Welcome back to In Case You Missed It (our weekly roundup of articles touching on psychology, health, mental health and social justice issues from multiple news and commentary websites). This week, we address the impact of when girls compulsively text, children treated for mental health by pediatricians, Kroger tipping scales on trans health care and more.
APA Exclusive – When Girls Compulsively Text, Their Grades Suffer -Time
A new study by The Pew Research Center study published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychology of Popular Media Journal found when girls compulsively text, their grades suffer. They studied found that with 63% of teens reporting they send and receive an average of 167 texts per day while only 35% report socializing face-to-face outside of school. The findings highlight a gender disparity: while boys and girls both text at about the same rates, girls compulsively text about 20% more than boys. There also seems to be a connection between poor grades and compulsive texting that affects girls more strongly than boys. Kelly Lister-Landman, an assistant professor of psychology at Delaware County Community College notes that the study does not mean that all texting is bad. “texting can be a wonderful tool of communication.”.
One-third of children treated for mental health by pediatrician -United Press International
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of 2011 about 6.4 million U.S. children ages 4 to 17 had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. A new study shows that than one-third of mental health care provided to children with ADHD or nay disorder comes from primary care physicians, rather than child psychiatrists. Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, notes that “There just aren’t enough child psychiatrists in the United States to treat every child with a mental health condition,” These findings highlight as Van Cleave notes the need for collaboration and communication between primary care physicians and child psychiatrists to the deal with the sizable number of children needing mental health treatment.
Kroger Tips Scales on Trans Health Care -The Daily Beast
The Kroger Company, one of the largest private employers in the United States, will offer transgender health benefits starting January 2016 to employees. Several major American health care associations including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association have issued statements supporting transgender health care coverage.The Kroger Company’s insurance plan will provide coverage up to a $100,000 lifetime maximum for eligible employees and dependents. This will offer transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage and becoming a tipping point, for trans-inclusive health insurance, which is still out of reach for many of the estimated 700,000 transgender adults in the U.S.
Pediatricians Rethink Screen Time Policy for Children -The Wall Street Journal
After more than 15 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics is starting the process of revising its ironclad guidelines for children and screens. Academy of Pediatrics had advised parents to avoid screen time completely for children under the age of 2, and to limit screen time to no more than two hours a day for children older than 2. Ari Brown, chair of the AAP committee that’s been investigating children’s media use, noted, “Technology moves faster than science can study it, so we are perpetually behind in our advice and our recommendations.”. A 2013 survey by Common Sense Media, in San Francisco, found that 38% of children under the age of 2 had used a mobile device. Dr. Brown noted that “The more screen media mimics live interactions, the more educationally valuable it may be.”
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