Most parents opt for talking with misbehaving kids
Misbehaving is part of growing up and learning right from wrong. Parents’ choices of discipline for their kids today include a wide range of options, from verbal discussions to physical punishment. But these days, how do parents let kids know they have stepped out of line?
In the latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, the three most common discipline strategies parents report they are very likely to use include:
• Explain or reason with the child – 88 percent
• Take away a privilege or something the child enjoys – 70 percent
• Put child in a time a out or grounding – 59 percent
“Results of this national study indicate that the vast majority of parents are choosing not to spank or paddle their kids,” says Dr. Matthew Davis, associate professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases in the CHEAR Unit at the Medical School. “While physical discipline is an option for some parents, the majority of parents are opting for verbal ways to get their points across.”
Results of this poll show that 22 percent of parents report that they are very likely to spank their children, while 10 percent paddle their children. Parents of preschool children are more likely to spank than parents of older children.
“We found lower rates of spanking than reported by some other researchers in the past,” says Davis, who also is associate professor of internal medicine and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. “That is likely because we asked parents to answer questions about what they might do, rather than what they have actually done. Because spanking is more common at younger ages, it is likely that other studies that have asked parents about ever spanking their children would find higher rates.”
— Jessica Soulliere, UMHS Public Relations
Astronomers take close-up pictures of mysterious object
For the first time, astronomers have directly observed the mysterious dark companion in a binary star system that has puzzled skywatchers since the 19th century.
Using an instrument developed at U-M, scientists have taken close-up pictures of Epsilon Aurigae during its eclipse, which happens every 27 years. “Close up” in this case is a relative term, but the images zoom in enough to show the shape of the dark object’s shadow.
“Seeing is believing,” says John Monnier, an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy who is an author of a paper about the research findings published in the April 8 edition of Nature. Researchers from the University of Denver and Georgia State University were involved as well.
Epsilon Aurigae is the fifth brightest star in the northern constellation Auriga. For more than 175 years, astronomers have known it is dimmer than it should be, given its mass. They also noticed its brightness dip for more than a year every few decades. They surmised that it was a binary system in which one companion was invisible. But what type of object was the companion?
Because astronomers hadn’t observed much light from it, the prevailing theory labeled it a smaller star orbited edge-on by a thick disk of dust. The theory held that the disk’s orbit must be in precisely the same plane as the dark object’s orbit around the brighter star, and all of this had to be occurring in the same plane as Earth’s vantage point. This would be an unlikely alignment, but it explained observations.
The new images show that this is indeed the case.
The paper is called “Infrared images of the transiting disk in the epsilon Aurigae System.” Xiao Che, a graduate student in the Department of Astronomy, contributed to the research.
— Nicole Casal Moore, News Service
Majority of mentally ill inmates don’t get treatment
Roughly 65 percent of Michigan prisoners diagnosed with a severe psychiatric illness did not receive treatment while incarcerated, a new U-M study found.
The Michigan Department of Corrections contracted with U-M to conduct the study in order to comply with Public Act 124 of 2007. PA 124 mandated that the MDOC conduct an independent study of its mental health services following the widely publicized death of an inmate with a history of psychiatric problems.
The purpose of the U-M study was to independently assess how many prisoners suffered mental illness and how many of those diagnosed inmates actually received treatment within the correctional system, says Brant Fries, principal investigator of the study and professor of health management and policy at the School of Public Health. Fries also has an appointment at the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare Center.
Researchers found that overall 20 percent of males and 25 percent of females have severe psychiatric symptoms and that 16 percent and 29 percent, respectively, received mental health services.
When the study group compared its assessment with the MDOC’s mental health records, however, it found that 65 percent of prisoners with mental health symptoms, or an estimated 9,711 statewide, did not receive psychiatric services during the study. There were 47,888 inmates at the time of the study.
The study recommends that the MDOC improve screening methods for identifying mental illness and use it to prioritize care for the most severely in need.
Team members include Philip Margolis, professor emeritus, Department of Psychiatry; and Angela Schmorrow and Sylvia Lang, Institute of Gerontology.
— Laura Bailey, News Service
Couples more likely to break up after pregnancy
A pregnancy loss increases the chance that a couple will break up and the emotional strain is greatest on unmarried couples, according to new U-M Health System research.
The study published in the journal Pediatrics is the first national study to look at the effect of pregnancy loss — by miscarriage or stillbirth — on relationship outcomes. It’s also the first to establish that parental relationships have a higher risk of dissolving after miscarriage or stillbirth compared to those who have a live birth.
Over a 15-year period, couples who miscarried had a 22 percent higher risk of experiencing a break-up while couples who experienced a stillbirth had a 40 percent higher risk of their relationship ending. For a miscarriage, the risk persists up to three years after the loss. For stillbirths, it persists up to nine years after the loss, according to research data.
“Given the frequency of pregnancy loss, these findings could have significant societal implications if related,” says lead author Dr. Katherine Gold, assistant professor of family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical School. “Miscarriage and stillbirth can be powerful and traumatic events for families. While many couples become closer after a loss, if a couple was struggling before the loss, this could be a huge stress for their relationship.”
While many parents find that the loss brings them closer together, the event can also create relationship stress. Providers who care for bereaved families should recognize that for some families, the stability of parental relationships may be at increased risk after loss and should consider relationship support or counseling, authors suggest.
Additional U-M authors are Dr. Rodney Hayward and Ananda Sen.
— Margarita Bauza, UMHS Public Relations
