Depression Leads to College Dropout and Lower Achievement

Daniel Eisenberg, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health recently tabled research which indicates that college students with depression are two times more likely to drop out of school.

The two main symptoms of depression are sad mood and loss of interest in activities once found meaningful. Eisenberg’s research indicates that it is the latter symptom, (ie., loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities) that accounts for the drop in grade point averages. Sad mood alone is not related to decreased academic performance. This is important to recognize as it points to the fact that not all people that experience depression will have declining grades. However, those who lose interest in activities they used to enjoy are more likely to lose interest in school as well, and this accounts for their academic decline.

The research also showed that depression in combination with anxiety further exacerbated the decline in academic achievement.

Given the long term impact on career success, Eisenburg is advocating for early screening procedures in order to ensure students with depression are given proper treatment before academic declines are seen.

University students, particularly in their first year, can find themselves feeling overwhelmed. Differentiating between the difficulties and stress typical of University life, and depression, can make prevent success and failure at the least and serious mental health risks at worse.

You can read more about this study here.

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Hosting change

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Does the “cry it out” sleep method refer to the parents or the child?

Over at the Attachment Parenting blog, I found an article about getting babies to sleep that reminded me of my experience. We talked about sleep waaaaay back in Episodes 2 & 3 of The Family Anatomy Show, but I think it’s worth revisiting. Historically there have been two major schools of thought about getting babies to sleep – let them cry it out, or comfort them. The first is based on conditioning, or the idea that picking up a child who is crying rewards them and increases the frequency of the behaviour. The “cry it out” method also proposes that allowing kids to calm themselves will improve their ability to self-soothe. On the other hand, listening to your child cry without helping him or her can be a traumatic experience for the parents! The alternative method recommends that parents respond to their child, and that by soothing them when they are upset, the child feels secure and develops a trusting relationship with the parent. Interestingly, the major proponents of both approaches recently began to acknowledge that there are elements of the other approach that may be valid. The fact is, every child and family is different, and no single approach will work for everyone.

I tried the “cry it out” method with my children, because I believed in the importance of developing self-soothing strategies. My effort did not last beyond the first 30 minutes, however. Neither of my sons were able to calm themselves – they just became increasingly upset. After some sleep-deprived nights trying to figure out what to do (keep in mind that this was occurring as the kids were stopping their nightly breastfeeding routines), we finally came to a solution. I set up a small mattress and a sleeping bag in the baby’s room, and I slept on the floor. When my son woke up, I was there instantly to hug him, rub his back, and hold his hand. Both of my kids eventually learned in this way that their room was a safe place. They still woke up multiple times, and came to visit us in the night once they were out of a crib, but we rarely heard crying.

How did you get your kids to go to sleep? Were you able to get the “cry it out” method to work?

You can read the Attachment Parenting post here.

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Note: Posts on Family Anatomy are for information only. If you need to talk to someone about family or mental health issues, you can get a referral from your family doctor.

A Quickie is a Goodie

Researchers Eric Corty and Jenay Guardiani of Penn State Erie conducted a study in which they surveyed highly experienced psychologists, physicians, social workers, marriage/family therapists and nurses to ask them about how long satisfying sexual intercourse lasts. The results indicated a general consensus.  Intercourse was considered “Adequate”, from 3-7 minutes; “desirable,” from 7-13 minutes; “too short” from 1-2 minutes; and “too long” from 10-30 minutes. The reseachers feel that this information is important to release as it could relieve pressure for many people who have bought into pop culture notions of great sex being “all night long”.

Do you agree with the findings of this research? Is 7 to 13 minutes really the most desirable length of time for intercourse? Or does this appear true but irrelevant since we can be “lost in time” during this most intimate of acts?

Let us know what you think. Leave us a comment!

You can read more here.

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Note: Posts on Family Anatomy are for information only. If you need to talk to someone about family or mental health issues, you can get a referral from your family doctor.

Are social networks changing kids’ brains?

An article in the online edition of The Guardian suggests that following social networks like Bebo, Facebook, and Twitter may be contributing to short attention spans and a lack of identity. Lady Greenfield, an Oxford professor of synaptic pharmacology, expressed concern that the constant flow of updates that characterize social networking sites might contribute to a shorter attention span and a need for instant gratification. She believed that children risk losing empathy by focusing on screen updates to the exclusion of reading novels that allow deeper character exploration. In addition, the “constant reassurance” that one is being listened to and that one’s opinions matter might interfere with identity development. The problem here, I think, is that these networks are a relatively new phenomenon, and I’m not aware of any longitudinal studies yet.

We’ll be talking next week to Dr. David Dutwin, a social science researcher and the author of “Unplug Your Kids: A parent’s guide to raising happy, active, and well-adjusted children in the digital age.” We’ll be sure to ask about social networking!

You can read more here.

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Note: Posts on Family Anatomy are for information only. If you need to talk to someone about family or mental health issues, you can get a referral from your family doctor.

Academy Award Winners Live Longer

This article was taken from a blog by Dr. Gad Saad in Psychology Today and found interesting. Dr. Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist who has published over 40 scientific articles in numerous disciplines including in marketing, consumer behavior, advertising, medicine, economics, and bibliometrics.

The epidemiologist Donald Redelmeier and his coauthor Sheldon Singh published a paper in 2001 in the Annals of Internal Medicine wherein they contrasted the life expectancy of academy award winners, academy award nominees who lost, and a control group of actors and actresses who had appeared in the same films. Incredibly, they found that winners lived 3.6 years longer than the nominees, and 3.9 years longer than the control group.

Good to know. You can read more here.

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Note: Posts on Family Anatomy are for information only. If you need to talk to someone about family or mental health issues, you can get a referral from your family doctor.