Want a Skinny Kid? Don't Tell Her She's Fat

(NEWSER) - Teens forced to move often by their parents’ jobs are much more likely to attempt suicide than those who stay put, MSNBC reports. Kids between 11 and 17 who moved three or more times were twice as likely to try to kill themselves as children who grew up in the same place, Danish researchers found. If a family moved 10 times, the likelihood of suicide quadrupled the average. More»

Parents' habits have 'multifaceted influence' on children

(NEWSER) - Parents' drinking habits can influence those of their children, but perhaps not how you might think, a study suggests. While kids are apt to mimic boozing elders, more than one action speaks louder than words: The lax monitoring and harsh punishment that go hand in hand with alcohol abuse can also drive teenagers to the bottle, Reuters reports. More»

Definitive connection can't be made due to lack of relevant study

(NEWSER) - Levels of a marker tied to adult heart disease were twice as high in the blood of obese children as in the blood of average-weight kids in a recent study. The twist is that the research subjects were 3 to 5 years old, sparking concerns about the cumulative health effects of obesity. Researchers can't draw a direct connection between levels of the protein in children and heart ailments later in life, but one doctor says there is no reason to believe age makes a difference. More»

Broad study finds children of all ages more likely to struggle

(NEWSER) - Kids whose parents are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan struggle with their emotions and responsibilities far more than children of civilians, a large new study reveals. Children of service members were twice as likely to report anxiety, emotional problems, and other symptoms of stress than their civilian counterparts. "Kids were reporting taking on more household responsibilities, such as taking care of siblings, and feeling like they were missing school activities," a researcher tells HealthDay News . More»

Offspring of hands-off parents test better: scientists

(NEWSER) - American children whose parents use spanking for discipline have lower IQs than those who aren't spanked, a new study finds. Researchers assessed about 800 2- to 4-year-olds and 700 5- to 9-year-olds and revisited them 4 years later, reporting a dropoff of up to 5 IQ points in kids whose parents engaged in corporal punishment, the Los Angeles Times reports. “The more spanking, the slower the development of the child's mental ability," the lead researcher says. "But even small amounts of spanking made a difference." More»