Archive | March, 2018

Georgia State University: Child sexual abuse in US costs up to $1.5 million per child death, study finds

30 Mar

Most people do not want people, especially children, abused. One means of early intervention is mandatory reporting of suspected abuse by certain groups like teachers or medical personnel. Accessing Safety lists the pros and cons of mandatory reporting:

Pros
Supporters of mandatory reporting believe that mandatory reporting can enhance victim/survivor safety by:
• linking people with services that will provide information and referrals to improve their living situations,
• getting victim/survivors away from abusers and perpetrators;
• reporting violence, abuse, and sexual assault to increase the number of cases reaching authorities and being documented, thereby increasing an understanding of the prevalence of such violence and its incidence; and
• offering an opportunity to provide training on issues of violence to professionals and persons who are mandatory reporters.
Cons
Some feel that mandatory reporting may create more harm than good. They believe that risks and consequences of mandatory reporting can include:
• retaliation by abuser/perpetrator/stalker,
• broken trust and confidentiality,
• damage to an individuals’ right to self-determination, an issue that is of particular concern when working with people with disabilities, and
• damaging the relationship between the victim/survivor and service provider, and, ultimately, leading to victims/survivors not seeking help or not returning to services…. http://www.accessingsafety.org/index.php?page=137

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Ohio v. Clark (No.13-1352). See, Ohio v. Clark. Supreme Court Summary and Analysis by Sandra Tibbetts Murphy, July 2015 http://www.bwjp.org/assets/documents/pdfs/ohio-v-clark-supreme-court-summary.pdf and https://drwilda.com/tag/child-abuse/

Science Daily reported in Child sexual abuse in US costs up to $1.5 million per child death, study finds:

Child sexual abuse in the United States is costly, with an average lifetime cost of $1.1 million per death of female victims and $1.5 million per death of male victims, according to a new study.
Researchers measured the economic costs of child sexual abuse by calculating health care costs, productivity losses, child welfare costs, violence/crime costs, special education costs and suicide death costs.
They estimated the total lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States to be $9.3 billion, based on child sexual abuse data from 2015. For nonfatal cases of child sexual abuse, the estimated lifetime cost is $282,734 per female victim. There was insufficient information on productivity losses for male victims, which contributed to a lower estimated lifetime cost of $74,691. The findings are published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect….
The World Health Organization defines child sexual abuse as the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, is not developmentally prepared or violates the laws and social taboos of society. It is the activity between a child — anyone under the age of 18 in most states — and an adult or another child who by age or development is in a position of responsibility, trust or power.
Child sexual abuse includes commercial sexual exploitation and the use of children in pornographic performance and materials. The estimated prevalence rates of exposure to child sexual abuse by 18 years old are 26.6 percent for U.S. girls and 5.1 percent for U.S. boys. International rates of exposure are often higher in low- and middle-income countries. The effects of child sexual abuse include increased risk for development of severe mental, physical and behavioral health disorders; sexually transmitted diseases; self-inflicted injury, substance abuse and violence; and subsequent victimization and criminal offending.
The researchers examined data from 20 new cases of fatal child sexual abuse and 40,387 new cases of nonfatal child sexual abuse that occurred in 2015. The data were obtained from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System of the Children’s Bureau and child maltreatment reports issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180329190842.htm

Citation:

Child sexual abuse in US costs up to $1.5 million per child death, study finds
Date: March 29, 2018
Source: Georgia State University
Summary:
Child sexual abuse in the United States is costly, with an average lifetime cost of $1.1 million per death of female victims and $1.5 million per death of male victims, according to a new study.

Journal Reference:
1. Elizabeth J. Letourneau, Derek S. Brown, Xiangming Fang, Ahmed Hassan, James A. Mercy. The economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2018; 79: 413 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.020

Here is the press release from Georgia State University:

Child Sexual Abuse in U.S. Costs Up to $1.5 Million Per Child Death
March 28, 2018
Media Contact
LaTina Emerson
Public Relations Coordinator
Georgia State University
404-413-1353
lemerson1@gsu.edu
ATLANTA—Child sexual abuse in the United States is costly, with an average lifetime cost of $1.1 million per death of female victims and $1.5 million per death of male victims, according to a new study.
Researchers measured the economic costs of child sexual abuse by calculating health care costs, productivity losses, child welfare costs, violence/crime costs, special education costs and suicide death costs.
They estimated the total lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States to be $9.3 billion, based on child sexual abuse data from 2015. For nonfatal cases of child sexual abuse, the estimated lifetime cost is $282,734 per female victim. There was insufficient information on productivity losses for male victims, which contributed to a lower estimated lifetime cost of $74,691. The findings are published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect.
“This study reveals that the economic burden of child sexual abuse is substantial and signifies recognition that reducing children’s vulnerability will positively and directly impact the nation’s economic and social well-being and development,” said Dr. Xiangming Fang, associate professor of health management and policy in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. “We hope our research will bring attention to the need for increased prevention efforts for child sexual abuse.”
The World Health Organization defines child sexual abuse as the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, is not developmentally prepared or violates the laws and social taboos of society. It is the activity between a child – anyone under the age of 18 in most states – and an adult or another child who by age or development is in a position of responsibility, trust or power.
Child sexual abuse includes commercial sexual exploitation and the use of children in pornographic performance and materials. The estimated prevalence rates of exposure to child sexual abuse by 18 years old are 26.6 percent for U.S. girls and 5.1 percent for U.S. boys. International rates of exposure are often higher in low- and middle-income countries. The effects of child sexual abuse include increased risk for development of severe mental, physical and behavioral health disorders; sexually transmitted diseases; self-inflicted injury, substance abuse and violence; and subsequent victimization and criminal offending.
The researchers examined data from 20 new cases of fatal child sexual abuse and 40,387 new cases of nonfatal child sexual abuse that occurred in 2015. The data were obtained from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System of the Children’s Bureau and child maltreatment reports issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Co-authors of the study include Elizabeth J. Letourneau of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Derek S. Brown of Washington University in St. Louis, Ahmed Hassan of the University of Toronto and James A. Mercy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study is funded by the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
To read the study, visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014521341830084X.
Featured Researcher
Dr. Xiangming Fang
Associate Professor
School of Public Health
Dr. Xiangming Fang is associate professor of Health Management & Policy in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University.
His primary research interests include economic evaluation of health interventions, public policy analysis, violence prevention and food safety.

Child Information Welfare Gateway has an excellent guide for how to spot child abuse and neglect The full list of symptoms is at the site, but some key indicators are:

The Child:
Shows sudden changes in behavior or school performance
Has not received help for physical or medical problems brought to the parents’ attention
Has learning problems (or difficulty concentrating) that cannot be attributed to specific physical or psychological causes
Is always watchful, as though preparing for something bad to happen
Lacks adult supervision
Is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn
Comes to school or other activities early, stays late, and does not want to go home
The Parent:
Shows little concern for the child
Denies the existence of—or blames the child for—the child’s problems in school or at home
Asks teachers or other caregivers to use harsh physical discipline if the child misbehaves
Sees the child as entirely bad, worthless, or burdensome
Demands a level of physical or academic performance the child cannot achieve
Looks primarily to the child for care, attention, and satisfaction of emotional needs
The Parent and Child:
Rarely touch or look at each other
Consider their relationship entirely negative
State that they do not like each other
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/whatiscan.pdf#page=5&view=Recognizing%20Signs%20of%20Abuse%20and%20Neglect

If people suspect a child is being abused, they must get involved. Every Child Matters is very useful and can be found at http://www.everychildmatters.org/ and another organization, which fights child abuse is the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform http://nccpr.info/ People must push for tougher standards against child abuse.

Our goal as a society should be:

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy social in a healthy neighborhood (c)

Resources:

Chronic Child Neglect
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/chronic-neglect/

Chronic Neglect Can Lead to Aggression in Kids
https://psychcentral.com/news/2015/04/22/chronic-neglect-can-lead-to-aggression-in-kids/83788.html

Child Neglect
https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/child-neglect

Neglect

Neglect

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART©
http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/

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Linnaeus University study: Landfills: A future source of raw materials

25 Mar

The Environmental Research Foundation has a primer on landfills:

WHAT IS A LANDFILL?
A secure landfill is a carefully engineered depression in the ground (or built on top of the ground, resembling a football stadium) into which wastes are put. The aim is to avoid any hydraulic [water-related] connection between the wastes and the surrounding environment, particularly groundwater. Basically, a landfill is a bathtub in the ground; a double-lined landfill is one bathtub inside another. Bathtubs leak two ways: out the bottom or over the top.
WHAT IS THE COMPOSITION OF A LANDFILL?
There are four critical elements in a secure landfill: a bottom liner, a leachate collection system, a cover, and the natural hydrogeologic setting. The natural setting can be selected to minimize the possibility of wastes escaping to groundwater beneath a landfill. The three other elements must be engineered. Each of these elements is critical to success.
THE NATURAL HYDROGEOLOGIC SETTING:
You want the geology to do two contradictory things for you. To prevent the wastes from escaping, you want rocks as tight (waterproof) as possible. Yet if leakage occurs, you want the geology to be as simple as possible so you can easily predict where the wastes will go. Then you can put down wells and capture the escaped wastes by pumping. Fractured bedrock is highly undesirable beneath a landfill because the wastes cannot be located if they escape. Mines and quarries should be avoided because they frequently contact the groundwater.
WHAT IS A BOTTOM LINER?
It may be one or more layers of clay or a synthetic flexible membrane (or a combination of these). The liner effectively creates a bathtub in the ground. If the bottom liner fails, wastes will migrate directly into the environment. There are three types of liners: clay, plastic, and composite.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH A CLAY LINER?
Natural clay is often fractured and cracked. A mechanism called diffusion will move organic chemicals like benzene through a three-foot thick clay landfill liner in approximately five years. Some chemicals can degrade clay.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH A PLASTIC LINER?
The very best landfill liners today are made of a tough plastic film called high density polyethylene (HDPE). A number of household chemicals will degrade HDPE, permeating it (passing though it), making it lose its strength, softening it, or making it become brittle and crack. Not only will household chemicals, such as moth balls, degrade HDPE, but much more benign things can cause it to develop stress cracks, such as, margarine, vinegar, ethyl alcohol (booze), shoe polish, peppermint oil, to name a few.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH COMPOSITE LINERS?
A Composite liner is a single liner made of two parts, a plastic liner and compacted soil (usually clay soil). Reports show that all plastic liners (also called Flexible Membrane Liners, or FMLs) will have some leaks. It is important to realize that all materials used as liners are at least slightly permeable to liquids or gases and a certain amount of permeation through liners should be expected. Additional leakage results from defects such as cracks, holes, and faulty seams. Studies show that a 10-acre landfill will have a leak rate somewhere between 0.2 and 10 gallons per day.
WHAT IS A LEACHATE COLLECTION SYSTEM?
Leachate is water that gets badly contaminated by contacting wastes. It seeps to the bottom of a landfill and is collected by a system of pipes. The bottom of the landfill is sloped; pipes laid along the bottom capture contaminated water and other fluid (leachate) as they accumulate. The pumped leachate is treated at a wastewater treatment plant (and the solids removed from the leachate during this step are returned to the landfill, or are sent to some other landfill). If leachate collection pipes clog up and leachate remains in the landfill, fluids can build up in the bathtub. The resulting liquid pressure becomes the main force driving waste out the bottom of the landfill when the bottom liner fails.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS WITH LEACHATE COLLECTION SYSTEMS?
Leachate collection systems can clog up in less than a decade. They fail in several known ways:
1. they clog up from silt or mud;
2. they can clog up because of growth of microorganisms in the pipes;
3. they can clog up because of a chemical reaction leading to the precipitation of minerals in the pipes; or
4. the pipes become weakened by chemical attack (acids, solvents, oxidizing agents, or corrosion) and may then be crushed by the tons of garbage piled on them.
WHAT IS A COVER?
A cover or cap is an umbrella over the landfill to keep water out (to prevent leachate formation). It will generally consist of several sloped layers: clay or membrane liner (to prevent rain from intruding), overlain by a very permeable layer of sandy or gravelly soil (to promote rain runoff), overlain by topsoil in which vegetation can root (to stabilize the underlying layers of the cover). If the cover (cap) is not maintained, rain will enter the landfill resulting in buildup of leachate to the point where the bathtub overflows its sides and wastes enter the environment.
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH COVERS?
Covers are vulnerable to attack from at least seven sources:
1. Erosion by natural weathering (rain, hail, snow, freeze-thaw cycles, and wind)
2. Vegetation, such as shrubs and trees that continually compete with grasses for available space, sending down roots that will relentlessly seek to penetrate the cover;
3. Burrowing or soil- dwelling mammals (woodchucks, mice, moles, voles), reptiles (snakes, tortoises), insects (ants, beetles), and worms will present constant threats to the integrity of the cover;
4. Sunlight (if any of these other natural agents should succeed in uncovering a portion of the umbrella) will dry out clay (permitting cracks to develop), or destroy membrane liners through the action of ultraviolet radiation;
5. Subsidence–an uneven cave-in of the cap caused by settling of wastes or organic decay of wastes, or by loss of liquids from landfilled drums–can result in cracks in clay or tears in membrane liners, or result in ponding on the surface, which can make a clay cap mushy or can subject the cap to freeze-thaw pressures;
6. Rubber tires, which “float” upward in a landfill; and
7. Human activities of many kinds.
Prepared by:
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036
Annapolis, MD 21403-7036
phone (410) 263-1584
fax (410) 263-8944
http://www.ejnet.org/landfills/

Linnaeus University reports that landfills could prove useful for a future source of raw materials.

Science Daily reported in Landfills: A future source of raw materials:

Decontamination of landfills and open dumpsites could prove profitable — both financially and for the environment. This is demonstrated by Yahya Jani in a new dissertation in environmental science from Linnaeus University.
Environmental pollution, health threats and scarcity of raw materials, water, food and energy are some of the greatest challenges our world is facing today. At the same time, landfills and open dumpsites are still the dominant global waste disposal options, despite the fact that the long-term environmental impact in the form of emissions of greenhouse gases and contaminated leachates is significant. However, much of the environmentally hazardous waste that has been dumped at landfills can be recycled as energy or reused as valuable raw materials in different industries according to Yahya Jani, doctor of environmental science and chemical engineering.
Landfill mining — the tool of the future
In his dissertation, landfill mining is suggested as a tool to achieve an enhanced circular economy model. Viewing the landfill waste as a potential resource instead of as a problem is a common thread in Yahya’s research.
“More than 50% of the deposited waste dumped at landfills and open dump sites can be recycled as energy or reused as raw materials. These materials can be used as secondary resources in different industries instead of being forgotten or viewed as garbage,” Jani explains.
His research also includes the extraction of metals from Småland’s art and crystal glass waste and different fine fractions.
Extracting 99 % of the metals
“I developed a method that enables the extraction of 99% of the metals from the glass waste that was dumped at Pukeberg’s glassworks and published the results. It is the first published article in the world that deals with recycling of metals from art and crystal glass,” says Jani.
In his research study at Glasriket, Jani also used chemical extraction to recycle materials from a mix of glass waste and soil fine fractions smaller than 2 mm. The technology involves mixing old glass waste with chemicals to reduce the melting point of the glass waste in order to extract the metals.
“The methods I’ve developed to extract metals from Småland’s glass waste can be used to extract metals from all types of glass, like, for instance, the glass in old TV sets and computers. Thus, this method can be further developed at an industrial facility for the recycling of both glass and metals of high purity. This can also contribute to a restoration of Småland’s glass industry by providing the industry with cheap raw materials. In addition, the extraction of materials from old landfills contributes to the decontamination of these sites and reduces the environmental impact and health threats” Jani concludes…. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180323090958.htm

Citation:

Landfills: A future source of raw materials
Date: March 23, 2018
Source: Linnaeus University
Summary:
Decontamination of landfills and open dumpsites could prove profitable – both financially and for the environment.

Here is the press release from Linnaeus University:

Landfills – a future source of raw materials
Decontamination of landfills and open dumpsites could prove profitable – both financially and for the environment. This is demonstrated by Yahya Jani in a new dissertation in environmental science from Linnaeus University.
Environmental pollution, health threats and scarcity of raw materials, water, food and energy are some of the greatest challenges our world is facing today. At the same time, landfills and open dumpsites are still the dominant global waste disposal options, despite the fact that the long-term environmental impact in the form of emissions of greenhouse gases and contaminated leachates is significant. However, much of the environmentally hazardous waste that has been dumped at landfills can be recycled as energy or reused as valuable raw materials in different industries according to Yahya Jani, doctor of environmental science and chemical engineering.
Landfill mining – the tool of the future
In his dissertation, landfill mining is suggested as a tool to achieve an enhanced circular economy model. Viewing the landfill waste as a potential resource instead of as a problem is a common thread in Yahya’s research.
“More than 50% of the deposited waste dumped at landfills and open dump sites can be recycled as energy or reused as raw materials. These materials can be used as secondary resources in different industries instead of being forgotten or viewed as garbage”, Jani explains.
His research also includes the extraction of metals from Småland’s art and crystal glass waste and different fine fractions.
Extracting 99 % of the metals
“I developed a method that enables the extraction of 99% of the metals from the glass waste that was dumped at Pukeberg’s glassworks and published the results. It is the first published article in the world that deals with recycling of metals from art and crystal glass”, says Jani.
In his research study at Glasriket, Jani also used chemical extraction to recycle materials from a mix of glass waste and soil fine fractions smaller than 2 mm. The technology involves mixing old glass waste with chemicals to reduce the melting point of the glass waste in order to extract the metals.
“The methods I’ve developed to extract metals from Småland’s glass waste can be used to extract metals from all types of glass, like, for instance, the glass in old TV sets and computers. Thus, this method can be further developed at an industrial facility for the recycling of both glass and metals of high purity. This can also contribute to a restoration of Småland’s glass industry by providing the industry with cheap raw materials. In addition, the extraction of materials from old landfills contributes to the decontamination of these sites and reduces the environmental impact and health threats” Jani concludes.
According to the European commission in 2017, 60% (that is to say, 1,800 million tons) of the annually produced waste from 500 million EU inhabitants end up in landfills. In his dissertation, Jani shows that the extraction of valuable materials from this waste could contribute to reducing the overuse of natural resources on Earth and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and contaminated leachates, which are responsible for pollution of water resources. Decontamination of these places will contribute to a significantly reduced impact on both human health and the environment.
The results from Jani’s dissertation shed light on the need to view the dumped waste as a secondary resource and landfills and dumpsites as future bank accounts where future raw materials can be extracted instead of viewing them as a burden for human health and the environment.
Yahya Jani publicly defended his thesis “Landfills and glass dumpsites as future bank accounts of resources – waste characterization and trace elements extraction” on February 2, 2018. Download the dissertation
Read more about our research recycling of landfills: The Environmental Science and Engineering Group (ESEG)
Contact
Yahya Jani, +4676-222 07 64, yahya.jani@lnu.se
Liv Ravnböl, research communications officer, +4676-760 36 66, liv.ravnbol@lnu.se

The European Commission provides the following primer on raw materials:

• Commission and its priorities
• Policies, information and services
Home – European Commission
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Website content
Raw materials
Raw materials are the basis of a large number of industrial value chains in the EU. Specific raw materials are needed to make a wide range of industrial goods such as car engines, mobile phones or wind turbines.
EU raw materials’ industry in a nutshell
• A large number of industries use raw materials as inputs, providing a total added value of €1300 billion.
• 30 million people employed in the raw materials’ industrial sector
• A sustainable supply of particular raw materials is of crucial importance for the development of green technologies
EU-Trade raw materials in figures (2013)
Table
Total EU importsTotal EU exportsEU-28 trade in raw materials(including energy products)EU-28 trade in non-energy rawmaterials0100200300400500600700800Billion Euros
EU Trade policy and raw materials
Raw materials play a significant role for the EU trade policy. In concrete terms, the European Commission developed a fully-fledged strategy for raw materials, which was outlined in the 2008 Communication entitled the Raw Materials Initiative . This was revised in February 2011 in a Communication , which further boosted the integration of raw material priorities in EU policies.
EU Trade policy is actively committed to ensure that the international raw materials markets operate in a free and transparent way. For this purpose, the EU’s trade strategy relies on three pillars:
• Definition of the rules of the game through bilateral and multilateral negotiations
• Enforcing the rules and tackling market barriers when required
• Promotion of the debate on raw materials, both in bilateral and multilateral settings.
Results on raw materials
• EU-Korea FTA includes the prohibition of duties, taxes or other fees on exportation.
• Upcoming EU-Singapore FTA includes the prohibition of duties, taxes or measures of an equivalent effect on exportation.
• EU and Central America, and Colombia/Peru trade agreements include a prohibition of export duties or taxes, with some minor exceptions.
• WTO accession Tajikistan: a commitment was secured on the prohibition of export duties or taxes, except for a list of products with bound rates.
• WTO raw materials’ cases against China: successful conclusion of the first WTO case against China’s export restrictions on 9 raw materials (bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorus and zinc) which were found in violation of WTO rules and of China’s commitments; a second case has been launched in 2012 against export restrictions applied by China on another set of products (rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum).
• Outreach and transparency work in the OECD outreach to third non-OECD countries is on-going, notably in close cooperation with the OECD.
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/goods-and-services/raw-materials/

A 2012 Daily Mail article explains why the Linnaeus research is so important.

Eddie Wrenn reported in The end of the gadget bonanza? China warns it is running out of the raw materials that power our mobiles, X-Ray machines, computers and cameras:

China’s rare earth reserves account for approximately 23 percent of the world’s total – but are being excessively exploited, the Chinese government has said.
Although 23 per cent is a high percentage for one nation to possess, China supplies over 90 percent of rare earth products on the global market.
We need the raw materials – chemicals such as yttrium, which is used in TVs, or lanthanum, used for camera lenses – for the modern tools we use everyday.
This runs the risk that if China starts reducing its output, we may see spiralling prices for our modern accessories – or even simply be able to produce them in the first place…. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2162163/China-Nation-23-worlds-rare-earth-materials-supplies-90-market.html

For the foreseeable future on a variety of fronts, the elephant in the room will be China.

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University of Birmingham study: Neighborhood wellbeing and a sense of community is at the heart of a good home, say researchers

17 Mar

Jyoti Madhusoodanan and Nature magazine reported in the Scientific American article, Stress Alters Children’s Genomes:

Growing up in a stressful social environment leaves lasting marks on young chromosomes, a study of African American boys has revealed. Telomeres, repetitive DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes from fraying over time, are shorter in children from poor and unstable homes than in children from more nurturing families…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stress-alters-childrens-genomes/?WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook

Not only are the child’s gene’s altered, but there are behavioral indications of the stress being felt by the child.

Will Huntsberry of NPR wrote in the article, Kids’ Drawings Speak Volumes About Home:

When children reach 6 years old, their drawings matter.
Not because of those purple unicorns or pinstripe dragons but because of how kids sketch themselves and the very real people in their lives.
In a new study, researchers found that children who experienced chaos at home — including high levels of noise, excessive crowding, clutter and lack of structure — were more likely to draw themselves at a distance from their parents or much smaller in size relative to other figures.
In some cases, these kids drew themselves with drooping arms and indifferent or sad faces.
Their drawings were a reflection of this simple fact: Chaos at home meant parents were interacting with them less and, in many cases, the interactions that were happening were shorter and interrupted.
As a result, kids ended up with a depreciated sense of self, says Roger Mills-Koonce, who led the study with Bharathi Zvara at UNC-Chapel Hill. To be clear, Mills-Koonce did not blame parents or caretakers but called this kind of stress in the home a “function of poverty….” http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/08/368693069/kids-drawings-speak-volumes-about-home

This comment is not politically correct. If you want politically correct, stop reading. Children, especially boys, need positive male role models. They don’t need another “uncle” or “fiancée” who when the chips are down cashes out. By the way, what is the new definition of “fiancée?” Is that someone who is rented for an indefinite term to introduce the kids from your last “fiancée” to? Back in the day, “fiancée” meant one was engaged to be married, got married and then had kids. Nowadays, it means some one who hangs around for an indeterminate period of time and who may or may not formalize a relationship with baby mama. Kids don’t need someone in their lives who has as a relationship strategy only dating women with children because they are available and probably desperate. What children, especially boys, need are men who are consistently there for them, who model good behavior and values, and who consistently care for loved ones. They don’t need men who have checked out of building relationships and those who are nothing more than sperm donors.

Science Daily reported in Neighborhood wellbeing and a sense of community is at the heart of a good home, say researchers:

A sense of wellbeing and a thriving community is key to a happy neighbourhood according to housing researchers, who looked at the relationship between the experience of the home and wellbeing.
The study led by the Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management based at the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester and funded by VIVID homes, examined a mix of social renters compared to, shared owners and owner-occupiers.
Building on initial findings published in winter 2017, the full research report ‘Homes & Wellbeing – breaking down housing stereotypes’ suggests that social housing plays a positive role in protecting people from anxiety.
Interviewing different types of tenants, including owner occupiers and social renters, the researchers found that what really mattered was feeling secure and having a degree of control over their home. In comparison, other aspirations such as climbing onto the housing ladder featured as less of a priority.
Dr James Gregory, Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management, University of Birmingham said: ‘We have consistently found that, no matter what the tenure or ownership status of a person’s home, one of the most significant features of a good home is a sense of security and confidence that you can ‘get away from it all’ at home. Good neighbours, good design and good management are all as important for wellbeing as a person’s tenure or tenancy.’
Other factors found to affect well-being included financial pressures such as debt and the stress of raising children, with the view that housing was a vital part of the wellbeing story, but should be understood in a wider setting.
Based on their findings the researchers made key recommendations:
· Social housing should be seen as a policy tool for addressing the housing needs of more than just the most vulnerable;
· A wider social housing offer may actually be better for their wellbeing, providing the emotional security and stability that is one of the key drivers of the apparent aspiration to own a home;
· The report points to a need to look at how the social housing sector could deliver a step-change in the supply of social housing… https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180316101018.htm

Citation:

Neighborhood wellbeing and a sense of community is at the heart of a good home, say researchers
Date: March 16, 2018
Source: University of Birmingham
Summary:
A sense of wellbeing and a thriving community is key to a happy neighborhood according to housing researchers, who looked at the relationship between the experience of the home and well-being.

University of Birmingham. “Neighborhood wellbeing and a sense of community is at the heart of a good home, say researchers.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 March 2018. .

Here is the press release from the University of Birmingham:

Neighbourhood wellbeing and a sense of community is at the heart of a good home, say researchers
Posted on 16 Mar 2018
A sense of wellbeing and a thriving community is key to a happy neighbourhood according to housing researchers, who looked at the relationship between the experience of the home and wellbeing.
The study led by the Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management based at the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester and funded by VIVID homes, examined a mix of social renters compared to, shared owners and owner occupiers.
Building on initial findings published in winter 2017, the full research report ‘Homes & Wellbeing – breaking down housing stereotypes’ suggests that social housing plays a positive role in protecting people from anxiety.
Interviewing different types of tenants, including owner occupiers and social renters, the researchers found that what really mattered was feeling secure and having a degree of control over their home. In comparison other aspirations such as climbing onto the housing ladder featured as less of a priority.
Dr James Gregory, Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management, University of Birmingham said: ‘We have consistently found that, no matter what the tenure or ownership status of a person’s home, one of the most significant features of a good home is a sense of security and confidence that you can ‘get away from it all’ at home. Good neighbours, good design and good management are all as important for wellbeing as a person’s tenure or tenancy.’
Other factors found to affect well-being included financial pressures such as debt and the stress of raising children, with the view that housing was a vital part of the wellbeing story, but should be understood in a wider setting.
Based on their findings the researchers made key recommendations:
• Social housing should be seen as a policy tool for addressing the housing needs of more than just the most vulnerable;
• A wider social housing offer may actually be better for their wellbeing, providing the emotional security and stability that is one of the key drivers of the apparent aspiration to own a home;
• The report points to a need to look at how the social housing sector could deliver a step-change in the supply of social housing.
Professor Andy Lymer, Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management, University of Birmingham, explained: ‘There’s an affordability crisis in the housing system and financial challenges are driven by government policy (the loss of grant and changes to how developers can discharge their Section 106 obligations), as well as the cost of land in the ever-rising housing market.
‘But, it’s more vital than ever that housing associations shape the future delivery for the wellbeing of its customers and society as a whole.’
Mark Perry, Chief Executive of VIVID said: ‘We’re dedicated to building more homes, while looking after the wellbeing of our customers.
‘Our research shows that the most crucial part of the home, is the social fabric of the neighbourhood in which it’s embedded. The social value of tenure mix and giving people the opportunities to interact with each other, all reduce neighbourhood tension. Build quality also comes hand in hand with this; ensuring we have well built homes that help give security as well as allow for the development of a community is clearly very important.
‘We need to think harder about how we build new homes and neighbourhoods, and create the right environment for communities to thrive. It’s important we get it right, to make sure everyone has the best chance in life.’
ENDS

For interview enquiries, please contact Rebecca Hume, Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0)121 414 9041.
For out of hours media enquiries, please call: +44 (0) 7789 921 165
Notes to editors
• The full report can be found online here
• The University of Birmingham is ranked among the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 5,000 international students from over 150 countries.
• The Centre for Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) is based jointly in the School of Social Policy and the Birmingham Business School within the College of Social Sciences. CHASM forms part of the University of Birmingham’s £60 million ‘Circles of Influence’ campaign.
• Vivd Homes is Hampshire’s largest provider of affordable homes with around 70,000 customers and 30,000 homes in the South East, mainly across Hampshire and Surrey. Vivid have around 800 staff including our repairs team and our own construction arm, VIVID Build. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2018/03/neighbourhood-wellbeing-and-a-sense-of-community-at-the-heart-of-a-good-home.aspx

Moi blogs about education issues so the reader could be perplexed sometimes because moi often writes about other things like nutrition, families, and personal responsibility issues. Why? The reader might ask? Children will have the most success in school if they are ready to learn. Ready to learn includes proper nutrition for a healthy body and the optimum situation for children is a healthy family. Many of society’s problems would be lessened if the goal was a healthy child in a healthy family. There is a lot of economic stress in the country now because of unemployment and underemployment. Children feel the stress of their parents and they worry about how stable their family and living situation is.
The best way to eliminate poverty is job creation, job growth, and job retention. The Asian Development Bank has the best concise synopsis of the link between education and poverty in Assessing Development Impact: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Education http://www.adb.org/documents/assessing-development-impact-breaking-cycle-poverty-through-education There will not be a good quality of life for most citizens without a strong education system. One of the major contributors to poverty in third world nations is limited access to education opportunities. Without continued sustained investment in education, we are the next third world country. See, http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2330/Poverty-Education.html

Our goal as a society should be:

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood ©

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

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Sage study: Academic study finds women wearing heavy makeup less likely to be perceived as leaders

12 Mar

In Children too sexy for their years, moi said:

Maybe, because some parents may not know what is age appropriate for their attire, they haven’t got a clue about what is appropriate for children. There is nothing sadder than a 40 something, 50 something trying to look like they are twenty. What wasn’t sagging when you are 20, is more than likely than not, sagging now.
Kristen Russell Dobson, the managing editor of Parent Map, has a great article in Parent Map. In Are Girls Acting Sexy Too Young? Dobson says:
A 2003 analysis of TV sitcoms found gender harassment in nearly every episode. Most common: jokes about women’s sexuality or women’s bodies, and comments that characterized women as sex objects. And according to the 2007 Report of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, “Massive exposure to media among youth creates the potential for massive exposure to portrayals that sexualize women and girls and teach girls that women are sexual objects.”
Those messages can be harmful to kids because they make sex seem common — even normal — among younger and younger kids. In So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids, co-authors Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., write that “sex in commercial culture has far more to do with trivializing and objectifying sex than with promoting it, more to do with consuming than with connecting. The problem is not that sex as portrayed in the media is sinful, but that it is synthetic and cynical.”
http://www.parentmap.com/article/are-girls-acting-sexy-too-young

The culture seems to be sexualizing children at an ever younger age and it becomes more difficult for parents and guardians to allow children to just remain, well children, for a bit longer. Still, parents and guardians must do their part to make sure children are in safe and secure environments. A pole dancing fourth grader is simply unacceptable.

Science Daily reported in Academic study finds women wearing heavy makeup less likely to be perceived as leaders:

Women wearing heavy makeup are less likely to be thought of as good leaders, new research from Abertay University has found.
A study led by Dr Christopher Watkins of Abertay’s Division of Psychology, published today in Perception journal, revealed that the amount of makeup a woman is wearing can have a negative impact on perceptions of her leadership ability.
Study participants were asked to view a series of images featuring the same woman without cosmetics and with makeup applied for a “social night out.”
Computer software was used to manipulate the faces and the amount of makeup was also manipulated in the face images.
Each participant completed a face perception task where they judged sixteen face-pairs, indicating how much better a leader they felt their chosen face to be compared to the other face.
It was found that both men and women evaluated women more negatively as a leader if the image suggested she was wearing a lot of makeup….
“While the previous findings suggest that we are inclined to show some deference to a woman with a good looking face, our new research suggests that makeup does not enhance a woman’s dominance by benefitting how we evaluate her in a leadership role.
“This work is a good example of the diverse and interesting research ongoing within the Division of Psychology.”
The study was carried out by Abertay graduates Esther James and Shauny Jenkins and used a measurement scale common in face perception research, which calculates the first-impressions of the participant group as a whole, working out an average verdict…. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180309095439.htm

Citation:

Academic study finds women wearing heavy makeup less likely to be perceived as leaders
Date: March 9, 2018
Source: SAGE
Summary:
Women wearing heavy makeup are less likely to be thought of as good leaders, new research has found.
Journal Reference:
1. Esther A. James, Shauny Jenkins, Christopher D. Watkins. Negative Effects of Makeup Use on Perceptions of Leadership Ability Across Two Ethnicities. Perception, 2018; 030100661876326 DOI: 10.1177/0301006618763263

Here is the press release:

Public Release: 9-Mar-2018
Academic study finds women wearing heavy makeup less likely to be perceived as leaders
SAGE
Women wearing heavy makeup are less likely to be thought of as good leaders, new research from Abertay University has found.
A study led by Dr Christopher Watkins of Abertay’s Division of Psychology, published today in Perception journal, revealed that the amount of makeup a woman is wearing can have a negative impact on perceptions of her leadership ability.
Study participants were asked to view a series of images featuring the same woman without cosmetics and with makeup applied for a “social night out”.
Computer software was used to manipulate the faces and the amount of makeup was also manipulated in the face images.
Each participant completed a face perception task where they judged sixteen face-pairs, indicating how much better a leader they felt their chosen face to be compared to the other face.
It was found that both men and women evaluated women more negatively as a leader if the image suggested she was wearing a lot of makeup.
Dr Watkins said: “This research follows previous work in this area, which suggests that wearing makeup enhances how dominant a woman looks.
“While the previous findings suggest that we are inclined to show some deference to a woman with a good looking face, our new research suggests that makeup does not enhance a woman’s dominance by benefitting how we evaluate her in a leadership role.
“This work is a good example of the diverse and interesting research ongoing within the Division of Psychology.”
The study was carried out by Abertay graduates Esther James and Shauny Jenkins and used a measurement scale common in face perception research, which calculates the first-impressions of the participant group as a whole, working out an average verdict.
Dr Watkins has carried out previous high-profile studies including work looking at how women remember the faces potential love rivals and the role of traits related to dominance in our choice of allies, colleagues and friends.
###
Abertay offers BSc (Hons) degree courses in Psychology, Psychology and Forensic Biology, Psychology and Counselling, Sport and Psychology and Psychology and Human Resource Management, as well as MSc Psychology and Masters by Research/PhD opportunities
To view the full study visit http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0301006618763263
For more information visit https://www.abertay.ac.uk/schools/social-and-health-sciences/division-of-psychology/
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/s-asf030918.php

This society is setting up women and girls to make some personally destructive choices which have nothing to do with a liberating and healthy sexuality. Much of the culture is simply aimed at demeaning and trivializing women. Children of both sexes need to be urged toward education, training, and life experiences which grow them as responsible and caring people. They should be urged to make choices which benefit them and the society in which they live. Unfortunately, there are some who enter the world of whoredom because they are forced. There is a lot of information about human trafficking No one in their right mind would honestly advocate that someone they care about was “in the life” or “on the game.” But if young women are going to voluntarily take the road of whoredom, then you need to sell yourselves for Goldman Sachs type $$$$$$$$$$. That is what Miley, Britney, Janet and the other pop tarts have done. Short of that, you might as well be walking the streets looking for a really nice car that isn’t leased so that you can become the next “Pretty Woman.”
Dr. Wilda has been just saying for quite a while.

Resources

Popwatch’s Miley Cyrus Pole Dance Video http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/10/miley-cyrus-pole-dancing-at-the-teen-choice-awards-rather-unfortunate-yes/

Baby Center Blog Comments About Miley Cyrus Pole Dance http://blogs.babycenter.com/celebrities/billy-ray-cyrus-defends-mileys-artistic-pole-dancing/

The Sexualization of Children http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net/2009/03/the-sexualization-of-children-and-adolescents-epidemic.html
Related:

Let’s speak the truth: Values and character training are needed in schools http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/lets-speak-the-truth-values-and-character-training-are-needed-in-schools/

Do ‘grown-ups’ have to be reminded to keep their clothes on in public? Apparently so http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/do-grown-ups-have-to-be-reminded-to-keep-their-clothes-on-in-public-apparently-so/

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART©
http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/

Dr. Wilda Reviews ©
http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/

Dr. Wilda ©
https://drwilda.com/

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