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Teens pressure each other to take risks without even meaning to.
A new study mentioned in the NYT Well Blog shows that teenagers’ brains are affected by peer pressure. Even very subtle peer pressure.
Believing a friend is watching them play a video game from the next room motivates young teenagers to take risks they wouldn’t otherwise take. In the study, kids who thought their friends were watching them crashed their video game cars 60% more than those who thought they were playing alone.
The peer pressure there is pretty subtle: the kids weren’t directly encouraged by peers to take the risks, they just did it when they thought their friends were passively watching.
The effect did not appear in adults or college students in the same experiment. It seems like peer pressure is a powerful force on young teens. We all knew that. But this study shows us a little more of why. See, the study participants were hooked up to an MRI while playing these games.
Cheryl Joseph would rather go to jail than have her child bullied.
Usually, it’s the child who risks punishment for not going to school. But this time, it’s the parent. Cheryl Joseph says she would rather spend time in jail than force her 13 year-old daughter, Tiffany, to return to the school the concerned mom describes as a “hell hole.”
Joseph claims that Tiffany has been bullied repeatedly at Pepper Middle School, being tormented about her weight, her hair as well as her race.
Teachers can be held legally accountable for bullying.
Bullying has garnered its fair share of headlines of late, and rightfully so. Hatable villains like Jennifer Petkovs make our skin crawl, although we don’t ever hear about them until long after they’ve wreaked havoc on their victims. Some of those victims, like Kathleen Edward, receive an outpouring of support. Others, like Tyler Clementi, take their lives before we’re able to tell them how much we care.
Sadly, bullying headlines are becoming more and more bizarre. Sylvia Mojica was recently arrested for arming her son with a knife and a bb gun (what, in case he couldn’t get close enough?) after he complained about getting pushed around at school. And then there’s Clint McCance, a member of an Arkansas school board, who allegedly expressed anti gay sentiments (which were littered with grammatical errors — just saying) on his Facebook page.
So it should come as no surprise to learn that the Department of Education is taking action via a formal communication addressed to teachers and administrators. Continue reading »
No, actually, it wasn’t something in the office water cooler. The office baby boom — all those pregnant coworkers — that’s a real and predictable phenomenon and the focus of a recently published study [PDF] out of Sweden. Researchers Lena Hensvik and Peter Nilsson summarized their findings in “Businesses, Buddies, and Babies: Social Ties and Fertility at Work” for the Institute for Labor Market Policy Evaluation.
What they found was come compelling evidence for office baby fever. In short, the chances of an employee showing up at work pregnant increased if a coworker recently had a baby. The chances are even greater the closer in age and educational level — and sex — the two coworkers are.
Anyway, baby fever doesn’t exactly work like the stomach flu. Continue reading »
Most of us believe parenting is an intuitive thing. So why is it the most well-meaning efforts of parents are royally warping kids everywhere? Right now, you are psychologically destroying your child by teaching them value of individuality.
At least, that’s the position of Cracked writer Cezary Jan Strusiewicz. And before you dismiss Ceazry’s work as some comedian’s hack job, notice he backed every assertion with actuall scientific research. So sit back and discover why praising your kids, teaching them to be themselves and warning them about strangers is only preparing your kids for a life as an anti-social super villain.
Starting their Education Early
“So if Heather told you to jump in the lake, would you?
Are you really sure you know how you’d like your teen to answer that question? You may want to think again.
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