Generation Next Blog

June 2013

How Engaged, Could Your Kids Be?

By |2013-06-24T10:19:54+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

I believe that being genuinely engaged does wonders for your wellbeing. One of the determinants of engagement is a level of independence, or autonomy. Schools go to great lengths to give students (and teachers) the impression that they encourage independence. However, in the scheme of things, most of what occurs at school is prescribed for [...]

Infections May Make Us More Vulnerable to Depression

By |2013-06-24T10:10:12+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , |

Having been hospitalized for an infection increased one's risk of later developing a mood disorder by 62 percent. As patients acquired more infections, their odds of developing a mood disorder increased proportionally: five hospitalizations for infections increased their risk by almost five times. The association remained significant over 15 years after the infection was treated. [...]

There Seems to Be a Universal Brain Response to Music

By |2013-06-24T10:03:48+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Science & Research, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

At Stanford University, nine men and eight women with no formal music training listened to obscure classical music (four symphonies by late-baroque composer William Boyce) while lying inside fMRI machines. The researchers used a type of imaging that let them examine all different areas of the brain over the entire time that the participants were [...]

Pop neuroscience is bunk!

By |2013-06-24T09:47:00+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

By now you’ve seen the pretty pictures: Color-drenched brain scans capturing Buddhist monks meditating, addicts craving cocaine, and college sophomores choosing Coke over Pepsi. The media—and even some neuroscientists, it seems—love to invoke the neural foundations of human behavior to explain everything from the Bernie Madoff financial fiasco to slavish devotion to our iPhones, the [...]

Reading novels makes us better thinkers

By |2013-06-24T09:42:33+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Are you uncomfortable with ambiguity? It’s a common condition, but a highly problematic one. The compulsion to quell that unease can inspire snap judgments, rigid thinking, and bad decision-making. Fortunately, new research suggests a simple anecdote for this affliction: Read more literary fiction. A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people [...]

School Kids Engagement and Happiness

By |2013-06-24T09:32:53+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Science & Research, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

Children’s interest and engagement in school influences their prospects of educational and occupational success 20 years later, over and above their academic attainment and socioeconomic background, researchers have found. The more children felt connected to their school community and felt engaged, rather than bored, the greater their likelihood of achieving a higher educational qualification and [...]

We must let our children fail

By |2013-06-24T09:20:56+10:00June 24th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

Last week in France, a 52-year-old mother took over-parenting to new heights. Donning Converse boots, skinny jeans and heavy makeup, she posed as her 19-year-old daughter and tried to sit the Baccalaureate English exam in her place. via Painful as it is, we must let our children fail.

Study reveals drastic impact of financial crisis on global health

By |2013-06-24T09:33:56+10:00June 23rd, 2013|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

As part of a series of seven reports published by the Lancet today, Financial crisis, austerity and health in Europe, highlighted that the effects of economic turbulence on health are generally poorly understood, despite having been researched for nearly 100 years. The research said that the number of suicides in people younger than 65 years [...]

Girl Cliques

By |2013-06-24T09:37:13+10:00June 19th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

I have a male friend who calls his daughter's 'friends' emotional terrorists. When his child was 9-years-old she was the target of cruel smears and gossip for a year. This culminated in the day she came home and said 'Dad, I wish I was a boy like you, 'cos then they'd punch me and move [...]

Girl Mag Watch Dolly June 2013

By |2013-06-18T00:26:12+10:00June 17th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Only half the mag is worth reading Melinda Tankard Reist Readers wanting something of substance from Dolly’s June issue would do best to skip the first half and go straight to the second.  Articles on self-harm, hate pages and unhealthy attitudes toward food redeem the insubstantial nature of the pages that go before. ‘Would you [...]

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