Are your moms gay? Well, that’s okay.
By: Lara on February 27, 2008
Under: parenting
No Comments Yet
So it’s an election year, and while there’s way too much going on in Iraq to focus on the usual hotbed issues like gay marriage, your friendly local developmental psychologist is still busily working to debunk the myths surrounding those issues.
The latest issue of Developmental Psychology has a special section devoted to sexual orientation. Two of the articles specifically focus on adjustment issues related to having same-sex parents. Here are the Cliff’s Notes:
1. Peer relationships—things like number of friends, general level of peer acceptance, and social connectedness—are no different for adolescents parented by lesbian parents compared to those parented by straight couples.
2. Adolescents parented by lesbian couples were no more likely to report being victimized by peers than were adolescents parented by heterosexuals, and they did not have more problems with psychological functioning (like depression).
And this is the tip of the iceberg; there are a lot more studies like these out there. It’s not the gender of the parents that matter. It’s the quality of the parenting, of the parent-child relationship. Something to chew on.
Sources:
1. Wainwright, J. L., & Patterson, C. J. (2008). Peer relations among adolescents with female same-sex parents. Developmental Psychology, 44, 117-126.
2. Rivers, I., Poteat, V. Paul, & Noret, N. (2008). Victimization, social support, and psychosocial functioning among children of same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the United Kingdom. Developmental Psychology, 44, 127-134.
» Add Your Feedback No Comments |
It’s working, folks.
By: Lara on February 26, 2008
Under: aggression
No Comments Yet
A bully prevention program implemented in the Denver public school system was effective at reducing self-reported victimization by 20 percent among students who participated in the program.
The program, called Youth Matters, teaches social skills that reduce the likelihood of being victimized by peers (things like learning to stand up for oneself and others, how to effectively ask for help from teachers, how to cope with bullying). Perhaps more importantly, the program promotes a shift in attitudes toward bullying and aims to build a school climate in which bullying is clearly not acceptable to students.
This is the kind of thing that makes me stand up and cheer. 25-30% of children and adolescents report that they have either been a victim of a bully, or a bully themselves. Programs like this have the potential to improve the day-to-day life of so many kids.
Not all of the study findings were as promising as the decrease in self-reported victimization–for example, self-reported bullying did not change after the implementation of the program–and a 20% decrease in perceived victimization isn’t huge. But for researchers, teachers and other school officials who are devoted to reducing bullying, to parents who worry daily about their children’s traumatic experiences at school, and of course to the kids themselves, a 20% decrease is a good place to start.
The full text of the study (which describes the program and the study of its efficacy) can be found here. Thanks to my friend Sophie (whose wonderful website and blog can be found here) for the tip!
» Add Your Feedback No Comments |
I’d rather play peek-a-boo, anyway
By: Lara on February 24, 2008
Under: cognitive development
Comments: 2
So here’s an article in Time magazine about a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics that shows what many of us in the field have suspected for a long time: That not only are those silly “Baby Einstein” videos not producing any Einsteins, but that they may actually be preventing the Einstein in your little one from developing. (They’re also a lesson in genius marketing, but that’s an entry for my husband’s website.) Kudos to Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington (and others doing similar work) for helping parents make informed decisions about the products they buy for their families.
(I should note that the article I’ve linked to isn’t new; it’s from the August 6, 2007 issue of the magazine. Coincidentally, it was published the day before my daughter was born, and corresponds to the last day I will ever read a piece of written work from start to finish without interruption, and anywhere near its original publication date.)
» Add Your Feedback (2) Comments |
Now I’m worried about my popular niece
By: Lara on February 17, 2008
Under: peer status
No Comments Yet
Remember the popular kids? The ones who looked ten years older than the rest of us, always seemed to have “the right look,” and got away with murder (well, figuratively) at school? Yeah, those kids. Well, as it turns out, we may have reason to worry about those kids, rather than just envying them the fruits of their attractiveness and social power.
In a study to be published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence this month, Marlene Sandstrom (Williams College), Toon Cillessen (Radboud University, the Netherlands), and I measured substance use, sexual behavior, and peer status in over 500 high school sophomores. We then followed up with the same teens two years later, during their senior year.
While teens who scored high on social preference (being nominated as likeable by many grademates) in 10th grade generally scored low on substance use and sexual behavior two years later, teens who were popular in 10th grade were more likely to drink alcohol and engage in sexual intercourse by the end of the 12th grade. (We also investigated the opposite possibility—that substance use and sexual behavior in 10th grade would predict increases in popularity two years later. This did not pan out.)
These findings raise a number of important concerns. Are popular teens more at risk for the physical and mental health problems that can result from substance use and risky sexual behavior? Are the friends or associates of popular youth at particular risk for acquiring these behaviors, because of the social influence power they wield? What about lower-status teens who look up to the popular crowd? At the very least, it raises an interesting question, one that was posed by one of our manuscript’s anonymous reviewers: Should parents wish that their children not be popular?
» Add Your Feedback No Comments |
