…………….but anxiety is a bigger problem than appearance
Eighteen per cent of school children who took part in two health surveys carried out a year apart admitted they had eating problems, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Thirteen per cent admitted eating problems in either the first or second survey and a further five per cent reported problems in both surveys.
Students who had ongoing eating problems were more likely to report multiple psychological problems and health complaints.
“For example we noticed that students who reported suffering from anxiety earlier in adolescence were 20 times more likely to have ongoing eating problems” says Lea Hautala from the Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at the University of Turku, Finland.
“And teenagers who were dissatisfied with their appearance only had recurring eating problems if they also reported anxiety earlier in adolescence.”
Researchers from the University surveyed 372 students aged between 15 and 17, repeating the survey after one year with the same pupils. 57 per cent were girls and 43 per cent were boys.
“A total of 66 students reported eating problems – 23 only reported problems in the first survey, 24 only reported them in the second survey and 19 reported them in both surveys” she adds.
“Students who had previous problems with anxiety were much more likely to suffer sustained eating problems, while those who didn’t have previous psychological problems only experienced temporary eating problems and dissatisfaction with their appearance. [continue reading…]
The advertising of alcohol, the marketing of alcoholic products, peer pressure and parental influence all play a part in the level of alcohol consumption among young people.
These are the findings of a team of University of Leicester experts who have been investigating the effect of alcohol advertising on young people, which also indicate that advertising seems to be most effective in the case of alcopops and cider.
The study was funded by the Alcohol Education and Research Council. [continue reading…]
Writing as a component of a clinical course of therapy improves results and allows patients to recover more quickly. Doctoral candidate Peggy Penn concludes this in her thesis, which she defended on Monday June 2nd at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Through clinical research, Penn discovered writing techniques which have enormous benefit for rape victims or the chronically ill. [continue reading…]
Dan Hurley writes on the Science of Sarcasm,  and  the findings of Katherine P. Rankins studies, in this interesting New York Times article
What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Dr. Rankin’s study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, “Nice weather we’re having.”
Link to article
Source: New York Times, By Dan Hurley Published: June 3, 2008
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