Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Communication Helps Parent Relationships With New College Students But Has Limits

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

When young adults first go off to college, more communication with parents generally leads to better relationships, but parents should avoid always initiating it, according to a study led by Washington State University researchers.

In a paper published in the journal Emerging Adulthood, WSU Assistant Professor Jennifer Duckworth and co-authors found that phone, text, video or in-person communication made first-year students feel better about the relationship with their parents. Students also felt better about the relationship when parents offered support or advice, and when they discussed important topics, such as studying and friendships. However, researchers found negative associations when parents initiated nearly all of the communication.

"That could be indicative of over-involved parenting," said Duckworth, a faculty member in WSU's human development department. "It can be a fine line, but students with so-called 'helicopter parents' could have a more negative view of their relationship with those parents."

The research shows that it's beneficial for parents to regularly stay involved in students' lives, provide support and discuss topics important to students without overwhelming them.

"Text messages are great for a quick check-in that can be very beneficial to the relationship quality," Duckworth said. "If a student feels they have a good relationship, that's indicative of well-being and positive behaviors like more studying and less alcohol and drug use."

The study also shows that frequent communication improves the relationship between familial units.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240903144919.htm

Parents Who Use Humor Have Better Relationships With Their Children

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

They say that laughter is the best medicine, but it could be a good parenting tool, too, according to a new study led by researchers from Penn State.

In a pilot study, the research team found that most people viewed humor as an effective parenting tool and that a parent or caregiver's use of humor affected the quality of their relationship with their children. Among those whose parents used humor, the majority viewed their relationship with their parents and the way they were parented in a positive light. The researchers published their findings in the journal PLOS One.

"Humor can teach people cognitive flexibility, relieve stress, and promote creative problem solving and resilience," said Benjamin Levi, professor of pediatrics and humanities at Penn State College of Medicine and senior author of the study. "My father used humor and it was very effective. I use humor in my clinical practice and with my own children. The question became, how does one constructively use humor?"

Researchers surveyed 312 people between the ages of 18 and 45. More than half said they were raised by people who used humor and 71.8% agreed that humor can be an effective parenting tool. The majority said they do or plan to use humor with their children and believe that it has more potential benefit than harm.

The team also found a correlation between a parent's use of humor and the way their children, who are now adults, viewed the way they were parented and their relationship with their parents. Of those who reported that their parents used humor, 50.5% said they had a good relationship with their parents and 44.2% reported they felt their parents did a good job parenting them. On the other hand, of those who said their parents didn't use humor, only 2.9% reported a good relationship with their parents and 3.6% reported that they thought their parents did a good job parenting them.

While it's not surprising that parents would use humor with their children if they were raised by caregivers who did the same, Levi said the stark differences between the two groups was unexpected.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240812123148.htm

Close-knit Family, Community Key to Teens Delaying Sex

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Teenagers who are part of close-knit neighborhoods and families are less likely to have sex at a young age, a new study has found.

On the other hand, teens’ schools have less influence on their sexual behavior, researchers report.

“Our results echo other studies’ findings on the importance of families and neighborhoods in protecting youth from risky behaviors, and show that feeling connected to one’s local community can mitigate sexual risky behaviors,” said lead researcher Dr. Camila Cribb Fabersunne, a pediatrician with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Teens whose parents restricted their dating were 55% less likely to have sex by 10^th grade, results showed.

So were kids who spend less time alone when home (8% less likely), and who had tight-knit families (7% less likely).

Teenagers from close-knit neighborhoods were 10% less likely to have sex by 10^th grade, results show.

However, no school factors were associated with delaying sex until later in high school, researchers found.

This is the first known study to evaluate how children’s social connections can affect their sexual behavior, Cribb Fabersunne said.

The results, published June 4 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, show that school-provided messages and education about sexual behavior have little impact, Cribb Fabersunne said.

Instead, public health officials should focus resources on strategies involving families and neighborhoods, like establishing community-based health centers for youth and supporting parents in conversations with teenagers around sex.

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/child-health/close-knit-family-community-key-to-teens-delaying-sex

More Than Money, Family and Community Bonds Prep Teens for College Success

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by BYU News.

Want your teen to graduate from college one day? Focus on strengthening their social networks within and beyond the family, says a new BYU study.

Building “family social capital” during the teen years dramatically boosts an adolescent’s chances of eventually completing college, according to data from two national surveys analyzed by researchers from BYU, North Carolina State University and the National Institute on Aging. Social connectedness had a bigger effect on college enrollment and graduation rates than a family’s socioeconomic status, a high school environment or a student’s high school grades.

“It’s a really hopeful finding because this kind of capital is more accessible than financial capital,” said BYU sociology professor Mikaela Dufur, a co-author of the paper recently published in PLOS One. “It’s not that easy for a parent to say, ‘Oh, I want my 12-year-old to graduate from college, so I guess I’ll double my income.’ Our research found that investing in family social capital is powerful for all groups, for kids from all class and race backgrounds.”

Families build social capital in a couple of different ways, Dufur said. First, parents form it within the family by bonding with teens and conveying expectations and norms toward their schoolwork, such as by checking in about homework or discussing classes.

Second, families build social capital by developing connections with others in the community, including with the parents of their kids’ friends and with neighbors, coaches or teachers.

To see how long family social capital endures, researchers studied outcomes for over 20,000 students who participated in the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal Study and the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study. The surveys provided data about family relationships, community connection and educational attainment from students in eighth, 10^th and 12^thgrades, then followed up two and eight years after high school graduation.

“More than a family’s money or prior education, family social capital had really strong associations with both going to college and maybe more importantly, finishing college,” Dufur said. “That social capital you made with your family back when you were a teenager, that stretches forward and helps you achieve.”

Source: BYU News
https://news.byu.edu/intellect/more-than-money-family-and-community-bonds-prep-teens-for-college-success

Study Suggests Secret for Getting Teens to Listen to Unsolicited Advice

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

A new study from the University of California, Riverside may hold a secret for getting teenagers to listen to appreciate unsolicited advice. The study, which included 'emerging adults' -- those in their late teens and early 20s -- found teens will appreciate parents' unsolicited advice, but only if the parent is supportive of their teens' autonomy.

Parents support autonomy by providing clear guidelines for limitations and rules that will be enforced.

They also participate in activities that are interesting to their teens, among other things.

"These parents consistently acknowledge and validate their child's feelings, and encourage and support their exploration of different interests as they figure out who they are and what they'll do with their lives," said Elizabeth Davis, a UCR psychology researcher and the senior author of the study, published in December in the journal Emerging Adulthood.

Conversely, Davis said, statements such as "Because I said so" minus context; "get over it," and "it's not a big deal" are the postures that will cause your child to build walls in the face of unsolicited advice.

The study included 194 emerging adults aged 18 to 25.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240130172849.htm

Positive Childhood Relationships Linked to Improved Adult Mental Health

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

A Columbia University study found that positive relationships with parents and other adults during childhood are associated with better mental health in adulthood, regardless of exposure to adverse childhood experiences.

The findings, published in JAMA Psychiatry, suggest that interventions promoting supportive adult connections during childhood could pay dividends in young adult population health, reducing the sociocultural risk of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

"For kids, an extremely important resilience factor is a warm, nurturing relationship with a parent, caregiver, or other adult," said lead study author Sara VanBronkhorst, MD, MPH, voluntary faculty in psychiatry at Columbia. "Our study demonstrates that children who have at least one positive, committed adult-child relationship are less likely to experience depression, anxiety, and perceived stress later in life."

To identify markers of resilience, the investigators examined data from 2,000 participants in the Boricua Youth Study (BYS), a longitudinal study following three generations of families for 20 years, led by Cristiane Duarte, senior author of the JAMA Psychiatry paper. All participants in BYS are of Puerto Rican descent, about half originally residing in the island of Puerto Rico and others residing in the South Bronx, New York.

The researchers assessed for adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, at three points during childhood. These experiences can include things like physical or emotional abuse, neglect, caregiver mental illness, death or incarceration, and household violence.

They also measured seven sociocultural factors associated with resilience, which included social relationships (maternal warmth and friendships) and sources of meaning (familism and family religiosity). Mental health outcomes were measured during young adulthood and included generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, substance use disorder, and perceived stress.

As hypothesized, they found that the measures of social relationships, apart from peer relationships, were associated with less depression and anxiety and less perceived stress in young adulthood.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-positive-childhood-relationships-linked-adult.html

Teenagers’ Mental Health Suffers When They Have More Siblings

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

The more children that families have, the worse kids’ mental health gets. A new study has found that teenagers from larger families tend to have poorer mental health compared to those with fewer siblings.

It’s a surprising discovery that spans across two vastly different countries: the United States and China. This research, conducted by sociologists from The Ohio State University (OSU), delved into the complex relationship between sibling count and mental well-being.

“Our results couldn’t have been easily predicted before we did the study,” says study lead author Doug Downey, professor of sociology at OSU, in a university release. “Other studies have shown that having more siblings is associated with some positive effects, so our results were not a given.”

Their research involved extensive analysis of over 9,400 Chinese and 9,100 American 8th-graders. The average Chinese youth has about 0.7 fewer siblings than their American counterparts, likely influenced by China’s One Child Policy.

The study’s methodology included asking students (average age of 14) various questions about their mental health. These questions, though different in each country, led to some intriguing insights. For instance, in China, teens without siblings showed the best mental health, while in the U.S., those with none or one sibling fared similarly well. However, the presence of half and full siblings displayed a link to poorer mental health in the U.S., especially when siblings were close in age or older. One explanation for these findings is the “resource dilution” theory.

“If you think of parental resources like a pie, one child means that they get all the pie — all the attention and resources of the parents,” notes Downey. “But when you add more siblings, each child gets fewer resources and attention from the parents, and that may have an impact on their mental health.”

While these findings predominantly highlight the negative impacts of having more siblings, Downey notes that sibling quality wasn’t a factor in this study. High-quality sibling relationships could potentially offer positive effects on mental health. Moreover, other research finds that having more siblings can improve social skills in young children and decrease the likelihood of divorce in adults.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/teens-mental-health-siblings/

Kids Who Feel Their Parents Are Less Reliable Take Fewer Risks Vital to Learning and Growth

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Trying something new is a risk every child undertakes as they explore and learn about the world. While risk can be costly, it can also pay off in rewards or knowledge. But new research suggests children without predictable support from the adults in their lives are less willing to take those risks -- and reap those rewards.

"If you're in a resource-rich environment -- meaning for a child that you're safe, your meals are coming, someone is at home for you, you're surrounded by adults that are protecting you -- you'll try new things," says Seth Pollak, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of psychology who studies childhood adversity. "And that's how you discover and learn about the world."

But not every exploration will be rewarding and, according to a new study of childhood exploration and parental predictability that Pollak and collaborators today published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, kids who don't believe they have the support of reliable parents are less willing to risk the unknown.

The researchers studied decisions that more than 150 children ages 10 to 13 made while playing games designed by C. Shawn Green, a UW-Madison psychology professor. The games offered the children opportunities to risk a little and explore for potential gains.

The kids and their parents also participated in a battery of surveys and assessments. The researchers gauged the stress the children experience and the predictability of their lives -- based on factors like parental job loss, divorce, death or illness in the family, and changing schools and homes -- as well as children's own views about whether or not their parents were reliable and predictable.

The less reliable and predictable the kids felt their parents were, the less likely they were to take exploratory risks in the games they played.

"I think it makes sense," Pollak says. "Their brains are doing exactly what we want our brains to do, right? If you really feel things are not predictable and you don't know how things are going to land, you'd stick to what works and what's familiar. You wouldn't waste your resources on something that could all fall apart."

The researchers ran their experiments first with a group of nearly 80 kids, then repeated it with a second group of just over 80 more to confirm their results.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231127180715.htm

Kids Who Are Close to Their Parents Become Kinder, More Helpful Adults

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have found that kids who reported having a loving, strong bond with their parents around age three tended to be more kind, empathetic, and generous by adolescence.

In other words, researchers say parents should do their best to cultivate a meaningful, close relationship with their children as early as possible during their lives together. While the notion that fun times spent with mom or dad at age two or three could lead to more kind, prosocial behaviors years later may seem farfetched at first, researchers explain that parent-child relationships and closeness are incredibly important to an adolescent’s development. That process begins pretty much as soon as the family’s new addition comes home from the hospital. It’s never too early to start spreading the love in your household.

The research team analyzed a massive dataset encompassing over 10,000 people born between 2000 and 2002.

Study authors eventually concluded people who experienced warm and loving relationships with their parents at age three not only tended to have fewer mental health problems during early childhood and adolescence but also exhibited better prosocial tendencies, which refers to socially desirable behaviors that help others (kindness, generosity, empathy, volunteering, helpfulness).

While the noted correlation between parent-child relationships and later prosociality must be validated by additional research projects, this work certainly suggests a compelling and sizable association is at play here. On average, researchers say that for every standard unit above “normal” levels that a child’s closeness with their parents was higher around age three, their prosociality was higher by 0.24 of a standard unit by the time adolescence set in.

The project was undertaken and led by Ioannis Katsantonis and Dr. Ros McLellan, both from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge.

In conclusion, the study authors say this work highlights the importance of parents building a strong loving relationship with their kids as early as possible.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/close-to-parents-kinder-adults/

Researchers Find Strong Adolescent-Parent Relationships Lead to Better Long-Term Health Outcomes in Young Adults

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that adolescents who report strong relationships with their parents have better long-term health outcomes. Study findings, published today in JAMA Network Open, suggest that investments in improving parent-adolescent relationships could help improve general health, mental health, and sexual, health while also reducing substance use in young adulthood.

The study utilized data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Reseachers tested whether adolescents' reports of specific, measurable characteristics of their relationships with mother- and father figures with whom they live were linked to health outcomes measured 14 years later. The researchers looked at data from more than 15,000 adults who were initially enrolled in the study in the mid-1990s when they were between 12 and 17 years old.

The researchers looked at characteristics such as reported parental warmth, communication, time together, and academic expectations as assessed when the participants were between 12 and 17 years old. When those same participants were 24 to 32 years old, they reported on current levels of stress, depression, optimism, nicotine dependence and substance abuse, and other measures of general health. The study controlled for age, race, ethnicity, family structure, and other factors and separated the data based on relationships with mother and father figures who lived in the home. More than 10,000 participants were analyzed for the study.

The study found that participants who reported higher levels of mother-adolescent and father-adolescent warmth, communication, time together, academic expectations, relationship or communication satisfaction, and inductive discipline reported significantly higher levels of general health in young adulthood. Similarly, they reported significantly higher levels of optimism and romantic relationship quality and lower levels of stress and depressive symptoms as young adults. Higher levels of adolescent-reported parental warmth, time together, and relationship or communication satisfaction were also significantly associated with lower levels of nicotine dependence and substance abuse in young adulthood as well as lower odds of unintended pregnancy.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230321112658.htm