31. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Uplifting video poetry/performance art - ‘What Teachers Make’ by Taylor Mali.

You MUST check this short inspirational video out. Fantastic! Well done, Taylor!

If I don’t see you first, have a relaxing and interesting spring break!

On your mind,

John

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.
Positive Psychology Coach
Guide To Self, Inc.
www.GuideToSelf.com

Posted in Danville CA, Alamo CA, SRVHS, Parenting adolescents, Emotion & learning, Raising optimistic children, Positive Psychology, Dr. John Schinnerer, School psychology, School age bullies, Bullies | Print | No Comments »

19. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

I’ve been heading up a book club on adolescent boys at the local high school here. One of the topics that comes up frequently is aggression and fighting between adolescent brothers (as well as some reports of aggression outside the family). As I’m getting updated on the latest research on this topic, I thought I’d share some of the best studies with you. Hope you enjoy them!

Source:  UC Davis News Service

DAVIS — Children who grow up with an older brother tend to become more aggressive as they move through adolescence, while those with a younger sister tend to become less so, according to a new study by researchers at UC Davis. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Child Development.

“Siblings contribute unique opportunities for children and adolescents to practice certain types of aggressive behaviors, including teasing, threatening and fighting,” said lead author Shannon Tierney Williams, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral researcher in Human and Community Development at UC Davis. “And because boys consistently demonstrate higher rates of aggression than girls, it may be that adolescents are affected more strongly by the aggression of brothers.”

Williams and her colleagues conducted annual assessments of sibling pairs from 451 rural Iowa families — 902 adolescents in all — from 1989 through 1992. Each assessment involved a home visit, during which parents and kids completed a set of questionnaires in which siblings rated their own aggressive behaviors and parents described economic pressures on the family. Families were also videotaped, without researchers in the room, as they discussed household issues and tried to resolve a real-life family conflict. The videotapes were then analyzed for clues to family hostility, coercion, warmth and support.

The researchers found that on average, aggression increased over time in adolescents with an older brother but remained stable in those with an older sister.

For the older sibling, aggression decreased when the younger sibling was a girl but remained stable when the younger sibling was a boy.

“By having younger sisters, who typically exhibit lower levels of aggressive behaviors, particularly early in adolescence, older siblings may have fewer chances to practice their aggressive behavior,” Williams said.

Parental hostility and family economic stress also played a role in adolescent aggression, the researchers found.

The findings suggest that efforts to address adolescent aggression should involve siblings and families, Williams said.

Her co-investigators were Katherine Jewsbury Conger, an assistant professor of human and community development at UC Davis, and Shelley Blozis, an assistant professor of psychology.

Posted in Danville CA, Emotion & learning, Relationships, San Ramon CA, Alamo CA, Parenting adolescents, SRVHS, San Francisco Bay Area, Men's emotions, Anger Management, Life coach, Dr. John Schinnerer, Managing stress, Guide to Self, Emotional IQ, Emotional mind, Depression, School age bullies, Bullies | Print | No Comments »

4. March 2010 by John Schinnerer.

This past weekend, I presented at a Parenting Conference on Strengths-Based Approaches to parenting. At the conference, a new film, The Race to Nowhere, was screened.The movie brought up a number of pertinent issues regarding the educational system in the United States…

The creation of high degrees of chronic stress in all ages of students (but not all students) due to excessive homework demands.

The excessive homework load seems to be largely due to curriculum which has been pushed down to lower and lower grade, often to the point where the academic requirements are mismatched with the developmental stage of the student.

The well being and happiness of students are not considered relevant in the current educational system.

The current system puts students into a constant forward-looking race to get to the next stage of education. For instance, sixth graders are looking at which foreign language classes to take to get into college; 7th & 8th graders are focused on what to do now to get into the advanced track classes in high school; many high school students are continually focused on what they can do in terms of extracurriculars and AP grades to get into the ‘right’ colleges.

Once in college, students are finding they never learned how to think critically on their own. Rather they were taught to regurgitate facts to do well on standardized tests which assess only a fraction of the whole child’s abilities and skills. 

At some point, many of these students are running headlong into a period of purposelessness and some are even dropping out of college due to depression, anxiety and hopelessness. If you are interested in finding out more about the movie, check out their site at RaceToNowhere.com.

Today, I came across a new study out of Penn State which shows a link between adolescent stress, depression and obesity. Below is a review on the study borrowed from a fantastic psychology site PsychCentral.com.

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on February 25, 2010

Obesity is a disturbing worldwide trend. In fact, researchers say the effects are so pervasive that unless the issue is controlled, children born today will not live longer than their parents.

A new research finding provides insight on how a mental health issue may trigger obesity among adolescents. In the study, researchers discovered depression raises stress hormone levels in adolescent boys and girls. And, among girls, the stress hormones may lead to obesity.

Accordingly, early treatment of depression could help reduce stress and control obesity.

[snip]

Cortisol, a hormone, regulates various metabolic functions in the body and is released as a reaction to stress. Researchers have long known that depression and cortisol are related to obesity, but they had not figured out the exact biological mechanism.

Although it is not clear why high cortisol reactions translate into obesity only for girls, scientists believe it may be due to physiological and behavioral differences (in girls, estrogen release and stress eating) in the way the two genders cope with anxiety.

“The implications are to start treating depression early because we know that depression, cortisol and obesity are related in adults,” said Susman.

If depression were to be treated earlier, she noted, it could help reduce the level of cortisol, and thereby help reduce obesity.

“We know stress is a critical factor in many mental and physical health problems,” said Susman.

“We are putting together the biology of stress, emotions and a clinical disorder to better understand a major public health problem.”

Susman and her colleagues Lorah D. Dorn, professor of pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Samantha Dockray, postdoctoral fellow, University College London, used a child behavior checklist to assess 111 boys and girls ages 8 to 13 for symptoms of depression.

Next they measured the children’s obesity and the level of cortisol in their saliva before and after various stress tests.

[snip]

Statistical analyses of the data suggest that depression is associated with spikes in cortisol levels for boys and girls after the stress tests, but higher cortisol reactions to stress are associated with obesity only in girls. The team reported its findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

“In these children, it was mainly the peak in cortisol that was related to obesity,” Susman explained. “It was how they reacted to an immediate stress.”

Source: Penn State University

For full article, click here.

Have a wonderful and stress-free week!

All the best,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Author of the award-winning book Guide To Self:

The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion & Thought Guide To Self, Inc.

913 San Ramon Valley Blvd. #280

Danville CA 94526

(925) 575-0258

GuideToSelf.com - Web site

DrJohnBlog.GuideToSelf.com - Award-winning Blog

@johnschin - Twitter

Posted in Raising optimistic children, National speakers, Emotion & learning, Awareness, Resiliency, Managing Sadness, Alexithymia, Men's emotions, Danville CA, San Ramon CA, Parenting workshop, San Francisco Bay Area, Parenting adolescents, Alamo CA, Emotion & Athletics, Brain plasticity, Optimal Human Functioning, Anger Management, Managing Anxiety, Emotional IQ, Anxiety, Nervousness, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Managing stress, Measuring emotions, Social phobia, School psychology, Depression, Parenting, Emotional mind, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Morals and values, School age bullies, Happiness, Counseling | Print | No Comments »

23. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

“The Purpose of Boys”

Join us for the first

SRVHS Book Club Discussion Group

with San Ramon Valley High School dad

Dr. John Schinnerer

March 3^rd, 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th

SRVHS Career Center

7 - 8:30PM

Free of charge

Ever wonder why boys are more adventurous, more physical, more rambunctious? Why are they more aggressive? And how do they come to understand and express strong character and values?

Michael Gurian, author of “The Purpose of Boys,” presents an easy-to-read but compelling examination of how our boys are “hard-wired”—the unique brain chemistry and hormones of boys, along with their inherent developmental and learning differences, that impact how they behave, learn, and formulate their character and sense of purpose.

“Boys” provides parents and other adults who interact with boys a comprehensive look at how our young men develop their identity, their sense of meaning and purpose in our culture and world. Gurian provides practical suggestions that will benefit parents and adults that interact with boys of all ages.

What if you only have girls?  What if you don’t have any children?  Parents and adults are encouraged to read “Boys” and join in discussing this revealing look at boys because they will become the men who shape our lives, country, and world tomorrow.  The book looks specifically at boys, but addresses how they are “opposite” in the ways in which girls experience and develop, so you can pick up tips on girls too!  In addition, boys and young men are classmates and friends, neighbors, employees at local businesses and, hold on—boyfriends to our young ladies!!

The book beings with early childhood development of boys, so Book Club discussions, while focusing more on “tween” and teen boys, will provide insights on younger boys, so parents and adults of all ages are encouraged to join the conversations!!

Questions?

Contact Robin Kelley, kelleyview@msn.com or Alyson Colton, alyson@coltonfamily4.0rg

“Boys” is available on line and through our local booksellers. The SRVHS Parent Resource Library has a small number of copies for checkout.< -->

Posted in Optimal Human Functioning, San Ramon CA, Danville CA, Emotion & learning, Emotion & Athletics, Alamo CA, Parenting adolescents, SRVHS, Parenting workshop, National speakers, Raising optimistic children, Happiness, School age bullies, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Parenting, Emotional mind, Hope, Men's emotions, Anger Management, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

8. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2009) — A new study from the University of New Hampshire finds that U.S. children are routinely exposed to even more violence and abuse than has been previously recognized, with nearly half experiencing a physical assault in the study year.

“Children experience far more violence, abuse and crime than do adults,” said David Finkelhor, director of the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center and the study director. “If life were this dangerous for ordinary grown-ups, we’d never tolerate it.”

The research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research results are presented in the journal Pediatrics and an Office of Justice Programs/OJJDP bulletin titled “Children’s Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey.”

UNH researchers asked a national sample of U.S. children and their caregivers about a far broader range of exposures than has been done in the past.

According to the research, three out of five children were exposed to violence, abuse or a criminal victimization in the last year, including 46 percent who had been physically assaulted, 10 percent who had been maltreated by a caregiver, 6 percent who had been sexually victimized, and 10 percent who had witnessed an assault within their family.

The authors contend that earlier studies of violence exposure only inquired about individual crimes – looking only at bullying or child maltreatment or sexual abuse. In contrast, this study asked about all such exposures as well as additional ones that are rarely, if ever, covered such as dating violence and witnessing domestic violence.

The study found that more than a third of the children had had two or more different kinds of exposures in the past year and 11 percent had five or more.

“Studies have missed the fact that there are a surprisingly large group of very repeatedly and variously victimized kids whom we should be doing a better job to help and protect,” Finkelhor said.

The researchers urge teachers, police, doctors, counselors, and parents to ask children about a broader range of possible victimization experiences, especially children who had been identified as victims already. They also call for new efforts to create safer schools, homes and other youth environments.

The study was conducted in 2008 and involved interviews with caregivers and youth about the experiences of a nationally representative sample of 4,549 children ages 0-17. In addition to Finkelhor, the authors include Heather Turner, professor of sociology at UNH, Richard Ormrod, research professor of geography at UNH, and Sherry Hamby, research associate professor of psychology at Sewanee, the University of the South.

For full article, click here.

Let’s keep trying. We can do better, folks!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

San Ramon, Danville, Alamo

Posted in Men's emotions, Alexithymia, Emotion & productivity, San Ramon CA, Violence and abuse, Anger Management, Emotional management, School age bullies, Dr. John Schinnerer, Victims of bullying, Depression, Parenting, Bullies | Print | No Comments »