Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

How Mother-Youth Emotional Climate Helps Adolescents Cope with Stress

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

Transition to middle school can be a stressful time for adolescents. They must adjust to a new peer group and social environment while going through the developmental changes of puberty. A recent University of Illinois study looks at how emotional aspects of parenting can help youth better cope with peer stressors during this transitional period.

The researchers evaluated emotional closeness between fifth-graders and their mothers, gauging how it predicted the youths' ability to deal with social challenges when they started middle school the following year. They combined observations of mother-youth interactions with measures of the youths' biological stress response capacity.

The study, published in The Journal of Early Adolescence, is part of a larger, ongoing project in the research lab of Kelly Tu, examining the mental health and well-being of adolescents and the role of parental involvement. Tu is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) at U of I, and co-author of the paper.

"Adolescents often turn to their mothers to discuss peer problems. As mothers give advice, it's not just what they tell adolescents that matters, but also how they are conveying those messages. Therefore, moving beyond mothers' specific suggestions for coping, here we focus on the emotional climate of these conversations," explains Xiaomei Li, doctoral candidate in HDFS and the paper's lead author.

The researchers invited mothers and adolescents in the last semester of fifth grade to the research lab, asking them to spend five minutes talking about a peer problem the youth was facing. The youth also filled out questionnaires reporting on how they typically cope with peer stress, once during fifth grade and again after they started sixth grade the following school year.

During the five-minute conversation, trained observers rated maternal affect (such as smiles, physical and verbal affection, frustration or tension) and dyadic connection or cohesiveness (such as taking turns and communicating smoothly). The researchers also measured youth biological response in the form of their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), gauging the baseline RSA at rest while they watched a slide show of nature images. RSA measures the variations in heart rate, and higher baseline RSA indicates greater capacity to respond to stressful situations by regulating the heart rate.

Youth who experienced more positive affect and greater cohesiveness during their conversations with mothers reported more active coping and advice-seeking from parents in middle school. In comparison, youth whose mothers displayed less positive affect (or more criticism and lack of interest) and who were less cohesive with their children during the conversation were less able to actively cope with social stress when starting middle school. This was particularly noticeable for kids with lower baseline RSA.

"For some youth who may be biologically dispositioned to be vulnerable to stress, such as displaying lower baseline RSA, the mother's positive, warm affect and a cohesive, collaborative conversation atmosphere appear to be especially important for the development and use of active coping," Li says.

The study was published in The Journal of Early Adolescence.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-mother-youth-emotional-climate-adolescents-cope.html

Rising Parental Expectations Linked to Perfectionism in College Students

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

Rising parental expectations and criticism are linked to an increase in perfectionism among college students, which can have damaging mental health consequences, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 American, Canadian and British college students. They found that young people's perceptions of their parents' expectations and criticism have increased over the past 32 years and are linked to an increase in their perfectionism.

"Perfectionism contributes to many psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders," said lead researcher Thomas Curran, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Study co-author Andrew P. Hill, Ph.D., a professor of sport and exercise psychology at York St John University, added that "the pressure to conform to perfect ideals has never been greater and could be the basis for an impending public health issue."

The first meta-analysis included 21 studies with data from more than 7,000 college students. Parental expectations and criticism had moderate associations with self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism and a large association with socially prescribed perfectionism.

The second meta-analysis included 84 studies conducted between 1989 and 2021 with a total of 23,975 college students. Parental expectations, criticism, and their combined parental pressure increased during those 32 years, with parental expectations increasing at the fastest rate by far.

"These trends may help explain increasing mental health issues in young people and suggest this problem will only worsen in the future," Hill said. "It's normal for parents to be anxious about their children, but increasingly this anxiety is being interpreted as pressure to be perfect."

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-parental-linked-perfectionism-college-students.html

Teen Internet Usage Associated with Stress and Suicidal Ideation

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

A survey of nearly 30,000 high school students in Korea reveals an association between non-academic time spent on the Internet and mental health, with teenagers who spent more time online having higher levels of stress and more feelings of sadness and suicidal ideation. The new study was published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Yeunhee Kwak of Chung-Ang University, Korea, and colleagues.

Internet usage in adolescence has been shown to be associated with emotional and physical problems but there is a need to investigate the exact factors that play a role in this association. Past studies have not always distinguished between types of Internet usage, which has made interpretation of their findings difficult.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed data from 29,811 high school students ages 16 to 18 who completed the 2018 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey. Information on non-academic Internet usage, mental health, and general characteristics of the students was also available.

On average, students in the study spent more than 3 hours a day on the Internet for non-academic purposes. Internet usage was highest among students in lower grade levels, female students, students of low economic status, and low academic achievement students, among other groups.

Students with lower internet usage appeared better off on a range of measures: even after controlling for all available demographic characteristics, they reported better health, reduced stress, fewer feelings of sadness, and less suicidal ideation than the group with high Internet usage.

While the findings cannot demonstrate any causative link between Internet usage and mental health, the authors believe that active support and interventions are needed to reduce feelings of stress and sadness in adolescents and that programs that promote healthy use of the Internet, replace Internet use with social and physical activities, and help adolescents maintain good relationships could play a role.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-teen-internet-usage-stress-suicidal.html

Stressed Teens Benefit From Coping Online, But Less is More

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

Teenagers who spend a few hours online after a stressful experience fare better than those who frequently use this strategy or not at all a Griffith University-led study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science has found.

Researchers from the "How do you feel" project conducted "in vivo" in-the-moment research with adolescents living in low socio-economic areas, and lent them new iPhones to report on their technology use, stressors, and emotions five times daily for a week.

"Because adolescents in disadvantaged settings have fewer local supports, the study sought to find out whether online engagement helped reduce their stress,"' said lead researcher Dr. Kathryn Modecki, from Griffith's Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Applied Psychology.

"In the face of daily stressors, when adolescents engaged in emotional support seeking, self-distraction or information seeking online in a moderate capacity, they experienced better short-term stress relief,"' she said.

"Teens showed smaller dips in happiness and smaller surges in emotions like sadness, worry, and jealousy in the hours after a stressor when they used online coping techniques for some of their stress relief.

"There has been a tendency to assume that technology is negative and harmful, but such a broad assumption isn't borne out by what we know about the developmental stage of adolescence."

When adolescents engaged in moderate amounts of emotional support seeking online in the hours after a stressor, they were protected against dips in happiness and against surges in loneliness.

Likewise, moderate use of online self-distraction versus high or no distraction resulted in reduced worry, jealousy, and anger, while moderate amounts of online information seeking protected against dips in sadness.

"This study works to reframe technology's effects towards potential benefits for adolescents, in this case enhancing their ability to cope effectively with day-to-day stressors,"' Dr. Modecki said.

The study was published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-stressed-teens-benefit-coping-online.html

55% of Americans Believe 2020 Election Day Will be Most Stressful Day of Their Lives

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

As if the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t giving Americans enough anxiety already, you may have heard there’s a presidential election this November. With political divisions reaching historical highs, a survey finds a majority of the country believe their most stressful day of 2020 hasn’t even arrived yet. The poll examining mental health reveals 55 percent of Americans think Election Day 2020 will be the most stress-filled day of their lives.

The OnePoll survey examined the current mental health of 2,000 adults, focusing on the stress caused by COVID-19 and the presidential race. Nearly six in 10 people can’t imagine being more stressed than they already are this year, while 67 percent want the year to be over now.

The study, commissioned by Feelmore Labs and Cove, reveals Millennials (61%) and members of Generation X (58%) are feeling the Election Day strain more than anyone else. Only one-third of Baby Boomers feel the same way about the upcoming vote.

Even more concerning, a staggering 95 percent believe 2020 stressors are negatively impacting their health. The biggest issues are trouble sleeping (45%), lack of focus (44%), and weight control issues (41%). More than four in 10 Americans say COVID-19 has directly affected their sleep patterns.

Source: Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/2020-election-day-most-stressful/

Anxious Teens May Face Higher Odds for Future Heart Attack

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

Middle-aged men who were anxious or depressed teens are at increased risk for heart attack, according to a large, long-term study.

It included more than 238,000 men born between 1952 and 1956 who underwent extensive exams when they were 18 or 19 years old and were followed to age 58.

Men diagnosed with anxiety or depression in their late teens had a 20% higher risk of heart attack than those who didn't, the study showed.

The findings only reflect an association. The link was partly, but not fully, explained by poorer ability to cope with everyday stress and lower physical fitness in teens with mental health conditions, according to findings presented at a virtual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

The takeaway: "Be vigilant and look for signs of stress, depression or anxiety that is beyond the normal teenage angst: Seek help if there seems to be a persistent problem," suggested study author Cecilia Bergh, a senior lecturer in health sciences at Orebro University in Sweden.

Better fitness in youth is likely to protect against heart disease, particularly if people stay fit as they age, Bergh said, adding that exercise may also alleviate negative consequences of stress.

Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/cardiovascular-health-information-20/heart-attack-warning-signs-and-risk-news-366/anxious-teens-may-face-higher-odds-for-future-heart-attack-study-760686.html

Nearly Half of Parents with Young Kids Battling Severe Stress During COVID-19 Quarantine

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

There may be no one more ready for the COVID-19 quarantine to end completely and life to pick back up where it left off than moms and dads. Between homeschooling, keeping the little ones occupied, feeding them, cleaning up after them, dealing with tantrums — and, oh yeah, that thing called “work,” it’s another tiring full-time job. A new survey conducted by The Harris Poll echoes that sentiment. Researchers say nearly half of parents with children under 18 are battling severe stress as coronavirus restrictions wear on.

The American Psychological Association and The Harris Poll have started a new monthly survey to try and understand the effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on the stress levels of American adults. They recently published the results of their first “Stress In America” survey, which was conducted between April 24 and May 4, 2020.

The survey of 3,013 adults shows that parents of kids younger than 18 are the most stressed: 46% of this segment rates their stress levels at least an 8 out of 10. Conversely, just 28% of respondents who don’t have children under 18 report feeling the same way.

“For many parents, it can feel overwhelming to face competing demands at home and work along with possible financial challenges during this unprecedented crisis,” says Arthur C. Evans Jr., Ph.D., American Psychological Association CEO, in a statement. “Children are keen observers and often notice and react to stress or anxiety in their parents, caregivers, peers, and community. Parents should prioritize their self-care and try their best to model healthy ways of coping with stress and anxiety.”

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/nearly-half-of-parents-with-young-kids-battling-severe-stress-during-covid-19-quarantine/

College Students Feeling the Strain of Social Distancing

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

The lives of college students have been turned upside down due to the coronavirus pandemic, so an expert offers some advice to help them cope with the situation.

Along with having to switch from in-person classes to online sessions, students have lost many other parts of their daily routine, so it's important to maintain a "foundation of coping skills" such as good sleep habits, healthy eating, self-care and taking breaks from screen time, said Caitlin Nevins, director of psychological services at McLean Hospital's College Mental Health Program in Belmont, Mass.

Students also need to seek mental health support if they feel they need it. Even if they can't get an in-person session, assistance may be available over the phone and through telehealth.

While it's important to stay informed about the coronavirus pandemic, students have to recognize when to take a break from stressful news by reading, watching a movie, or joking with friends. This will boost resiliency to the deluge of upsetting news.

Many students are isolated. To stay connected with others, they can move beyond texting or social media to more interpersonal communications, such as phone or video calls with friends. Nevins suggests making plans to watch shows together remotely or participate in other digital forms of dorm activities. Get creative about maintaining crucial social connections when it's not possible to get together in person, she said.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/infectious-disease-information-21/coronavirus-1008/college-students-feeling-the-strain-of-social-distancing-756261.html

Children’s Mental Health Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: What You Need To Know

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

As a direct result of the ever-growing coronavirus pandemic, an increasing amount of Americans are being encouraged to stay at home and self-isolate for the time being as a means to help prevent the spread of the virus. And while the measure itself is a great way to help flatten the curve, the isolation, and social distancing is now slowly taking a toll on the mental health of many, which may lead to feelings such as fear, worry and, of course, anxiety.

Of course, that stress can be felt by the children too. Unfortunately, most people don’t take this into account, despite the obvious signs that are showing.

“In times of stress and disrupted routines, it is normal for people of all ages to experience signs of distress. For young children, this may include increased clinginess, tearfulness, nightmares or temper tantrums. You may also see children returning to behaviors they had previously ‘outgrown,’ such as thumb-sucking or bed-wetting,” Dr. Tali Raviv, the associate director of the Center for Childhood Resilience at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said.

For teens and older children, however, the stress can be seen in physiological changes such as reduced energy, appetite and a disrupted sleeping pattern. It can also result in headaches or stomachaches, or even thinking changes like distraction, forgetfulness and not being attentive or alert. Adolescents, on the other hand, might become withdrawn or more socially isolated, oftentimes worried about their health and their future.

Per Raviv, while all children are bound to show some signs of distress because of the pandemic situation, it’s also advised that parents who have kids with preexisting mental health conditions should monitor their child better, as well as take note of any increase in symptoms.

Thankfully, Raviv also said that the vast majority of today’s youth will be resilient in the face of severe and long-lasting trauma.

Source: Medical Daily
https://www.medicaldaily.com/childrens-mental-health-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-what-need-know-451052

College Students Can Eliminate Stress By Spending Just 10 Minutes Outdoors

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

College can be a very stressful time for young adults, and this can be very taxing on their mental health. Fortunately, there is a very accessible remedy for this stress — nature. Recent research shows that spending as little as 10 minutes in a natural setting can help relieve students of their college stress.

The review from Cornell University evaluates numerous studies on nature’s effects on the mental health of college students to find an effective “nature prescription” for students.

“It doesn’t take much time for the positive benefits to kick in — we’re talking 10 minutes outside in a space with nature,” says lead author Gen Meredith, associate director of the Master of Public Health Program and lecturer at the College of Veterinary Medicine, in a media release. “We firmly believe that every student, no matter what subject or how high their workload, has that much discretionary time each day, or at least a few times per week.”

The studies included in the review compare the effects of a “green” environment versus an urban setting on the physical and mental health of students. The measures used in the studies include students’ heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol levels (a stress hormone), mood and their ability to focus. The review of the studies indicates that 10-50 minutes of sitting or walking in nature are the most effective at improving these measures.

One of the critical aspects of this review is that it provides students with something they can do on a daily basis to relieve their stress. Rakow comments: “While there is a lot of literature on longer outdoor programs, we wanted to quantify doses in minutes, not days.”

The review is published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/college-students-can-eliminate-stress-by-spending-just-10-minutes-outdoors/