timing of the study was particularly relevant: "Our study was conducted during the Covid pandemic and demonstrates capacity of strategically designed modules to improve student wellbeing during challenging times.

"These findings have important implications for thinking about how the education sector might support wellbeing alongside other major societal stressors such as the climate catastrophe."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220805103722.htm

Children who lack sleep may experience detrimental impact on brain and cognitive development that persists over time

Research finds getting less than nine hours of sleep nightly associated with cognitive difficulties, mental problems, and less gray matter in certain brain regions

July 30, 2022

Science Daily/University of Maryland School of Medicine

Elementary school-age children who get less than nine hours of sleep per night have significant differences in certain brain regions responsible for memory, intelligence and well-being compared to those who get the recommended nine to 12 hours of sleep per night, according to a new study led by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers. Such differences correlated with greater mental health problems, like depression, anxiety, and impulsive behaviors, in those who lacked sleep. Inadequate sleep was also linked to cognitive difficulties with memory, problem solving and decision making. The findings were published today in the journal Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children aged 6 to 12 years of age sleep 9 to 12 hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. Up until now, no studies have examined the long-lasting impact of insufficient sleep on the neurocognitive development of pre-teens.

To conduct the study, the researchers examined data that were collected from more than 8,300 children aged 9 to 10 years who were enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. They examined MRI images, medical records, and surveys completed by the participants and their parents at the time of enrollment and at a two-year follow-up visit at 11 to 12 years of age. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the ABCD study is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the US.

"We found that children who had insufficient sleep, less than nine hours per night, at the beginning of the study had less grey matter or smaller volume in certain areas of the brain responsible for attention, memory and inhibition control compared to those with healthy sleep habits," said study corresponding author Ze Wang, PhD, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at UMSOM. "These differences persisted after two years, a concerning finding that suggests long term harm for those who do not get enough sleep."

This is one of the first findings to demonstrate the potential long-term impact of lack of sleep on neurocognitive development in children. It also provides substantial support for the current sleep recommendations in children, according to Dr. Wang and his colleagues.

In follow-up assessments, the research team found that participants in the sufficient sleep group tended to gradually sleep less over two years, which is normal as children move into their teen years, whereas sleep patterns of participants in the insufficient sleep group did not change much. The researchers controlled for socioeconomic status, gender, puberty status and other factors that could impact how much a child sleeps and affect brain and cognition.

"We tried to match the two groups as closely as possible to help us more fully understand the long-term impact on too little sleep on the pre-adolescent brain," Dr. Wang said. "Additional studies are needed to confirm our finding and to see whether any interventions can improve sleep habits and reverse the neurological deficits."

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to promote good sleep habits in their children. Their tips include making sufficient sleep a family priority, sticking with a regular sleep routine, encouraging physical activity during the day, limiting screen time and eliminating screens completely an hour before bed.

The study was funded by NIH. Fan Nils Yang, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Wang's laboratory is a study co-author. Weizhen Xie, PhD, a researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is also a study co-author. UMSOM faculty members Thomas Ernst, PhD, and Linda Chang, MD, MS, are co-principal investigators of the ABCD study at the Baltimore site but were not involved in the data analysis of this new study.

"This is a crucial study finding that points to the importance of doing long-term studies on the developing child's brain," said E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine. "Sleep can often be overlooked during busy childhood days filled with homework and extracurricular activities. Now we see how detrimental that can be to a child's development."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220730125455.htm

Our social interactions begin at a young age

July 27, 2022

Science Daily/NCCR Evolving Language (National Centre of Competence in Research)

Children demonstrate early in life social skills and a strong desire to interact with their peers. They engage in social interactions more often than our closest relatives, the great apes, a new study finds. This social and natural predisposition of humans for interaction appears to be a key element in understanding the evolution of language.

What do building pyramids, going to the moon, paddling a two-person canoe or dancing a waltz have in common? All these actions are the result of a common goal between multiple partners and leads to a mutual sense of obligation, known as "joint commitment." This ability to cooperate is universal in humans and to certain species of animals, like the great apes.

However, humans seem to have a unique predisposition and strong desire for social interaction that may be one of the components of the emergence of language, according to the authors of the study. How do our social interactions differ from other species? And why? To answer these questions, an international team analysed the interactions of 31 children between the ages of 2 and 4 in four preschools in the United States (10 hours per child). "There have been only a few quantitative analyses of the spontaneous social interactions of 2 and 4 year olds while interacting with peers, although it is a critical age for the development of children's socio-cognitive abilities. And the ones that exist are either not based on extensive video recordings following individual children for several days or simply do not allow an easy comparison with great apes' social interactions," adds Federico Rossano, first author of the study and Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego. They then compared their results with similar interactions in adults and great apes

Multiplication of social partners

The researchers analysed the environmental factors (number of partners, types of activities, etc.) surrounding the children. They found that children have more frequent (an average of 13 distinct social interactions per hour) and shorter (an average of 28 seconds) social interactions with their peers than great apes in comparable studies. Adrian Bangerter, co-author of the study and professor at the University of Neuchâtel explains why: "By being exposed to many partners, children learn quickly about the need to coordinate with each other's behaviour." The numbers support this quick learning: 4-year-olds already participate in cooperative social interactions more often than 2-year-olds and fight less than 2-year-olds. "Learning how to coordinate with others and how to communicate towards engaging in joint activities goes hand-in-hand with learning how to minimise conflict" adds Rossano.

Social interactions are usually marked by an entry and an exit phase (when one starts a conversation with eye contact and a "hello" and then signalling that it is ending by repeating "okay, fine" or with a "goodbye"). These signals are also present in 90% of social engagements in bonobos and 69% in chimpanzees. It appears that young children use these signals only 66-69% of the time, less frequently than bonobos and adults. "On one hand this might be due to the appreciation that they will interact again with the same children throughout the day, like two passengers sitting next to each other on a plane starting and stopping quick conversations throughout a flight without using greetings each time they resume talking. On the other hand, it might reflect the fact that not every social interaction is based on joint commitment to each other, i.e. at times young children might be bulldozing their way in and assume other children will just adapt to them rather than coordinating," Rossano explains. More empirical research will be needed to confirm these behaviours, however this study is a first step in the understanding of the role of joint commitment for human social interaction and how it impacted the evolution of language.

Cooperation in Swiss children

A similar study is currently conducted within the framework of The NCCR Evolving Language, a Swiss research centre that aims at unravelling the biological foundations of language, its evolutionary past and the challenges imposed by new technologies. A team including the co-authors of the University of Neuchâtel is working with the after-school care facilities of Neuchâtel and aims to understand the development of joint action in children by observing how their use of so-called back-channel words (uh-huh, okay) changes over time when they play a LEGO® cooperative game. Adrian Bangerter explains why those terms are important to analyse: "We use "small" words like okay, uh-huh, yeah, or right all the time to synchronise our behaviour with our partners. Yet so little is known about how young children acquire the use of them."

Social interactions facilitated language evolution

The paper was published in the context of a special issue (https://evolvinglanguage.ch/special-issue-on-social-interaction/) that focuses on the "Interaction Engine" Hypothesis. This hypothesis postulates that social abilities and motivations in humans were determining factors in the evolution of human language, whose origins remain unknown. In a series of 14 papers edited by Raphaela Heesen of Durham University and Marlen Fröhlich of the University of Tübingen, researchers investigate the social-cognitive capacities that paved the way for the emergence of language by proposing a multidisciplinary and comparative approach. The NCCR Evolving Language is part of this special issue with seven of its researchers co-authoring 4 papers.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220727110250.htm

Sports help kids develop important trait linked to adult success

July 27, 2022

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Here's another good reason for kids to participate in organized sports: They can develop the "grit" that helps them overcome challenges as adults, a new study suggests.

Grit is defined as the combination of passion and perseverance that helps people achieve their long-term goals. This new research found that adults who played sports as a kid scored higher on a measurement of grit than adults who didn't play at all or said they quit.

The results suggest that the lessons children learn in sports can have a positive impact on their lives long after they grow up, said Emily Nothnagle, lead author of the study and recent graduate of The Ohio State University.

"Kids who participate in sports learn what it is like to struggle as they learn new skills, overcome challenges and bounce back from failure to try again," Nothnagle said.

"The grit they develop playing sports can help them the rest of their lives."

But all is not lost for adults who didn't play as children -- the study also found that adults who said they participated in sports during the past year showed more grit than those who didn't, said study co-author Chris Knoester, associate professor of sociology at Ohio State.

The study was published recently in the journal Leisure Sciences.

Survey data came from the National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS), sponsored by Ohio State's Sports and Society Initiative.

The survey was completed by 3,993 adults who volunteered to participate through the American Population Panel, run by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research.

Participants, who live in all 50 states, answered the survey online between the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019. Because NSASS participants are disproportionately female, white and Midwestern, the researchers weighted the survey results to reflect the U.S. population more accurately.

Grit was measured by asking participants to rate themselves on a scale of 1-5 on eight statements, including "I am diligent. I never give up" and "I am a hard worker." None of the statements was directly related to sports.

Initial results showed that 34% of those who played sports as a youth scored high on the grit scale, compared to only 23% of those who didn't play sports.

And 25% of those who never played sports scored low on the grit scale, compared to just 17% of those who did play sports.

More sophisticated statistical analyses that accounted for respondents' demographic characteristics supported these findings, too.

But to get the benefit of sports participation, kids have to keep at it and play continually, results suggested.

"Adults who played youth sports but dropped out did not show higher levels of grit. They actually demonstrated lower levels of grit after we included a proxy measure of how sports mattered for the development of grit while growing up," Knoester said.

The proxy measure was based on respondents' perceptions of how their athletic experience affected their work ethic.

"Quitting could reflect a lack of perseverance, which is a crucial component of grit. It could also make quitting an activity, and not persevering, easier the next time."

Adults who played sports as kids generally perceived that the experience helped improve their work ethic. And that perception was linked to their grit scores as adults.

But even after taking this finding into account, sports participation boosted grit scores, findings showed.

"Sport participation seems to have improved people's development of grit even more than they realized," Nothnagle said.

But could some people just be born with the grit to help them succeed at sports as a young person and then continue to benefit from that trait as an adult? Knoester said this study can't definitively prove the answer to that question, but the results suggest that people can gain or lose grit throughout life.

Adults who said they participated in sports regularly within the last year exhibited higher levels of grit, regardless of whether they played sports early in life and the extent to which they felt that their athletic experiences affected their work ethic while growing up.

"This additional finding about sports participation in adulthood suggests that you can build and perhaps lose grit during different points in your life," Knoester said. "It is not a static quality."

Participants in the study weren't asked how they participated in sports as an adult. It may be that many challenged themselves through personal training or workouts, rather than in organized sports as they did as kids, the researchers said.

The results shouldn't be interpreted as meaning that grit doesn't have a downside, though, Nothnagle noted.

"There can be issues if you use grit without some limits. An overemphasis on applying grit in sports activities can lead some people to overtrain and injure themselves, for example," she said.

But overall, the results suggest that along with the health and other benefits of sports, the development of grit could be another positive impact.

"Sports offer this valuable place in society where you can work hard and practice and take it seriously, but it is also not real life to some extent- typically, sports are thought of as a separate sphere of life and the stakes in sports are not as far-reaching and extreme," Knoester said.

"But you can take those lessons you learn and practice in sports, such as building grit, and apply them in your life outside of sports in very useful ways."

Feeling addicted to food? Your parents' drinking habits may impact your risk

July 26, 2022

Science Daily/University of Michigan

People with a parent with a history of alcohol problems are at greater risk for showing signs of addiction to highly processed foods, a new University of Michigan study found.

These foods, such as ice cream, chocolate, pizza and fries, contain unnaturally high amounts of refined carbohydrates and fats that may trigger an addictive response in some people.

U-M researchers wanted to know if a major risk factor for addiction -- a parent with alcohol problems -- predicted an increased risk of addiction to highly processed foods.

As many as 1 in 5 people seem to show this clinically significant addiction to highly processed foods, marked by a loss of control over intake, intense cravings and an inability to cut down despite negative consequences.

"People who have a family history of addiction may be at greater risk for developing a problematic relationship with highly processed foods, which is really challenging in a food environment where these foods are cheap, accessible and heavily marketed," said Lindzey Hoover, U-M psychology graduate student and the study's lead author.

But addictive responses didn't end with food, as people with food addiction were also more likely to exhibit personal problems with alcohol, cannabis, tobacco and vaping, the research showed.

Diets dominated by highly processed food and excessive intake of addictive substances are leading causes of preventable death in the modern world. This study suggests that interventions are needed to simultaneously reduce addictive eating and substance use.

"Public health approaches that have reduced the harm of other addictive substances, like restricting marketing to kids, may be important to consider to reduce the negative impact of highly processed foods," Hoover said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220726132538.htm

Financial and sleeping difficulties are key mental health risk indicators in university students

July 26, 2022

Science Daily/University of Warwick

A new study of student wellbeing during the pandemic by the University of Warwick has identified worsened financial situation and sleep difficulties as key indicators of individuals at higher risk of developing mental health issues.

The findings will be valuable to higher education institutions in identifying those students at higher risk of developing mental health issues, and will help to inform policies and interventions aimed at preventing these issues.

The study, published today (26 July) in the journal BJPsychOpen, is based on a survey of 895 university students and 547 young adults who were not in higher education taken between July and September 2020, with 201 of those university students also followed-up after 6 months. The research was funded by the University of Warwick's Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) COVID Research Programme Award and supported by the Warwick Health Global Research Priorities.

Analysis of their responses showed several consistent factors linked to high levels of poor mental health at the end of the first lockdown in the UK: age, previous mental health conditions, carer status, worse-off financial status and increased sleep irregularity and difficulty.

When they compared the responses of university students to those from non-students of a similar age, there were no significant differences between the two groups in mental health symptoms, except for a higher substance misuse risk found in non-students.

When recontacting a subset of students who responded between January -- March 2021, the researchers found that increased financial difficulties and difficulty sleeping would consistently predict poorer mental health. They also found that there was a reduction in mental health symptoms over time, with the percentage of students reporting symptoms of anxiety reduced from 72.1% to 59.3% over six months, and for depression it was reduced from 69.8% to 61.4%. The researchers suggest that this could be due to students adapting to some symptoms as the pandemic evolved, though some symptoms were more ingrained.

The demographic profile of the study participants is comparable to the profile of the student population in the UK, suggesting that the findings would be of use to universities across the country.

Intervention and prevention measures available for each group may be applied to both populations for greater generalisability.

Lead author Professor Nicole Tang, from the University's Department of Psychology and Co-Lead of the University Health GRP Mental Health theme, said: "There is a wealth of information generated by this study that universities can utilise to inform policies, prevention and intervention strategies. Whilst there are markers of mental health issues that we cannot change, for example, age, a history of mental health conditions, and being a carer, we can use them to identify individuals at risk and provide enhanced support.

"Some of the indicators of future mental health issues are things that we can act on, for example, a worsened financial situation, reduced physical activity and increased sleep difficulties. Within the university system, there are established bursary programmes and infrastructure for promoting sports and activities. There are also proven-effective treatments on acute and chronic insomnia that can be applied to help students better regulate their sleep, in the midst of overwhelming stress and a loss of normal routine.

"What is also interesting is that the study shows mental health is a multidimensional concept, and can be seen as a profile of different symptoms, which appear to respond to the pandemic experience differently."

Dr Hannah Friend, Director of Wellbeing and Safeguarding at the University of Warwick, said: "Research is a critical component of Warwick's Wellbeing Strategy. This study reinforces the importance of utilising our research expertise to better inform what we do, and specifically to further define our priorities and objectives on Prevention and Early Intervention. I'm delighted that we are successfully joining up research and practice in a whole organisation approach to wellbeing."

Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, said: "While this research highlights the current pressures facing students' wellbeing and mental health, it also highlights the need for continued support to mental health services in and outside university settings. However, those who develop more acute mental health problems must be able to access specialist services for diagnosis and evidence-based treatment. With life returning to some degree of normality, students still face the worry of the pandemic and its economic consequences."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220725203609.htm