InvitoHealth: Health News Headlines
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 23rd, 2022
New research suggests one’s diet can increase the risk of depression. Investigators also discovered the likelihood of depression is higher among middle-aged and older women immigrants to Canada. “Lower intakes of fruits and vegetables were found to be linked to depression for both men and women, immigrants and those born in Canada,” said Dr. Karen Davison, Health Science Program Chair at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C. “Men were more likely to experience depression if they consumed higher levels of fat, or lower levels of omega-3 eggs. For all participants, lower grip strength and high nutritional risk were associated with [More]
By Janice Wood
January 23rd, 2022
A new study has found that nightmares or night terrors were more common in 12-year-olds who reported being bullied when they were eight and 10 years old. “Nightmares are relatively common in childhood, while night terrors occur in up to 10 percent of children,” said Suzet Tanya Lereya, Ph.D., a research fellow at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. “If either occurs frequently or over a prolonged time period, they may indicate that a child/adolescent has or is being bullied by peers. These arousals in sleep may indicate significant distress for the child.” For the study, Lereya and [More]
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 23rd, 2022
A new study finds a tailored educational program can improve the kindergartner and first grade experience of children displaying disruptive behaviors. Researchers explain that children with high maintenance temperaments have fewer opportunities to learn in school than their focused peers, and are at risk for lower levels of academic achievement. The children often are characterized by high physical activity, low ability to persist at tasks, and negative reactions to even minor situations. As discussed in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly, researchers found that young students with disruptive behavior benefited from more active engagement and on-task behavior in the classroom. [More]
By Psych Central News Editor
January 23rd, 2022
When jurors sentencing convicted criminals are instructed to weigh not only facts but also tricky emotional factors, they rely on parts of the brain associated with sympathy and making moral judgments, according to a new paper by a team of neuroscientists. Using brain-imaging techniques, the researchers — including Caltech’s Colin Camerer, Ph.D. — found that the most lenient jurors show heightened levels of activity in the insula, a brain region associated with discomfort and pain and with imagining the pain that others feel. The findings provide insight into the role that emotion plays in jurors’ decision-making processes, indicating a close [More]
By Traci Pedersen
January 22nd, 2022
Women who wear a lot of makeup are less likely to be perceived as having strong leadership qualities, according to a new UK study published in the journal Perception. The study adds a new dimension to this area of research, as it comes after previous findings showing that women who wear more makeup are seen as more dominant. This suggests that the topic is much more complex than simply wearing makeup or not wearing makeup. For the new study, participants were asked to look at a series of images featuring the same woman both without makeup as well as with [More]
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 22nd, 2022
A new study of family violence suggests teenagers respond better when they believe they are making a difference in family dynamics. When the teen believes that they matter to their family, they are significantly less likely to threaten or engage in family violence. Research by Brown University sociologist Dr. Gregory Elliott used the term “mattering” to mean the belief that persons make a difference in the world around them. This concept is frequently used as a theme for high schoolers approaching graduation and entry into the real world — for them, the belief that they can make a difference is critical [More]
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 22nd, 2022
New findings from the National Institutes of Health suggest children of obese parents may be at risk for developmental delays. Investigators discovered that children of obese mothers were more likely to fail tests of fine motor skill — the ability to control movement of small muscles, such as those in the fingers and hands. Children of obese fathers were more likely to fail measures of social competence, and those born to extremely obese couples also were more likely to fail tests of problem solving ability. Scientists at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [More]
By Janice Wood
January 22nd, 2022
Marijuana use significantly increased and its perceived harm decreased among eighth- and 10th-graders in Washington state following the passage of recreational marijuana laws, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of California Davis and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health believe this is the first study in the nation to assess changes in teens’ perceptions and marijuana use before and after legalized recreational use, and compare these attitudes and use in 45 other states where marijuana use is not legal. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, showed that legalization of recreational marijuana use significantly reduced perceptions of [More]
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 21st, 2022
A new study by a Penn State researcher discovers talking with a teen about drinking alcohol before they begin college is an effective strategy to moderate college drinking. Dr. Robert Turrisi, a professor of biobehavioral health, developed a parent handbook to guide parents on what to say to their children before they begin college. “Over 90 percent of teens try alcohol outside the home before they graduate from high school,” said Turrisi. “It is well known that fewer problems develop for every year that heavy drinking is delayed. Our research over the past decade shows that parents can play a [More]
By Rick Naurert PhD
January 21st, 2022
Hanging out with the right group of friends is especially important as children transition from elementary to middle school. University of Oregon psychologists say the new friendships may directly influence a teenager’s potential academic success or future challenges in high school and beyond. A new study, appearing in the February issue of the Journal of Early Adolescence, found that boys and girls whose friends are socially active in ways where rules are respected do better in their classroom work. Having friends who engage in problem behavior, in contrast, is related to a decrease in their grades. Having pro-social friends and [More]
