A cognitive-behavioral program aimed at preventing depression among at-risk teens shows continued promise after more than six years, according to research conducted by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions. Investigators randomly assigned 316 teens with a family history of depression either to a cognitive-behavioral prevention (CBP) program that included eight weekly 90-minute group sessions followed by six monthly continuation sessions, in addition to usual mental health care, or to receive only usual mental health care. Over 75 months, youths assigned to CBP had a lower incidence of depression, better educational and occupational attainment and stronger relationships and life satisfaction compared with those receiving only usual care (JAMA Psychiatry, online Sept. 30opens in new window).
Reanalysis of earlier data indicates that paroxetine and imipramine are neither safe nor effective as treatments for teen depression, according to a study led by scientists at the University of Adelaide. The researchers re-examined data from a 2001 randomized, controlled clinical trial with 275 adolescent participants who took one or the other drug or a placebo for eight weeks. They found no advantages associated with either medication and also found worrisome adverse effects, including suicidal ideation and behaviors in those taking paroxetine and cardiovascular problems in those taking imipramine (BMJ, Sept. 16opens in new window).
Undergraduate college students may be more likely to have sex on days they use marijuana or binge on alcohol, finds research by Oregon State University psychologists. They recruited 284 college students who reported their marijuana use, alcohol use, sexual activity and condom use every day for 24 days. In addition to finding that students were more likely to have sex when using marijuana or binge drinking, the researchers also found that students were less likely to use condoms when they were binge drinking or in serious relationships. No connection was found between marijuana use and poor condom use (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, online Sept. 28opens in new window).
Frequent school moves appear to hurt low-income children's math scores, finds research by New York University psychologists. Data for the study came from 381 children from low-income families — 68 percent black and 27 percent Hispanic — from 35 Chicago Public School Head Start preschool classrooms, who were followed through fourth grade. Most of the children stayed at the same school or changed schools only once between preschool and fourth grade. However, 10 percent experienced frequent mobility, changing schools three or four times. The researchers found that children who changed schools infrequently over the five-year period had greater cognitive skills and higher math achievement in early elementary school compared with children who changed schools frequently (Developmental Psychology, online Oct. 5opens in new window).
Repeating something aloud to another person may boost recall, according to a study at the University of Montreal. Researchers asked 44 undergraduates to read a series of words on a screen. Participants were then assigned to one of four experimental conditions: repeating the words in their head; repeating them silently while moving their lips; repeating them aloud while looking at the screen; and repeating them aloud while addressing someone. After a distraction task, participants were asked to select the words they'd read from a list that also included words they hadn't read. Results showed that those participants who read aloud to someone else recalled the most words correctly (Consciousness and Cognition, November).
People appear more likely to conserve energy when they get real-time feedback on their energy use, finds a meta-analysis of 42 studies published from 1976 to 2010. University of California, Irvine, researchers examined data from a total of 256,536 participants on the effectiveness of feedback in promoting energy conservation. Among other results, they found that people who got less engaging feedback — such as a summary of energy use on a bill — were less likely to conserve energy than those who received more engaging feedback, such as from a software program that reports energy use in real time. (Psychological Bulletin, online Sept. 21opens in new window).
Kids are seeing more candy ads than ever before, suggests a study conducted at the University of Connecticut. Researchers looked at candy advertising aimed at children since 2007, when the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary industry self-regulation program, was launched to improve food marketing to young people. Despite the initiative, from 2008 to 2011, children's exposure to candy ads went up 74 percent, with children viewing an average of 485 ads in 2011. Of those ads, 65 percent were from manufacturers that had promised not to directly market to children ages 2 to 11 (Appetite, Decemberopens in new window).
A pattern of brain connections appears to be linked to positive lifestyle and behavior traits, according to research by a team of scientists at Oxford University and other institutions. Researchers used fMRI to investigate the connections among neurons in the brains of 461 participants, and then used those data to create a brain map averaged across individuals, showing the degree to which 200 separate brain regions communicate with one another. The researchers also collected 280 different behavioral and demographic measures for the same participants. Upon assessing the relationship between patterns of brain connections and behavioral and demographic characteristics, they found that certain brain patterns were more likely to occur along with a broad set of positive characteristics such as good vocabulary and memory, life satisfaction, income and years of education. Negative characteristics such as anger, rule-breaking, substance use and poor sleep quality tended to be correlated with one another and with a different pattern of brain connections (Nature Neuroscience, online Sept. 28).
A mother's stress during pregnancy might be related to her child's later movement and coordination, suggest the results of a study led by researchers at the University of Notre Dame in Australia. In the study, mothers completed questionnaires at 18 weeks and 34 weeks pregnant, answering questions about their stress levels. When the children born of those pregnancies were ages 10, 14 and 17 years old, researchers assessed their motor development and coordination using a 10-item movement test. The researchers found that children born to mothers who experienced more stressful events during pregnancy scored lower on motor development across all three survey years (Child Development, online Oct. 14opens in new window).
Breastfeeding does not appear to be linked to a child's later intelligence, suggests research led by a psychologist at Goldsmiths University of London. The researchers studied 11,582 children born from 1994 to 1996, two-thirds of whom were breastfed for an average of four months. They followed the children through age 16, administering nine intelligence tests at regular intervals. After controlling for parental education, maternal age and socioeconomic status, the researchers found that, at age 2, girls who had been breastfed had a small advantage in intelligence over those who had not been breastfed, but this advantage disappeared at later ages. There were no effects of breastfeeding among boys (PLOS One, Sept. 25opens in new window).
Unexpected moments may make people better thinkers, according to a series of experiments led by a DePaul University psychologist. In one experiment, participants rated photographs taken at weddings. Half were shown photos of a traditional wedding — a groom in a black tux, a bride in a white dress and a tiered cake. The other half were shown photos of a nontraditional wedding — a bride in a green dress, a groom in a purple tux and a cake decorated with gears. After viewing the photos, participants performed a cognitive reasoning task. The researchers found that participants who saw the traditional wedding photos made more errors than those who had viewed the nontraditional photos. The researchers say the results show that people shift from a low-level, associative thought process to higher level, systematic thinking when they encounter a situation in which something does not meet cultural expectations (Social Cognition, online Aug. 31opens in new window).
Young people's employment status may be hindered by mental health issues, finds research conducted by a team of U.S. and U.K. scientists. The investigators assessed commitment to work, mental health problems and substance use disorders in more than 2,000 Britons at age 18. Unemployed participants showed greater vulnerability for mental health issues, including higher rates of mental health and substance abuse problems. Nearly 60 percent of unemployed participants had already experienced more than one mental health problem in childhood or adolescence, compared with around 35 percent of young people who were employed or pursuing education and training (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, online Aug. 26opens in new window).
Watching dramas such as "Mad Men" appears to increase emotional intelligence more than other kinds of TV, finds research by University of Oklahoma psychologists. The researchers randomly assigned 100 college students to watch either part of a TV drama such as "Mad Man" or "The West Wing," or a documentary such as "How the Universe Works" or "Shark Week." After watching the clip, participants looked at 36 pairs of eyes, choosing one of four emotions that best identified the person in the picture: jealous, panicked, arrogant or hateful. Results showed that women were more likely to identify the correct emotions, but both sexes had higher scores on the test if they had watched the TV drama (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, online Sept. 28).
Children learn new words more quickly when they know related words, finds a study led by a Florida State University psychologist. Researchers assessed 23 2-year-olds on their word knowledge through parent interviews and the use of a computer program that showed images to toddlers. The researchers then tried to teach the children six new words from broad familiar categories, including drinks, fruits and animals. The toddlers heard the words used in five different sentences, while images were shown on the screen. The researchers then tested how well the children understood these new words using eye-tracking technology that measured how quickly and reliably the children looked toward pictures of the new objects when they were named. The findings suggest that adults can use a child's own vocabulary to find words that would be easier or harder for an individual child to learn at a particular age, the authors say (Developmental Science, online Oct. 9opens in new window).
Compulsive texting hurts girls' grades more than boys', suggests research conducted at Delaware County Community College. Researchers surveyed 403 students in grades eight and 11 about whether compulsive texting interfered with their ability to complete tasks, how preoccupied they were with texting and whether they tried to hide their texting. The students also completed a questionnaire that asked about their academic performance and how well-adjusted they were in school. Findings showed that teenage girls who compulsively text are more likely to do worse academically compared with boys — who text and don't text — as well as girls who don't text (Psychology of Popular Media Culture, online Oct. 5opens in new window).
— Amy Novotney
