Professor Nick Allen, at the School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, has conducted studies into the influence of family dynamics on depression in teenagers. Speaking at the Australian Psychological Society’s recent conference on Theory to Practice: Positive Development and Wellbeing, Professor Allen presented research that follows young teenagers from ages 12 to 18 and looks at family communication styles prior to the development of depression symptoms. Through early observations and then periodic follow up over several years, Professor Allen and his colleagues have identified patterns of adult and child communication that predict the likelihood of a teenager developing depression. Read full article
With a new Australian study indicating that 1 in 12 adolescents self-harm, it’s important for parents and carers to keep informed about self-harm and what it can mean for their child ... Self-harm or self-injury refers to a person deliberately inflicting physical harm on themself to cope with or communicate their distress ...Why Do Children Self-Harm? Read full article
It's difficult to comment on other people's personal circumstances without full knowledge of their backgrounds, values and capacities to cope. But what most people will agree on is that parenting while you are a teenager is always going to be a challenge. It's a big call learning how to parent well when you still need parenting yourself. This story about Soya Keaveny who came to the attention of the media at 12 when she was a bikini model and told journalists she was exercising two hours every day and doing 200 push ups to maintain a skinny look. Read full article
When baby boys are born, they usually look close to perfect - their parents gaze at them with the rose-coloured glasses that are issued to all new mums and dads. And apart from snotty noses, muddy knees and bruised shins, those little boys remain cherub-like in the eyes of their parents until their early teen years. By then, teenage boys are starting to define and compare themselves with others and will be making efforts to show how different they are from their doting parents. Enter the influence of the media, the movies, peers and reality television, and all of a sudden a teenage boy notices that his muscles are not as bulked up as his favourite television show character, and his hair is not as straight and cool as the popular boys in his year. Read full article
Boys are under increasing pressure to look good. How is this impacting on boys' healthy body image? Yvette Vignando appears on The Morning Show Channel 7 and discusses briefly what parents can do to promote a healthy body image in their teenage sons and protect them from developing eating disorders. Also appearing, Danni Rowlands from the Butterfly Foundation and Loveena Guilford from Styed with Love. Read full article
Glee star Lea Michele appears on the cover of the March edition of US Cosmopolitan. The actress is apparently 24 years old but plays the role of a teenager in the internationally popular television series Glee. In the news is the reaction by some Texas newsagents who have removed the magazine from display and others who have said that the cover shot is overtly sexual and inappropriate for a celebrity who plays a teenager. The implication is that Lea Michele is also something of a role model for young women who watch Glee. Read full article
P!nk (Alecia Moore) has just released her latest music video for her current song, “Fkin Perfect”, being given airplay. I must confess I'm partial to P!nk and her music. This is because of what she represents and stands for, and the tunes of course. As I was playing the footage on my computer my 6 and 3 year old wanted to look. I do let them listen to P!nk. I know some of her lyrics contain explicit language so I either sing loudly for those songs and cover the swearing, or I don’t let them listen to those but I don’t believe that she should be censored. Read full article
So the research is in and it tells us that social networking can be a positive influence on teenagers’ lives ... Valkenburg and Peters, from the University of Amsterdam reviewed ten years of research into Internet use by teenagers and concluded that social networking sites increased positive internet use amongst healthy teenagers and enhanced their social functioning. Read full article
Parents looking back on their own teenage years might think that anxiety was a normal part of the experience of awkwardly growing into their adult selves. And in fact, a certain level of anxiety is normal in everyone, says Dr Ron Rapee, Director of the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University. But when your teen’s anxiety is starting to interfere with everyday life and preventing them from doing things they should normally enjoy, this could be a sign that your adolescent has a form of anxiety disorder. Read full article
The term 'Operation Enough' caught my eye as I scanned this morning's news. Police at the St Marys Local Area Command in NSW launched a campaign targeting young people involved in underage drinking and various criminal behaviour. But what really caught my eye was the media release and reports saying "In a new tactic by police, a parent of each and every child was 'phoned and asked to collect their children." ...This post includes ideas for parents of teenagers concerned about unsupervised drinking. Read full article
