|
Childhood and Parenting
Written and researched by Bob Murray, PhD
Latest News |
Back Issues | Get updates:
Subscribe Now
Sexual Exploitation of Children Underestimated, Study Finds
September 21, 2001
The study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, found that in the United States 325,000 children a year were subjected to sexual exploitation, including prostitution, use in pornography and molestation. The study's authors said the number of abused children was much higher than was previously thought.
"The magnitude of the problem is really something that is not understood," said Professor Richard J. Estes, one of the main authors of the report.
The study found that 47 percent of sexual assaults on children were committed by relatives; 49 percent by acquaintances, such as a teacher, a coach or a neighbor; and only 4 percent by strangers. The researchers also reported that about 20 percent of sexually exploited children who were interviewed were involved in prostitution rings that worked across state lines.
The study found that 95 percent of the commercial sex involving boys was with men, and it found that at least 25 percent of girls in gangs had had sex with other members as part of the gang rites. The report provides a profile of people who engage in sex with minors: nearly all men and about a quarter of them married with children. The profile was compiled from interviews with victims and arrest records.
The sexual exploitation of children is nothing new. Almost every ancient Roman or Greek man of rank had his young boy with whom he had sex. In our society the sexual abuse of children is more likely in families where the male feels disempowered either in his work or in his social life and his wife feels powerless to intervene. I have always believed that the cure for child abuse, in the long run, is the empowerment of parents. It is this empowerment that the
Uplift Program is all about. BM
Read more in The New York Times
Top of page
Increasing Numbers of Children Harm Themselves
August 22, 2001
UK Government figures reveal that about one in 75 children under 10 has tried to kill or injured themselves. Family stress such as divorce and separation or a bereavement are seen as triggers. Rates of self-harm increase as children become teenagers. In the 11 to 15 age group the figure is one in 50. The highest rate was found among 13 to 15-year-old girls.
The study, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, found that emotionally vulnerable children who had witnessed the separation of their parents, who had suffered a serious illness or had experienced the death of a close family member were more likely to self-harm than their classmates.
The figures are highest among children from single-parent families or whose parents held unskilled jobs. Those with parents holding professional jobs were three times less likely to harm themselves than those whose parents held down an unskilled job. Researchers found that children were more likely to self-harm if they suffered from mental disorders such as behavioral problems or attention deficit disorder.
Peter Wilson, director of the children's mental health charity Young Minds, said it was vital parents understand how deeply a family problem could affect their child. "We always think children are resilient but they don't have much choice other than to keep going. What these children are saying is that it is very hard for them to keep going."
Read more in BBC News
Top of page
Schools and Drug Cos Rebuked for 'Pushing' Drugs on Kids
August 22, 2001
Our article
"Running from Ritalin" has suddenly become much more topical with the news (NY Times August 19) that there is increasing pressure on parents from both drug companies and schools to put children on controlled drugs. Some of Ritalin's competitors are breaking with 30-year-old international marketing restrictions to advertize controlled drugs directly to parents, selling the idea that drugs may be the answer to their children's problems in school. And in some cases schools themselves are pressuring parents to give their children these drugs.
Ritalin and similar drugs are used to treat children who are suspected of having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Many psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are unsure whether these disorders even exist.
State legislatures are, at last, moving to prevent schools from recommending or requiring that parents put their children on medication. Last month, Minnesota became the first state to bar schools and child protection agencies from telling parents they must put their children on drugs to treat these and similar disorders. In October, Connecticut will go a step further when a new law takes effect prohibiting any school staff member from discussing drug treatments with a parent to assure that such talk comes only from doctors. Similar bills have been introduced in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Wisconsin.
The political concern comes as producers of the drugs have begun an advertizing campaign that is unparalleled in spending and technique. In the back-to-school section of this month's Ladies' Home Journal, for example, tucked among the ads for cereal, bologna and Jell-O pudding, are three full-page advertisements for the ADHD treatments.
In one, for the new drug Metadate CD, an approving mother embraces her beaming son as the drug itself is named and promoted. This is a first. Metadate CD, like Ritalin, Adderall and similar drugs, are what are known as Schedule II controlled substances, the most addictive substances that are still legal. (Schedule I drugs like heroin and LSD are illegal.)
In keeping with a 1971 international treaty, such controlled substances have never been marketed directly to consumers, only to doctors. There is, however, no federal law to prevent drug companies from doing it. Yet the new magazine advertisement by Celltech Pharmaceuticals, the British maker of Metadate CD, states: "Introducing Metadate capsules. One dose covers his ADHD for the whole school day."
The ads are beginning to worry drug enforcement officials. Terry Woodworth, deputy director of the Office of Diversion Control of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said, "We have had a 30-year agreement with the pharmaceutical industry not to advertise controlled substances. Celltech has stepped up and beyond everyone else by advertizing a drug with a high potential for abuse." He said the campaign could have "diplomatic repercussions" and that Celltech had been recently asked to stop.
And the ads for Metadate and similar drugs have been effective, according to Dr Lawrence H. Diller, a behavioral pediatrician in Walnut Creek, California, who wrote a book called "Running on Ritalin." Parents coming to see him have begun asking for the drugs by name.
There have been many cases where schools have insisted that children take the behavior modification drugs. One case cited in the NY Times story is of Patricia Weathers in Millbrook, NY. Mrs Weatrhers said her son's school told her to put him on Ritalin in first grade. By fourth grade, he was showing signs of severe anxiety, she said, chewing his clothes and paper. When Mrs Weathers took him off the drugs, she said, the school called the state's office of child protective services and accused her of medical neglect.
"You have the school psychologist, the teachers, the principal, all bombarding you, saying this is the only way to go," she said. "I fell for it, and I believe most parents fall for it. They want to do what's right for their child, and if the professionals are telling them this is right, you think, 'They must be right.'"
Like many parents who think Ritalin is overprescribed, Mrs Weathers complains that there is no scientific basis for the diagnosis of the disorders for which it is prescribed. "You can't tell me they all have this brain disorder during the school year, when during the summer they're fine," said Mrs Weathers, who now instructs her son at home.
It amazes me that you have people who say that our society is crazy and others, such as the UN, saying that there is a world-wide pandemic of such disorders as depression and ADD/ADHD. Isn't it about time we put the two together? BM
Read more in The New York Times
Top of page
Bullies Said to Be Healthier Than Victims
August 22, 2001
Children who bully are mentally and physically healthier than those they persecute, according to a study. Scientists studied more than 1,600 primary school children, aged between six to nine, from 31 schools across Hertfordshire and found bullying was rife.
Children described as "pure bullies" -- those who bullied, but were not themselves victimised -- were the least likely to suffer either physical or psychosomatic problems.
Almost 40% of the children interviewed said they had been repeatedly bullied; a further 10% said they had been both bully and victim and just over 4% said they had bullied, but had never been victims.
The study, led by Professor David Wolke, of the department of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, showed that victims and those who were both victim and bully suffered more colds, coughs, aches, pains and nausea.
Health professionals seeing children with repeated sore throats, colds, breathing problems, nausea, poor appetite, or school worries should consider bullying as a contributory factor.
According to Professor Wolke "pure bullies are healthier children compared to victims and bully/victims suggesting that they have a constitution that allows them to become dominant in inappropriate ways."
He said schools should try and break the bullying/victim cycle as early as possible to help prevent problems growing as the child progresses through school.
Dr Peter Congdon, director of education at the Gifted Children's Information Centre in Solihull, West Midlands, and a member of the British Psychological Society, said the survey's results had been unsurprising. He said the children's behavior mirrored that of the animal kingdom where the strong dominate. "It is not until the children are 11 or 12 that they are really at the age of equality and see another point of view."
In my view the study is too narrow. The interesting factor is the homes that the bullies and the victims come from. In my experience bullies and victims both come from homes where there is a lot of violence or abuse. It is the role that the child seeks to emulate that is the deciding factor in whether he or she becomes the bully or victim. Children from homes where there is no violence , abuse or fighting rarely become either victims or bullies. Dr. Gongdon's remarks are both uninformed and wrong. There are many instances in the animal kingdom where dominance is achieved in other ways. Chimpanzees, our nearest relatives, engage in a form of politics -- the one who gets the most other chimps into his 'party' becomes the dominant chimp. Humans do the same. Bullying for dominance is simply not part of our natural behavior. BM
Read more in BBC News
Top of page
Have Our Children Forgotten How to Play?
August 8, 2001
It seems obvious that car crashes can be especially dangerous for children, but according to a new study published in this week's issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics, playgrounds, too, pose a serious threat. "Most injuries are minor, but a higher proportion of playground injuries were moderate to severe compared to injuries due to motor vehicles, bicycles or all falls," explains lead author Kieran Phelan of the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati.
Phelan's team analyzed statistical information gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics on how many children and adolescents visited U.S. emergency rooms between 1992 and 1997. Falling accidents in general made up a quarter of all injury-related E.R. visits, the largest proportion from a single cause. And of those falls, 5.3 percent, or approximately 153,000 cases, occurred on playgrounds.
Although the number of playground injuries is decreasing from 187,000 in 1992 to 98,000 in 1997, Phelan hopes that prevention efforts aimed at middle-school-age children can reduce the number even further. "Children in the five-to-nine-year age group had significantly higher rates of emergency visits from playground falls," he says. "They were three times as likely to have an emergency visit as children 10 to 14 years old."
Noting that most of these injuries happen at school and at day-care centers, he adds that "if you are going look into improving the situation, those are the places where you want to focus your efforts." Despite the findings, Phelan is not asking parents to keep their children inside.
"Playgrounds provide obvious benefits for children," he says, "but they should be engineered to provide safety from falls, including rubberized or other soft surfaces to absorb the impact."
I think the researchers are missing the point. One of the reasons that children are hurt in falls is that they are not allowed enough of the kind of adventurous, yet supervised, play in a natural setting that our remote ancestors had. Because of this they don't learn how to fall naturally, or to run on uneven ground or to move their bodies with grace and ease. This lack of play in a natural setting has also been shown to be one of the causes of ADD/ADHD (see my article Running From Ritalin). BM
Read more in the Scientific American
Top of page
Parents Fighting Leads to Troubled Kids
July 10, 2001
If parental discord is intense, aggressive, concealed as quiet contempt, ended abruptly by one partner storming out or concerns the child, he or she is at risk of developing behavioural problems, the charity One Plus One says in a new book Not In Front of the Children.
The book is a review of over 200 research papers written by researchers across Europe, the United States and Australia over the past two decades. Between 40% and 50% of children exposed to very serious conflict in the home were found to develop behavioural problems.
Boys responded differently to girls. Girls tend to blame themselves, take responsibility and try to stop parents arguing, whereas boys are more likely to become aggressive and withdraw from the situation.
Director of One Plus One, Penny Mansfield, said the book aimed to explain to parents what kind of conflict affected children and why. "It is not enough for parents just to make sure they don't argue in front of the children," Ms Mansfield said. "Sometimes parents leave them completely in the dark, which adds to their problems.
"Parents should explain when conflict has been resolved -- or just give each other a hug -- so that children see an ending. "That way they can learn that you can disagree with people and they're not going to leave you -- family life is full of conflict, after all," she said.
Conflict in the home had a link with educational performance. "Educational performance is one of the things that does tend to be affected," Ms Mansfield said. "Parental conflict can lead to behavioural problems, to children who find it difficult to establish relationships with others and who fail to do well at school.
"These children are troubled and when they're troubled they tend to do less well at school, are more prone to depression, taking up smoking, and so on.
"When pupils display such signs, teachers should consider what may be going on at home and recognize this affected behavior in school," she added.
Sometimes it takes a large study to demonstrate the obvious. We Fortinberry-Murray practitioners have been saying this about the effects of parental conflict for a long time. Perhaps all would-be parents should be mandated to attend the
Uplift Intensive and learn how to form functional relationships with their partners and children! BM
Read more on BBC News
Top of page
Children In Foster Care Risk Exposure To Violence
April 29, 2001
Foster care is dangerous, according to a study in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
The study, led by UCLA child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Bonnie Zima and authored by Dr Brad Stein of Santa Monica-based RAND, also links violence exposure to high levels of distress among foster care children.
The researchers assessed lifetime and recent violence exposure in 300 Los Angeles County children, ages 6 to 12, living in foster care. During their lifetime, 85 percent reported witnessing violence, including weapon-related violence, and 51 percent were victims of violence.
Further, the study assessed the children's level of distress associated with exposure to violent situations and events. Distress levels were highest for girls and children exposed to assault or weapon-related violence. Exposure to even mild violence had a significant impact on the children's distress levels.
Reports like this make one feel that something should be done, but what? As so often happens, we come back to the idea that it's the whole of society that has to change. There often are no easy solutions given the dysfunctional way we live. While the overburdened and often unempowered nuclear family continues to be a breeding ground for secrets and stress-related addiction and abuse, how can we help these children? Instead, of course, they need to be brought up by many caring adults who have the time and the emotional energy to meet their needs. AF
Reported on Uniscience
Top of page
Daycare Leads to Aggression
April 18, 2001
The more hours that children spend in daycare the more aggressive they become towards fellow pupils and teachers, according to a Federal study released April 17. The findings are the same no matter what kind of non-maternal care is provided, including in-home care by a nanny.
The study followed over a thousand children in 10 US cities. The average time per week in day care per child was 26 hours.
The study's author, psychologist Jay Belsky of London University, says that the problem behaviors increase with the number of hours in daycare, no matter how good or bad the quality of day care is.
Welfare reform has sent more and more mothers to work, so the problem will only get worse. At present in the US 65% of mothers and 96% of fathers work.
Belsky says that extending parental leave and encouraging more part-time work might help.
We have been saying for a long time that daycare is not the perfect answer for children. The real answer is to make the workplace more parent-friendly. Many enlightened firms are now making provision for young children to be given day care on the premises so that parents can take time during the day to be with their kids. This has to be the way to go. BM
This study was quoted in a wide range of newspapers
Top of page
Crisis in Children's Mental Health
January 3, 2001
A report issued recently by the American Surgeon General painted a bleak picture of children's mental health. According to the report the situation has reached crisis point, with one in ten children suffering from some form of severe mental illness (sufficient to cause impairment).
What's more, fewer than one in five of these children receive any kind of treatment. The long-term consequences are very disturbing. According to the report "the burden of suffering by children with mental health needs and their families has created a health crisis in this country. Growing numbers of children are suffering needlessly because their emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs are not being met by the very institutions and systems that were created to take care of them."
In terms of actual recommendations the Surgeon General's proposals fall back on the old and failed -- more school counselors and the like -- and the usual bromides about 'helping families cope'. The real underlying causes of the mental health crisis -- overpopulation, materialism, lack of spiritual foundations, isolation, poor diets, too much stress on 'achievement' and so on are not mentioned. What a waste!
The Surgeon General's report was published by the US Department for Health and Human Services.
Top of page
Children Programmed for Unemployment
January 5, 2001
An interesting study reported in the December issue of Prevention and Treatment confirms something that we have been saying for a long time. That is that we tend to recreate our family patterns when we become adults.
The study, carried out at the University of Jyvskyl in Finland, confirmed previous research that shows, specifically, that aggressive children "select environments that further strengthen (i.e. reinforce) their behaviors." The study, which is ongoing, followed about 400 people from the age of 8 to 36. The study classed aggressive children as those who had a tendency to physically hurt others. This aggression, the study found, was a powerful predictor of poor school grades, alcoholism and of long-term unemployment.
The researchers conclude that the most powerful factor in preventing the cycle of aggression/poor school grades/unemployment and overcoming any genetic predisposition to aggression, was good and supportive parenting practices. This has also been one of our theme songs for a long time -- there is a direct link between the home environment and a child's later school and employment record.
Read the report in the the American Psychological Association's online journal Prevention and Treatment
Top of page
RELATED LINKS
Check our event schedule for workshops and seminars.
About the Author
Dr Bob Murray is a widely published psychologist and expert on emotional health and optimal relationships. Together with his wife and long-term collaborator Alicia Fortinberry, he is founder of the highly successful Uplift Program, and author of Raising an Optimistic Child (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and Creating Optimism (McGraw-Hill, 2004).
Do you like our site? Recommend this page to a friend!
|
