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Children fear death but not Halloween

Although about 60 percent of children list death as their number one fear, most don’t find Halloween scary; rather, the fun and playful way in which the holiday is presented can actually be reassuring, reports Magic Maman.

A French survey of 1,000 adults and 650 children between the ages of eight and 14 revealed that 59 percent of children fear the death of their parents and 21 percent say they fear their grandparents dying. Roughly half of the children surveyed were afraid of the concept of death in general.

Death was by far the biggest and most common fear in this age group, followed at a distance by a fear of abandonment – mentioned by 19 percent of the children – and a fear of accidents, which 17 percent mentioned.

When the researchers surveyed the parents, however, most thought their children would be most afraid of ridicule or not having any friends. According to the study, to help their children deal with their fears, mothers tend to encourage them to share their feelings and talk about what scares them, while fathers prefer to rationalize and explain.

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The joys of parenthood?

Having a child may actually decrease a person’s satisfaction and happiness with life, according to a French study reported by Libération.

Researchers with France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies surveyed 10,000 residents about their current financial situation and living conditions – slipping in one innocuous question asking them to rate their satisfaction with life on a scale of one to ten.

Overall, the results were quite positive, with 92 percent of respondents rating their happiness at five or more out of ten, while 60 percent ranking it between seven and nine.

Although more money and better working conditions increased satisfaction with life, researchers found that adding a child to the family actually caused happiness levels to drop, which they attribute to the additional tasks and responsibilities that go along with parenthood.

While adding an infant to a previously child-free household had a "negative and significant impact," researchers had a harder time interpreting whether having additional children had a similar effect.

 

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How chronic stress short-circuits parenting

In the best of circumstances, parenting can be a daunting undertaking. Now research from the University of Rochester helps to explain why chronic stress and parenting are such a toxic mix.

The study found that ongoing stressors, like poverty or depression, disrupt the body’s natural stress response, making mothers more likely to engage in a host of problematic parenting behaviors, including neglect, hostility, and insensitivity.

Researchers observed 153 mothers and their 17-to-19-month-old children in individual two-hour sessions. Using a wireless ECG monitor, each mother’s stress response was measured in real time during a mildly distressing situation in which her child was left with a stranger for a few minutes. Later the mother and toddler were videotaped during unstructured playtime together.

Mothers with higher depressive symptoms had higher heart rate patterns that spiked when their toddler was upset. During the free-play sessions, these moms had the highest levels of hostility with their toddler, including derogatory comments, angry tone of voice, and rough physical interaction.

In contrast, participants who struggled with poverty and lived in high-crime neighborhoods exhibited heart rates patterns that began lower and rose little during their child’s distress. During free play, these parents showed the highest levels of disengagement along with intrusive parenting. These mothers were more likely to ignore their little ones and not respond to children’s bids for attention or play.

 

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Autism, intellectual disabilities related to parental age, education and ethnicity

The presence or absence of intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) varies with risk factors like gender, parental age, maternal ethnicity, and maternal level of education, according to a new study published in Autism Research.

In contrast to previous studies, American researchers found that household income level has no association with either ID or ASD.

Lead author Judith Pinborough-Zimmerman, Ph. D., and her colleagues identified children in the Salt Lake City region through the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and evaluated a variety of demographic factors.

Scientists found that children with ASD but not ID were significantly more likely to be male and to have mothers of white, non-Hispanic ethnicity. Children with both ASD and ID were also more likely to be male, but were more likely to have mothers older than 34 years of age.

Children who had ID but not ASD were significantly more likely to have fathers older than 34 years of age and significantly less likely to have mothers with more than 13 years of education.

"We hope that by identifying the many possible genetic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that may contribute to this complex group of neurodevelopment disorders, there can be improvements in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention," said Pinborough-Zimmerman.

 

 

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TV has a negative impact on parent-child communication

Watching TV can lead to less interaction between parents and children, with a detrimental impact on literacy and language skills, according to a U.S. study published in Human Communication Research.

To reveal the impact on children’s development, scientists in Ohio studied 73 mother-child pairs to compare communication while watching TV to reading books or playing with toys.

By explaining and describing objects or new words and images, or by prompting conversation through questions, maternal responsiveness can help to engage a child with the activity. The parent can also provide positive feedback and encouragement to a child, or repeat what the child has said to help familiarize them with certain words or sights.

"Mothers who are responsive to their infant’s communication promote a positive self-perception for the child as well as fostering trust in the parent. Positive responses help the child learn that they can affect their environment," said study co-author Amy Nathanson. "However, if maternal responsiveness is absent, children learn that their environment is unpredictable and may become anxious, knowing that their bids for attention or help may be ignored."

The study concluded that reading together increased maternal communication, while watching TV decreased maternal communication. Often children are left alone with the TV, and researchers encouraged parents to regularly substitute other forms of entertainment for their child “to ensure frequent and positive interaction with their child.”

 

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Homeschooling an academic advantage?

Homeschooled children who learn in a structured environment with a set curriculum may actually do better academically than their public school-educated peers, according to a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.

Researchers at Montreal’s Concordia University and Mount Allison University in New Brunswick followed 74 children between the ages of five and ten: 37 of a the children were homeschooled, while the other 37 attended traditional public school.

"Although public school children we assessed were performing at or above expected levels for their ages, children who received structured homeschooling had superior test results compared to their peers: From a half-grade advantage in math to 2.2 grade levels in reading," explained lead author Sandra Martin-Chang.

"This advantage may be explained by several factors including smaller class sizes, more individualized instruction, or more academic time spent on core subjects such as reading and writing."

Homeschooled children who had no set curriculum or structure – also known as ‘unschooling’ – fell far behind both the structured homeschool learners and the public school students in terms of academic grades.

 

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Each child copes differently with death of parent

Most children are resilient and will begin to slowly recover from the loss of a parent, with grief beginning to subside by the nine-month mark and continuing to decline over time. In up to 40 percent of cases, however, the child’s grief will linger, putting them at an increased risk of depression, according to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh worked with 182 children between the ages of seven and 18 who had suffered the unexpected death of a parent. The children were interviewed at the 8.5 month mark, and subsequent interviews were held at the one and two year marks.

The researchers found that the children could be divided into three groups based upon their grief reactions. In the first group, 107 children had lower scores in the initial interview, and continued to recover from their grief at the follow-up interviews. The second group, made up of 56 children, had high initial grief scores that began to decline at the one and two year marks. The third group, which included 19 children, showed high grief scores during the first interview and no improvement at the follow-up sessions.

Depression was far more prevalent in the second and third groups, affecting up to half of the children by the final interview, compared to only a quarter of the children in the first group.

 

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Parenting style linked to child’s videogame playing

Children who think their parents nag a lot or supervise poorly tend to play videogames more than other kids, according to a new U.S. study.

The study is one of the first to link parental behavior to kids’ videogame playing. Michigan State University researchers surveyed more than 500 students from 20 middle schools and found that the more children perceived their parents’ behavior as negative (e.g., “nags a lot”) and the less monitoring parents did, the more the children played videogames.

The next step, said lead researcher Linda Jackson, is to find out what’s fueling children’s videogame behavior.

“Does a parent’s negative interactions with their child drive the child into the world of videogames, perhaps to escape the parent’s negativity?” said Jackson, professor of psychology. “Or, alternatively, does videogame playing cause the child to perceive his or her relationship with the parent as negative?”

The study is part of a larger project in which the researchers are exploring the effects of technology use on children’s academic performance, social life, psychological well-being and moral reasoning.

 

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Children help parents choose healthier lifestyle

A Brazilian study at a private school found children can have a significant positive impact on their parents’ health, reports MedPageToday.

Specifically, 91 percent of the parents of children who were given educational support to encourage a healthy lifestyle lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease compared to 13 percent in the control group.

For the study, students, ages 6 to 10 attended an afternoon session at school for one hour a week and learned age-appropriate information about healthy eating, tobacco avoidance, and physical activity. The sessions involved films, plays, cooking sessions, and discussions about a healthy lifestyle.

The researchers also sponsored physical activities, and instructed the teachers to incorporate the messages about a healthy lifestyle into daily activities.

Children attending the morning session at the school served as the control group and received no special instruction. Parents in both groups received written educational materials.

The study ran from March to December 2010, and included 197 children and 323 parents.

 

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Make homework about learning not grades

Parents who want their children to enjoy and excel at doing homework need to check their own priorities and attitudes towards the endeavor, according to a new study published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences.

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negrev in Israel surveyed 135 fourth graders and their parents about attitudes towards homework. The students filled out questionnaires regarding their motivation to do the work, and parents were questioned about their willingness to help.

The study authors recommend giving children some choice about how to approach their own work: "Parents can improve a sense of competence by allowing children to structure their own tasks and by giving the child the feeling that he is loved and admired no matter how successful he or she is in math or language," they said.

Parents also need to examine their own motivation, attitude and competence before they start trying to change their children, add the researchers. For children to succeed, it’s important that parents show enthusiasm for learning and not just getting a good grade or completing the assignment.

 

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