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How Junior High Friendships Affect Adult Relationships

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How Junior High Friendships Affect Adult Relationships

2013-04-04

Middle school is typically a time of chaotic emotions, confusing relationships and challenging growing pains. But it may also have a surprisingly lasting influence on the future.

In a study published in Child Development, researchers found that adolescents who were best able to negotiate the relationship minefield of finding friends and making sound behavior choices were most likely to be rated by their parents as successful both socially and professionally when they became young adults.

“We tend to think that peer relationships in early adolescence don’t mean that much, but that tends to be dead wrong,” says Joseph Allen, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. “How well you do with peers as an early teen tells us a whole lot about how you manage in a lot of different ways as an adult.”

Allen and his colleagues followed 184 youths from a public middle school in the Southeast, which included kids from both urban and suburban neighborhoods. They interviewed the teens’ parents as well as other adolescents that they identified as their closest friends annually for three years, starting when the participants were around 13. The authors followed up again when they were ages 20 to 23.

“What we’re finding is that the path is not straightforward, it’s more like a tightrope walk between trying to connect well with peers on one side and avoiding getting swept up into peer influences toward deviant behavior like delinquency and drug use on the other,” says Allen.

Indeed, the study showed that teens who best resisted peer pressure during junior high were less likely to engage in criminal behavior or to have alcohol or drug problems. Unfortunately, this ability to resist peer pressure can also be isolating; this same group also had fewer and weaker friendships as adults.

Those who had the strongest interactions as adults, not surprisingly, were teens who walked a middle ground, remaining open to peer influence, but not allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the pressure to conform. “Teens who can manage that well have strong close friendships as adults,” says Allen. “They’re better at negotiating disagreements with romantic partners when we observed them doing that. They are less likely to have problems with alcohol and substance use and less likely to engage in criminal behavior.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that when it came to the most common pressures during adolescence, such as smoking, drinking and trying drugs, these teens were abstinent. “The people who were best at connecting have a lower risk of problems with alcohol and drug abuse, but they actually drink slightly more,” Allen says. This confirms earlier research that suggested teens who were well adjusted didn’t always abstain entirely, but rather were able to avoid excess.

“In terms of alcohol and drug use, the safest path would be to be more resistant of peer influences and slightly less connected, but that would then cost you in terms of your social relationships,” Allen notes. And being socially isolated could have negative health consequences. “The research shows that being socially isolated as an adult is as big a risk factor for dying early as cigarette smoking or obesity,” says Allen. “There’s no free lunch here.”

As with many behaviors and their consequences, there are tradeoffs. Teen drinking is obviously not socially desirable, but it could lead to fewer friendships that translate into isolation later in life. The complexity of these actions and reactions may in part explain why abstinence programs of any kind, whether for sex, alcohol or other drugs, aren’t particularly effective, since they come with a cost in peer connections and acceptance that teens aren’t willing to pay.

The findings also highlight how important being accepted by their peers is to teens, and suggests that adults should take these adolescent priorities more seriously. “Many people think, ‘Why are teens so preoccupied with these relationships? They’re really no big deal.’’’ Allen says. “They’re preoccupied because these [early relationships] are precursors for how they will function in life socially for the rest of their lives. [Relationships] are critical to physical and mental health.” Rather than discounting them, it may be worth exploring how to improve them, while teaching teens to balance their desire for acceptance with an appreciation of associated risks.

Understanding the Rise in ADHD Diagnoses: 11% of U.S. Children Are Affected

Psycological Health

Understanding the Rise in ADHD Diagnoses: 11% of U.S. Children Are Affected

2013-04-03

Adderall is a medication often prescribed to children diagnosed with ADHD, but it has side effects

The rates of U.S. children affected by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are skyrocketing, according to a recent report, but experts caution that the latest numbers require a bit of decoding.

That information shows that 11% of children ages 4 to 17 were diagnosed with ADHD, a 16% increase since 2007, the last time that researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did a comprehensive survey for the prevalence of the neurobehavior disorder. The rise was especially dramatic among boys, with an estimated 1 in 5 boys in high school diagnosed with ADHD. What’s more, about two-thirds of the children diagnosed were treated with stimulant medications that can improve attention but also come with side effects.

Are rates truly climbing at such an alarming rate? Possibly. But many experts believe that’s unlikely. The data was collected by the CDC and analyzed and reported by the New York Times; the CDC plans to publish its own report on the data in the coming months.

To start, the information on ADHD rates came from parents reporting on the diagnosis for their children during telephone interviews. Such reports are useful but not as reliable as the verified diagnoses from medical or school records, says Dr. William Barbaresi, director of the developmental-medicine center at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Second, such records-based data suggests that ADHD rates among children may be somewhere between 7.5% and 9.5%, with boys at the higher end of the range, not 11%. In its previous round of analysis, CDC found that ADHD diagnoses rose by 22% between 2003 and ’07, based on the same telephone surveys of 76,000 families in the U.S., climbing by an average of 3% to 6% each year between 2000 and ’10. But the latest figures, which included responses collected between 2011 and ’12, show a far higher prevalence that hints at classrooms full of hyperactive and impulsive kids. “By definition, ADHD requires that symptoms have to have a significant effect on life,” says Barbaresi. “To say that a tenth of all children have a biologic condition that affects their life enough to call it a disorder just does not make sense.”

If that’s the case, then a significant proportion of these children may also be mistreated with medications that they don’t need. “This report and others raises questions about whether we may not be overdiagnosing ADHD and overusing medications,” says Thomas Power, director of the center for management of ADHD at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

That could have serious implications for children’s long-term mental and physical health since ADHD drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall have been linked to dramatic weight loss and suppressed growth. And some experts have voiced concern that early use of the behavior-modifying drugs could alter the natural arc of children’s social and creative development.

The apparent rise in the prevalence of ADHD highlights several shortcomings in the way that not only ADHD but also mental-health issues in general are diagnosed and treated in the U.S., says Barbaresi. Most children are labeled with the disorder by their pediatrician or family doctor, who aren’t always trained in providing the in-depth evaluation that a reliable diagnosis requires. “Symptoms are not and should not be sufficient,” says Ruth Hughes, CEO of Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. “The symptoms have to occur every day for a long period of time, and, more importantly, these symptoms have to lead to major disruption or impairment in at least two areas of a person’s life, such as at school or in relationships.”

While the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently provided an updated guideline on the criteria for a proper ADHD diagnosis, including reports not only from parents but also from teachers and other day-care personnel about a child’s hyperactive, impulsive and inattentive behavior, not all physicians have the time to carefully collect and vet the input from these sources.

In addition, in order to properly identify a child affected by ADHD, Barbaresi, for example, conducts a medical and psychological assessment that takes several hours and requires the child and the parents to complete questionnaires about how the child responds to different situations, which factors seem to trigger hyperactive behavior or inattentiveness, as well as how disruptive these episodes are to the child’s daily activities. Unfortunately, most insurers do not reimburse for such evaluations, and that pushes already busy doctors to take the path of least resistance — prescribing medications such as Ritalin or Adderall. “That’s the big elephant in the room — pediatricians and the family practitioner are being asked to sort out a complex situation in an inadequate amount of time without access to data from psychological assessments they need to make these fine distinctions,” says Barbaresi. “So it’s a setup for inappropriate decisions to be made.”

And those include not just misdiagnosis and overmedication of children but mistreatment and even underdiagnosis in some situations. In rural and urban areas where mental-health services are scarcer and more stigmatized, rates of ADHD diagnoses are slightly lower than in affluent areas, and children in these areas are less likely to be treated properly. That could have implications for the long-term health of these children, since studies also show that about 60% of children with ADHD have a learning disability, and that 60% will go on to develop another mental illness by age 19. So a proper diagnosis of ADHD doesn’t just provide opportunities to treat behavior problems but potentially mental illnesses as well. That’s why “it’s clearly inappropriate to do these superficial assessments,” says Barbaresi.

Being too quick to diagnose the disorder also means doctors may be bypassing effective, nondrug treatments that may benefit many children, especially the youngest. The AAP recommends that children younger than 6 start with behavior therapy before beginning medications, but writing a prescription is far easier than monitoring a series of sessions that involve training and a commitment of time and effort from parents and family members. “The problem we face is that behavioral, psychosocial and nonpharmacologic interventions are not sufficiently available to people,” says Power. “When I talk to pediatricians and primary-care physicians, they tell me they don’t want to be diagnosing ADHD as often as they are, and they don’t want to be using medications as often as they are, but they don’t have many other options available. It’s difficult to get kids into mental-health treatments and psychosocial treatments that they believe many of these children and their families need.”

These programs are designed to assess what factors trigger and sustain inappropriately impulsive and hyperactive behavior, he says, by involving parents and helping them modify environmental factors or interactions with their children to change their behavior. Playing and engaging more directly with children on a regular basis, for example, tends to calm them down, and setting limits and educating children about the consequences of their actions can also help. In groups that Power has conducted with his patients, parents have reported that such behavioral interventions are effective in improving children’s relationships with their parents as well as with their teachers and classmates in school.

But these programs don’t work in a vacuum, and ideally, parents, doctors and teachers should coordinate their efforts to ensure that the appropriate behavior is being positively reinforced among children with ADHD. “The best treatment is a combination of parent training, behavioral intervention, school interventions and medication where needed,” says Hughes. All too often, current therapies aren’t taking advantage of the full power of this recipe.

@aliceparkny

Alice Park is a staff writer at TIME and covers health, medicine, nutrition and fitness.

Sex Mistakes for Men to Avoid

Sexual Health

Sex Mistakes for Men to Avoid

2013-04-01

By Stacy Lloyd
Both genders are guilty of sex mistakes, according to FoxNews.com. In the article FOXSexpert: The Top 10 Sex Mistakes That Men Make, though, well-known sex experts were sharing ways that men can avoid common sex mistakes with women.

Just because a man is ready for sex doesn’t mean the woman is. This is the single, biggest mistake men make, iVillage sex expert Tracey Cox told NBC News.

They underestimate how long women take to orgasm. Remember foreplay isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Thinking foreplay begins in the bedroom. Foreplay is best approached as an all-day affair Dr. Yvonne Kristín Fulbright, sex educator, relationship expert and author, wrote on FoxNews.com.

Don’t assume what pleases one woman works for all women. Every woman responds differently to sensation and every woman’s anatomy is a bit different.

What feels amazing to one may do nothing – or even cause discomfort – for another, Tristan Taormino, author of The Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation told WebMD.

Don’t ignore the clitoris. Many men think a woman’s orgasmic ability is due to penetration, Fulbright wrote in FoxNews.com. More than 70 percent of women experience clitoral orgasm when it comes to maximum reaction.

WebMD said that the whole body of the clitoris including the glans, is packed with nerves and highly sensitive. Note however that for many women, the glans is actually too sensitive to touch.

Don’t miss the G-spot. Found on the front wall of the vagina, a woman’s G-spot may be more to one side than the other, or a little higher or lower, than is often depicted, said Fulbright. Its size may also vary, from as small as a pea to as large as a quarter wrote FoxNews.com.

Remember her “other” erogenous zones. AskMen.com wrote that it’s easy to forget a woman’s body is full of less obvious erogenous zones. Try kissing her collar bone, back, hips and go from there.

Talk about sex. Most couples don’t talk to each other about sex.

Often that’s because they don’t have the words, sex therapist Chris Donaghue told WebMD. If it’s hard for your partner to say what she wants sexually, try asking her specific rather than open-ended questions, Taormino said on WebMD.

She’s not a porn star. As seen in porn films, many men expect their lovers to fulfill their every fantasy. Remember porn is fantasy, not reality, wrote FoxNews.com.

Don’t think of sex as a mission. It’s much more than that.

Erection, foreplay, penetration – all are aimed at achieving the main objective: orgasm. It’s a mistake to focus solely on orgasm since sometimes it doesn’t happen even for men, said WebMD. When this happens, people can end up feeling bad about sex that was most likely good in other ways.

FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS, THINK ABOUT WHEN, NOT JUST WHAT, YOU EAT

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FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS, THINK ABOUT WHEN, NOT JUST WHAT, YOU EAT

2013-03-30

Timing is everything for losing weight .

In the latest collaborative study, researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Tufts University and the University of Murcia in Spain, found that the time of day you eat large meals may help to predict how many pounds you drop.

In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, the scientists monitored 420 overweight participants on a 20-week weight loss program in Spain. The volunteers were split into two groups: early-eaters and late-eaters. Since lunch is considered the largest meal in Spain–about 40% of the day’s calories are consumed in the mid-day meal–half the participants ate lunch before 3 p.m. while the remainder ate lunch after 3 p.m.

The late-eaters lost less weight overall, and shed pounds at a slower rate than those eating earlier. Those eating lunch later were more likely to skip breakfast or eat fewer calories, while the timing of breakfast and dinner didn’t influence weight loss effectiveness for either group. The researchers also considered other factors such as total caloric intake, energy expenditure, the appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin, and amount of sleep, but found they were similar in both groups.

“The timing of the main meal by itself seems to be the most determinant factor in weight loss effectiveness, and therefore eating at the right time may be a relevant factor to consider in weight loss therapies,” the authors write. They acknowledge that other factors may still explain the faster weight loss among the late eaters, such as genetics and how much each group slept on average, but the timing of the day’s largest meal was still worth considering as an important contributor to weight.

The findings support weight loss advice that suggests eating the biggest meal of the day earlier, which increases the chances that you can burn off the calories you take in. As simple as it sounds, however, changing the timing of meals may not be easy for everyone. “Some people like to exercise at four in the morning. I don’t get it, but it works for them,” says Dr. Tim Church, director of the Laboratory of Preventive Medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is unaffiliated with the study. “It’s the same thing for eating. There are certain people where certain timing and patterns work for them.”

To maintain healthy weight, it’s also important to eat when you are hungry, and not just in response to food cravings. “Hunger peaks when you expect it to peak at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cravings peak after dinner,” he says. But eating late at night can raise body temperature as well as blood glucose and insulin levels, which disrupts the fat-burning that generally occurs during sleep. Timing meals, especially the heaviest meals, can make a difference in whether calories are processed into extra pounds or burned away.

Social Isolation, Not Just Feeling Lonely, May Shorten Lives

Psycological Health

Social Isolation, Not Just Feeling Lonely, May Shorten Lives

2013-03-28

Feeling lonely seems to go hand in hand with being isolated, but there’s a difference, according to a growing body of research.

It’s no secret that people who are socially isolated tend to be at greater risk of health issues, from mood disorders like depression to stress-related chronic conditions like heart disease. But what is really responsible for these negative outcomes — the emotional toll of feeling alone or the physical and social lack of contact with others?

Now a new study suggests that being socially isolated may have a greater effect on risk of early death, especially among the elderly. The research, which was led by Andrew Steptoe, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, followed 6,500 British people over 52 from 2004 until 2012. The most socially isolated in this group were 26% more likely to die during the study period than those with the most active social lives, even after controlling for factors that also affect mortality, like age and illness.

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The Sex Drives of Men and Women

Sexual Health

The Sex Drives of Men and Women

2013-03-27

An exhaustive review of studies on sexuality published from the 1960s to 2000, asserted in every sex-drive-related metric, men demonstrated stronger urges than women, according to Discovery’s How Things Work.

Psychologists from a Case Western Reserve University review emphasized the male sex drive doesn’t just represent a moment of time. Rather it spans age groups, marital status and sexuality.

Roy Baumeister, a Florida State University social psychologist, wrote WebMD, found that men reported more spontaneous sexual arousal and had more frequent and varied sexual fantasies.

Masturbation is considered by sex researchers to be one of the purest measures of sex drive, because it isn’t constrained by external factors such pregnancy or disease, said PsychologyToday.com.

Discovery wrote that 94.6 percent of males 25 to 29 masturbate. For women it’s 84.6 percent.

PsychologyToday.com wrote that men initiate sex often and rarely refuse it. Women initiate it much more rarely and refuse it more often than men.

Women don’t always seem to know what turns them on, reported WebMD.

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Kids Who Exercise Are Less Likely to Have Fractures in Old Age

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Kids Who Exercise Are Less Likely to Have Fractures in Old Age

2013-03-26

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It turns out that strengthening bone to avoid fractures starts at a very young age.

Physical activity, such as the exercise children get in school gym classes, is important for fighting obesity, but the latest research suggests it may help to keep bones strong as well.

For six years, researchers from Skane University Hospital in Malmo, Sweden followed 808 boys and girls between the ages of seven to nine years old who were asked to participate in 40 minutes of physical activity daily during school. The scientists recorded the children’s skeletal development, and documented any reports of fractures and compared these results to those of a similarly-aged control group that completed 60 minutes of physical activity over a week.

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Pediatric Group Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Sexual Health

Pediatric Group Supports Same-Sex Marriage

2013-03-22

By

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says it’s “in the best interests” of the children.

The influential group of pediatricians released a policy statement in support of same-sex parents’ right to wed as well as to foster or adopt children. The policy was guided by the organization’s belief in gay marriage “to promote optimal health and well-being of all children.”

“We know enough about child development that we can say that children are nurtured when they have two loving, supportive, committed-to-each-other adults to take care of them,” says Dr. Ben Siegel, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and a co-author of the policy statement. ”Kids growing up with two same-sex parents are as normally developed as the rest of the population.”

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Healing process after rape never ends

Sexual Health

Healing process after rape never ends

2013-03-21

By Jacque Wilson, CNN

When the judge’s gavel fell, the future had been decided for the two teenagers convicted of rape in Steubenville, Ohio.

Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, will spend at least a year in a juvenile correctional facility, although authorities could decide to keep them in custody until they turn 21. Both must undergo treatment and will have to register as sex offenders.

For the 16-year-old victim, the next steps aren’t so clear.

She was raped last summer at a party; witnesses posted images of the assault on social media. The case has garnered national attention and sparked a conversation about rape in America.

“My family and I are hopeful that we can put this horrible ordeal behind us,” the victim’s mother said Monday. “We need and deserve to focus on our daughter’s future.”

Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Every survivor responds differently to rape, says Jennifer Marsh, vice president of victim services for RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual-violence organization. Emotions run the gamut from fear to anger to guilt.

“It’s such a violent and personal crime,” Marsh said. “It’s not somebody just breaking into your house. It’s somebody assaulting the most private part of you. Having that be public, especially as a minor, can be traumatic.”

Victims of sexual assault are three times more likely to suffer from depression and six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to RAINN. Some try to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. Many have trouble with intimacy and forming trusting relationships.

One of the most common issues survivors face is blaming themselves for the assault, Marsh says. A lot of that has to do with our culture: Marsh says she sees rape cases like the one in Steubenville every day that aren’t taken seriously.

“A lot of times, it gets chalked up to, ‘Oh, kids will drink, and things will happen,’ ” she said. “But … sexual assault is sexual assault. And it doesn’t matter if the victim was drinking or using substances. The fact is that something was done to her that she didn’t want to be done. And I think that’s the conversation we really need to talk about.”

The victim in the Steubenville case has endured hostility from the attackers’ supporters. Although mainstream media have kept her name private, it’s obvious she’s well-known in the small Ohio community.

Defense attorneys questioned the victim’s character on the stand, asking witnesses about her alcohol consumption that night and what she told them the next morning regarding the assault. They also attempted to bring the victim’s past into the trial, but the judge did not allow the line of questioning.

The character attacks weren’t over after the verdict was read. Shortly after the trial concluded, two teenage girls were accused of making threats against the victim on Twitter, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla. One of the girls was charged Tuesday with one misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing for threatening the victim’s life.

This kind of personal persecution is a big fear for victims, says Becka Meier, a licensed professional counselor with the Women’s Center, a large nonprofit crisis center in Fort Worth, Texas. More than half of sexual assaults are not reported to the police; experts estimate that 97% of rapists don’t spend a day in jail.

“When we have a high-profile case that gets reported and we see the victim be re-victimized … it makes it all the more difficult for victims to come forward,” Meier said. “Survivors are faced with that difficult decision: Am I ready and willing to be in a courtroom and face this and talk through all the details again in such a public forum? It’s a lot to ask.”

Meier says a guilty verdict often offers survivors a sense of validation — that someone, at least, believes them. “Does it provide closure for a victim? I’ve never seen it provide closure,” she said. “It’s just a step in the healing process.”

That process never ends, Meier says. Photos of an attack that are posted online can make it even more difficult, acting as triggers to bring back painful memories each time they resurface.

“As hard as they try to delete or erase those images, five, 10, 15 years down the road, they’ll be notified that it’s popped up again and in some ways they feel like they’re reliving that assault,” Marsh agreed.

How a victim’s support network responds can have a big impact on the long-term recovery for that survivor.

“The first thing that loved ones should do is believe what the victim has said,” Marsh said. “Although we know it’s natural to try to figure out exactly how this happened, we encourage loved ones to avoid using ‘why’ questions, because victims often perceive that as blaming them for what happened.”

Family and friends should also recognize that each victim needs to recover at his or her own pace, she says. They should provide love and support without forcing them to do something that they’re not prepared to do yet.

Survivors can contact RAINN through their National Sexual Assault Hotline or go to online.rainn.org. Many local crisis centers offer individual/family counseling services and support groups.

Rape isn’t something survivors get over, Marsh says. But counseling and a solid support system will help them move on.

“Although they may never be able to forget that this happened, it doesn’t have to define who they are or the choices that they make.”