Students with a greater sense of school-belonging are less likely to become bullies

July 30, 2019

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

Research has shown that, despite great efforts, one in three children continue to experience bullying in school. However, research also has indicated that environmental and psychological factors might play an important role in minimizing bullying behaviors.

Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that students who feel a greater sense of belonging with their peers, family and school community are less likely to become bullies. Their findings suggest that parents and teachers should consider ways to create a supportive and accepting environment both at home and at school.

Christopher Slaten and Chad Rose, associate professors in the MU College of Education, along with Jonathan Ferguson, a graduate candidate in the counseling psychology program, analyzed survey responses from more than 900 middle school students from rural schools throughout the U.S. The survey addressed their sense of belonging among peers, family and school community as well as bullying behavior. For example, they were asked if they upset others for the fun of it or if they spread rumors.

The results indicate that the more a student feels like they belong among their peers and family, the more likely they will feel like they belong at school. In addition, the more they feel like they belong within their school community, the less likely they were to report bullying behaviors. This indicates that parents might be able to play a proactive role in increasing their child's sense of belonging at school by focusing on improving family belongingness. Slaten suggests that one of the ways parents can increase a child's sense of family belonging is to organize activities that cater to every child's interests.

"If you have children with varying interests, it might be beneficial to suggest the whole family get together to attend each other's events and activities, even if it doesn't please the whole crowd every time," Slaten said. "By encouraging siblings to support each other, parents can help their children feel like their interests are accepted and that they fit within the family unit."

Rose adds that teachers and school leaders also should consider techniques and programs that create a supportive environment for students. Some examples include starting clubs for students with various interests, offering to lend an ear to students who need someone to talk to and consider community-building events.

"What we have found is that students' perceptions of how supportive and accepting their school environment is has the power to alter bullying behavior," Rose said. "This means that even acts of simple compassion and efforts to create an accepting and supportive space for students can help prevent bullying in schools. This is empowering news for teachers, students and their families."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190730125331.htm

Stressed at school? Art therapy reduces teenage girls' headaches

July 30, 2019

Science Daily/University of Washington

In a pilot study, researchers explored art-based mindfulness activities that schools could use to reduce headaches, a common side effect of stress in adolescent girls. After three weeks of twice-weekly mindfulness and art therapy sessions, 8 teenage girls reported experiencing significantly fewer headaches.

Teenagers report higher levels of stress than adults, and cite school as the highest contributing factor, according to the American Psychological Association's annual report. A summary from 2013 concluded that while stress among Americans was not new, "what's troubling is the stress outlook for teens in the United States."

In response, recently some schools have turned to mindfulness-based programs as a way to alleviate stress among their students. These programs could benefit from more research into what activities students find most useful.

In a pilot study led by the University of Washington, researchers explored art-based mindfulness activities that schools could use to reduce headaches, a common side effect of stress in adolescent girls. The test group of eight teenage girls gave feedback on which activities they preferred.

After three weeks of twice-weekly mindfulness and art therapy sessions, the girls reported experiencing significantly fewer headaches. At the beginning of the study, the girls reported 7.38 headaches, on average, within the previous two-week period. At the end of the study, that number had dropped to 4.63 -- almost a 40% decrease. This drop remained even seven weeks after the study had ended. The researchers published their findings May 22 in the journal Art Therapy.

"This study highlights one of my main research missions: We should be making interventions in cooperation with teenagers if we want these strategies to work," said corresponding author Elin Björling, a senior research scientist in the UW's human centered design and engineering department. "There's something powerful about saying 'I'm inviting you to start thinking about how you could get better. Come have a conversation with me about how we could do this.' I think that's why we saw such a strong response even in this tiny study."

The team recruited eight girls between the ages of 14 to 17 from a high school in Seattle. All of the participants reported experiencing three or more headaches not related to an injury within a two-week period, and five of the eight mentioned tension or stress as the main reason for headaches.

During the program, the students met twice a week for a 50-minute session with the research team. Each session began with an activity in which students would map where they were feeling stressed on a drawing of a body. Then the teens would participate in mindfulness and art activities before closing the session with another body map.

"After the study, we looked at all the before and after body maps side by side. It was so clear that something significant was going on," Björling said. "In the beginning everything was in pieces, and in the end everything was flowing through the whole body."

The teens tried different mindfulness techniques in each session so they could find which ones worked the best for them.

What teens liked: square breathing, a technique that encourages people to take slow breaths by concentrating and counting.

"I thought: 'No teen ever wants to do counted breathing, and they're never going to do it,'" Björling said. "But a few of them said 'That's my favorite. I do it all the time now.'"

What teens didn't like: mindful eating, a technique that asks people to focus on what and how they're eating.

"They hated it," Björling said. "This was a technique straight out of a lot of mindfulness programs for teens, but it didn't connect with them. It just annoyed them. It goes to show I need them to be experts in their own lives."

The researchers also asked the students to participate in different mindful art activities. During each session, the students tried a new art medium -- they particularly liked using oil pastels -- and different types of art therapy projects, including one where they worked together to create mandalas before and after a meditation exercise.

While the teens experienced fewer headaches after the study ended, their overall stress levels didn't change much. But the students reported feeling better in the moment, saying that they felt like they could handle whatever happened for the rest of the day.

The team was surprised to see any differences, given the small size of the group.

"It's not just about this study," Björling said. "This problem of teen mental health and headaches is so big that I'm worried about what happens if we don't take it on. Somistine Stevens, a nursing professor at UW Tacoma, and Narayan Singh, a psychology doctoral student at Seattle Pacific University, are also co-authors on this paper.e teens will want nothing to do with art mindfulness. So we need to come at this in lots of different ways. We're going to need an army of people and a cornucopia of options."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190730092626.htm

Power of refocusing student stress in middle school transition

Sixth graders taught to see transition turmoil as 'normal, temporary' perform better in class

July 29, 2019

Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison

A new study by education researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that proactively addressing students' anxieties with clear and cost-effective messaging early in the school year can lead to a lasting record of higher grades, better attendance, and fewer behavioral problems for sixth graders embarking on their stressful first year of middle school.

Published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the journal of the National Academy of Sciences, the featured six-page paper by lead author Geoffrey D. Borman traces those benefits to a difference-making change in attitude and positive well-being reported by students after two brief, reassuring classroom activities, known as interventions.

Seasoned with peer success stories and designed to boost students' sense of belonging, the interventions, in the form of reading and writing exercises, are targeted to ease sixth graders' fears about "fitting in" at their new schools with a message that the angst they're feeling is "both temporary and normal," the paper says, and that help is available from school staff.

"It's saying, 'There's not something unusual or different about you, but this is just an issue that is difficult for a lot of kids when they make the transition to middle school,'" Borman says. "And that there's support available, both academically and socially. You'll make new friends, you'll discover that you fit in, and teachers and other adults in the building are there to help you."

Borman, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at UW?Madison and scientist in the School of Education's Wisconsin Center for Education Research, tested his hypothesis in a double-blind, randomized field trial involving 1,304 sixth graders at all 11 middle schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District, a diverse, K-12 system in the state's second biggest city.

Borman's research team found that, compared to a control group of sixth graders that received a neutral reading and writing activity, those in the treatment group experienced post-intervention effects that:

·     reduced disciplinary incidents by 34 percent.

·     increased attendance by 12 percent.

·     reduced the number of failing grades by 18 percent.

The paper spells out the pathway that led to these impacts, as borne out in school records and students' completion of surveys measuring their attitudes pre- and post-intervention.

"The kids internalized this message, they worried about tests less, they trusted their teachers more and sought help from adults," Borman says. "They also felt like they belonged in the school more, and because they felt more comfortable, they didn't act out as often and they showed up more. All of those things explain how this intervention (finally) affects kids' grades."

Borman and his team developed the intervention for the study based on prior work by social psychologists and brainstorming internally about what sixth graders need to know to feel better about fitting in socially and measuring up academically in middle school. They also tested the wording and presentation of their proposed messaging with student focus groups.

Existing literature makes clear that the transition to middle school is a high stakes one, Borman notes, with a marked and lasting decline in teens' academic performance often beginning with a rocky start in middle school. Educators know that the upheavals of moving to a new school are a bad fit with the increased self-awareness, heightened sensitivity to social acceptance and other physical and psychological changes that young teens already are experiencing.

Surprisingly, though, few interventions have been developed to address it, Borman says.

"This is a near-universal experience of young adolescents," he notes. "They're forced to make this transition from the more comfortable and familiar neighborhood elementary school, where they were under the care of mainly one teacher, to this much larger school with a larger number of teachers with whom they have to interact and new classmates from around the city."

That makes his team's proposed intervention all the more potentially valuable, especially given its low price tag -- mainly just printing costs -- and its ability to be scaled up districtwide easily.

"Rather than wholesale changes, or closing down all the middle schools, this intervention is a productive, targeted way to help kids more effectively and productively negotiate this transition, and for only a couple of dollars per kid," says Borman, who now is working on replication studies in two other districts. "Schools could easily replicate this kind of intervention across the country."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729164630.htm

Decades after a good-behavior program in grade school, adults report healthier, more successful lives

July 25, 2019

Science Daily/University of Washington

Researchers have found that the 'good life' in adulthood can start in grade school, by teaching parents and teachers to build stronger bonds with their children, and to help children form greater attachments to family and school.

What defines a "good life" in your 30s?

The exact answer probably depends on the person, but most people could agree on some general themes: good physical and mental health, solid relationships, and a steady job or good education. Being financially responsible and involvement in your community or civic life also help make life better.

Now University of Washington researchers have found that that "good life" in adulthood can start in grade school, by teaching parents and teachers to build stronger bonds with their children, and to help children form greater attachments to family and school. In a study of more than 800 adults throughout their 30s -- a group the researchers have followed since they were fifth-graders at Seattle elementary schools in 1985 -- the people who reported better health and socioeconomic status were, consistently, those whose parents and teachers had received lessons aimed at building stronger bonds with their children decades ago.

The researchers know of no other study of a program provided during elementary school that has followed participants for this long. Participants in the longitudinal study, known as the Seattle Social Development Project, have responded to surveys over the years about health, lifestyle, even the parenting of their own kids. Such research requires participants who will stick with a study over a big stretch of their lives, and nearly 90% of them have done just that.

The latest study involved coming up with broad measures of health and functioning in adulthood, surveying participants on specific issues related to those measures, and comparing participants whose teachers and parents received the bonding interventions during elementary school with those who didn't.

"These early elementary-school interventions seek to make kids' current lives better both in and out of school," said Rick Kosterman, a principal investigator with the Social Development Research Group, part of the UW School of Social Work. "But can we actually get kids on a different life trajectory that lasts beyond elementary school? In fact, we found enduring effects, where they're having an overall better experience in adulthood."

The prevention curriculum, called Raising Healthy Children, was created by UW social work professors J. David Hawkins and Richard Catalano. The lessons, for use by parents and teachers, focused on enhancing children's opportunities for forming healthy bonds in grades 1 through 6 and providing them with social skills and reinforcements. Teachers and parents of children in some classrooms of the 18 participating Seattle elementary schools used the curriculum in the 1980s, while those in other classrooms did not have access to it.

Many of the concepts are teaching tools and parenting tips that are well-known today: reinforcing positive behaviors; setting expectations for making responsible choices; and promoting positive social interaction at school through group projects and seating arrangements. Table groups in the classroom facilitate cooperation and learning from one another, for example, while at home, parents can "catch" their child being good and offer praise. With older children, parents can discuss issues such as smoking so that standards for healthy behavior are established before the teen years.

For the new follow-up study, published in late spring in Prevention Science, Kosterman devised a list of nine measurable aspects of life for people in their 30s: physical health; mental health; health maintenance behaviors (such as exercise and sleep); low sex-risk behavior; low rates of substance abuse; friendships and relationships; socioeconomic status (income, education, homeownership); responsibility (employment, managing finances); and civic engagement. The team then used surveys and in-person physical evaluations to determine participants' health and successful functioning in adult life.

In a comprehensive test of effects that combined all nine indicators of a healthy and successful adult life, those from intervention classrooms when in elementary school reported significantly better outcomes than those from comparison classrooms through their 30s. Specific areas of significant improvement included fewer symptoms of mental health disorders, more engagement in health maintenance behaviors, and overall better health and socioeconomic success. On the remaining measures, the intervention group scored better on each one, though not as dramatically, compared with the control group.

It's hard to attribute results that manifest decades later directly to the curriculum, said Hawkins, a co-author on the new study. But the changed behaviors of their teachers and parents during the elementary grades likely had a snowball effect, leading to positive relationships and responsible decision-making in adulthood.

"We worked to build healthier relationships -- we call it social bonding -- between teachers and students, and parents and children. The larger question was, if we do all these things, will it turn into a prosocial, healthy lifestyle?" Hawkins said. "We didn't know we would see these results so much later in life."

In analyzing the data, researchers examined factors that tend to negatively affect health outcomes: whether a child grew up in poverty, was raised by a single parent, or born to a teenager. Participants who were born to a mother under age 20 were found to have a substantially lower quality of life on several of the measures, especially in the areas of socioeconomic status, physical health and substance abuse. The intervention effects the researchers found persisted even after controlling for these effects of being born to a teen mother.

"The most important thing we've learned is to provide opportunities for kids to have positive social involvement," Hawkins said. "Make sure your kids have the opportunity to engage with you as a parent. Play with them, hold them; don't just sit on your phone when you're with them.

"When kids feel bonded to you, they're less likely to violate your expectations. And you are likely to be setting them up to have better lives long into the future."

Kosterman and his team have applied for funding to conduct further research on the group, now in their mid-40s, in midlife. "More studies are needed that test childhood interventions and follow participants through the 30s and beyond," Kosterman added, "but we are encouraged that these findings suggest that lasting change for important outcomes is possible."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190725150403.htm

How stimulant treatment prevents serious outcomes of ADHD

July 23, 2019

Science Daily/Massachusetts General Hospital

An analysis of three previous studies of children and young adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) quantifies for the first time the extent to which stimulant treatment reduces the development of mood disorders, school problems, conduct disorders, substance use disorders and other problems. The study led by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators is being published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"Our study documents that early treatment with stimulant medication has very strong protective effects against the development of serious, ADHD-associated functional complications like mood and anxiety disorders, conduct and oppositional defiant disorder, addictions, driving impairments and academic failure," says Joseph Biederman, MD, chief of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Adult ADHD Program at MGH and MassGeneral Hospital for Children. "In quantifying the improvement seen with stimulant treatment, it measures its potency in mitigating specific functional outcomes."

Previous studies of stimulant treatment for ADHD have had limitations, such as only investigating outcomes in boys or not calculating the magnitude of the protective effects of treatment. The current study determined the number needed to treat (NNT) statistic, often used to show the effectiveness of an intervention. As the title indicates, NNT reflects the number of individuals receiving a medication or other treatment needed to prevent a specific unwanted outcome -- the lower the NNT, the more effective the treatment.

The investigators analyzed data from three separate studies they had previously published to calculate the NNT needed to prevent specific outcomes. Two of these were long-term, prospective studies of children with and without ADHD -- one of boys, one of girls -- some of those diagnosed with ADHD were treated with stimulants, some were not. The third study was a randomized, double blind study of young adults with ADHD that compared their performance on a driving simulation upon entering the study with their performance after six weeks of treatment with either a stimulant medication or a placebo. Participants in the long-term studies averaged age 11 upon study entry and 20 at follow-up, and the current investigation focused only on those with ADHD. Participants in the driving study were ages 18 to 26.

The NNTs for the outcomes of interest were found to be quite low:

·     three participants with ADHD needed to be treated to prevent one from repeating a grade or developing conduct disorder, anxiety disorders or oppositional-defiant disorder.

·     four participants with ADHD needed to be treated to prevent one from developing major depression or experiencing an accident during the driving simulation.

·     five participants with ADHD needed to be treated to prevent one from developing bipolar disorder, six to prevent one from smoking cigarettes, and ten to prevent one from developing a substance use disorder.

Adjustments for the sex of participants and several other factors did not change the impact of treatment on those outcomes, except that the protection against substance use disorders was stronger in younger participants.

"Now we have the evidence allowing us to say that stimulant treatment of ADHD prevents the development of several very serious functional outcomes," says Biederman, a professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "However, the impact on other serious outcomes -- such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, suicide risk and employment success -- still needs to be investigated." (is your team planning any such studies?)

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190723085959.htm

Teacher incentive programs can improve student achievement

Programs that combine group and individual rewards can have good results and be cost-effective

July 23, 2019

Science Daily/University of California - Riverside

Teacher incentive pay programs with a hybrid structure involving both individual and group incentives can have good results. Multiple and understandable performance metrics, combined with regular feedback to teachers, may also make incentive programs more effective. Finally, rewards should be strong enough to entice teachers to adjust their teaching practices.

It seems like a great idea: Pay teachers more if their students learn more. But does it work?

Though teacher incentive programs are growing in popularity, no one knows for sure if they have a positive effect on student achievement, or if they are worth the extra expenditure of precious state education funds. A new study by an economist at the University of California, Riverside shows that, if properly designed, teacher incentive programs can both improve student achievement in some subjects and be cost-effective.

Studies of existing and experimental teacher incentive programs have shown mixed results, raising student test scores in some cases but not in others. Researchers think the discrepancy has to do with how programs are designed. Programs that reward teachers as a group encourage free-riding and do not improve student achievement. Programs that compensate teachers individually also have little to no effect on student achievement.

Ozkan Eren, an associate professor of economics at UC Riverside, examined a hybrid teacher incentive program that combines individual and group incentives called the Teacher Advancement Program, or TAP. One of the nation's largest education programs, TAP combines mentorship and ongoing professional growth with instructional accountability and performance-based compensation, often in high-need urban schools.

Clusters of less experienced teachers meet daily with highly skilled teachers to learn new instructional strategies and receive individual coaching. Teachers are evaluated multiple times during the school year over almost 20 different areas of effective instructional practice. Finally, teachers are eligible for additional compensation based on their performance in the classroom as well as their students' performance. Teachers receive separate bonuses for teaching practices and teaching outcomes.

Eren examined data obtained from the state of Louisiana for 40 schools that implemented TAP from 2005-11. He found no improvement in math test scores the first year, but steady and dramatic improvement by the third year. Social studies saw similar, although statistically insignificant test score improvement while English and science showed no improvement. He found evidence that other factors, such as changes in the composition of the teaching staff, were not responsible for the improvement. A survey of teachers also indicated that many had changed their teaching practices as a result of the program, contributing to its success.

The program's benefits exceeded the costs. The total average cost of TAP in Louisiana is roughly $350 to $400 per student. Eren used a standard formula to estimate future earnings based on the assumption that only a quarter of the test score gain reflects real learning and found that TAP could result in a rise in potential earnings of about $945,000 per school year for math. This was cost-effective even if only math test scores improved.

The study concluded that a hybrid structure involving both individual and group incentives can have good results. Multiple and understandable performance metrics, combined with regular feedback to teachers, may also make incentive programs more effective. Finally, rewards should be strong enough to entice teachers to adjust their teaching practices.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190723104114.htm

School readiness impaired in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms

July 22, 2019

Science Daily/Stanford Medicine

Preschoolers with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are much less likely than other children their age to be ready for school, new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found.

The study, which will be published online July 21 in Pediatrics, is among the first to comprehensively examine school readiness in young children with ADHD. Several previous studies have addressed academic difficulties in school-aged children with ADHD, but few studies have investigated whether these children start school behind their peers.

"We were pretty surprised at the proportion of kids within the ADHD group who were not school-ready," said the study's senior author, Irene Loe, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics. Seventy-nine percent of children with ADHD had impaired school readiness compared with 13 percent of children in a control group, the study found. "It's a really high number," Loe said.

The study's lead author is Hannah Perrin, MD, who was a fellow in developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Stanford when the research was done.

The main symptoms of ADHD -- inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity -- can be normal in toddlers, and these behaviors sometimes persist into the preschool years even in children who will not ultimately meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. This makes the disorder difficult to diagnose in preschoolers. "A lot of these kids are not identified until they're really having a lot of trouble in the school setting," Loe said.

The study included 93 children, all of whom were 4 or 5 years old. Nearly all had attended or were currently enrolled in preschool, and some were enrolled in kindergarten. The ADHD group included 45 children who previously had been diagnosed with the disorder or were identified by their parents as having significant levels of ADHD symptoms. The comparison group consisted of 48 children without ADHD. The researchers tested all the children to confirm their levels of ADHD symptoms.

The researchers conducted tests and administered parent questionnaires to measure five areas of the children's functioning: physical well-being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches to learning; language development; and cognition and general knowledge. "Approaches to learning" included measures of executive function, which is a person's ability to prioritize actions and tasks and exercise self-control to regulate behavior and meet long-term goals.

Children were considered impaired in an area of functioning if their assessment scores in that area were more than one standard deviation worse than the mean score for their age. They were considered unready for school if they were impaired in two or more of the five areas of functioning measured in the study.

Struggling in 4 of 5 areas

Children with ADHD were no more likely than their peers to show impairment in the area of cognition and general knowledge, the study found. This area includes IQ and, importantly, knowledge people traditionally associate with kindergarten readiness, such as being able to identify letters, numbers, shapes and colors.

But children with ADHD were much more likely than their peers to struggle in all four other areas measured. They were 73 times more likely than children without ADHD to be impaired in approaches to learning; more than seven times as likely to have impaired social and emotional development; six times as likely to have impaired language development; and three times as likely to have impaired physical well-being and motor development.

The assessment was broader than other school-readiness measures researchers have used in the past, Loe said. "We looked at many aspects of the child more comprehensively," she said, adding that approaches to learning or executive function as a component of school readiness has been especially under-studied.

The findings suggest that identifying and helping preschoolers with significant levels of ADHD symptoms could reduce their struggles in elementary school.

"We need to help general pediatricians figure out how they can flag kids who might be at risk for school failure," Loe said. Families also need better access to behavioral therapy for preschoolers with ADHD, which is not always available or covered by insurance, even though it is recommended as the first-line ADHD treatment for this age group, she added.

"Thinking about how we can provide services for young children with ADHD or who are at high risk for the diagnosis is really important," she said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190722085826.htm

Why two out of three babies are cradled on the left

July 16, 2019

Science Daily/Ruhr-University Bochum

Over two thirds of all people prefer to carry a baby in their left arm. The figure is as high as three quarters for women, and the same also applies to right-handed people. This is the result of an analysis of 40 studies from the past 60 years.

The experts assume that one reason for this preference is that emotions are primarily processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, which is linked to the left side of the body. The team led by lead author Julian Packheiser reports in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews on 26 June 2019.

First study from 1960

International researchers have been investigating since 1960 whether and why people have a preferred side when cradling a baby. Some studies have demonstrated a preference, others have not. "In order to explain the effect, we looked for all of the studies we could find on this topic," says Julian Packheiser. The Bochum-based researchers included 40 studies in their analysis.

They ultimately found that between 66 and 72 per cent of all people hold an infant with their left arm. For right-handed people, the figure is even higher at 74 per cent, while it is only 61 per cent for left-handed people. The ratio is similar for men and women: 64 per cent of all men and 73 per cent of all women hold a baby with their left arm. "There may, of course, be links between gender and handedness," explains Packheiser. After all, men are 23 per cent more likely to be left-handed than women. "Unfortunately, this link has not been considered in any study," says the researcher.

Emotions can be crucial

There has been much speculation about the reasons for the side preference. Perhaps right-handed people are only holding the baby on the left so that they have their right, more dexterous hand free. However, since emotions are primarily processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, people may also tend to move their baby into their left visual field, which is linked to the right hemisphere of the brain. This could be especially true for mothers who have already established a strong emotional bond with their child during pregnancy.

As regards men, the researchers from Bochum are comparing the results of the analysis with their own study on hugs. During this study, they discovered that men who are uncomfortable hugging other men tend to hug each other from the left because of the strong negative emotions. "Further studies would have to take into account the emotional context of holding babies," says Julian Packheiser.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190716095547.htm

Preterm babies are less likely to form romantic relationships in adulthood

July 12, 2019

Science Daily/University of Warwick

Adults who were born pre-term (under 37 weeks gestation) are less likely to have a romantic relationship, a sexual partner and experience parenthood than those born full term. The meta-analysis by researchers at the University of Warwick with data from up to 4.4 million adult participants showed that those born preterm are 28% less likely to ever be in a romantic relationship.

A meta-analysis conducted by researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick has published 'Association of Preterm Birth/Low Birth Weight with Romantic Partnership, Sexual Intercourse and Parenthood in Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis' in JAMA Network Open today, 12th of July. They have found that adults who were born pre-term are less likely to form romantic relationships than full-term peers.

In the analysis 4.4 million adult participants those born preterm were 28% less likely to form romantic relationships and 22% less likely to become parents, when compared to those born full term.

Those studies that looked at sexual relations of pre-term children found that they were 2.3 times less likely to ever have a sexual partner when compared to full terms.

Those adults who were born very (<32 weeks gestation) or extremely preterm <28 weeks gestation) had even lower chances of experiencing sexual relationships, finding a romantic partner or having children at the same age as those born full term, with the extremely pre-term born adults being 3.2 times less likely to ever having sexual relations.

Close and intimate relationships have been shown to increase happiness and well-being both physically and mentally. However, studies also show that forming those relationships is harder for pre-term born adults, as they are usually timid, socially withdrawn and low in risk-taking and fun seeking.

Despite having fewer close relationships, this meta-analysis also revealed that when preterm born adults had friends or a partner, the quality of these relationships was at least as good in preterms compared to full term born adults.

First author of the paper, Dr Marina Goulart de Mendonça from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick comments:

"The finding that adults who were born pre-term are less likely to have a partner, to have sex and become parents does not appear to be explained by a higher rate of disability. Rather preterm born children have been previously found to have poorer social interactions in childhood that make it harder for them to master social transitions such as finding a partner, which in turn is proven to boost your wellbeing."

The senior author, Professor Dieter Wolke, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick adds:

"Those caring for preterm children including parent's health professionals and teachers should be more aware of the important role of social development and social integration for pre-term children. As preterm children tend to be more timid and shy, supporting them making friends and be integrated in their peer group will help them to find romantic partners, have sexual relationships and to become parents. All of which enhances wellbeing."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190712120217.htm

Early puberty in girls may be 'big bang theory' for migraine

July 11, 2019

Science Daily/University of Cincinnati

Adolescent girls who reach puberty at an earlier age may also have a greater chance of developing migraine headaches, according to new research from investigators at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.

"We know that the percentage of girls and boys who have migraine is pretty much the same until menstruation begins," says Vincent Martin, MD, professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute. "When the menstrual period starts in girls, the prevalence goes way up, but what our data suggests is that it occurs even before that."

The findings will be presented by Martin at the American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting Saturday, July 13, in Philadelphia.

Nationally, about 10 percent of school age children suffer from migraine, according to the Migraine Research Foundation (MRF). As adolescence approaches, the incidence of migraine increases rapidly in girls, and by age 17, about 8 percent of boys and 23 percent of girls have experienced migraine, the MRF reports.

Martin and a team of researchers were part of a longitudinal study looking at 761 adolescent girls from sites in Cincinnati, New York and the San Francisco Bay area. The girls ranged in age from 8 to 20 and study took place over a 10-year period beginning in 2004. Girls enrolled in the study at age 8-10 were examined during study visit every six to 12 months. Researchers determined when they showed initial signs of thelarche (breast development), pubarche (pubic hair growth) and menarche (start of menstrual periods).

Girls answered a headache questionnaire to find out if they suffered from migraine headache, no migraine or probable migraine -- the latter is defined as meeting all the diagnostic criteria for migraine except one. The average age at which they completed the survey was 16.

Of those surveyed, 85 girls (11 percent) were diagnosed with migraine headache while 53 (7%) had probable migraine and 623 (82%) had no migraine, according to Martin, also a UC Health physician specializing in migraine.

Researchers found that girls with migraine had an earlier age of thelarche (breast development) and the onset of menarche (menstrual periods) than those with no migraine. On average breast development occurred four months earlier in those with migraine while menstruation started five months earlier. There was no difference in the age of pubarche (pubic hair development) between those with migraine and no migraine.

"There was a 25 percent increase in the chance of having migraine for each year earlier that a girl experienced either thelarche or menarche," says Susan Pinney, PhD, professor in the UC Department of Environmental Health and lead investigator on the study. "This suggests a strong relationship between early puberty and the development of migraine in adolescent girls."

The age of onset of thelarche, pubarche or menarche did not differ between those with probable migraine and no migraine, says Pinney.

Previous research suggests that migraine often starts with the onset of menstrual cycles during menarche in adolescent girls. But this study looks at earlier stages of puberty such as thelarche and pubarche, explains Martin.

"To suggest the origins of migraine may occur actually before menstrual periods begin is pretty novel," says Martin. "At each of these stages, different hormones are starting to appear in girls. During pubarche, testosterone and androgens are present, and during thelarche, there is the very first exposure to estrogen. Menarche is when a more mature hormonal pattern emerges. Our study implies that the very first exposure to estrogen could be the starting point for migraine in some adolescent girls. It may be the Big Bang Theory of migraine."

So is there anything that one can do to prevent an early puberty?

"Studies suggest that childhood obesity is associated with early puberty," says Martin, who is also president of the National Headache Foundation. "Keeping your weight down might prevent the early onset of puberty. Future studies will need to be done to determine if strategy will decrease also the likelihood of developing migraine."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190711122700.htm