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Family conflicts dramatically increase suicidal tendencies among Asian-Americans Family conflicts dramatically increase suicidal tendencies among Asian-Americans

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:26:00 -0400

Asian-American individuals, whose families experience a high degree of interpersonal conflict, have been found to be thrice as likely to attempt suicide than Asian-Americans overall in a new study.

Experts at the University of California, Davis say that the risk is tripled even among those who have never had a diagnosis of depression.

"Because of the great emphasis on harmony and family integration in many Asian cultures, family conflict is an important factor to consider when studying suicidal behaviours among Asian Americans," said Stanley Sue, a professor of psychology and Asian American studies at UC Davis and one of the study''s authors.

"Our study suggests that we need to more precisely determine the kinds of family conflicts that are associated with suicide risk among Asian Americans, and find means of preventing these family problems," he added.

The team led by Janice Cheng analysed the data from the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study.

The survey involved in-person interviews with more than 2,000 Asian Americans nationwide.

The subjects were asked about their income, marital status, age at time of immigration or number of generations their families had been in the U.S., English language proficiency, family conflict, and suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, among other questions.

This yielded a wealth of raw data for the researchers to examine so that they could get insights into Asian American mental health.

The survey showed that 2.7 percent of the Asian Americans interviewed had attempted suicide at some point during their lives while 9.1 percent of the total group reported having had suicidal thoughts

Among Asian Americans in the national survey, family conflict was a significant risk factor for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts -- independent of depression, low income or gender.

"This is the first nationally representative investigation of family conflict and suicidal behaviors among Asian Americans," Sue said.

"Our findings suggest that high family conflict has an independent and additive effect in predicting lifetime suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among Asian Americans," he added. (ANI)

Kids easily fool adults with their false denials

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:22:00 -0400

A new study from the University of California, Davis, has found that adults are easily fooled when a child denies that an actual event took place, but do somewhat better at detecting when a child makes up information about something that never happened.

According to researchers, the study has important implications for forensic child sexual abuse evaluations.

"The large number of children coming into contact with the legal system – mostly as a result of abuse cases – has motivated intense scientific effort to understand children''s true and false reports," said UC Davis psychology professor and study author Gail S. Goodman.

"The seriousness of abuse charges and the frequency with which children''s testimony provides central prosecutorial evidence makes children''s eyewitness memory abilities important considerations. Arguably even more important, however, are adults'' abilities to evaluate children''s reports," Goodman added.

In order to find out if adults can discern children''s true from false reports, researchers asked more than 100 adults to view videotapes of 3- and 5-year-olds being interviewed about ‘true’ and ‘false’ events.

For true events, the children either accurately confirmed that the event had occurred or inaccurately denied that it had happened.

For false events, ones that the kids had not experienced, they either truthfully denied having experienced them or falsely reported that they had occurred.

Later on, the adults were asked to evaluate each child''s veracity.

Researchers found adults were relatively good at detecting accounts of events that never happened. However, the adults were apt to mistakenly believe children''s denials of actual events.

"The findings suggest that adults are better at detecting false reports than they are at detecting false denials," Goodman said.

"While accurately detecting false reports protects innocent people from false allegations, the failure to detect false denials could mean that adults fail to protect children who falsely deny actual victimization," Goodman added.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology Association in Boston. (ANI)

Economic costs of cheating on a spouse differ for men and women

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:21:00 -0400

When considering whether to have an extramarital affair, people make a cost-benefit calculation. This estimation has a connection with biological and socio-economic factors, and men and women calculate the net benefits from having an affair differently.

That''s the conclusion of a new research, which found that these factors are slightly different for men and women.

According to lead author Bruce Elmslie, professor of economics at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics and co-author Edinaldo Tebaldi, assistant professor of economics at Bryant University, the behaviour of men and women toward infidelity differs substantially, as men and women respond differently to the perceived costs and benefits of an affair.

For women, biological and socio-economic factors like men who are good candidates to father a child and who have the education and financial stability to provide for a family are significant factors women consider when deciding to have an affair.

These factors do not come into play for men who, overall, are 7 percent more likely to cheat than women.

The likelihood of a man having had an affair increases with age and reaches a peak when a man is about 55 years old. It then decreases with age. For women, the peak is 45 years old, which the authors say is logical when considering the biological reasons why women cheat.

The benefits of female infidelity reduce after the age of 40 because a woman would no longer benefit in terms of improved gene quality from the affair.

Men also experience a reduction of sperm quality around the age of 45, but the reproductive benefits of an affair expend further into a man''s lifetime than a woman''s, the researchers said.

The researchers found that upper-class women are 8 percent more likely to cheat than middle and lower-class women. In contrast, men from lower, middle and upper classes are equally likely to cheat.

College-educated men are 3 percent less likely to have an affair than men with a high school education or less. However, educational attainment has no impact on the incidence of infidelity for women.

The researchers theorize that highly educated men may do better in choosing a mate of similar calibre, which reduces their desire to cheat. Women whose husbands have a college or graduate degree are 3 percent less likely to have an affair.

On contrary, men do not consider their spouse''s education level when calculating the cost of having an affair.

Elmslie said that if a couple divorces because of an extramarital affair, a woman married to a highly educated man will lose income and may not be able to find another partner of similar quality. Men act as if this consideration is not important.

Unhappy people are more likely to cheat. Religious women are 4 percent less likely to have an affair than women who are not religious. However, religion has no impact on whether men decide to have an affair.

The result that religion does not affect male behaviour toward infidelity is consistent with expectations based on biology.

As with spousal education, men don''t weigh the costs like spousal quality or eternal damnation when deciding whether or not to have an affair, the researchers said.

Men living in rural areas are less likely to cheat than men in cities because of the decrease in anonymity in rural areas. And like men, women living in rural areas are less likely to cheat because they are more likely to get caught.

The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Kyklos. (ANI)

Splurging on food, travel makes you the happiest shopper!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:21:00 -0400

The happiest shoppers are people who aren''t hung up on money or things – they would rather spend on experiences, like dining out or traveling.

Those people are "experiencers," as Miriam Tatzel, PhD, of Empire State College in New York calls them.

To reach the conclusion, Tatzel asked 329 college students to complete surveys about their shopping habits and happiness.

Those surveys showed four shopping personalities - big spenders, people who buy everything full price and buy only the best; value seekers, people who seek bargains on nice things; non-spenders, people who don’t spend much and don''t want to.

And experiencers, who spend freely on experiences, such as good food or travel, but not materialistic.

Experiencers are the happiest; big spenders are the least happy, and have the most credit card debt, Tatzel said, reports CBS News.

The study has been presented in Boston at the American Psychological Association''s annual conference. (ANI)

The bizarre causes of feud between Oz couples

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:20:00 -0400

Couples Down Under are turning to family lawyers to settle household arguments over who walks the dog and even how much their partner should weigh.

According to report, a large number of couples are signing prenuptial agreements – traditionally the domain of the rich – not only to protect their assets but also their lifestyles.

Family lawyers have reported the prenuptial ‘bug’ has caught ordinary people too.

With one in three marriages ending in divorce, lawyers say couples are becoming more realistic about their relationship''s future prospects.

Rather than focusing solely on how to divide up assets, lawyers have revealed that a large number of couples are inserting conditions into their prenups that dictate a partner must not gain an excessive amount of weight or must remain faithful.

This mirrors a similar trend overseas, where prenups are being used to stipulate an ever-broadening range of expectations in a union.

Jackie Vincent, partner at Australia''s largest specialist family law practice Watts McCray, said her firm was drawing up more prenuptial agreements and BFAs than five years ago.

"The main reason I have come across is that people are either older and want to protect their own assets, or they have been through a separation before and they want to make sure they are protected," The Daily Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

In celebrity prenups, infidelity clauses are common. Michael Douglas agreed to pay Catherine Zeta-Jones millions should he stray, and Denise Richards made similar requirements of Charlie Sheen.

Others such as Paul McCartney, Greg Norman and Jessica Simpson have been stung for millions in divorce settlements without a prenup. (ANI)

August is the break-up month of the year!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:20:00 -0400

Planning a vacation with your partner in the month of August? Well, in that case, better watch out, or you could come home with your love life in ruins.

According to a new research, August is the month when you are most likely to be dumped by your partner.

Researchers have found we make crunch decisions on our romantic life while lying on the beach or by the pool.

During the rest of the year, say the researchers, people are so stressed by work and caring for the children they don’t have time to stop and think.

But during their summer holidays, many couples spending time together realise they have nothing in common and are trapped in a duff relationship.

“We frequently receive feedback from customers asking for a ‘you’re dumped’ card,” The Daily Star quoted Andrew Gibson of The Card and Gift Company which carried out the research, as saying.

“The number getting in touch has shot up, suggesting August is the time when they consider ending their relationship,” Gibson added. (ANI)

Stardoll.com is Brit kids’ most popular site

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:19:00 -0400

Britain’s most popular website for under-12s has been set up to pass on the art of knitting clothes for dolls, according to a new survey.

The survey by the Internet analysts Nielsen Online put Stardoll.com at the head of its Top Ten sites visited by the youngest web users.

Second in the list was Club Penguin, a virtual world in which players adopt a bird and march it round the beach, theatre or school.

Stardoll.com makes money by selling items of virtual clothing for about 50p each. Club Penguin offers a subscription service.

Other sites favoured by young surfers were the online portals of the TV channels Cartoon Network and Nick, and Lego.com.

In the 12-17 age group, Frengo — a service which connects users to their social networking sites — fared the best, followed by Runescape, the online role-paying game, and Bebo, the social networking site.

The Nielsen study of 40,000 British Internet users examined which sites had the highest concentration of users of a particular age group.

The popularity of sites is difficult to measure because several sites — such as Google — are so large that they will always come out on top.

Nielsen’s tactic of measuring a percentage of a site’s audience, rather than outright numbers, in a given age group attempts to get around this problem.

The Top sites for under-12s are:

Stardoll.com: 32 per cent of audience under 12

Club Penguin: 29 per cent

Nick: 25 per cent

The Top sites for 12-17s are:

Frengo: 26 per cent

Runescape: 25 per cent

Bebo: 19 per cent (ANI)

Brits splash £45m a year on drink dialling!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:18:00 -0400

Brits splash nearly 45million pounds a year on drink dialling, says a new poll.

About 105million texts were sent and 45million calls made last year by people while drunk, the poll of 1900 adults found.

And many are X-rated, with one in four adults admitting they have sent boozy texts that they wouldn’t have sent sober, the survey revealed.

“Drunken calls often end in disaster,” The Sun quoted Rob Barnes of website moneysupermarket.com, as saying. (ANI)