In children’s development, schools are one of the most prominent places where children receive quality education. However, it is also a place where mental health is promoted, especially for young children where it is the most crucial time in their overall psychological development.  

The assessment that teachers give children in addition to the children’s own rating of their life satisfaction is key in understanding the mental health of the children. Furthermore, it is important to intervene to stop any adverse mental health conditions from worsening as early as possible! 

To read more, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Psychologist Anne Marie Albano shares her story of anxiety as a young girl, and how her current interest in childhood anxiety stemmed from her own personal experiences. Anxiety disorders, she explains, can start as early as four years old and can create great suffering in the child as well as their parents. If anxiety is left untreated during early childhood, it can lead to depression, substance abuse, and even suicidal ideation.   

She notes that her parents performed their own version of exposure therapy to get young Albano to overcome her anxiety. Such professional therapy is one of the most beneficial treatments for anxiety. Through her research, she discovered that the combination of exposure therapy sessions and SSRIs in adolescents can alleviate anxiety, but not fully get rid of it. Thus, she discovered that parents with good intentions for their children unintentionally cause more anxiety in them by not letting them take risks. 

Taking risks is a key factor in reducing anxiety. If they don’t, then they continue to get increasingly anxious and lower self-esteem. Compared to children able to take risks, they display more confidence and are able to manage situations. The best practice for parents is to help them face their fears and solve problems. Only then will the child be able to develop coping mechanisms and deal with situations on their own. 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Characteristics of the performing arts can be essential to the well-being of children. Although not mentioned or heavily encouraged by parents, the arts are a key factor in improving the life of children. They are alive but should also be living a fulfilling life regardless of age. Combining imagination, play, and performing arts can lead to many benefits in children.

A prime example of performing arts is role play. All children engage in play, whether solo or group play. Imaginative play can lead to a more artistic play, meaning that there is a possible connection between imagination and the performing arts.  

There are four functions that the arts can provide children with: activity, belonging, identity and ownership, all important in contributing to the needs of their development as well as their quality of life. Overall, there is more meaning to when parents tell their children to “go and play,” it also means to outwardly express themselves and expand their knowledge that there is a figurative world to engage in.  

To read more, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Children of immigrants grow up with ties to their country of origin as well as the country they grow up in. They’re raised with a mix of foods, music, beliefs, expectations, language, etc., from two (or more) different cultures. Not just in the United States, but around the world, many individuals balance their identify on such classifications. 

What separates us from our parents is that our parents were born in their country of origin whereas we were born in a different one. Therefore, the parents are viewed as first generation immigrants and their children as second-generation immigrants. 

Children who grow up in such families face many misconceptions, judgments, and overall challenges about their cultural identity. In their home country, they’re seen as a citizen of the country they grew up in, and in the country, they grew up in, they’re seen as citizens of their home country. But it’s important to consider that they can be both, and that we are all a “salad bowl.” 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Baby media has been around for decades. Most notably, the rise of the “Baby Einstein” TV series since 1997 has captivated parents, believing that such media would make their babies learn better and faster. From old VHS tapes to current media, parents have been quoted and testified to the benefits of media on infant development, thus encouraging more parents to do the same for their children. 

However, parents who say that exposure to media assisted in their child’s development could in fact be mistaken. A phenomenon occurs in the second stage of an infant’s stage of life, called the “word spurt” where they gain knowledge of many new words. This phenomenon could instead be aiding in development rather than media exposure.  

Researchers wondered how many new words 12–18-month-old infants can learn from watching a popular series multiple times a week. Interestingly, the results yielded that children who viewed media more often did not learn new words compared to children who didn’t watch any media. Therefore, they concluded that infant media was not as useful to development as parents think; rather, parents overestimate the influence of media on their children. 

To read more, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Parents who are in high conflict with one another, divorced, or in court child custody may have their kid(s) engage in parental alienation, where the child strongly prefers to be with one parent and refuses to engage at all with the other parent. A common form of parental alienation is when the preferred parent encourages their child to negatively engage with and alienate the nonpreferred parent, which leads to a one-sided, unhealthy phenomenon. 

Factors of parental alienation can influence negative beliefs and resistance in a child’s relationship with their alienated parent. If the child sees one of their parents’ hostile with the other, they can internalize those negative emotions and place them on the nonpreferred parent. 

Parental alienation can lead to short- and long-term negative impacts on the child, mental health issues in the alienated parent, and damage the overall parent-child familial relationship. It’s important to understand the reasoning behind a child’s alienation from a certain parent, and to find methods to address it. More research is needed in regards to the psychology of parental alienation! 

To read more, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Terms such as “sperm donor,” “deadbeat dad,” and “baby daddy” are often used in reference to fathers who help conceive a child but do not actively participate in the child’s life. However, the term “co-parent” offers a more positive side to fathers who are in their child’s life, even if not always living together. 

Joel Leon, this Ted Talk speaker, says that co-parenting involves many sacrifices, but the weight of raising a child will not fall on one parent alone. Co-parenting is an important thing for parents to do for their child in order for them to have both parents present, which benefits the child’s well-being greatly.  

He acknowledges the struggles of single mothers, even mentioning his own personal experiences and upbringing. Therefore, he encourages parents to play an equal role in their child’s life and to remember that being a parent is a gift, not an inconvenience. 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

Did you know that maternal mental health has been recognized as globally significant? Well, this is true! There is lots of research regarding negative mental health in mothers, however not much so in the positive sense, which is important as it aids in the development of children and aids the mother regarding parenting.  

Positive mental health can be measured via a hedonic (positive emotions/life satisfaction) or eudaimonia (self-acceptance/engagement) perspective. When a pregnant mother has high self-esteem or optimism, their babies are born with higher birth weight. Other observations revealed that many advantages happen while the baby is still in utero! 

Due to new research of maternal mental health, there is more overall knowledge of the well-being of their children. The mental health of mothers can possibly affect the physiological and psychological behaviors of children. More research is required for a more direct answer, however with little research about maternal mental health, we can see many types of impacts on mother and child. 

To read more, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant 

In the 21st century, researchers have discovered new, more effective methods of bringing up children. Outdated assumptions in use today can thus be quite harmful in their development. 

The “Kids Today Project”, created by Richard Neville and his team, was designed to view complex issues of development through the child’s eyes via a head-mounted camera. This allowed the researchers to see exactly what the child sees to understand their perspective of the big, endless moving world. 

So, what did they discover? Regardless of location, culture, differences, and situations, children shared one common theme: an immense desire to learn. 

The research illustrated that children must learn to take control of their own lives. If they don’t then how can we expect them to develop skills needed in adulthood? 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here! 

Ashley Bejar, UConn KIDS Research Assistant