Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Screen Time Inhibits Toddler Development, Study Finds

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on TechCrunch.

In news that will surprise few but still alarm many, a study has found that kids 2-5 years old who engage in more screen time received worse scores in developmental screening tests. The apparent explanation is simple: when a kid is in front of a screen, they’re not talking, walking or playing, the activities during which basic skills are cultivated.

The topic is a thorny one, as there are plenty of arguments on both sides as to the possible pros and cons of screen use at an early age, and as with any other topic pertaining to parenting, it is immediately personal to many people and reliance on anecdote is common. It’s only through studies like this one, these and other researchers note, that we can begin to be sure of anything.

The study, from the University of Calgary psychologists and published in the JAMA journal Pediatrics, examined the effect of screen time during a developmental period on performance in basic skills at the end of each period — specifically, at 24, 36 and 60 months old. Caregivers reported average screen time, and also filled out standard questionnaires on motor and communication skills.

A rather straightforward correlation appeared in the results: "greater screen time at 24 months was associated with poorer performance on developmental screening tests at 36 months, and similarly, greater screen time at 36 months was associated with lower scores on developmental screening tests at 60 months."

Importantly, the effect was not bidirectional or ambiguous — kids with more screen time usually had lower scores, but kids with lower scores didn’t necessarily have more screen time. This strengthens the hypothesis that screen time leads to lower scores instead of an unknown variable or variables affecting both.

The exact mechanism can’t be tested with the present data, but lead author Sheri Madigan suggests it isn’t exactly mysterious:

“A lot of the positive stimulation that helps kids with their physical and cognitive development comes from interactions with caregivers,” she said in a University of Calgary news release. “When they’re in front of their screens, these important parent-child interactions aren’t happening.”

And not just those, either. The paper explains in a bit more detail: "when young children are observing screens, they may be missing important opportunities to practice and master interpersonal, motor, and communication skills. For example, when children are observing screens without an interactive or physical component, they are more sedentary and, therefore, not practicing gross motor skills, such as walking and running, which in turn may delay development in this area. Screens can also disrupt interactions with caregivers by limiting opportunities for verbal and nonverbal social exchanges, which are essential for fostering optimal growth and development."

The implication isn’t that screen time is inherently bad but that it risks replacing the “high quality caregiver-child interactions” that are so critical at this period of development. The solution therefore is not necessarily less screens, but more and better time spent with the kid.

Source: TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/28/screen-time-inhibits-toddler-development-study-finds/

Pediatricians Push for Laws to Prevent Teen Vaping

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Strong limits on marketing and sales are needed to control and prevent teens' use of electronic cigarettes, a new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement says.

Teens who use e-cigarettes are more apt to use traditional cigarettes eventually, studies show.

The surge in vaping among American teens threatens to turn back five decades of public health gains in reducing tobacco use, the AAP warned.

"Nicotine is highly addictive, and we know that the earlier that someone uses nicotine products in childhood, the more difficult it is to quit later," said Dr. Brian Jenssen, lead author of the new policy statement. He is a primary care pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"Most adult smokers started using tobacco before age 18," Jenssen said in an AAP news release.

The policy statement calls on federal officials to take immediate action to restrict marketing and sales of flavored vaping products to youth.

It appears in the February print issue of the journal Pediatricsand was published online Jan. 28.

Along with the risk of addiction, nicotine can do long-term damage to teen brain development, according to the AAP.

In 2018, nearly 21 percent of high school students and 5 percent of middle schoolers said they'd used an e-cigarette in the past month, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. That's up 78 percent from 2017.

More than 28 percent of middle and high school students -- about 20.5 million -- were exposed to e-cigarette ads from at least one source in 2016.

"E-cigarettes need stronger federal regulations to prevent youth access and use," said Dr. Susan Walley, co-author of the policy statement.

"The research is clear that teens are at higher risk of transitioning to traditional cigarettes even with experimental use of e-cigarettes," she said. Walley leads the AAP Section on Tobacco Control.

The statement calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to immediately ban sale of e-cigarettes to people under age 21; prohibit online sale of vaping devices and solution; ban certain flavors including menthol, and ban ads and promotions that can reach youth.

The AAP also says e-cigarettes should be included in current tobacco-free laws that apply in places where kids live, learn, play, work and visit.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/cancer-information-5/electronic-cigarettes-970/pediatricians-push-for-laws-to-prevent-teen-vaping-741931.html

Teens' Same-Gender Friendships Key to Later Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on EurekAlert!.

Researchers have long known that the quality of an adult's romantic life is closely tied to both physical and mental health in adolescence. A new longitudinal study sought to identify the factors in adolescence that best predicted who would and would not have a satisfying romantic life in their late 20s. The study found that the skills teens learn in friendships with peers of the same gender were the strongest predictors of later romantic satisfaction.

The study, by researchers at the University of Virginia and James Madison University, appears in Child Development, a journal of the Society for Research in Child Development.

"In spite of the emphasis teens put on adolescent romantic relationships, they turn out not to be the most important predictor of future romantic success," says Joseph P. Allen, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, who led the study. "Instead, it's the skills learned in friendships with peers of the same gender--skills such as stability, assertiveness, intimacy, and social competence--that correspond most closely to the skills needed for success in adult romantic relationships."

Researchers interviewed and observed 165 adolescents from ages 13 to 30; the youth lived in suburban and urban areas in the southeastern United States and the group was racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. The study assessed teens' reports of the quality of their social and romantic relationships, as well as reports by close friends. Each year across a three-year period when the youth were in their late 20s, researchers also interviewed participants about how satisfied they were with romantic life.

The study found that progress in key social developmental tasks in adolescence predicted future romantic competence at ages 27 to 30, even though the adolescent tasks were in nonromantic areas. For example:

• At age 13, adolescents' abilities to establish positive expectations of relationships with their peers and to be appropriately assertive with peers were the best predictors of future romantic satisfaction.
• At ages 15 and 16, social competence--that is, teens' ability to establish close friendships and to manage a broad array of relationships with peers--was the best predictor.
• And from ages 16 to 18, teens' ability to establish and maintain close, stable friendships was the best predictor of satisfaction romantically.

These factors were more closely associated than anything related to romantic behavior in adolescence, such as how much teens dated, whether they were involved physically in romantic relationships, their sexual behavior, and their physical attractiveness, according to the study. The researchers note that their study did not establish causal processes.

Source: EurekAlert!
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/sfri-tsf011719.php

Attention, College Shoppers: Some Schools Are Slashing Their Prices

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on The Washington Post.

As soaring tuition scares off many families, a growing number of private colleges have embraced a marketing tactic associated more with selling airline tickets or flat-screen televisions than higher education: a price cut.

St. John’s College slashed tuition from $52,734 in this school year to $35,000 in the next.

The liberal arts school, with campuses in Maryland and New Mexico, joined more than 20 others nationwide that have reduced prices in the past three years.

The movement exposes a reality of higher education long hidden in plain sight: The difference between sticker prices and what the average student actually pays is often vast.

Twenty-three private institutions have reduced tuition since 2016, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. “The trend is beginning to pick up,” said David L. Warren, the association’s president. These schools view cuts as “an important tool,” he said, to help them stand out in a crowded market.

Their reasons vary. Some need to bolster recruiting in the face of major financial challenges. Others want to escape a pricing formula that assumes prospective students view high tuition as a mark of educational quality even though they simultaneously seek significant discounts or financial aid.

The average sticker price for private colleges is about $48,500 for tuition, fees and room and board, according to the College Board, a nonprofit organization representing thousands of educational institutions. However, sticker prices above $60,000 a year have become commonplace, and a growing number top $70,000.

The most prestigious schools enroll large numbers of students willing and able to pay full price. Federal data show the share of full-paying undergraduates in 2016-2017 — those who received no grants — was 42 percent at Princeton University, 50 percent at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and 57 percent at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. A similar pattern held at numerous other colleges.

But many schools have few full-pay students. The Washington Post found more than 310 colleges and universities in 2016-2017 where at least 95 percent of undergraduates received grants or scholarships. (For St. John’s, the share was 97 percent on its Annapolis campus, 99 percent in Santa Fe, N.M.)

At such schools, sticker price may be more of an aspirational statement than a revenue generator.

Even so, sticker prices usually go up faster than inflation. Knowing this, students and bill-paying parents hope the increases remain manageable. Their best-case scenario would be an occasional price freeze.

Even so, sticker prices usually go up faster than inflation. Knowing this, students and bill-paying parents hope the increases remain manageable. Their best-case scenario would be an occasional price freeze.

Now, price cuts among private colleges could be signaling a pivot point in that sector.

Sweet Briar College in Virginia, which nearly closed in 2015 amid financial difficulties, cut its price 32 percent for the current school year, to $34,000 for tuition, fees and room and board.

Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania will cut tuition 32 percent in the coming year, to $32,000 (not counting fees and room and board). The echo on 32 is not accidental. Carl J. Strikwerda, president of the 1,700-student college, said he wants to grab the attention of middle-class families.

Price cuts are risky. If they are not deep enough, they won’t get noticed. If they are too deep, colleges could lose substantial revenue. “This is not for the faint of heart,” Strikwerda said. To succeed, he said, a college must convince prospective students of the quality of the education it offers regardless of price.

Source: The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/attention-college-shoppers-these-schools-are-slashing-their-prices/2019/01/21/e384eca0-12bc-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html

What's Hot? 01/25/19

Trending Today on Twitter - 1/25/19
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Source: Nielsen Co.

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Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Glass
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Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Millennials' Odds for Depression Rise With Social Media Use

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Millennials struggling with depression aren't being helped by their use of Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, a new study reports.

College students who meet the criteria for major depressive disorder tend to use social media more often and are more heavily addicted to social media, researchers found.

They're also more likely to use social media in ways that exacerbate or highlight their depression, the study said.

For example, depressed young adults are more likely to compare themselves on social media to people who appear better off than them, said first author Anthony Robinson. He's a research assistant in the psychology department at Texas State University.

Folks who post to Facebook or Instagram take pains to portray themselves in a flattering light, Robinson said.

"If people are making comparisons based on this inflated image that's being presented, it can cause feelings of inferiority," Robinson said.

Depressed young adults were also more likely to be bothered if tagged in an unflattering picture, less likely to post pictures of themselves with other people, and more likely to self-censor what they posted to avoid the judgment of others, results showed.

For the study, Robinson and his colleagues asked 504 undergraduates at Texas State to complete an online survey. The survey assessed their social media use and asked a variety of psychological questions.

Those with symptoms of depression reported behaviors like excessive sleeping, feelings of hopelessness and guilt, or a loss of pleasure in activities they used to enjoy, Robinson said.

About 16 percent of the students met the criteria for major depressive disorder, which Robinson said was an "extremely high" proportion.

Major depressive disorder affects nearly 7 percent of Americans 18 and older in any given year, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Young adults 18 to 25 are the age group most likely to have had a major depressive episode in 2016, around 11 percent.

The no-holds-barred, say-anything-without-consequences nature of social media could contribute to people feeling bad about themselves, Robinson said.

"If you're spending more time on these platforms and you're being trolled or cyberbullied, it's going to have a negative effect on your psychological well-being," Robinson said.

But because this was an observational study, the researchers can't say in what direction the association between depression and social media works, noted Joseph McGuire, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. He was not involved with the study.

"Is it that people who tend to be on social media more then start to feel depressed, or is it that the people who are more depressed are more withdrawn and this is their only social contact?" McGuire asked.

The new study was published in the Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/depression-news-176/millennials-odds-for-depression-rise-with-social-media-use-741406.html

Movie Violence Doesn't Make Kids Violent, Study Finds

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Parents often worry that violent movies can trigger violence in their kids, but a new study suggests PG-13-rated movies won't turn your kids into criminals.

Researchers found that as PG-13 movies became more violent between 1985 and 2015, overall rates of murder and violence actually fell.

"It doesn't appear that PG-13-rated movies are having any impact on viewers," said lead researcher Christopher Ferguson. He's a professor of psychology at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla.

Kids may re-enact things they see in films during play, Ferguson said, but their playful re-enactments don't turn into real-life violence, like bullying or assaults.

But the report came under fire from Dan Romer, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Adolescent Communication Institute. He said the data studied can't be used to draw conclusions about movies' effects on violence.

"The authors have a very simplistic model of how the mass media work, and they have an agenda that attempts to show that violent media are salutary rather than harmful," Romer said. "What is needed is dispassionate analysis rather than cherry-picking of convenient data."

Previous studies have suggested parents may become desensitized to violence in PG-13 movies, making it more likely they will let children see them -- especially when gun violence is portrayed as justified.

But researcher Ferguson said media are simply an easy target for people who want to claim the moral high ground. Blaming media gives people a false sense of control.

"It's nice to say, 'Let's get rid of this thing and then that would make all these problems go away,'" he said. "It's kind of a simplistic answer."

Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital, reviewed the findings. He said the new study attempts to simplify a complex issue.

"While violence has declined, it doesn't warrant the conclusion that we are not affected by violence in our media," Rich said. "As a pediatrician, I am more concerned about the violence that children experience every day, which is not reflected in crime stats."

What people experience most is micro-aggressions, like bullying, Rich said. While he considers movies a reflection of society, he added that the causes of violence and aggression are numerous. "It's a complex issue," he said.

But it's clear that violence in media has a numbing effect, making viewers less bothered by it, he said. "That is, in part, why violent media always needs to up the ante," Rich explained.

Media violence teaches kids that the world is more violent than it really is, and most react by becoming more fearful, not more violent or aggressive, he said.

"Violence is much rarer than fear and anxiety," Rich said. "We find that most kids who carry a weapon into school do it for protection."

For the study, Ferguson and Villanova University psychology professor Patrick Markey reviewed other researchers' data on PG-13 movies, along with U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation data on violent crime and the National Crime Victimization Survey.

But Romer said that data can't be used to draw conclusions about movies' effects on violence.

The report was published in the journal Psychiatric Quarterly.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/public-health-information-30/violence-health-news-787/movie-violence-doesn-t-make-kids-violent-study-finds-741747.html

Teen Churchgoers Often Stop Attending as Young Adults

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Two-thirds of American Christian teenagers who regularly attend worship at a Protestant congregation for at least a year quit going for at least a year when they become young adults.

According to a report by LifeWay Research titled “Most Teenagers Drop Out of Church as Young Adults,” 66 percent of young adults who attended a Protestant church regularly for at least a year as a teenager dropped out for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22.

The major reasons respondents gave included “moving to college” (34 percent), “church members seeming judgmental or hypocritical” (32 percent), “no longer feeling connected to people in their church” (29 percent), disagreement with their “church’s stance on political or social issues” (25 percent), and employment obligations (24 percent).

The report drew from data collected from a survey done Sept. 15 – Oct. 13 of last year of 2,002 respondents who attended Protestant churches, with a sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

The 2017 numbers were a slight improvement compared to 2007, when 70 percent of respondents reported leaving for at least a year between ages 18 and 22.

Alex McFarland, national talk show host and author who has hosted dozens of “Truth for a New Generation” apologetics conferences, told The Christian Post that he believed the LifeWay study was “accurate” and attributed the numbers ultimately to “issues of worldview.”

“If they are taught the biblical worldview and the responsibility of every Christian to be a steward of their life and their influence and be a part of a church, really all of those things could ultimately be dealt with,” said McFarland, who encouraged “teaching a more cohesive, consistently proclaimed biblical worldview.”

Regarding the 25 percent of respondents who reported leaving over their church’s views on social and political issues, McFarland told CP that this should not lead a church to “abdicate its roll to be a voice for righteousness within the culture.”

Source: The Christian Post
https://www.christianpost.com/news/teens-who-attend-church-often-stop-going-as-young-adults-lifeway-study-finds.html

What's Hot? 01/18/19

Trending Today on Twitter - 1/18/19
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Source: Twitter

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6. Keanu Reeves - Logic
7. Without Me - Halsey
8. High Hopes - Panic! At the Disco
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Source: iTunes

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1. Fox NFC Playoff - Sat
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3. NBC NFL Playoff Postgame
4. The Big Bang Theory
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8. Fox NFC Playoff Pregame
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Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - 1/18/19
1. Ariana Grande - 7 rings
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3. Film Theory: The Secret Ingredient of SpongeBob's Krabby Patty
4. Starbucks Year-Round Holiday Drinks Taste Test
5. L.A. Teacher's Strike, the Egg That Broke Instagram The Daily Show
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. The Upside
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3. A Dog's Way Home
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Source: Rotten Tomatoes

More Evidence Pot May Damage the Teen Brain

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Smoking just a couple of joints may cause significant changes in a teenager's brain structure, a new study has found.

Brain scans show that some adolescents who've tried marijuana just a couple of times exhibit significant increases in the volume of their gray matter.

These changes were associated with increased risk of anxiety, and decreased ability on thinking and memory tests.

"It is important to understand why some people may be more vulnerable to brain effects of cannabis at even the earliest stages of use, as it might give us some insight into why some people transition to substance misuse while others do not," said lead researcher Catherine Orr. She is a lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

"Also, if we can identify some of the factors that place people at greater risk of these brain effects, we need to let people know what they are so that they can make informed decisions about their substance use," Orr continued.

Most studies involving the effects of pot on the brain focus on heavy marijuana users. These researchers wanted to focus instead on what might happen as teens experiment with marijuana.

To that end, they gathered brain scan data obtained as part of a large research program investigating brain development and mental health in teens.

The researchers examined brain imaging of 46 kids, aged 14 years, from Ireland, England, France and Germany, who reported trying pot once or twice. They also looked at the teens' scores on cognitive and mental health tests.

The teens' brains showed greater gray matter volume in brain areas more affected by pot, when compared with kids who'd never toked, the study authors said.

"The regions of the brain that showed the volume effects map onto the parts of the brain that are rich in cannabinoid receptors, suggesting that the effects we observe may be a result of these receptors being stimulated by cannabis exposure," Orr said.

Regions most affected by weed were the amygdala, which is involved in processing fear and other emotions, and the hippocampus, which is involved with memory and reasoning, the researchers said.

The findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/public-health-information-30/marijuana-news-759/more-evidence-pot-may-damage-the-teen-brain-741556.html