The case for hope: Educating as if survival matters
May 2, 2018
Science Daily/Cornell University
The world is facing ever-more-dire warnings from scientists about the faltering health of the environment and the negative consequences for humans, habitats, and the creatures with whom we share the Earth. Still, a new article suggests there's reason for hope. It boils down to what we teach today's young people.
"It would be easy to throw up our hands in despair," says article author Nancy Trautmann, education director at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. "The problems are just so big."
Trautmann and co-author Michael P. Gilmore at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, write that teachers need to get their students fired up about investigating environmental issues on their own, collecting and analyzing data, and participating in citizen science and conservation action. They believe that taking such direct actions will counteract feelings of hopelessness and lead students to question how their own lifestyles, goals, and assumptions may be harming the planet and how they can take corrective action.
"One way to accomplish this is by connecting deeply with people from drastically different cultures," says Trautmann, "especially those who live in more direct connection with the natural world through more sustainable lifestyles in places such as the Amazon rainforest." Trautmann and Gilmore are collaborating with other educators and the Maijuna indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon to develop curriculum to engage students at the K-12 and college undergraduate levels in this type of work.
The authors conclude that education for sustainability must build on the creative tension between anguish and empowerment, capturing students' attention while inspiring a sense of responsibility to build a better tomorrow.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180502152908.htm
To improve future relationship with your kids, turn up the music
May 1, 2018
Science Daily/University of Arizona
Children who grow up listening to music with their parents report having better quality relationships with their moms and dads when they reach young adulthood, researchers found.
If you're a parent whose teenagers spend family road trips with earbuds firmly in place, you may want to encourage them to unplug, then turn the car radio to something the whole family can enjoy.
It just might do wonders for your future relationship with your son or daughter, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.
Researchers found that young men and women who shared musical experiences with their parents during childhood -- and especially during adolescence -- report having better relationships with their moms and dads as they enter young adulthood.
"If you have little kids, and you play music with them, that helps you be closer to them, and later in life will make you closer to them," said study co-author Jake Harwood, professor and head of the UA Department of Communication. "If you have teenagers and you can successfully listen to music together or share musical experiences with them, that has an even stronger effect on your future relationship and the child's perception of the relationship in emerging adulthood."
Researchers surveyed a group of young adults, average age 21, about the frequency with which they engaged with their parents, as children, in activities such as listening to music together, attending concerts together or playing musical instruments together. Participants reported on their memories of experiences they had between ages 8 and 13 and age 14 and older.
They also shared how they perceive their relationship with their parents now.
While shared musical experiences at all age levels were associated with better perceptions of parent-child relationship quality in young adulthood, the effect was most pronounced for shared musical experiences that took place during adolescence.
"With young kids, musical activity is fairly common -- singing lullabies, doing nursery rhymes," Harwood said. "With teenagers, it's less common, and when things are less common you might find bigger effects, because when these things happen, they're super important."
The research, published in the Journal of Family Communication, started as an undergraduate project by Sandi Wallace, who was a student in Harwood's class in music and communication and is the lead author of the study.
"I was interested in seeing if music, with all of its power and influence on society today, could perhaps influence and positively affect the parent-child relationship," said Wallace, who earned her bachelor's degree in communication from the UA in December and will start the communication master's program in the fall.
For their study, Wallace and Harwood controlled for other ways children spent time with their parents growing up, and were able to determine that music seems to have a unique effect.
They say two factors may help explain the relationship between shared musical experiences and better relationship quality.
This first is coordination.
"Synchronization, or coordination, is something that happens when people play music together or listen to music together," Harwood said. "If you play music with your parent or listen to music with your parents, you might do synchronized activities like dancing or singing together, and data shows that that causes you to like one another more."
The other way music may strengthen relationship quality is through empathy, Wallace said.
"A lot of recent research has focused on how emotions can be evoked through music, and how that can perpetuate empathy and empathic responses toward your listening partner," she said.
Harwood and Wallace found evidence that both coordination and empathy play a role, although coordination appears to be more influential, based on study participants' responses to questions measuring their empathy for their parents as well as how in sync they feel with their parents when working to complete a task together.
Important for parents to note is that shared musical experiences with their children don't have to be complicated. In fact, simple activities such as listening to music in the car together may have an even greater impact than more formal musical experiences such as playing in a band together, according to the researchers' findings, although their study sample of participants who played musical instruments with their parents was limited.
Future research should look more closely at the differences between formal and informal musical experiences, and also consider how music may affect the quality of other types of relationships, including romantic partnerships, Wallace said.
For now, Wallace and Harwood urge parents to increase their musical interactions with their kids -- especially their teens -- and even empower them to control the radio dial every now and then.
"For people who are just becoming parents or have small children, they may be thinking long term about what they want their relationship with their kids to be," Wallace said. "It's not to say that this is going to be the prescription for a perfect relationship, but any parent wants to find ways to improve their relationship with their child and make sure that it's maintained long term, and this may be one way it can be done."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501193524.htm
EEG signals accurately predict autism as early as 3 months of age
Early diagnosis by 'digital biomarkers' may allow early intervention, better outcomes
May 1, 2018
Science Daily/Boston Children's Hospital
Autism is challenging to diagnose, especially early in life. A new study shows that inexpensive EEGs, which measure brain electrical activity, accurately predict or rule out autism spectrum disorder in infants, even in some as young as three months.
"EEGs are low-cost, non-invasive and relatively easy to incorporate into well-baby checkups," says Charles Nelson, PhD, director of the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital and co-author of the study. "Their reliability in predicting whether a child will develop autism raises the possibility of intervening very early, well before clear behavioral symptoms emerge. This could lead to better outcomes and perhaps even prevent some of the behaviors associated with ASD."
The study analyzed data from the Infant Sibling Project (now called the Infant Screening Project), a collaboration between Boston Children's Hospital and Boston University that seeks to map early development and identify infants at risk for developing ASD and/or language and communication difficulties.
William Bosl, PhD, associate professor of Health Informatics and Clinical Psychology at the University of San Francisco, also affiliated with the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) at Boston Children's Hospital, has been working for close to a decade on algorithms to interpret EEG signals, the familiar squiggly lines generated by electrical activity in the brain. Bosl's research suggests that even an EEG that appears normal contains "deep" data that reflect brain function, connectivity patterns and structure that can be found only with computer algorithms.
The Infant Screening Project provided Bosl with EEG data from 99 infants considered at high risk for ASD (having an older sibling with the diagnosis) and 89 low-risk controls (without an affected sibling). The EEGs were taken at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of age by fitting a net over the babies' scalps with 128 sensors as the babies sat in their mothers' laps. (An experimenter blew bubbles to distract them.) All babies also underwent extensive behavioral evaluations with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), an established clinical diagnostic tool.
Bosl's computational algorithms analyzed six different components (frequencies) of the EEG (high gamma, gamma, beta, alpha, theta, delta), using a variety of measures of signal complexity. These measures can reflect differences in how the brain is wired and how it processes and integrates information, says Bosl.
The algorithms predicted a clinical diagnosis of ASD with high specificity, sensitivity and positive predictive value, exceeding 95 percent at some ages.
"The results were stunning," Bosl says. "Our predictive accuracy by 9 months of age was nearly 100 percent. We were also able to predict ASD severity, as indicated by the ADOS Calibrated Severity Score, with quite high reliability, also by 9 months of age."
Bosl believes that the early differences in signal complexity, drawing upon multiple aspects of brain activity, fit with the view that autism is a disorder that begins during the brain's early development but can take different trajectories. In other words, an early predisposition to autism may be influenced by other factors along the way.
"We believe that infants who have an older sibling with autism may carry a genetic liability for developing autism," says Nelson. "This increased risk, perhaps interacting with another genetic or environmental factor, leads some infants to develop autism -- although clearly not all, since we know that four of five "infant sibs" do not develop autism."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501085140.htm
Proximity to books and adult support enhance children's learning opportunities
April 30, 2018
Science Daily/New York University
An innovative book distribution program that provides free children's books in low-income neighborhoods, combined with supportive adults who encourage reading, can boost children's literacy and learning opportunities, finds a new study.
"Both physical and psychological proximity to books matter when it comes to children's early literacy skills," said Susan B. Neuman, professor of childhood and literacy education at NYU Steinhardt and the study's lead author. "Children need access to books in their neighborhoods, as well as adults who create an environment that inspires reading."
Reading aloud to children has been touted by experts as a key to developing skills early in life that translate to later academic success. In fact, a 2014 position statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics called for parents to read aloud to their infants starting from birth.
At the heart of these recommendations is the assumption that all children have the opportunity to learn from a selection of high quality, age-appropriate books. However, a recent NYU Steinhardt study of three major cities shows that access to books remains a significant barrier to reading with children; many poor neighborhoods were found to be "book deserts," or communities with limited to no access to children's books.
Other prior research shows that creating both physical and psychological proximity to books helps get them into the hands of children. For example, creating reading corners in classrooms that are accessible and attractive encourages children to engage with books. From a psychological perspective, people help shape the setting for a child's literacy development through, for instance, reading to children or engaging them in rich dialogue around books.
The current study, funded by JetBlue and published in the journal Urban Education, examines a community-wide effort to promote greater access to books through a book distribution program in neighborhoods identified as "book deserts." Four low-income neighborhoods -- three in Detroit and one in Washington, D.C. -- received with vending machines that dispensed free children's books over the summer months, a time when children traditionally have less access to books.
The vending machines held children's books, provided by Random House Children's Books, in slots arranged by age ranges. Similar to a snack machine, an individual could review the selections, press a button, and a book would be dispensed free of charge. Book titles were selected to reflect a variety of genres, including fiction and nonfiction, as well as multicultural themes and authors. Selections changed every two weeks to encourage people to return to the machine.
The study was designed to capture how, why, and in what ways these machines were used. Neuman and her coauthor, Jillian Knapczyk, used several measures to examine how greater access to books and adult support for book reading functioned within these communities.
The researchers studied the vending machine sites, the traffic patterns around them, and conducted brief interviews with individuals using the machines. They also assessed children's school readiness skills before the vending machines were installed and again at the end of the summer, and had parents complete questionnaires. They sought to determine the influence of adult support on children -- for instance, children who visited the vending machines with a teacher and independently visited with their parents or grandparents were identified as receiving high adult support.
The researchers found that providing greater access through close physical proximity to books and greater adult support for book reading enhanced children's opportunities to learn.
Throughout the summer, the vending machines were heavily used, distributing more than 64,000 books over the eight-week period -- 26,200 to unique, one-time users and 38,235 to return users. Often two or three books were selected in a single visit.
"Our study provides a vivid counterpoint to the view that low-income parents are less inclined and less interested in their children's early education. This study challenges that view and provides an alternative scenario, recognizing that providing access to resources -- reaching families where they are -- and encouraging adult support may be a key enabler toward enhancing parent engagement and children's early literacy development," Neuman said.
Children who had the highest adult support -- visiting a machine with both a parent and with a teacher from the childcare center -- seemed to thrive and slightly gain throughout the summer. They saw a boost in their school readiness skills, and were able to recognize more book titles (suggesting greater exposure to books) than other children with less adult support.
In analyzing traffic patterns, the researchers found that an average of 180 people passed by a vending machine over a two-hour period, suggesting that the machines were highly visible. Despite the sizable traffic flow, not all passersby took advantage of the machines: 60 percent used them, while 40 percent did not.
Interviews revealed that those who used the machines enjoyed reading, and appreciated the opportunity to have books more accessible in the community. Parents and grandparents were highly influential in encouraging children to select books. Those who didn't select a book most often cited a lack of interest in reading. In other words, the physical proximity of books did not convert non-readers into readers, and changes in the environment alone may not be enough to motivate those who do not enjoy reading.
"Our findings suggest that only having one side of the equation -- access to books or adult support -- is insufficient. Rather, both are necessary. Without access to books, one cannot read to children; without adult supports, children cannot be read to," said Neuman.
JetBlue's Soar with Reading program has donated nearly $3 million worth of books to children in need, including in the communities where this study was conducted.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180430160455.htm
Brains of young people with severe behavioral problems are 'wired differently'
April 30, 2018
Science Daily/University of Bath
Research published today (Tuesday 1 May) has revealed new clues which might help explain why young people with the most severe forms of antisocial behaviour struggle to control and regulate their emotions, and might be more susceptible to developing anxiety or depression as a result.
The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, used neuroimaging methods to investigate young people with the condition 'Conduct Disorder' -- typified by symptoms that range from lying and truancy, through to physical violence and weapon use at its more extreme end.
Researchers from the universities of Bath (UK), Cambridge (UK) and the California Institute of Technology (USA) wanted to understand more about the wiring of the brain in adolescents with Conduct Disorder, and link connectivity to the severity of Conduct Disorder and 'psychopathic traits' -- the term used to define deficits in guilt, remorse and empathy.
Through functional MRI scans of young people with Conduct Disorder as well as typically-developing teens, the team analysed the amygdala -- a key part of the brain involved in understanding others' emotions -- and how it communicates with other parts of the brain.
Previous studies by the research team suggested that adolescents with Conduct Disorder find it difficult to recognise angry and sad facial expressions, and so the purpose of this experiment was to establish what goes wrong at a brain level that could explain this.
They found that youths with Conduct Disorder showed significantly lower amygdala responses to angry and sad faces. Patients with amygdala damage show a range of problems such as reading others' emotions and, given the similarities in behaviour between these patients and youths with Conduct Disorder, scientists had previously hypothesised that the amygdala might be damaged or dysfunctional in some way.
When the researchers analysed connectivity between the amygdala and the brain's prefrontal cortex -- the region responsible for decision making and behavioural inhibition -- they found surprising clues that could explain why certain groups of youths with Conduct Disorder find it difficult to control their emotions.
Contrary to previous thinking, youths with Conduct Disorder and high levels of psychopathic traits showed normal connectivity between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, whereas those with Conduct Disorder alone showed abnormal connectivity between these brain areas.
Dr Graeme Fairchild, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, explained: "These results may explain why young people with Conduct Disorder, but without psychopathic traits, find it difficult to control their emotions -- especially strong negative emotions like anger.
The parts of the brain that are normally involved in regulating the emotional parts of the brain appear less able to do so in the youths with Conduct Disorder alone. Over time, this could lead to them developing comorbid mental health problems like depression or anxiety, whereas youths with psychopathic traits might be protected from developing such problems.
"This study shows that there may be important differences between youths with high and low levels of psychopathic traits in the way the brain is wired. The findings could have clinical implications, because they suggest that psychological treatments that enhance emotion regulation abilities are likely to be more effective in the youths with Conduct Disorder alone, than in the psychopathic subgroup."
As an under-researched and often misunderstood condition, the team now hope their findings can feed into more targeted interventions to better help young people with Conduct Disorder and their families. This could involve neurofeedback methods which train young people to control activity in specific parts of their brains using MRI.
They are currently running a large-scale European study -- investigating sex differences in antisocial behaviour to investigate whether boys and girls with Conduct Disorder show similar or different brain abnormalities relative to typically developing boys and girls.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180430212356.htm
Youth tackle football participation linked to earlier onset of cognitive and emotional symptoms
April 30, 2018
Science Daily/Boston University School of Medicine
Starting to play tackle football before age 12 could lead to earlier onset of cognitive and emotional symptoms among athletes who were diagnosed with CTE and other brain diseases postmortem, according to a new study.
The findings, from researchers at VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS) and Boston University (BU) School of Medicine, found that among 211 football players who were diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease CTE after death, those who began tackle football before age 12 had an earlier onset of cognitive, behavior, and mood symptoms by an average of 13 years.
Every one year younger that the individuals began to play tackle football predicted earlier onset of cognitive problems by 2.4 years and behavioral and mood problems by 2.5 years. This study included 246 deceased football players who were part of the UNITE (Understanding Neurologic Injury and Traumatic Encephalopathy) study and who had donated their brains for neuropathological examination to the VA-BU-CLF (Concussion Legacy Foundation) Brain Bank. Of those 246, 211 were diagnosed with CTE (with several having evidence of additional brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's) and 35 had no evidence of CTE, though several had evidence of other neuropathology. Of the 211 with CTE, 76 were amateur football players and 135 played at the professional level.
"Youth exposure to repetitive head impacts in tackle football may reduce one's resiliency to brain diseases later in life, including, but not limited to CTE," said corresponding author Ann McKee, MD, chief of Neuropathology at Boston VA Healthcare System, and Director of BU's CTE Center. "It makes common sense that children, whose brains are rapidly developing, should not be hitting their heads hundreds of times per season."
It is noteworthy that, although age of first exposure to tackle football was associated with early onset of cognitive and emotional problems, it was not associated with worse overall severity of CTE pathology, Alzheimer's disease pathology or other pathology. In addition, earlier symptom onset was not restricted to those diagnosed with CTE. The relationship was similar for the former football players without CTE who had cognitive or behavioral and mood changes that may have been related to other diseases.
"Younger age of first exposure to tackle football appears to increase vulnerability to the effects of CTE and other brain diseases or conditions. That is, it influences when cognitive, behavioral, and mood symptoms begin. It is comparable to research showing that children exposed to neurotoxins (e.g., lead) during critical periods of neurodevelopment can have earlier onset and more severe long-term neurological effects. While participation in sports has important health and social benefits, it is important to consider contact and collision sports separately and balance those benefits against potential later life neurological risks," said Michael Alosco, PhD, an assistant professor of Neurology at BU School of Medicine and an investigator at the BU Alzheimer's Disease Center and the BU CTE Center.
The study extends research from the BU CTE Center that previously linked youth tackle football with worse later-life cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances in living former amateur and professional tackle football players, as well as changes in brain structures (determined by MRI scans) in former NFL players.
Data were collected by conducting telephone interviews with family members and/or friends to determine the absence or presence, and age of onset, of cognitive, behavior and mood symptoms. The interviewers did not know the neuropathological findings and the neuropathologists did not know the individuals' histories.
Although this study supports the idea that there may be long-term consequences associated with experiencing repeated hits to the head during childhood, the researchers stress that it is unclear if their findings generalize to the broader tackle football population and that much more research, particularly prospective longitudinal studies, is needed to understand the association between youth football and long-term consequences. The findings appear online in the journal Annals of Neurology.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180430131950.htm
Study explores link between curiosity and school achievement
Promoting curiosity may be a valuable approach to foster early academic achievement, particularly for children in poverty, a new analysis finds.
April 30, 2018
Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
The more curious the child, the more likely he or she may be to perform better in school -- regardless of economic background -- suggests a study.
Researchers know that certain factors give children a leg up when it comes to school performance. Family income, access to early childhood programs and home environment rank high on the list.
Now, researchers are looking at another potentially advantageous element: curiosity.
The more curious the child, the more likely he or she may be to perform better in school -- regardless of economic background -- suggests a new study published in Pediatric Research.
Researchers at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and the Center for Human Growth and Development analyzed data from 6,200 kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort. The cohort is a nationally representative, population-based study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that has followed thousands of children since birth in 2001.
The U-M team measured curiosity based on a behavioral questionnaire from parents and assessed reading and math achievement among kindergartners.
The most surprising association offered new insight: Children with lower socioeconomic status generally have lower achievement than peers, but those who were characterized as curious performed similarly on math and reading assessments as children from higher income families.
"Our results suggest that while higher curiosity is associated with higher academic achievement in all children, the association of curiosity with academic achievement is greater in children with low socioeconomic status," says lead researcher Prachi Shah, M.D., a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Mott and an assistant research scientist at U-M's Center for Human Growth and Development.
The findings present an opportunity for families, educators and policymakers.
"Curiosity is characterized by the joy of discovery and the desire for exploration and is characterized by the motivation to seek answers to the unknown," Shah says. "Promoting curiosity in children, especially those from environments of economic disadvantage may be an important, underrecognized way to address the achievement gap."
Cultivating curious kids
When it comes to nurturing curiosity, the quality of the early environment matters.
Children who grow up in financially secure conditions tend to have greater access to resources to encourage reading and math academic achievement, whereas those from poorer communities are more likely to be raised in less stimulating environments, Shah notes. In less-stimulating situations, the drive for academic achievement is related to a child's motivation to learn, or curiosity, she explains.
Parents of children enrolled in the longitudinal study were interviewed during home visits; the children were assessed when they were nine months and two years old, and again when they entered preschool and kindergarten. Reading levels, math skills and behavior were measured in these children when they reached kindergarten in 2006 and 2007.
U-M researchers factored in another important known contributor to academic achievement known as "effortful control," or the ability to stay focused in class. They found that even independent of those skills, children who were identified as curious fared well in math and reading.
"These findings suggest that even if a child manifests low effortful control, they can still have more optimal academic achievement, if they have high curiosity" Shah says. "Currently, most classroom interventions have focused on the cultivation of early effortful control and a child's self-regulatory capacities, but our results suggest that an alternate message, focused on the importance of curiosity, should also be considered."
Shah notes that fostering early academic achievement in young children has been a longstanding goal for pediatricians and policymakers, with a growing awareness of the role social-emotional skills in school readiness.
And while more study is needed, similar efforts to boost curiosity could one day follow.
"While our results suggest that the promotion of curiosity may be a valuable intervention target to foster early academic achievement, with particular advantage for children in poverty, further research is needed to help us better understand how to develop interventions to cultivate curiosity in young children.
"Promoting curiosity is a foundation for early learning that we should be emphasizing more when we look at academic achievement."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180430075616.htm
More than 1 in 20 US children and teens have anxiety or depression
April 24, 2018
Science Daily/Wolters Kluwer Health
About 2.6 million American children and adolescents had diagnosed anxiety and/or depression in 2011-12, reports an analysis of nationwide data in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
The number of children with diagnosed anxiety -- but not depression -- has increased in recent years, according to the new report. The lead author was Rebecca H. Bitsko, PhD, of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Study Shows High Rates and Impact of Anxiety and Depression in American Youth
The researchers analyzed data from the nationally representative National Survey of Children's Health for the years 2003, 2007, and 2011-12. In the most recent year, more than 65,000 parents were asked about problems with anxiety and/or depression (diagnosed by a doctor or other healthcare professional) in their children aged six to 17 years.
In the 2011-12 survey, 5.3 percent of children and teens had current anxiety or depression. The prevalence of current anxiety increased significantly between surveys: from 3.5 percent in 2007 to 4.1 percent in 2011-12. By comparison, the prevalence of current depression showed no significant change: 2.5 and 2.7 percent, respectively.
"These estimates correspond with approximately two million children aged six to 17 years in 2011-12 with current anxiety, 1.4 million children with current depression, 2.6 million with current anxiety or depression, and 760,000 children with both," Dr. Bitsko and coauthors write. The percentage of children who had ever been diagnosed with anxiety or depression increased from 5.4 percent in 2003 to 8.4 percent in 2011-12.
Children with anxiety and/or depression were more likely to have other diagnosed chronic health conditions as well, including neurobehavioral disorders and obesity. Even after adjustment for other health problems, the presence of anxiety or depression was associated with increased use of healthcare services, more problems at school, and higher levels of aggravation for parents.
"Despite significant healthcare needs, nearly 20 percent of children with anxiety or depression did not receive mental health treatment in the past year," Dr. Bitsko and coauthors write. Only about one-third of the children with anxiety or depression had a "medical home" -- that is, a usual source of healthcare with referrals and care coordination, if needed.
Based on repeated surveys of a nationwide sample of parents, the study provides new information on the burden of anxiety and depression among US children and adolescents. The reasons for the increase in parent-reported anxiety are unclear. This trend may reflect improved identification or increased use of mental health services, or an increase in the number of children experiencing anxiety symptoms, the authors suggest.
Based on repeated surveys in nationally representative samples, the study provides new insights into the prevalence and burden of anxiety and depression in children and teens. The researchers note that the national estimates are lower than data from community-based studies, "suggesting that child anxiety may be under-diagnosed."
"Children with anxiety and depression may have needs that go beyond diagnosis and mental health treatment," Dr. Bitsko comments, "Anxiety and depression are associated with school problems, parenting stress, and unmet medical needs. Parents, healthcare providers, and teachers can look for ways to support children with anxiety and depression in all areas of the child's life." The researchers emphasize the need for further research to identify factors associated with the increased prevalence of anxiety, and to evaluate how improved care coordination and other strategies can improve the health and well-being of children with anxiety and depression.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424184119.htm
Depressed, inactive and out of work -- study reveals lives of lonely young adults
April 24, 2018
Science Daily/King's College London
New research shows that lonely young adults are more likely to experience mental health problems and more likely to be out of work than their peers. The study gives a detailed snapshot of the lives of lonely 18-year-olds and shows how loneliness goes hand-in-hand with a wide range of problems in health and wellbeing.
Loneliness is strongly linked with premature death in old age, to a similar degree as smoking or obesity. With increasing attention on loneliness as a major public health issue, the study highlights the importance of early intervention to prevent young adults being trapped in loneliness as they age.
Over 2000 British 18-year-olds were asked questions such as 'how often do you feel you lack companionship?' and 'how often do you feel left out?', and were interviewed about their mental and physical health, lifestyle habits, education and employment.
Loneliness was common among young adults: the researchers found a quarter of study participants reported feeling lonely some of the time and approximately 7% reported feeling lonely often. These findings mirror a recent ONS survey which found that loneliness was more common among 16 to 24-year-olds than any other age group.
'It's often assumed that loneliness is an affliction of old age, but it is also very common among younger people,' said lead author Dr Timothy Matthews from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London. 'Unlike many other risk factors, loneliness does not discriminate: it affects people from all walks of life; men and women, rich and poor.'
Lonely young adults were more than twice as likely to have mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and to have self-harmed or attempted suicide. They were also more likely to have seen their GP or a counsellor for mental health problems in the past year.
In addition, lonelier young adults were more likely to be out of work and education and were less confident about their career prospects. One in five people in the loneliest 10% of the sample were not in education, employment or training, compared to one in ten non-lonely young people.
Lonelier young people were also less likely to be physically active, more likely to smoke, and more likely to use technology compulsively (at the expense of other activities and obligations).
Dr Matthews said: 'Our findings suggest that if someone tells their GP or a friend that they feel lonely, that could be a red flag that they're struggling in a range of other areas in life.
'There are lots of community initiatives to try and encourage people to get together and take part in shared activities. However, it's important to remember that some people can feel lonely in a crowd, and the most effective interventions to reduce loneliness involve counselling to help individuals tackle negative patterns of thinking.'
The study does not show whether loneliness is the cause of problems in health and wellbeing, but it does show how loneliness cuts across a wide range of important social issues.
Senior author Professor Louise Arseneault from the IoPPN said: 'It's important that we become comfortable talking about loneliness as a society. People are often reluctant to admit that they feel lonely, because there is still a stigma attached to it. That in itself can be profoundly isolating.'
The study participants were members of the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, funded by the Medical Research Council, which has followed 2,332 British children from birth and will continue to monitor the lives of lonely young people as they age.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424083911.htm
Physically fit kids have beefier brain white matter than their less-fit peers
August 19, 2014
Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Previous studies suggest that children with higher levels of aerobic fitness show greater brain volumes in gray-matter brain regions important for memory and learning," said University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Laura Chaddock-Heyman, who conducted the study with kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman and psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Arthur Kramer. "Now for the first time we explored how aerobic fitness relates to white matter in children's brains."
The team used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI, also called diffusion MRI) to look at five white-matter tracts in the brains of the 24 participants. This method analyzes water diffusion into tissues. For white matter, less water diffusion means the tissue is more fibrous and compact, both desirable traits.
The researchers controlled for several variables -- such as social and economic status, the timing of puberty, IQ, or a diagnosis of ADHD or other learning disabilities -- that might have contributed to the reported fitness differences in the brain.
The analysis revealed significant fitness-related differences in the integrity of several white-matter tracts in the brain: the corpus callosum, which connects the brain's left and right hemispheres; the superior longitudinal fasciculus, a pair of structures that connect the frontal and parietal lobes; and the superior corona radiata, which connect the cerebral cortex to the brain stem.
"All of these tracts have been found to play a role in attention and memory," Chaddock-Heyman said.
The team did not test for cognitive differences in the children in this study, but previous work has demonstrated a link between improved aerobic fitness and gains in cognitive function on specific tasks and in academic settings.
"Previous studies in our lab have reported a relationship between fitness and white-matter integrity in older adults," Kramer said. "Therefore, it appears that fitness may have beneficial effects on white matter throughout the lifespan."
To take the findings further, the team is now two years into a five-year randomized, controlled trial to determine whether white-matter tract integrity improves in children who begin a new physical fitness routine and maintain it over time. The researchers are looking for changes in aerobic fitness, brain structure and function, and genetic regulation.
"Prior work from our laboratories has demonstrated both short- and long-term differences in the relation of aerobic fitness to brain health and cognition," Hillman said. "However, our current randomized, controlled trial should provide the most comprehensive assessment of this relationship to date."
The new findings add to the evidence that aerobic exercise changes the brain in ways that improve cognitive function, Chaddock-Heyman said.
"This study extends our previous work and suggests that white-matter structure may be one additional mechanism by which higher-fit children outperform their lower-fit peers on cognitive tasks and in the classroom," she said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140819083429.htm