Adolescence/ Teens 1 Larry Minikes Adolescence/ Teens 1 Larry Minikes

Student attachment and well-being are greater in classrooms with higher emotional intelligence

November 10, 2016
Science Daily/University of the Basque Country
Researchers have shown that it is possible to predict the psychological well-being of adolescents by combining group and individual variables.

The UPV/EHU's Qualiker research group has proposed a combination of variables never proposed before to study the psychological well-being of adolescent students. After testing a methodology that studies group and individual variables together on over two thousand adolescents, they have been able to show that this is valid in predicting psychological well-being.The variables studied were group emotional intelligence and peer attachment, respectively.

Group emotional intelligence represents the emotional intelligence shared by the students of a classroom, in other words, "the atmosphere in the group, the way the group addresses a problem, the capacity it has to understand the emotions being experienced in the classroom," explained Arantxa Gorostiaga, a researcher in the department of Social Psychology and Methodology of Behavioural Sciences and member of the UPV/EHU's Qualiker research group. In the classroom context, apart from academic content, adolescents acquire important personal and emotional competences to preserve their present andfuture well-being, so "it is interesting to analyse the influence of the emotions of the peer group on the well-being of adolescents. Furthermore, in a previous study we demonstrated that group emotional intelligence is related to higher levels of academic performance."

As regards adolescent attachment, "there are many studies in the scientific literature proving that this variable is a predictor of psychological well-being," remarked Gorostiaga. "At that age, youngsters experience distancing from their parents and move closer towards their peers, their friendships. So attachment provides them with protection, and is used as a support when facing problems. So it is related to adolescent well-being."

Since producing and adapting tools for evaluation and diagnosis purposes is one of the lines of research of the Qualiker group, they firstly created a tool to measure group emotional intelligence and translated into Basque a tool for determining attachment so that they could conduct the study explaining and predicting psychological well-being through a combination of them. After that, using a methodology known as multilevel analysis, they conducted an analysis of group and individual variables, simultaneously studying peer attachment and group emotional intelligence. The study was carried out on 2,182 adolescents (1,127 girls and 1,055 boys), students grouped into 118 classrooms at 14 secondary education schools.

Interconnected variables

As the results showed, attachment and group emotional intelligence emerge positively related to psychological well-being; in other words, "the students with the greatest attachment have the highest well-being, just as the students in classrooms with greater emotional intelligence do," explained the researcher. But beyond this they saw that group emotional intelligence influences the relation between the other two variables: "in the classrooms with greater emotional intelligence the relation between attachment and psychological well-being is stronger," she added.

This research could be used to identify the classrooms that need intervention. This is how Gorostiaga explained it: "In the diagnosis we can spot the classrooms that need to reinforce their emotional intelligence, and design some intervention. Having proved that group emotional intelligence helps not only to achieve better results but also to improve student well-being, it may be interesting to implement a programme to work on it."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161110084050.htm

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Fun, comfort with exercise helps young people with conditions like autism and ADHD remain active

November 11, 2016
Science Daily/Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
The best way to help young people with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder get more exercise is to make it fun, according to a small international sampling of adults living with them.

"We found that a child having fun was a much greater indicator of how likely he or she was to continue exercising," said Matthew Lustig, senior medical student at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Lustig is enrolled at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership in Athens, a four-year campus of the medical school.

Identifying an activity they are good at, from playing basketball to running to tennis, was another top reason for staying physically active, survey participants said. In fact, lack of skill was a much larger deterrent than bottom lines like financial and transportation limitations, said Lustig, who is first-author on a poster presented today at the American Medical Association Research Symposium in Orlando, Florida.

"In targeting interventions that increase exercise, creating more cost-effective options may not be as necessary as creating more fun options," Lustig said.

While the internet and other family and friends tended to be the go-to sources for exercise information, the 132 adults surveyed said they would like the young people's physicians to answer their exercise-related questions. The small survey left Lustig with a lot of follow up questions he plans to pursue, including why pediatricians weren't considered their go-to source.

Still there was a lot of exercise and confidence in its benefits in the households surveyed. The overwhelming number of survey respondents said regular exercise would prevent or delay complications of neurodevelopmental disorders and provide short- and long-term benefit to physical, emotional and social wellbeing. They reported the young people with a disorder in their household generally exercised five days per week for about 100 minutes daily, with cardiovascular activities like basketball, cycling and running as the primary focus. Individuals responding to the survey generally reported being physically active as well.

Participant recruitment was enabled by an internet questionnaire distributed via Facebook to a wide range of groups associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. That approach enabled a national and international participation from adults living with individuals with a broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders. The most prevalent disorders included autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, and Tourette syndrome. The young people with them were a median age of 17; 57 percent were male; and the vast majority where white.

A research elective with Dr. Martha S. Tingen, Charles W. Linder, MD Endowed Chair in Pediatrics and associate director of the Georgia Prevention Institute at MCG, enabled Lustig to put his data and research findings together for the AMA presentation. Centers like the GPI have long studied the benefits of exercise and have shown a cognitive benefit in overweight children, for example, another angle Lustig may pursue in this population.

Dr. Julie Martin, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist who is the site clerkship director for pediatrics at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership campus and helped Lustig put his survey together, noted that most physicians and pediatricians would likely want to directly provide more information about exercise and its benefits. But with limited appointment times -- averaging about 10 minutes for a sick visit and 20 minutes for a checkup -- "It's just challenging to get everything in," Martin said.

This can be particularly difficult in populations, such as the one Lustig surveyed, which already have multiple medical needs. Martin noted a recent visit to her practice of a child thought to have Lyme disease -- which has a long list of symptoms including fatigue, sleep issues and depression -- who instead appeared to be experiencing depression, for which Martin always recommends exercise as a first line of therapy.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161111133247.htm

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Victims of childhood bullying more likely to be overweight as young adults

November 11, 2016
Science Daily/King's College London
Children who are bullied in primary and secondary school are nearly twice as likely to be overweight at the age of 18 than non-bullied children, according to a new study.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/11/161111132249_1_540x360.jpg
Children who were chronically bullied in school were 1.7 times more likely to be overweight as young adults than non-bullied children (29 per cent prevalence compared to 20 per cent), a study has found. Bullied children also had a higher BMI and waist-hip ratio at the age of 18.
Credit: © gustavofrazao / Fotolia

Previous research by the team at King's has shown that children who experienced bullying while growing up in the 1960s were more likely to be obese at the age of 45, yet it was unclear whether these long-term effects were present earlier in life.

In this new study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, the researchers set out to examine whether bullying in a modern context would have similar effects on weight, given that it may take different forms today (e.g. cyberbullying) than it did in the 1960s. The environment children grow up in today has also changed, with unhealthy food more readily available and sedentary lifestyles more common.

The researchers analysed data from the Environment Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, which has followed more than 2,000 children in England and Wales in 1994-1995 from birth to age 18. They assessed bullying victimisation in primary school and early secondary school through interviews with mothers and children at repeated assessments at the ages of 7, 10 and 12.

When the children were aged 18, the researchers measured their body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio, an indicator of abdominal fat.

They found that 28 per cent of children in the study had been bullied in either primary school or secondary school (defined as transitory bullying), and 13 per cent had been bullied at both primary and secondary school (defined as chronic bullying).

Children who were chronically bullied in school were 1.7 times more likely to be overweight as young adults than non-bullied children (29 per cent prevalence compared to 20 per cent). Bullied children also had a higher BMI and waist-hip ratio at the age of 18.

These associations were independent of other environmental risk factors (including socioeconomic status, food insecurity in the home, child maltreatment, low IQ, and poor mental health). In addition, and for the first time, analyses showed that children who were chronically bullied became overweight independent of their genetic risk of being overweight.

Finally, at the time of victimisation, bullied children were not more likely to be overweight than non-bullied children, indicating that overweight children were not simply more likely to fall victim to bullying.

Dr Andrea Danese from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, said: 'Bullying is commonly associated with mental health problems, but there is little research examining the physical health of bullied children. Our study shows that bullied children are more likely to be overweight as young adults, and that they become overweight independent of their genetic liability and after experiencing victimisation.'

Jessie Baldwin, also from the IoPPN at King's, said: 'Although we cannot definitively say that bullying victimisation causes individuals to become overweight, ruling out alternative explanations, such as genetic liability, strengthens the likelihood that this is the case. If the association is causal, preventing bullying could help to reduce the prevalence of overweight in the population.

'As well as preventing bullying, our findings emphasise the importance of supporting bullied children to prevent them from becoming overweight, which could include interventions aimed at promoting exercise and healthy eating. Our data suggest that such interventions should start early in life.'
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161111132249.htm

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Physical, mental states for focusing attention, exercising self-control

November 11, 2016
Science Daily/University of Texas at Arlington
Researchers are studying the ideal physical and mental states to help children and adults pay attention and practice self-control, by combining computer-game testing with a simultaneous ongoing analysis of heart-rate and skin activity.

"We know attention and self-regulation are critical for things like academic success, financial success, and general health and well-being," said Catherine Spann, a researcher at UTA's Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge or LINK Research Lab and principal investigator of the study.

"We think that if we understand the different physical and emotional states related to attention and self-regulation, we could develop targeted interventions for children and adults to achieve greater well-being," she added.

Spann is currently conducting her Psychophysiology of Self-Regulation Study with volunteers age 7 and up, in collaboration with Research and Learning Center at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Participants complete a questionnaire about general levels of attention and self-regulation in everyday life, report how they are feeling, and then complete an attention and self-regulation task on an iPad. They wear a wristband to track their heart rate and skin activity, which indicate how calm and engaged they are.

"The wearable technology that we are using gives us information about their specific state and could tell us that they might not be ready to sit still and listen to a lecture or engage in certain learning activities," Spann said.

Scores on the task are based on a combination of accuracy and reaction time. Spann is also examining how certain aspects of individuals such as gender, age and general self-regulation in daily life, impact how the body responds during a specific task requiring attention and self-regulation, especially when it comes to learning.

George Siemens, executive director of the LINK Research Lab, underlined the importance of this research in the context of ongoing changes in education models.

"In order to make wise investments in our school systems, we need to better understand the core of learning," Siemens said.

"We need to understand the conditions under which people optimally learn and the ways that educators can best support students."

"The work that Dr. Spann is doing at the museum gives us important insight into how the mindsets and self-regulation of students impacts their ability to learn," he added.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161111133041.htm

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Traumatic stress changes brains of boys, girls differently

November 11, 2016
Science Daily/Stanford University Medical Center
Traumatic stress affects the brains of adolescent boys and girls differently, according to a new brain-scanning study. Among youth with post-traumatic stress disorder, the study found structural differences between the sexes in one part of the insula, a brain region that detects cues from the body and processes emotions and empathy. The insula helps to integrate one's feelings, actions and several other brain functions.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/11/161111132033_1_540x360.jpg
Adolescent girls with PTSD appear to undergo accelerated maturation in a region of the brain that integrates emotions and actions.
Credit: © Gelpi / Fotolia

Among youth with post-traumatic stress disorder, the study found structural differences between the sexes in one part of the insula, a brain region that detects cues from the body and processes emotions and empathy. The insula helps to integrate one's feelings, actions and several other brain functions.

The findings will be published online Nov. 11 in Depression and Anxiety. The study is the first to show differences between male and female PTSD patients in a part of the insula involved in emotion and empathy.

"The insula appears to play a key role in the development of PTSD," said the study's senior author, Victor Carrion, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. "The difference we saw between the brains of boys and girls who have experienced psychological trauma is important because it may help explain differences in trauma symptoms between sexes."

Smaller insula in traumatized girls

Among young people who are exposed to traumatic stress, some develop PTSD while others do not. People with PTSD may experience flashbacks of traumatic events; may avoid places, people and things that remind them of the trauma; and may suffer a variety of other problems, including social withdrawal and difficulty sleeping or concentrating. Prior research has shown that girls who experienced trauma are more likely to develop PTSD than boys who experience trauma, but scientists have been unable to determine why.

The research team conducted MRI scans of the brains of 59 study participants ages 9-17. Thirty of them -- 14 girls and 16 boys -- had trauma symptoms, and 29 others -- the control group of 15 girls and 14 boys -- did not. The traumatized and nontraumatized participants had similar ages and IQs. Of the traumatized participants, five had experienced one episode of trauma, while the remaining 25 had experienced two or more episodes or had been exposed to chronic trauma.

The researchers saw no differences in brain structure between boys and girls in the control group. However, among the traumatized boys and girls, they saw differences in a portion of the insula called the anterior circular sulcus. This brain region had larger volume and surface area in traumatized boys than in boys in the control group. In addition, the region's volume and surface area were smaller in girls with trauma than among girls in the control group.

Findings could help clinicians

"It is important that people who work with traumatized youth consider the sex differences," said Megan Klabunde, PhD, the study's lead author and an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "Our findings suggest it is possible that boys and girls could exhibit different trauma symptoms and that they might benefit from different approaches to treatment."

The insula normally changes during childhood and adolescence, with smaller insula volume typically seen as children and teenagers grow older. Thus, the findings imply that traumatic stress could contribute to accelerated cortical aging of the insula in girls who develop PTSD, Klabunde said.

"There are some studies suggesting that high levels of stress could contribute to early puberty in girls," she said.

The researchers also noted that their work may help scientists understand how experiencing trauma could play into differences between the sexes in regulating emotions. "By better understanding sex differences in a region of the brain involved in emotion processing, clinicians and scientists may be able to develop sex-specific trauma and emotion dysregulation treatments," the authors write in the study.

To better understand the findings, the researchers say what's needed next are longitudinal studies following traumatized young people of both sexes over time. They also say studies that further explore how PTSD might manifest itself differently in boys and girls, as well as tests of whether sex-specific treatments are beneficial, are needed.

The work is an example of Stanford Medicine's focus on precision health, the goal of which is to anticipate and prevent disease in the healthy and precisely diagnose and treat disease in the ill.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161111132033.htm

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Childhood adversity linked to blood pressure dysfunction

November 14, 2016
Science Daily/American Heart Association
A difficult childhood may be associated with a risk of poor blood pressure regulation, according to new research.

Fluctuations in blood pressure readings (blood pressure variability) has been associated in some studies to elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and complications from hypertension. Researchers at the Augusta University Medical College of Georgia investigated the impact of "adverse childhood experiences" -- childhood abuse or neglect, dysfunctional homes, or low socioeconomic status -- during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Earlier research has linked adverse childhood experiences to faster increase of blood pressure in adulthood.

Researchers conducted periodic around-the-clock blood pressure monitoring to capture day and nighttime pressure readings in 373 participants between the ages of 7 and 38 during a 23-year period. Those who reported childhood adversity were 17 percent more likely to have blood pressure higher than the clinical definition of hypertension during the daytime.

"Adverse environments in early life have been consistently associated with the increased risk of hypertension in later life," said Shaoyong Su, Ph.D., lead author and an associate professor of pediatrics at Augusta University Medical College of Georgia. "We found that children who experienced childhood abuse or neglect, dysfunctional homes and low socioeconomic status, were far more likely to have higher blood pressure at night as well as blood pressure variability over 24 hours, in addition to more rapid onset of hypertension at an earlier age."

Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure is considered a a better predictor of organ damage and cardiovascular events, as it can assess not only nighttime blood pressure levels, but also the blood pressure variability in real life. Blood pressure was monitored up to 15 times during the study.

Researchers said there was no difference in blood pressure regulation at various ages suggesting the patterns of adverse events in childhood are similar through young adulthood.

Most physicians focus on average blood pressure readings, but the new findings suggest that they should also ask younger patients about childhood adversity and watch for high blood pressure variability, he noted.

"This is not something most clinicians currently address, but it is a simple step that could identify many individuals at risk of adult hypertension and help them achieve control at an earlier age. This could avoid problems as they age," he said.

Blood pressure variability has been linked to a number of problems in adults, including decreased brain function in older adults, as well as increased risk of stroke and poorer post-stroke recovery. Likewise, early-onset hypertension and prehypertension have been linked to adverse preclinical cardiovascular disease, including left ventricular hypertrophy and evidence of increased arterial stiffness.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114162713.htm

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Teenage binge drinking can affect brain function of future offspring

November 14, 2016
Science Daily/Loyola University Health System
Repeated binge drinking during adolescence can affect brain functions in future generations, potentially putting offspring at risk for such conditions as depression, anxiety, and metabolic disorders, a study has found.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/11/161114140611_1_540x360.jpg
Teenage binge drinking is a major health concern in the United States, with 21 percent of teenagers reporting they have done it during the past 30 days.
Credit: © Photographee.eu / Fotolia

"Adolescent binge drinking not only is dangerous to the brain development of teenagers, but also may impact the brains of their children," said senior author Toni R. Pak, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

The study by Dr. Pak, first author Anna Dorothea Asimes, a PhD student in Dr. Pak's lab, and colleagues was presented Nov. 14, 2016 at Neuroscience 2016, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

The study, which was based on an animal model, found that adolescent binge drinking altered the on-off switches of multiple genes in the brains of offspring. When genes are turned on, they instruct cells to make proteins, which ultimately control physical and behavioral traits. The study found that in offspring, genes that normally are turned on were turned off, and vice versa.

Teenage binge drinking is a major health concern in the United States, with 21 percent of teenagers reporting they have done it during the past 30 days. Among drinkers under age 21, more than 90 percent of the alcohol is consumed during binge drinking episodes. Binge drinking is defined as raising the blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent, the legal driving limit, within two hours (generally about five drinks for a male and four drinks for a female).

In the study, one group of adolescent male and female rats was exposed to alcohol in amounts comparable to six binge drinking episodes. The rats mated after becoming sober and the females remained sober during their pregnancies. (Thus, any effects on offspring could not be attributed to fetal alcohol syndrome.) The alcohol-exposed rats were compared to a control group of rats that were not exposed to alcohol.

In the offspring of alcohol-exposed rats, researchers examined genes in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain involved in many functions, including reproduction, response to stress, sleep cycles and food intake. Researchers looked for molecular changes to DNA that would reverse the on-off switches in individual genes. They found 159 such changes in the offspring of binge-drinking mothers, 93 gene changes in the offspring of binge-drinking fathers and 244 gene changes in the offspring of mothers and fathers who both were exposed to binge drinking.

The study is the first to show a molecular pathway that teenage binge drinking by either parent can cause changes in the neurological health of subsequent generations.

While findings from an animal model do not necessarily translate to humans, there are significant similarities between the study's animal model and humans, including their metabolism of alcohol, the function of the hypothalamus, and the pattern and amount of binge drinking, Pak said.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It is titled "Binge alcohol consumption during puberty causes altered DNA methylation in the brain of alcohol-naive offspring."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114140611.htm

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Teacher communication with parents consistent with racial stereotypes

November 15, 2016
New York University
Teachers communicate with parents not just based on a student’s academic performance and behaviors, but also based on parents’ racial and immigrant backgrounds, finds a study.

"The patterns of communication we saw are consistent with stereotypes that teachers may subscribe to different racial and ethnic groups," said Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, assistant professor of international education at NYU Steinhardt and author of the study published in the journal Teachers College Record.

One of the most important ingredients for academic success is communication between parents and teachers. Prior work has established that immigrant parents and parents of color often communicate less with schools than native-born white parents. However, in most studies, the focus has been on parents contacting schools and not the reverse. It also remains unclear how schools and teachers perceive certain barriers, such as lack of English proficiency, as obstacles to communicating with parents.

Given these gaps in knowledge, this study sought to better understand patterns of communication between classroom teachers and the parents of immigrant students and students of color, and whether these patterns are influenced by characteristics of students, teachers, and parents.

Cherng analyzed a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school sophomores from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. The study asked teachers whether they communicated with a student's parents about several topics: a student's failure to complete homework, disruptive behavior in school, and accomplishments. To investigate whether subject matter of teachers shapes interactions between teachers and students, Cherng analyzed responses from both English and math teachers.

Even after considering teachers' own perceptions of students' academic work and behavioral issues and parents' English ability, the study finds that differences persist in terms of teachers contacting parents from different racial/ethnic and immigrant backgrounds.

Math teachers contacted a higher proportion of parents of third-generation Latino and Black students over disruptive classroom behavior than of parents of third-generation White students. For example, parents of Black students were more than twice as likely as parents of White students to be contacted by math teachers over negative behavior, reflecting stereotypes of Black and Latino students as disruptive youth.

In addition, Cherng found that both math and English teachers contacted fewer immigrant Asian American parents (parents of first- and second-generation Asian American students) regarding homework and behavioral issues. These patterns persisted even when Asian American youth were struggling.

Sharing accomplishments was the most common form of teacher-parent communication. However, teachers were less likely to contact immigrant parents and parents of color with news of accomplishments when they perceived parents not to be involved in their children's schooling.

Teachers were less likely to contact immigrant Latino and Asian parents with news of their children's accomplishments: only 30 percent of math teachers contacted parents of first-generation Latino and second-generation Asian American students with news of accomplishments, compared to nearly half of teachers contacting parents of third-generation White parents.

"These findings support the notion that Asian American students are perceived by teachers to be 'model minorities' -- the image that all Asian American students excel academically and are in less need of attention or intervention," Cherng said.

Cherng concluded that these patterns of communication align with existing racial stereotypes. He recommends that education policy be cognizant of the disparities in teacher-parent communication and suggests incorporating more diversity training in teacher preparation programs and professional development for teachers and school administrators.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115155324.htm

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A father's influence makes for better grades

Counselors and educators should involve fathers from low-income settings more in their children's education

November 16, 2016
Science Daily/Springer
The warmth of a father's love has a special influence on young people, and makes them feel optimistic and determined to strive for greater things. It also boosts the math grades of teenage girls and the language ability of boys.

Adolescents from low-income families in particular are more likely than their middle-class peers to underachieve and to drop out of school. Studies have shown, however, that a positive attitude towards school work and the support and encouragement from their parents can help at-risk youngsters to overcome the economic barriers and lack of resources they face. Most of the evidence about the effects of parental involvement comes from research on mothers. Little is known, however, about how adolescents experience their fathers' warmth and the beliefs and behaviors that are most affected by it.

This new study is part of a larger one focusing on low-income, ethnic minority families conducted in four middle schools in the southwestern United States. Data were analyzed from questionnaires completed by 183 sixth-graders about how optimistic and motivated they were about their schoolwork, and how they experienced their fathers. The questionnaires were completed primarily by respondents of Mexican American, African American and European American descent. Their maths and language arts grades were also obtained. They were analyzed together with the questionnaire data. The research team took into account the influence that mothers have on their children's well-being in their analyses.

Their findings show how fathers can support their teenagers in ways that result in greater optimism, self-efficacy, and, ultimately, higher achievement at school. This is even true for men with low levels of education or those who are not proficient enough in English to help their children with their homework.

"Low-income fathers affect their adolescents' beliefs about themselves and their future, and these beliefs influence their achievement by increasing their determination to persist on school tasks," says Suizzo.

These positive effects extend to both sons and daughters, albeit in different ways. Experiencing their father's warmth first influences daughters' sense of optimism, and then spills over into their feeling more determined and certain about their academic abilities. This in turn leads to better math grades. There is a more direct link between their fathers' involvement and teenage boys' belief in their ability to succeed on the academic front. This heightened self-confidence increased their success in English language arts classes.

Suizzo suggests that counselors and educators should encourage fathers to communicate warmth and acceptance to their children, because of the positive influence these emotions have on their well-being.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161116101620.htm

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Musical training creates new brain connections in children

November 21, 2016
Science Daily/Radiological Society of North America
Taking music lessons increases brain fiber connections in children and may be useful in treating autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to a new study.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/11/161121180403_1_540x360.jpg
Fibers belonging to the greater forceps pre-musical training are observed (A, B, C). Fibers belonging to the same patients after 9 months of musical training are observed below (a, b, c).
Credit: Radiological Society of North America

"It's been known that musical instruction benefits children with these disorders," said Pilar Dies-Suarez, M.D., chief radiologist at the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez in Mexico City, "but this study has given us a better understanding of exactly how the brain changes and where these new fiber connections are occurring."

The researchers studied 23 healthy children between the ages of five and six years old. All of the children were right handed and had no history of sensory, perception or neurological disorders. None of the children had been trained in any artistic discipline in the past.

The study participants underwent pre- and post-musical-training evaluation with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the brain. DTI is an advanced MRI technique, which identifies microstructural changes in the brain's white matter.

"Experiencing music at an early age can contribute to better brain development, optimizing the creation and establishment of neural networks, and stimulating the existing brain tracts," Dr. Dies-Suarez said.

The brain's white matter is composed of millions of nerve fibers called axons that act like communication cables connecting various regions of the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging produces a measurement, called fractional anisotropy (FA), of the movement of extracellular water molecules along axons. In healthy white matter, the direction of extracellular water molecules is fairly uniform and measures high in fractional anisotropy. When water movement is more random, FA values decrease, suggesting abnormalities.

Over the course of life, the maturation of brain tracts and connections between motor, auditory and other areas allow the development of numerous cognitive abilities, including musical skills. Previous studies have linked autism spectrum and ADHD with decreases in volume, fiber connections and FA in the minor and lower forceps, tracts located in the frontal cortex of the brain. This suggests that low connectivity in the frontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in complex cognitive processes, is a biomarker of these disorders.

After the children in the study completed nine months of musical instruction using Boomwhackers -- percussion tubes cut to the exact length to create pitches in a diatonic scale, DTI results showed an increase in FA and axon fiber length in different areas of the brain, most notably in the minor forceps.

"When a child receives musical instruction, their brains are asked to complete certain tasks," Dr. Dies-Suarez said. "These tasks involve hearing, motor, cognition, emotion and social skills, which seem to activate these different brain areas. These results may have occurred because of the need to create more connections between the two hemispheres of the brain."

The researchers believe that the results of this study could aid in creating targeted strategies for intervention in treating disorders like autism and ADHD.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161121180403.htm

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Improving child-teacher interactions can reduce preschoolers' stress levels

December 6, 2016
Science Daily/Oregon State University
A school-based intervention that promotes warm and caring interactions between a teacher and child can reduce the child's stress in the classroom, a new study has found.

The intervention was designed for teachers of preschool-aged children and focused on fostering close teacher-child relationships through one-on-one play. Children who participated in the intervention showed reduced levels of the hormone cortisol, an indicator of stress, said Bridget Hatfield, an assistant professor in Oregon State University's College of Public Health and Human Sciences and lead author of the study.

Researchers believe it is the first time a study has examined the relationship between a teacher-child intervention and a child's cortisol levels in an early childhood education setting.

The findings highlight the importance of the relationship between child and teacher, and underscore the value of warm and caring interactions, including one-on-one play time between a child and his or her teacher, Hatfield said.

"The big message here is that positive relationships between teachers and students matter," she said. "What a teacher does in the classroom, the way they behave, their positivity and supportiveness, has an enormous impact on the children and their health."

The findings were published recently in the journal Prevention Science. The co-author of the paper is Amanda Williford of the University of Virginia. The research was supported in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences and the American Psychological Association.

About 61 percent of children under the age of five spend time in formal childcare and education settings such as preschool. Past research has shown that this setting may increase children's stress, which in turn can lead to disruptive classroom behavior.

Children who have frustrating or difficult relationships with their teachers also have shown decreased academic success in kindergarten and their challenging behaviors may increase in intensity as they get older.

"If a child can't develop a healthy stress response system in early childhood, it limits their ability to develop strong school-readiness skills," Hatfield said. "That's why these early teacher-child relationships are so important."

Hatfield and Williford wanted to see if an intervention designed to improve child-teacher interactions could reduce stress levels in children with challenging behaviors.

In all, 70 teachers and 113 children participated in the study. They were divided into three groups: one group was designated as "business as usual" and the children did not participate in any special activities; one group participated in a "child time" intervention; and one group participated in an intervention called "Banking Time."

In the child time intervention, the child and teacher spent time playing one-on-one but the teacher was not given any specific guidance or instructions from a consultant for the play period.

Banking Time is a much more formal intervention, designed to foster sensitive, responsive interactions between a teacher and a child, creating a relationship the child and teacher can use as a resource during times of challenge in the classroom.

"When you 'bank time' with a child and that relationship, you're building equity," Hatfield said. "Then if a conflict arises, you can make a withdrawal."

To build that relationship, the teachers and children participating in the study had one-on-one play sessions. Consultants directed the teachers in key elements of the program: allowing the child to lead the play sessions, carefully observing and narrating the child's behavior, describing the child's positive and negative emotions, and being available as an emotional resource.

Using saliva samples that were assayed for cortisol, researchers found that children whose teachers participated in the Banking Time intervention showed declines in cortisol levels during the school day compared to those in the business as usual group.

Children in the child time intervention also showed some benefits from the one-on-one time, but they were not as significant. Hatfield said additional research is needed to better understand the effects of the Banking Time intervention and what, in particular, is having the positive impact on the teacher-child relationship.

"Is it one thing, or a combination?" she asked. "We know there is something meaningful about that one-on-one time within Banking Time and we want to know more about how we may be able to incorporate that into classrooms every day."

It may difficult for preschool teachers and early childhood educators to spend 15 minutes a week in one-on-one play with each child in their class, Hatfield said, but even small, positive, one-on-one interactions could have a valuable impact over time.

"Spending even five minutes, once a week in a one-on-one with a child can help you get to know them, what they think and what they might be interested in," she said. "That investment could pay off during a challenging time later on. It's the quality of the time that matters."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161206142618.htm

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