Strollerderby : adolescent

The Painful Reason Bullies Bully

Kelly Mills — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:27:00 GMT

There's an idea that kids who bully lack empathy or simply don't feel for their victims. But a new study indicates the truth might be more disturbing than that. Researchers took an admittedly small sample of eight boys, ages 16 to 18, with aggressive conduct disorder, and a group of eight adolescent boys with no obvious aggressive behavior. They showed both groups video footage of someone inflicting pain on another person, and used MRI to track the brain patterns of both groups.

What they found was pretty creepy: The boys with aggressive conduct disorder showed high activity in two areas of the brain that regulate pleasure, but less activity in the region involved in self-regulation. In other words, the bully group actually derived pleasure from seeing others in pain. This might seem somewhat obvious, but it does counter the theory that bullies simply feel nothing towards their victims. In fact, they may just get off on hurting others.

The researchers say more investigation with a larger sample is in order. However, they were impressed by the striking difference in brain activity between the two groups of kids. And boy, am I grateful I'm not in high school any more--though I've met some adults who probably fit this description as well.

Boy Tells Your Mom Joke, Boy Goes To Jail

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Pregcellent: Eat Well, Period. Prenatal Diet Influences Puberty Onset

Kelly Mills — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:34:00 GMT

Just when the pregnant ladies thought they got enough flack about what they ingest during gestation. Now check this out: Researchers say a mother's prenatal diet can influence the early onset of puberty. Sheesh, I was chalking it up to non-organic milk and Bratz dolls. You mean my nutritional choices during the most hormonally insane period of my life are to blame for my daughter's precocious eye-rolling?

Well, in case you were wondering, it's a high-fat diet that the researchers tie to the age of your offsprings' puberty. And of course we are talking about girls going through early puberty, because no one seems to care if boys sprout a little peach fuzz early and start spending hours in their rooms with blacklight posters at an early age. The folks who studied this say prenatal diet may have more influence on menstruation happening young than early childhood nutrition. Of course, the study was on rats, so we can always hold out hope for an species reprieve from regular pregnancy Ben & Jerry's transgressions.

Padded Bras for Eight-Year-Olds

Kelly Mills — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:31:00 GMT

You remember Tesco: The people who brought you the pole dancing kit for kids (later pulled following protestations from many groups,) and the onesies for babies who need to be anxious about their weight. Now Tesco is getting flack for a new item: Padded bras for kids. The plunge cup bra is being sold next to undershirts for seven- and eight-year olds, and when they say "pre-teen" they apparently mean "pre-pre-teen". After all, bras for kids that young would have to be padded because the majority of those children don't even have boobs yet. Teachers and kids' rights groups are criticizing the bra, saying it's inappropriate and adds to the pressure girls have to be sexually alluring, even in childhood. Ya think?

And how does Tesco defend the controversial bra? A spokesperson says it's actually designed for "girls at that self-conscious age when they are just developing. It is designed to cover up, not flatter... It is described as a padded bra for trade description reasons." I'm guessing they mean the bra is supposed to keep budding girl breasts from showing--this is the best design they could come up with for that? Gawd, how depressing is it that we even have to discuss this. My favorite quote though is from the fashion guy who oposes the bra, and says, "The bra is modelled on a plunge style--it has a very low bridge connecting the cups. It means the shape and position is lower to expose the breast tissue." Expose the breast tissue? Uh huh. Remind me to throw all my demi-cup bras away immediately.