Publications - Parenting/Caregiver Advice and Support

Early puberty in girls tied to bullying in school, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, May 17 2018.

“Girls who go through puberty early may be more likely than peers who mature later to be involved in bullying at school - either as victims or perpetrators, a recent study suggests...Early menstruation was associated with 21 percent higher odds that girls would be occasional victims of bullying and a 35 percent greater chance of frequent victimization. At the same time, teens who started menstruating sooner than most other girls were 19 percent more likely to occasionally bully other students at school and had 46 percent higher odds of becoming frequent bullies...'Parents should let their daughters know that puberty timing is varied among adolescents, it is very normal that some are earlier and some are later,' Lian said by email. 'More importantly, parents and school teachers should recognize that adolescents need the skills and abilities to copy with the pressures caused by early puberty they enter puberty.' ”

More Kids Are Attempting and Thinking About Suicide, According to a New Study, by Jamie Ducharme, TIME, May 16 2018.

“The number of kids hospitalized for thinking about or attempting suicide doubled in less than a decade, according to a study published Wednesday in Pediatrics...The largest increases were seen among adolescents between two age groups — 15 and 17, and 12 and 14 — according to the study. Increases were also higher among girls than boys, the study says. Interestingly, the researchers also observed significantly more suicide attempts or ideations during the school year; that’s in contrast to adults, among whom suicide rates tend to spike in spring and summer...Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that the number of teenagers dying by suicide is also on the rise. ”

Why kids and teens may face far more anxiety these days, by Amy Ellis Nutt, Washington Post, May 10 2018.

“Anxiety, not depression, is the leading mental health issue among American youths, and clinicians and research both suggest it is rising. The latest study was published in April in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Based on data collected from the National Survey of Children’s Health for ages 6 to 17, researchers found a 20 percent increase in diagnoses of anxiety between 2007 and 2012. (The rate of depression over that same time period ticked up 0.2 percent.) ”

Depression Has Spiked By 33% In the Last Five Years, a New Report Says, by Jamie Ducharme, TIME, May 10 2018.

“Diagnoses of clinical depression — also known as major depression — have risen by 33% since 2013, according to a new report from health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield...Depression diagnoses were found to be rising in every demographic, but the uptick has been especially dramatic among young people. Since 2013, rates have spiked by 47% among Millennials, by 65% among adolescent girls and by 47% among adolescent boys, the report says. Women of any age are also more likely than men to be diagnosed with clinical depression. ”

Being called 'fat' in early teens tied to later eating disorders for girls, by Shereen Lehman, Reuters, May 8 2018.

“For teen girls, being called “fat” by friends or family may contribute to later developing eating disorders, and the harsh word from family members seems to carry the most weight, a recent U.S. study suggests...'How we talk about weight - especially with young girls - can have really negative effects on mental and physical health,' said lead author Jeffrey Hunger, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Labeling young girls as ‘too fat’ will never spur positive health behaviors; it is simply going to result in poor body image, unhealthy weight control practices, and disordered eating,' he told Reuters Health in an email. ”

More Talking with Parents May Protect Kids Against Later Alcohol Misuse, by Janice Wood, Psych Central, May 5 2018.

“A new study has found that children with greater communication with their parents in early adolescence have less harmful alcohol use and emotional eating in young adulthood...Greater parent-child communication in early adolescence predicted greater connectivity of the ASN at age 25, supporting the idea that high-quality parenting is important for long-term brain development, according to the study’s findings. Greater ASN connectivity was, in turn, associated with lower harmful alcohol use and emotional eating at age 25. ”

Mom's depression tied to kids' emotional, intellectual development, by Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, Reuters, Apr 25 2018.

“A mother’s depression is linked with her children’s development from infancy through adolescence, according to a new study. Researchers studied 875 middle- or lower-class mothers in Chile and their healthy children over a 16-year period, evaluating participants roughly every four years....At age five, children with severely depressed mothers had an average verbal IQ score of 7.3 (on a scale of 1 to 19), compared to a higher score of 7.8 in children without depressed mothers...These children will have a smaller vocabulary and poorer comprehension skills, East said...The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends screening new mothers for depression during the months after childbirth. ”

Irritability in childhood linked to teen suicide risk, by Cheryl Platzman Weinstock , Reuters, Apr 11 2018.

“Most children experience mood swings from time to time, but kids with chronic irritability and serious depression or anxiety are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in adolescence, suggests a large Canadian study. Based on records for 1,430 children followed for up to 17 years, researchers found that those who were particularly irritable and depressed or anxious between ages 6 and 12 were twice as likely as peers to think about suicide or make a suicide attempt between ages 13 and 17. ”

Antidepressants in pregnancy tied to changes in babies' brains, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Apr 9 2018.

“Babies’ brains may develop differently when their mothers take antidepressants during pregnancy, a small U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined brain scans of 16 newborns whose mothers took medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for depression during pregnancy. They also studied 21 babies whose mothers had untreated depression during pregnancy, and 61 infants born to women without depression. Infants whose mothers took SSRIs had greater brain volume in regions of the brain that are critical for emotional processing, compared to babies whose mothers had untreated depression or were not experiencing depression, the study found. ”

For ‘tween girls, social media use tied to wellbeing in teen years, by Shereen Lehman, Reuters, Mar 29 2018.

“Girls who spend the most time on social media at age 10 may be unhappier in their early teens than peers who use social media less during the ‘tween years, a UK study suggests...'Our findings suggest that young girls, those aged 10, who are more interactive with social media have lower levels of wellbeing by age 15 than their peers who interact with social media less at age 10. We did not find any similar patterns for boys, suggesting that any changes in their wellbeing may not be due to social media,' said lead author Cara Booker, a researcher at the University of Essex. ”

Parental Conflict Can Cause Lasting Emotional Damage to Kids, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Mar 29 2018.

“Children who regularly witness parental conflict may be sustaining lasting harm to their emotional processing abilities, potentially becoming overvigilant, anxious and vulnerable to misreading even neutral human interactions, according to a new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. The findings are particularly strong for children who are naturally shy and sensitive...The findings have significant implications, according to Schermerhorn, because they shed light on the impact relatively low-level adversity like parental conflict can have on children’s development. ”

Scans Show Differences in Brains of Preschoolers With A.D.H.D., by Perri Klass, M.D., New York Times, Mar 26 2018.

“A new study that found significant differences in the brains of preschoolers with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may help parents understand that extremes of behavior can reflect differences in biological 'wiring.' Those who feel blamed — or blame themselves — for their small children’s behavioral issues will be likely to watch with interest as this long-term study progresses...Dr. Mahone, the director of the department of neuropsychology at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and his colleagues did advanced brain scans on 90 4- and 5-year-old children. Of those, 52 had symptoms of A.D.H.D., and the other 38 were carefully matched controls, similar in age, gender, socioeconomic status, I.Q. and language function. The brains of the children with A.D.H.D. symptoms were significantly different than the brains of the control children, with 'really widespread changes,' Dr. Mahone said. ”

Childhood `toxic stress’ leads to parenting challenges later on, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Mar 21 2018.

“Parents who endured “toxic stress” during childhood may be more likely to have kids with developmental delays and have a harder time coping with their children’s health issues, new research suggests. Adverse childhood experiences, commonly called ACEs, can include witnessing parents fight or go through a divorce, having a parent with a mental illness or substance abuse problem, or suffering from sexual, physical or emotional abuse...One reason may be that mothers who experience more adversity in childhood have more health risks during pregnancy and, in turn, have babies with a greater risk of developmental problems, Madigan and colleagues report in one of three papers on the topic published this week in Pediatrics. ”

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome May be More Common Than Thought, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Feb 7 2018.

“Up to five percent of American children in a new study were found to be affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The research involved more than 6,000 first-graders in the Pacific Southwest, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, and Southeast regions of the U.S...“Our findings suggest that FASD is a critical health problem that often goes undiagnosed and misdiagnosed,” said Chambers. “Prenatal alcohol exposure is the leading preventable cause of birth defects and neurological abnormalities in the United States. It can cause a range of developmental, cognitive, and behavioral problems, which may be recognized at any time during childhood and can last a lifetime.” ”

Trans teens may not get care they need, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Feb 5 2018.

“Transgender teens may be more likely to miss preventive health checkups and have untreated medical problems than their non-transgender peers, a U.S. study suggests...Overall, transgender adolescents were almost twice as likely as other teens to report their health as “poor, fair or good” as opposed to “very good or excellent,” the study found...“When youth present differently than what society would expect for their birth-assigned sex, they often receive messages in society that they are behaving in a way that is ‘wrong’ or that they are ‘wrong’ in some way," said lead study author Nic Rider, a human sexuality researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. ”