Psychological Problems in Childhood Affect Earning Power and Relationships Later

In a 50-year study of more than 17,000 British people who were followed since birth, researchers from the RAND Labor and Population program found that psychological problems during childhood were related to measurable social and financial deficits later in life.

By age 50, those who had experienced serious psychological problems as children had family incomes that were 25% smaller than those of their peers who didn't have the same issues. Kids who had serious psychological problems — such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse or other mental disorders that caused moderate or severe 'emotional maladjustment' as determined by a doctor — were also less likely to have stable personal relationships or to be married by 50.

"These findings demonstrate that childhood psychological problems can have significant negative impacts over the course of an individual's life, much more so than childhood physical health problems," said James P. Smith, one of the study's authors and a senior economist at RAND, in a statement.

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You're Kidding! Medical Clown Increases Pregnancy Rates with IVF

A study of 229 Israeli women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to treat infertility found that a 15-minute visit from a trained "medical clown" immediately after the embryos were placed in the womb increased the chance of pregnancy to 36%, compared with 20% for women whose embryo transfer was comedy-free.

After controlling for factors such as the women's age, the nature and duration of their infertility, the number of embryos used and the day on which they were transferred into the uterus, researchers found an even greater effect of therapeutic laughter: the women who were entertained by a clown were 2.67 times more likely to get pregnant than those in the control group.

The quasi-randomized controlled study was published in one of the leading journals on infertility research, Fertility and Sterility, and led by Israeli researcher Shevach Friedler.

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DEPRESSION AND TEENAGE PREGNANCY

Research suggests that childbearing does not necessarily cause psychological distress among teenagers. Dr. Stefanie Mollborn of the University of Colorado and her team investigated stress and depression using a large group of teenage girls and adult women.

In the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, they explain that teenage mothers’ high depression rates have received “considerable research attention” in small studies, but a larger study of adolescent childbearing and depression was needed.

So they used figures from two large long-term surveys, the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. The participants completed questionnaires to measure depression, although the term “depression” was avoided.

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PERIODIZATION OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Period means the circle of time. In this case, the period is periodization. This is a way to facilitate understanding of child development, namely by determining the stages of child's age to be educated in accordance with the physical and psychological condition.

The development is a process from childhood to reach maturity and character of progress or perfection of personality. In other words, development is the emergence of new things, for example, children who initially self-centered, it will eventually turn into a social, and if it was once full of fantasy life, in time they would like reality.

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