Reducing Aggression by Teaching Teens that People Can Change
When adults see media coverage of teens reacting aggressively to minor provocation, they often assume this behaviour is influenced by a teenager’s family background and experiences. And although a hostile family and school environment can contribute to aggressive behaviour, new research shows that the tendency of teens to act aggressively also depends on their belief about people’s ability or inability to change. This finding may help adults create education programs aimed at reducing violence and aggressive behaviour, and give parents important ideas on how to talk to children about people’s potential for change. Three key ideas for parents and teachers are included in this article. Read full article
Effective Strategies to Prevent Teen Depression and Suicide
Untreated depression is one of the leading causes of teen suicide, and signs of depression can also be a warning that a teenager is contemplating suicide. In an article published this week in the quarterly journal, The Prevention Researcher, University of Cincinnati researchers described how positive connections can help offset these tragedies...The authors state that teen suicidal warning signs encompass three specific categories ... Read full article
Why Do Teens Take More Risks? Do They?
A study by researchers at New York University, Yale’s School of Medicine, and Fordham University suggests that one reason why adolescents tolerate situations where the outcome is uncertain is that they have a higher level of comfort with “the ambiguous”. And this result could help in suggesting new ways for parents and teachers to talk to teenagers about risk. What do you think? Read full article
Teens Using Technology - Backlit Devices can Impact on Sleep
New research from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, indicates that teenagers who use backlit technology, such as tablet devices, for two hours before bed, may have their sleeping patterns disrupted. At this time of year in Australia, many teens are studying for their final HSC exams and technology usually plays a significant role at this time. Being aware of its possible effects on sleep and melatonin release, may help parents advise their teens on how to ensure they get sufficient sleep. Read full article
Understanding Children Who Bully
We are in the midst of an epidemic. One in seven kids suffer from it. It destroys lives and can have fatal consequences...As a community, there are things we can all do to decrease the likelihood that children will become bullies...Teens, although highly vulnerable to slights, are quick to dish them out. Testing each other and the world, their expressions are often uncensored... Read full article
How My Husband Raised a Good Man
I’m just about to reveal myself as an appalling hypocrite. I think I can justify myself, however. You may recall that in my last outing for happychild I expressed my discomfiture at the idea of parents monitoring their kids’ Facebook accounts. (Not everyone agreed with me I have to add.) Yet only the other day I found myself reading my eldest son’s private correspondence without his knowledge. Read full article
Teenagers Need More than Seven Hours Sleep
An academic paper released in 2012 suggested that teenagers may in fact need only just more than seven hours sleep to perform well in standardised tests. The article was not written by sleep researchers but by economics researchers who used statistical analysis to come up with this proposal. However the paediatric sleep community has refuted this suggestion. Read full article
How Much Sleep Does Your Teenager Need?
It’s common for parents to worry about their teenagers getting enough sleep. Like adults, teenagers’ sleep requirements vary between individuals, depending on how well they function on a certain amount of sleep. But as a general guideline, most teenagers function well on about nine hours sleep per day, says Dr Sarah Blunden, founder of the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep and Director of the Paediatric Sleep Clinic in South Australia. This article covers how much sleep teenagers need and some tips to help them get more of it. Read full article
Mobile Phones - Do They Negatively Impact Teen Communication?
I recently came across a blog post about the potential for mobile phones to weaken kids’ conversational skills. The post at the 21st Century Fluency Project (originally posted by Katherine Bindley at Huffington Post) talked about the positive and negative influence of mobile phones and technology in general on the ability of children and teenagers to communicate effectively. The topic caught my eye as my 12-year-old son was going to be receiving his first mobile phone for Christmas. Read full article
How Family Communication Influences Teen Depression
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
