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Nearly a fifth of Brit kids have met online strangers

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:10:00 -0400

Nearly a fifth of British children have met a stranger they first encountered on social networking sites, suggests a new survey.

According to the survey conducted on 1,030 parents and 1,000 children by identity firm Garlik, as many as one in four 8-12 year olds have been ignoring the age restrictions of 13 or 14 on the use social networking sites, like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

The online identity experts found that nearly 20 pct of the respondents agreed on meeting strangers as friends on social networking sites.

The survey also showed that about 72 pct of the parents checked their child’s web surfing habits.

About a quarter of parents surveyed agreed that they secretly logged into their child''s networking page and checked if they are befriending strangers.

And some 89 pct of parents interviewed said that they spoke to their children about the dangers posed by social networking sites, and about 58pct said they were more vigilant online now than a year ago.

Tom Ilube, chief executive officer of Garlik, said "children are at the vanguard of the social networking phenomenon", using such sites such "in the same way other generations used the telephone".

"What you find with young people is that they tend to be a lot looser with their personal information than more canny older people,” BBC quoted him, as saying.

"That can be OK if they are in a fairly tightly-controlled environment, but when they are in an environment where they''re mixing with people much older than them, then that''s something to be quite cautious about."

"Busy parents can''t be expected to monitor their children''s activities all the time. What are Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and the others doing to help?" he added. (ANI)

‘Abstinence’ holds different meaning to teenagers, adults

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:43:00 -0400

While more and more adults are enrolling their kids into abstinence-only programs to keep in check their sexual activities, a new study has revealed that the term ‘abstinence’ holds different meaning to teens and adults.

Researchers at the University of Washington say that this difference in opinion is the main reason behind abstinence-only programs not having strong effects in preventing teenage sexual activity.

"Interventions that have been created to encourage abstinence have treated abstinence and sexual activity as opposites. However, teenagers say they don''t think of them as opposites. These interventions are less likely to work than more comprehensive sex-education programs because they are not meeting adolescents where they are, and they are speaking a different language," said Tatiana Masters, lead author of a new study and UW doctoral student in social work.

This research indicated that attitudes and intentions about sex were more powerful than attitudes and intentions about being abstinent.

"This paper demonstrates that increasing abstinence intention does not lead to less sex. In fact, when abstinence intention and sex intention interact with each other a teenager is more likely to have sex," said Masters.

She said that Instead of being an either or choice, a teenager''s decision to become sexually active is similar to getting on an escalator. Initially teenagers don''t think about sex very much, and once they step on the escalator the first step is abstinence. Later, as they begin to be sexually aware, there are other steps and choices to be made that eventually lead to having intercourse.

The study was conducted on 365 adolescents, 230 girls and 135 boys, recruited from community centers, youth programs and after-school programs for a larger research project testing an intervention to reduce HIV risk behaviour among young teenagers in Seattle.

They were given questionnaires that assessed the adolescents'' attitudes and intentions about being abstinent and having sex and also asked about their sexual activity in the previous six months.

In the beginning, it was found that 11 percent of the boys and 4 percent of the girls had had sexual intercourse. The numbers then increased to 12 percent of the boys and 8 percent of the girls six months later and 22 percent of the boys and 12 percent of the girls one year later.

However, the researchers have concluded in the paper that "our findings raise serious concerns about the abstinence-only approach as a risk-reduction method for adolescent sexual behavior."

Masters added: "The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among developing nations, and rates of sexually transmitted diseases in this country are high. The risks are real, and if people want to keep teens safe from the negative outcomes of sex, abstinence-only programs are not the way to go. More comprehensive programs that include abstinence as one choice are much more likely to have the outcomes we want – that teenagers eventually will be in a positive and fulfilling sexual relationship."

She also said the study was not an evaluation of abstinence-only programs, noting that others studies have shown they don''t have an effect on delaying sexual activity. Part of the problem is the way abstinence is taught.

"Abstinence-only programs often only look at the negatives of sex, not the positive. This is especially important for young women who need to have control over having sex and having safe sex. With these programs you often hear ''sex just happens'' and adolescents are having less safe sex. This detracts from adolescents having a choice, and this leads to more dangerous sex with more sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies," said Masters. (ANI)

Parents’ verbal aggression may undermine kids’ self-esteem

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:10:00 -0400

Parents who are verbally aggressive towards their kids’ during playtime and other daily activities may actually be undermining kids’ self-esteem and making them less cooperative, says a new Purdue University study.

"It''s hard to tell parents how to interact with their children based on one study, but what we see here is that parents who have a propensity for being verbally aggressive have a tendency to try to direct and control their children during a play period," said Steven R. Wilson, a professor of communication who specializes in family issues.

"As a result, these children were less cooperative, and not only are parents setting up situations that are challenging for them to handle, but they also are subtly undermining their child''s self-esteem,” he added.

Wilson and Felicia Roberts, an associate professor of communication, are lead authors of a study that appears in the July issue of Human Communication Research journal.

In the study, the research team videotaped 40 mothers as they played with one of their children, ages 3-8, during a 10-minute, unstructured play period. The mothers also completed a series of questionnaires to assess their general tendency to be verbally aggressive toward others. For example, someone who is verbally aggressive is likely to insult others as a way to motivate them to comply or behave.

From the analysis, the researchers found that mothers who were high in the general tendency to be verbally aggressive often tried to take control of the play period. For example, the four mothers with the highest verbal aggression scores on average were attempting to direct their child''s actions once every 12 seconds, while the four mothers with the lowest verbal aggression scores tried to do so only about half as often.

In addition to verbally aggressive mothers telling a child to play with a different toy or to stop playing, they also used negative body language, such as restraining a child by the wrist or shoulder, to reinforce their commands.

"Of course all parents direct their children, and people in general are always directing others to close a door or hand them something," said Roberts, who has a background in linguistics and is a conversational analyst.

"It''s something we do all the time. But there is a qualitative difference in the kinds of directing going on by these verbally aggressive mothers. By looking at how and when directives occurred, not just how often, we found that moms who scored highest on verbal aggression used directives to control the child and, ultimately, the way the game or activity was played. The aggressive action is not overt, as in a parent hitting or yelling, but these small negative maneuvers can say so much to a child,” Roberts added. (ANI)

Britons love to call their cars by names!

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:03:00 -0400

Britons love their cars so much that almost one in three people in UK call their cars by names, according to a survey.

The car-naming tendency is more prevalent in women than that in men.

The survey shows that 38 per cent women name their cars as compared to 26 per cent of men.

However, Betsy remains the top choice for a name, regardless of the sex of the owner.

Conducted by specialist woman-driver insurers Diamond, the poll quizzed 1, 000 drivers.

It was revealed that more drivers in Wales (50 per cent) name their cars than anywhere else.

"A car may only be a ton of metal and glass - but to many drivers they are much more than that. One in 50 admitted their car was the most important thing in their lives,” The Mirror quoted a spokesman, as saying.

The top five car names for men are: Betsy, Albert, Cliff, Henry, Sophie; and for women: Betsy, Baby, Betty, Ruby, Susie. (ANI)

Brits have to do overtime for holidays

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:02:00 -0400

Nearly a third of British workers dread holidays, as they may later have to work overtime to catch up.

According to a new survey, the workers put an average 12 hours'' overtime to clear their desks before going for a nice holiday.

And on returning back, they have to give up an extra five hours.

The survey showed that one in six people quizzed on a lifestyle website even worried about their work throughout a holiday.

"The balance is wrong," British tabloid The Sun quoted site boss Tim Rogers as saying. (ANI)

''Lad magazines'' criticised for negative portrayal of women

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:02:00 -0400

The so-called "Lad magazines" have been criticised for negative portrayal of women.

In a keynote speech Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary have claimed that modern men''s magazines are driving their target audience to view women as mere ''sex objects''.

The current issues of Nuts magazine features five different topless women on the front cover, while Zoo magazine, launched by Emap is promoting the "hottest videos" of girls on its cover.

It also ran a competition to find Britain''s "dumbest girlfriend".

"Our strategies for dealing with teenage pregnancy need to be focused more on young men and their responsibilities," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

"That''s why I believe we need to ask tough questions about the instant-hit hedonism celebrated by the modern men''s magazines targeted at younger males.

"Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available.

"We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they''re doing.

"The relationship between these titles and their readers is a relationship in which the rest of us have an interest.

"The images they use and project reinforce a very narrow conception of beauty and a shallow approach towards women. They celebrate thrill-seeking and instant gratification without ever allowing any thought of responsibility towards others, or commitment, to intrude.

"The contrast with the work done by women''s magazines, and their publishers, to address their readers in a mature and responsible fashion, is striking," he added.

He also said that the magazines were promoting a negative view of women and the family.

"I think that we need to do much more to ensure that fathers play their full part in the lives of their children.

"Cultural signals and social norms do influence behaviour. And the costs of relationship breakdown, of children left fatherless, of men behaving badly, are borne by us all.

"Alongside a new emphasis on making sure the small minority of fathers who don''t live up to their responsibilities are properly challenged, there must also be greater support to help the overwhelming majority of men, who are doing a brilliant job for their children.

"Its important that we see parenting as a shared responsibility, with fathers playing an equal and complementary role, to mothers. Those societies, which help fathers play their full, and equal, role, enjoy greater family stability as a result. It is important also that we ensure fathers play the fullest possible role in those circumstances where relationships do break up," he added. (ANI)

Divorced middle-aged men spending sleepless nights

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:01:00 -0400

Researchers in Britain have found that divorced men in their middle-age are growing short-tempered and emotional, and are underperforming at work due to a lack of sleep.

The study, based on a survey of by 2,000 adults, has revealed that divorced male lawyers in their 50s, who live in London, are Britain''s worst sleepers - in fact, they only get an average of four hours sleep each night which seriously affects their day-to-day lives, reports Scotsman.

Interestingly, the researchers have found that single female bar workers in their 20s are the United Kingdom''s best sleepers with around ten hours sleep a night.

Meanwhile, the Welsh way of life seems to come with the fewest economic and personal worries.

The Sleep Report, conducted by market researchers, showed that personal finances kept only 13 per cent of people in Wales awake at night, compared with 27 per cent of Londoners and 26 per cent in the North-west of England.

In Northern Ireland, people''s social life caused problems, with 34 per cent of those questioned likely to lose sleep as a result. Only 15 per cent blamed the credit crunch for sleepless nights.

Just under half of people in East Anglia (43 per cent), 40 per cent in south-west England and 40 per cent of those in Scotland said an inability to get comfortable affected their sleeping patterns. (ANI)

Kids'' exposure to extreme violence in movies is ''disturbingly'' high

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:01:00 -0400

Dartmouth researchers have found a ''disturbingly'' high rate of exposure among young adolescents to graphic violence in R-rated movies.

They found that these extremely violent movies were seen by an average of 12.5 percent of an estimated 22 million children age 10-14.

One R-rated movie, ''Scary Movie'', was seen by an estimated 10 million children, or about 48 percent of 10-14 year olds.

"Our data reveal a disturbingly high rate of exposure among 10-14 year olds nationally to extremely violent movies," said Keilah Worth, the lead author on the study and a post-doctoral fellow at Dartmouth Medical School and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center''s Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

"In Britain, no adolescent would be admitted to these movies unless they were 18. The R rating in this country is clearly not preventing our young people from seeing them," Worth added.

For the assessment of exposure to violence in movies, the researchers used data from national telephone surveys of more than 6,500 adolescents age 10-14 in 2003.

Out of 532 recent releases, the researchers chose to look at exposure to 40 of the most violent movies.

The study also revealed some independent risk factors for exposure: boys, minorities, those with lower socio-economic status, and those with lower academic performance were all more likely to see extremely violent movies.

Black male adolescents were at particularly high risk of seeing these movies.

"No expert in child development would advocate for subjecting children as young as 10 to this level of violence, yet the study shows that such exposure is commonplace in this country," said James Sargent, the senior scientist on this study and a professor of paediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School.

"We should re-think the current movie rating system, which has been in place for 40 years, and was designed when kids could only see movies in theatres.

"Ratings need to be more prominent on all movies, whether they are seen in theatres or purchased in the store, and we need clearer messages to parents.

"Paediatricians and child advocates should instruct parents to strictly abide by the movie-age guidelines and to closely monitor movie viewing," he added.

The study is published in the August issue of the journal Paediatrics. (ANI)