Oh, that wasn’t the right choice either

For Kids, Anxiety About School Can Feel Like ‘Being Chased By A Lion’
September 13, 2016
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/09/13/478834629/for-kids-anxiety-about-school-can-feel-like-being-chased-by-a-lion

Jared’s been through a lot. He was diagnosed with severe anxiety and has been through therapy, hospitalizations and different medications.

“At the end of the day when you think back to all those choices you didn’t make and that you decided to stay home you realize, ‘Oh, that wasn’t the right choice either.’ “

Preventing adolescent alcohol use

Preventing Alcohol Use with a Voluntary After School Program for Middle School Students: Results from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of Project CHOICE
Prev Sci. 2012 Aug; 13(4): 415–425.
Elizabeth J. D’Amico, et al.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353018

journalistic version:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/11/12/455654938/to-prevent-addiction-in-adults-help-teens-learn-how-to-cope

APA: Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression

Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression, Study Says
Time, Aug 17, 2015
http://time.com/4000220/violent-video-games

Violent video games are linked to more aggressive behaviors among players, according to a new review of research.

The debate over whether violent video games are linked to violent behavior has long been contentious. Some argue there is little evidence connecting the two, while others say that lots of exposure over time causes young people to react more aggressively compared to kids who do not play video games. Now the American Psychological Association (APA) has joined the debate, arguing in a research review that playing violent games is linked to aggression

Estrategias de afrontamiento tras un incidente crítico

EL PAPEL DEL GRUPO DE IGUALES PARA LOS ADOLESCENTES TRAS UN INCIDENTE CRÍTICO

Primeros Auxilios Psicológicos
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
https://www.coursera.org/course/pap

Factores protectores para niños en emergencias cotidianas

Factores protectores en emergencias cotidianas en niños

Se le debe dar la opción de que sea él quien escoja, no apartarlo porque pensemos que son pequeños, que no se enterarán, que no les va a hacer ningún bien.
Bueno, dejemos que él pueda decidir, esta persona, este niño va a crecer y esa muerte la va a llevar consigo toda la vida. Aunque ahora lo apartemos, llegará un momento que se preguntará por qué no se pudo despedir.

from:
Primeros Auxilios Psicológicos
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
https://www.coursera.org/course/pap

Methylphenidate’s long-term effects

Animal model of methylphenidate’s long-term memory-enhancing effects
Learn. Mem. January 16, 2014 21: 82-89
http://learnmem.cshlp.org/cgi/content/abstract/21/2/82

Cognitive and emotional behavioural changes associated with methylphenidate treatment: a review of preclinical studies
Int J Neuropsychopharmacol February 1, 2012 15: 41-53
http://ijnp.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/1/41

Executive Impairment Determines ADHD Medication Response: Implications for Academic Achievement
J Learn Disabil March 1, 2011 44: 196-212
http://ldx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/2/196

http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/15/8/580.full.html

Insecure Attachment States of Mind

The Relation of Insecure Attachment States of Mind and Romantic Attachment Styles to Adolescent Aggression in Romantic Relationships
Attach Hum Dev. Sep 2010; 12(5): 463–481.
Erin M. Miga, Amanda Hare, Joseph P. Allen, and Nell Manning
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928157

The attachment dimensions used for the purposes of the current study include Insecure-Dismissing and Insecure-Preoccupied states of mind. Insecure-dismissing states of mind reflect the inability or unwillingness to recount attachment experiences, paucity of emotional content surrounding discourse, idealization of attachment figures that contradicts specific, reported experiences, and lack of evidence of valuing attachment.
Insecure- preoccupied states of mind reflect rambling, extensive but unfocused discourse about attachment experiences, and/or angry preoccupation with attachment figures.

A preoccupied state of mind at age 14 was found predictive of verbally aggressive behavior toward romantic partners at age 18.
This finding is consistent with the notion that attachment insecurity can be characterized in part as an unsuccessful attempt to adaptively regulate one’s emotions (Allen & Manning, 2007), particularly in an emotionally evocative situation, such as during conflict.
Similarly, the attachment interview can be emotionally challenging for individuals, and attachment preoccupation as captured in the AAI is characterized by adolescents’ undercontrolled, wandering, often angry discourse when describing their childhood experiences with their caregivers.
The preoccupied state of mind is thought to activate conflicting thoughts and feelings regarding a history of unpredictable relationships and may lead to anger and hostility when distress is encountered in an intimate relationship (Simpson et al, 1996).
As a result, adolescents may engage in verbally aggressive tactics, such as manipulation, name-calling, and guilt induction, due to a diminished ability to successfully regulate anger responses during conflict.
One additional possibility is that preoccupied individuals may be verbally aggressive in a conscious (or unconscious) attempt to emotionally engage their partner, so as to assure themselves that their partner remains emotionally invested in the relationship.

Children are incredible variable

One of the main issues with testing children is they’re incredibly variable.

A zero-month-old child or a one-day-old child is incredibly different from a two-month-old child, who is incredibly different from a nine-month-old child who is incredibly different from a two-year-old, who is incredibly different from a four-year-old who is so very different from a ten-year-old and so on, and so on.

And all of these different populations require different techniques to study them.
So what we try to do is develop methods that are appropriate for children of particular ages, and that can
be generalized to as many different ages possible.

Really this depends on a couple of sort of key capabilities that change over the development of the child. Probably the most important is the development of language.
Before children know language, you can’t really ask them to do particular tasks.

The Clinical Psychology of Children and Young People
The University of Edinburgh
https://www.coursera.org/course/clinicalpsych

Childhood Disability: changing trends

What’s Behind The Stark Rise In Children’s Disabilities
August 19, 2014
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/19/341674577/whats-behind-the-stark-rise-in-childrens-disabilities

A recent study finds that the rate of children diagnosed with a disability is rising — particularly among kids who come from a more affluent background. Dr. Amy Houtrow was one of the lead authors on the study, and she speaks with Audie Cornish.

Six million – that’s how many children are considered disabled in the U.S. today, a nearly 16 percent increase from a decade ago. And what accounts for that rise is explained in a new study out this week in the journal Pediatrics. The research shows that while physical disabilities are down, neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions are up, especially among children from more affluent families.

undetected bias. In what way and what’s your basis for that assessment?

HOUTROW: There’s quite a bit of literature that supports the idea that the way physicians and health care providers approach families differs in terms of what the family brings to the table and the encounter. So a family from a more affluent background is able to articulate their concerns and their needs in a different way. That might raise the suspicion of the doctor to look for the condition, to make a diagnosis and recommend treatment. On the flipside, a family who is less affluent might not bring to the attention of the provider in the same way, nor may the provider ask the questions that would lead them down the path of making a diagnosis of a developmental problem or mental health problem.

original paper:
Changing Trends of Childhood Disability, 2001–2011
Pediatrics. 2014 Aug 18. pii: peds.2014-0594.
Amy J. Houtrow, MD, PhD, MPH, et al.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/08/12/peds.2014-0594.abstract
CONCLUSIONS: Over the past decade, parent-reported childhood disability steadily increased. As childhood disability due to physical conditions declined, there was a large increase in disabilities due to neurodevelopmental or mental health problems. For the first time since the NHIS began tracking childhood disability in 1957, the rise in reported prevalence is disproportionately occurring among socially advantaged families. This unexpected finding highlights the need to better understand the social, medical, and environmental factors influencing parent reports of childhood disability.

Key Words: disability
sociodemographic
disparities
activity limitations
children

Predictors of adolescent alcohol misuse

Neuropsychosocial profiles of current and future adolescent alcohol misusers
Robert Whelan, et al.
Nature (02 July 2014)
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13402.html

A comprehensive account of the causes of alcohol misuse must accommodate individual differences in biology, psychology and environment, and must disentangle cause and effect.
Animal models can demonstrate the effects of neurotoxic substances; however, they provide limited insight into the psycho-social and higher cognitive factors involved in the initiation of substance use and progression to misuse.

One can search for pre-existing risk factors by testing for endophenotypic biomarkers in non-using relatives; however, these relatives may have personality or neural resilience factors that protect them from developing dependence.
A longitudinal study has potential to identify predictors of adolescent substance misuse, particularly if it can incorporate a wide range of potential causal factors, both proximal and distal, and their influence on numerous social, psychological and biological mechanisms.

Here we apply machine learning to a wide range of data from a large sample of adolescents (n = 692) to generate models of current and future adolescent alcohol misuse that incorporate brain structure and function, individual personality and cognitive differences, environmental factors (including gestational cigarette and alcohol exposure), life experiences, and candidate genes.

These models were accurate and generalized to novel data, and point to life experiences, neurobiological differences and personality as important antecedents of binge drinking.
By identifying the vulnerability factors underlying individual differences in alcohol misuse, these models shed light on the aetiology of alcohol misuse and suggest targets for prevention.