Cats have a long history of boosting people’s moods and brightening their days. And that’s probably true for kids on the autism spectrum as well, new research shows. The small study suggests that adopting a shelter cat may help reduce separation anxiety and improve empathy in kids with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). “Cats, and companion animals in general, offer unconditional acceptance and someone to talk to that listens, and caring for an animal can help with learning responsibility,” said study author Gretchen Carlisle. She’s a research scientist at the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri, in Columbia. ASD is a brain disorder that affects social skills, communication and impulse control. In the United States, it affects one child in 54, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new study included 11 families that had children with autism between the ages of 6 and 14. The families were followed for 18 weeks after adopting a shelter cat. The researchers used standardized social skills and anxiety scales to pick children who were likely to respond well to a pet. The cats were also screened for temperament. Overall, parents reported an instant bond between child and cat, and the bond remained strong over time even with the added responsibility of caring for the pet. The researchers found that the…  read on >  read on >

Be kind to your heart and health and turn off the news, doctors say. Northwestern University experts suggest checking in on current events a couple of times a day and no more. Constant updates can fuel anxiety and depression, they warn. “As a practicing preventive cardiologist, one of the most common risk factors for heart disease that I am seeing this year is stress,” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, assistant professor of cardiology and epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “I know we can all agree it has been an extremely stressful year for all in every aspect of our lives, including stress related to the pandemic and associated health, financial and political events.” Constant news updates pile on layer upon layer of stress, according to Dr. Aderonke Pederson, a psychiatrist at Northwestern Medicine. “That cumulative stress can translate into increased risks of heart problems, diabetes and more,” she said. “Mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, especially when untreated, can increase your risk for chronic health conditions like diabetes, cardiac events and heart disease and can complicate symptoms of asthma. So, there’s a feedback loop of mental health conditions and physical health conditions.” The doctors offered several coping strategies, including getting a good night’s sleep and calming your mind a couple hours before bedtime with a light-hearted book, journaling, playing a game…  read on >  read on >

Kids who see their parents bicker during a separation or divorce are more likely to develop a fear of abandonment, new research warns. And even if a youngster feels close to one or both parents, that fear can still undermine his or her mental health down the road. The findings stem from interviews with roughly 560 kids between 9 and 18 years of age. Parents and teachers were also interviewed. Interviewers first asked kids how frequent and intense the conflict between their parents was. Then they asked how often kids felt like they were caught in the middle — for example, being asked by one parent to carry a message to the other. Finally, researchers wanted to know if their parents said bad things about each other. “We found that exposure to conflict predicted children’s fear that they would be abandoned by one or both parents,” said lead author Karey O’Hara, an assistant research professor of psychology at Arizona State University in Tempe. “In turn, children who reported higher fear of abandonment were more likely to report more mental health problems 11 months later,” based on interviews with both the kids and their teachers. Such problems included bottled-up feelings of distress and/or general feelings of anxiety or fear. O’Hara said this was more than expected given the participants’ mental health when the study began. And…  read on >  read on >

Do you you keep 6 feet apart from others to help stop coronavirus spread? New research shows that the wealthier you were at the start of the pandemic, the more likely it is you’ll maintain social distance. The new study looked at social distancing and mask wearing, and determined a link between those behaviors and income. “We need to understand these differences because we can wring our hands, and we can blame and shame, but in a way it doesn’t matter,” said study author Nick Papageorge, the Broadus Mitchell Associate Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Policymakers just need to recognize who is going to socially distance, for how long, why and under what circumstances to give us accurate predictions of how the disease will spread and help us establish policies that will be useful,” he said in a Hopkins news release. The research was part of a six-country survey. In the United States, 1,000 people from Texas, Florida, California and New York were asked questions last April about demographic information and their behavior as COVID-19 cases were spiking. People with the highest incomes made the most changes. They were 32% more likely to increase social distancing, 30% more likely to increase hand-washing and mask wearing and 13% more likely to change behaviors. The ability to work from home and having access…  read on >  read on >

Despite being locked down during the pandemic, child care responsibilities often fell on women’s shoulders, a new study shows. “Most people have never undergone anything like this before, where all of a sudden they can’t rely on their normal child care, and most people’s work situation has changed, too,” said researcher Kristen Shockley, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia. “We thought this would be a chance for men to step in and partake equally in child care, but for many couples we didn’t see that happen.” In mid-March, as schools and day care centers shut down, Shockley’s team surveyed couples, both of whom worked and had at least one child under the age of 6. The team researchers first surveyed 274 couples and followed up with 133 of the same couples in May. “When the wife does it all, not surprisingly, the outcomes are bad for the couple,” Shockley said in a university news release. “It’s not just bad for the wife, it’s also bad for the husband, including in terms of job performance although his work role presumably hasn’t changed. When one person’s doing it all, there’s a lot of tension in the relationship, and it’s probably spilling over into the husband’s ability to focus at work.” Although about 37% of couples relied on the wife to provide most or…  read on >  read on >

It may take a village to support teens’ mental health, whether it’s during the pandemic or later. One option is having school-based mental health programs that offer peer support leaders. A new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine found that one in three parents are strongly in favor of a peer support program. The poll also asked questions that got at the heart of pros and cons of this type of program. “Peers may provide valuable support for fellow teens struggling with emotional issues because they can relate to each other,” said Mott Poll co-director Sarah Clark. “Some teens may worry that their parents will overreact or not understand what they’re going through. Teachers and school counselors may also have limited time to talk with students in the middle of other responsibilities.” Teen mental health is a big issue, with one in five teens experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, such as anxiety or depression, according to a Michigan Medicine news release. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens. Previous research suggests that up to half of children and teens with a treatable mental health disorder don’t get help because of several barriers. Even teens who don’t have a diagnosed condition may experience occasional issues that can increase the risk of developing depression. And three-quarters…  read on >  read on >

Kids who see their parents bicker during a separation or divorce are more likely to develop a fear of abandonment, new research warns. And even if a youngster feels close to one or both parents, that fear can still undermine his or her mental health down the road. The findings stem from interviews with roughly 560 kids between 9 and 18 years of age. Parents and teachers were also interviewed. Interviewers first asked kids how frequent and intense the conflict between their parents was. Then they asked how often kids felt like they were caught in the middle — for example, being asked by one parent to carry a message to the other. Finally, researchers wanted to know if their parents said bad things about each other. “We found that exposure to conflict predicted children’s fear that they would be abandoned by one or both parents,” said lead author Karey O’Hara, an assistant research professor of psychology at Arizona State University in Tempe. “In turn, children who reported higher fear of abandonment were more likely to report more mental health problems 11 months later,” based on interviews with both the kids and their teachers. Such problems included bottled-up feelings of distress and/or general feelings of anxiety or fear. O’Hara said this was more than expected given the participants’ mental health when the study began. And…  read on >  read on >