Strollerderby : cornell

They Say: Staying Together for the Kids? Don't

JeanneSager — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:01:00 GMT

How many times have you heard someone in marital distress say they're just trying to make it through for the kids? Might want to give them a hug next time and tell them they shouldn't worry about it.

A new study has found what plenty of kids of bitter, bickering parents already knew: staying together for the kids doesn't work.

Looking at teens from almost two thousands households and tracking them through to their early thirties, the study out of Cornell University in New York linked "exposure to parental conflict in adolescence . . . with poorer academic achievement, increased substance use and early family formation and dissolution, often in ways indistinguishable from living in a stepfather or single-mother family."

Again, not totally surprised here. But it's an important finding FOR parents who have long sought comfort as they navigate the difficult road of divorce. The dissolution of a relationship is almost never easy, and blame is quite often the name of the game. When kids are involved, the ante is upped as couples have to factor in more than just the two people in the marriage itself.

Studies have already found that divorce does not change the way a person parents. If you're doing a good job before the split, there's no reason to think you'll fall down on the job after the decree becomes final.

Parents should also take a long, hard look at their kids pre-split. Poor behavior that parents have often associated with post-divorce stress has been found to be something parents were overlooking in the midst of their marital discord. It was already there. The good news? Researchers say it doesn't actually get worse.

At the end of the day, I could never tell someone, "hey, yeah, get divorced." That's a very personal decision. But knowing you're worrying about your kids in the process means you're already far ahead of a lot of parents.

Image: OrlandoNest

They Say: Autism Linked to Rainy Climate

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Just in case there weren't enough possible answers to the burning question of what causes autism, here comes one more contender: rain. A new study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine looked at data from California, Oregon and Washington, and calcualted that children living in the rainiest counties of those states had autism rates up to 30 percent higher than those in drier climes.

The study's author, Michael Waldman, is a professor of economics at Cornell, and the father of a child with autism; he's not a medical doctor. Still, some in the medical community think he might be onto something -- whether it's that rain itself can carry and transmit environmental toxins that can trigger the disorder, or that kids growing up in rainy climates tend to spend more time inside and watching TV. Others point out possible complications of the study, including the fact that autism itself is increasingly broadly defined and that this kind of numerical analysis is ripe for overreaching explanations. Still, for a growing nation of families hungry for anything that could help them help their children, Waldman's work may provide another clue -- and who knows, it might even help reinvigorate the housing market in the post-boom sunbelt.

Photo: ©Albanpix.com

They Say: Autism is Linked to Watching TV

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:15:00 GMT

If you ever suspected it was no coincidence that the rise in childhood autism began around the same time as the advent of cable TV, a Cornell study shows you were on to something.

Researchers at Cornell University claim to have established a definite link between autism rates and TV watching among toddlers in California, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Oregon. Beginning in 1980, when cable TV brought Nickelodeon and other children’s programs into people’s homes, autism rates rose most sharply in counties with a high percentage of homes with cable. Specifically, the Cornell study found that “roughly 17 percent of the growth in autism in California and Pennsylvania during the 1970s and 1980s was due to the growth in cable television.”

And studying the amount of time children watched television based upon particularly rainy and snowy years in the Western states (bad weather is known to increase child TV watching), the researchers concluded that “just under 40 percent of autism diagnoses in the three states studied is the result of television watching.” Although it’s possible that these numbers reflect a relationship between autism and staying indoors (not watching TV), these numbers are much more conclusive than any of the numerous studies looking to establish a link between autism and vaccines.

The Cornell researchers are advancing no theories as to why increased television watching among toddlers causes an increased likelihood of an autism diagnosis, but it’s possible the link is related to the fact that the ability to process visual data develops in the first three years of life; children with autism exhibit abnormal activity in these areas of the brain.

It may be time that researchers turned their attention away from chemicals and genetic links in the search for a cure for autism. If something as simple as avoiding TeleTubbies and Baby Einstein could help lower autism rates, this is something every parent needs to know.

Photo: Cleveland Leader

Schools Tying Up Autistic Kids

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