Have you ever felt nervous on behalf of someone else? Empathetic anxiety, or feeling anxious when you feel that someone else is anxious, is a well documented phenomena. This phenomena applies to children as well, however what is less known is how shy children respond to seeing a peer in stress. Shy kids are often seen by their peers as less empathetic, because of their tendency to say little and not interact with their peers. However, it is likely that they are just as empathetic as their peers, but just show it a little differently.

To test this, the researchers set up a study where they would observe shy children upon seeing a peer in a stressful situation. Heart rate was recorded as a measure of anxiety: higher heart rate corresponded with higher levels of stress and anxiety. Children were assigned to pairs, and then had to take turns giving a 3-5 minute speech in front of the other child and a few other strangers. Both children were recorded during the preparation and presentation of the speech. The presenting child behavior was analyzed for physical indications of stress, which the observing child’s heart rate was recorded. The children also took a questionnaire prior to this to determine levels of shyness, allowing the researchers to draw correlations between levels of shyness and stress when observing people with varying degrees of visible anxiety.

The results of the study show that children’s shyness was correlated with stress in the context of their peer’s social stress, especially if the presenting peer was exhibiting visible signs of anxiety. For example, if a shy kid was observing their peer give a speech and they exhibited many anxious behaviors while speaking, the shy kid would experience more stress than if their peer hadn’t been exhibiting so many anxious behaviors. Anxious behaviors include things like stuttering, mumbling, and avoiding eye contact. Interestingly enough, the study also indicated that when the child presenting seemed confident, shy children were more likely to have a decreased heart rate, corresponding to lowering levels of stress.

The results of this study indicate that shy children are able to recognize and empathize with the social stress of a peer, going so far as to feel the stress themselves. Contradictory to what some may think about shy kids, they are in fact quite empathetic to their peers. Their perceived lack of empathy might be more about a lesser amount of obvious empathic behaviors rather than feeling less empathy than a child that is not shy.

To learn more and read the full article, click here!

Afrah Rafi

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

We all know comic books for the eye-catching art and fast-paced storytelling, but can they be used in the classroom too?

In his Ted Talk “How comic books can help you learn” Gene Luen Yang says absolutely! Comic books appeal to kids in an age when they are so accustomed to visual media. As a tool for education, comic books allow students the flexibility to read as slow or as fast as they need, something that tradition lecture styles make difficult. They’ve been popular for decades now, but are now making their way into the classroom as more and more comic book writers focus on writing educations stories. Comic books are also getting kids to read more in general, something we know is so important for kids during these foundational years of education.

Click here to watch the full video and learn more!

Afrah Rafi

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Can you tell what a baby’s cry means? Are they hungry, sick, uncomfortable, or in pain? Chances are, if you are parent or someone with experience taking care of babies, you would be able to accurately identify whether a baby’s cry indicates whether they are in pain. But if you haven’t spent time caring of babies, you might have some learning to do!

When a baby expresses pain through their cry, there are distinctive sound elements that can separate that cry from a different one, and these are universal amongst all babies. Some such elements include cries that are longer, louder, and with more shifting pitch then other infant cries. Because of this phenomena, it has long been thought that adults are able to differentiate by ear, whether a baby’s cry is one of pain or not. However, the researchers of this study wanted to see whether that was an ability all adults possess, or one that comes with experience and time.

To determine this, they conducted an experiment with five groups of participants: adults with no caregiving experience, adults with some caregiving experience, parents of children 5 years old or older, parents of babies less than 2 years old, and adults with ample professional caregiving experience. They had the adults do two sets of experiments, one where they tried to determine whether the cries of a familiar baby were of pain or just discomfort, and one where they tried to do the same thing but with an unfamiliar baby. The familiar babies’ discomfort cries had been played for the adults a few hours prior to the experiment, allowing the adults to familiarize themselves with how the baby sounds and be able to distinguish that baby from other.

The results showed that adults with no caregiving experience could identify cries of pain or discomfort no better than chance, correctly choosing only 53.4% of the time. Adults with some caregiving experience were a little better at identifying cries, but only those of the familiar babies, choosing correctly 57.3% of the time. Parents of children 5 years old or older and adults with ample professional caregiving experience both were able to identify the familiar babies’ cry with greater accuracy, this time choosing correctly 65.5% and 71.1% of the time, respectively. Parents of babies less than 2 years old, however, were able to identify  the cries of pain of both a familiar baby and of an unfamiliar baby, choosing correctly 71.2% of the time for a familiar baby and 64.2% of the time for an unfamiliar baby.

This study indicates that the ability to recognize a baby’s cry as one of pain comes from experience listening to babies’ cries. Experience changes the way in which we hear and distinguish between cries, and greater experience can allow someone to accurately identify whether a baby is crying in pain, even if it is their first time hearing that baby cry!

If you want to read more, click here!

Thank you!

Afrah Rafi

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

The answer to last week’s question: How many times as active is a 3-year-old’s brain compared to an adult’s brain?

Is 2x as active!

This week’s trivia question is:

Which cognitive milestone is most related to why peek-a-boo is such a fun game for babies?

a. conservation

b. symbolic play

c. object permanence

d. babbling

Afrah is a research assistant for UConn KIDS. She is a senior Physiology & Neurobiology and Molecular & Cellular Biology double major with a minor in Neuroscience. After graduation she plans on applying to and attending medical school, and hopes to specialize in something that allows her to continue working with kids! Outside of school, she is involved in Future Health Leaders and volunteers with UCHL, and she also works as a home healthcare PCA.

Afrah is so excited for the opportunity to be a UConn KIDS research assistant this semester, and we are excited to have her!

Children in ADHD often also have sleep disorders, such as insomnia or obstructive sleep apnea, and trouble sleeping at night can double up on the effects of ADHD. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder where a person may find it hard to breathe at night, leading to trouble sleeping, increased tiredness during the day, and periods of low oxygen throughout the night. In children, this can lead to symptoms similar to those described of kids with ADHD: emotional dysregulation, cognitive deficits, and behavioral issues. Sometimes these symptoms are not seen as indicative of a sleep disorder in kids with ADHD, and some may go undiagnosed.

It is well known that a percentage of children of ADHD also have some sort of sleep disorder, and this research aimed to get a more concrete statistic and also classify which sleep disorders appear to be the most common. After assessing over 600 kids with ADHD, it was found that 70% had a sleep disorder of some sort! The most common sleep disorders, were insomnia (40.2%) and obstructive sleep apnea (23.4%). Factors like ADHD subtype, sleep-related behaviors, and comorbidities (having other disorders/conditions as well), appear to be associated with sleep problems.

Because poor sleep is known to negatively affect behavior, mood, and learning, it is important to recognize how common sleep disorders are in kids with ADHD. These researchers advocate for routine sleep screenings and appropriate sleep interventions to help kids with ADHD sleep better at a young age!

If you want to read more, click here!

Thank you!

Afrah Rafi

UConn KIDS Research Assistant