(Press-News.org) CHESTNUT HILL, MA (8-26-11) -- Hovering helicopter parents who restrict their kids' unstructured play may actually harm, rather than help, children according to the latest issue of the American Journal of Play, a scholarly journal which has gathered a distinguished group of experts to probe the near-extinction of free play and its effects on children and society.
"Remarkably, over the last 50 years, opportunities for children to play freely have declined continuously and dramatically in the United States and other developed nations; and that decline continues, with serious negative consequences for children's physical, mental, and social development," said Guest Editor Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College. "This special issue of the American Journal of Play reviews the evidence for the crucial roles of play in children's development and proposes ways we may create a world in which play—especially free outdoor play with other children—is once again a normative part of childhood."
Included in this issue are two articles by Gray, one presenting research that shows a correlation between the decline of free play and the rise of depression, suicide and narcissism in children and teens, and the other highlighting the importance of age-mixed play.
"The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adults": Gray presents a review of research showing a correlation between the decline of free play in developed nations and the rise of depression, suicide, feelings of helplessness, and narcissism in children, teens, and young adults.
"The Special Value of Children's Age-Mixed Play" : Gray notes that the modern segregation of kids into same-age groups, common in today's classrooms and school yards, may not be optimal for child development. He says that during age-mixed play, older, more skilled participants "provide scaffolds that raise the level of the younger participants' play" and stretch their abilities to higher levels. He cites other studies in which older children were observed exposing younger children to more complex concepts of literacy, math, and sociability. By interacting with younger children, older students develop increased capacities to nurture, lead, and learn by teaching.
Other highlights in the journal are:
"Why Parents Should Stop Overprotecting Kids and Let them Play", an interview with Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children, and Hara Estroff Marano, former Psychology Today editor in chief and author of A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting : Skenazy and Marano point accusing fingers at over-protective parents, over-organized sports, overblown media hype about stranger danger, and the allure of electronic games and social media, which have combined to decrease the amount of free play among today's children. Without free outdoor play, they say, kids are prone to obesity, poor physical health, and an inability to develop social skills.
"Evolutionary Functions of Social Play: Life Histories, Sex Differences, and Emotional Regulation" by Peter LaFreniere, Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine: LaFreniere reviews research about free play from an evolutionary biologist perspective and asserts that evolved patterns of play help children develop strong bones and muscles, promote cardiovascular fitness, and help hone skills of communication, perspective taking, and emotion regulation.
"Marbles and Machiavelli: The Role of Game Play in Children's Social Development" by David F. Lancy, Professor of Anthropology at Utah State University, and M. Annette Grove: The authors review several case studies of children engaged in rule-governed play and conclude that the process of learning rules—and of breaking them and making new ones—promotes gamesmanship, which is theoretically linked to the evolution of human intelligence.
###
The American Journal of Play, an interdisciplinary scholarly journal devoted solely to the study of play, is published by The Strong in Rochester, New York. The journal is available free online at www.journalofplay.org.
Guest Editor Peter Gray has been a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Boston College for nearly 40 years. He is the author of Psychology, a widely-used psychology textbook now in its 6th edition, and has conducted and published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology. His current research and writing focuses primarily on children's natural ways of learning and the life-long value of play. He writes "Freedom to Learn," a blog for Psychology Today.
END
A surgery is usually one of the first therapy options in cancer treatment. However, some tumors, such as brain tumors, can be difficult to operate on if there is a risk of damaging surrounding nerve tissue. Other cancerous tumors, such as prostate carcinoma, grow at a very slow rate and primarily affect older patients. Operating in these cases often lowers patients' quality of life without significantly extending their life expectancy.
A team of medical engineers headed by Prof. Bernhard Wolf at the TUM Heinz Nixdorf Chair of Medical Electronics have now developed a ...
Each year, the U.S. Congress sets a budget to determine how the country will spend its money. However, the U.S. does not raise enough revenue to cover every dollar that is being spent. Therefore, the budget includes revenues that need to be borrowed from other sources. This part of the process does not necessarily include discussion about where the borrowed money will come from, or if Congress will okay borrowing these additional funds.
Back in April, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stated that the U.S. would be in default on August 2nd of this year if the debt ...
CHAMPAIGN, IL (August 26, 2011) – Eggs produced by free-range hens are often perceived by the public to be nutritionally superior to eggs obtained from layers kept in traditional battery cages. However, a recent scientific study has called this popular perception into question by finding essentially no differences in the nutritional quality of eggs produced by hens from both management systems, said the Poultry Science Association (PSA).The findings also showed that cholesterol levels in all eggs were lower than U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, prompting the USDA ...
EAST LANSING, Mich. — An engineering researcher and a global health expert from Michigan State University are working on bringing a low-cost, hand-held device to nations with limited resources to help physicians detect and diagnose cancer.
Syed Hashsham, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at MSU, is developing the Gene-Z device, which is operated using an iPod Touch or Android-based tablet and performs genetic analysis on microRNAs and other genetic markers. MicroRNAs are single-stranded molecules that regulate genes; changes in certain microRNAs have ...
There are few things as eye-opening as being charged with a crime. Just knowing that you could be facing prison time can be a scary thought to someone who has no experience with the criminal justice system. Not knowing what to do next or where to turn can leave a person completely unprepared to protect their rights.
But not all crimes are created equal, as certain charges by their very nature carry serious potential consequences. Most sex crimes fit into this category, as the Colorado legislature has created very specific sentences that must be imposed if someone is ...
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — People with lower socioeconomic status are much more likely to develop heart disease than those who are wealthier or better educated, according to a recent UC Davis study. Published online in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, the outcomes also show that this risk persists even with long-term progress in addressing traditional risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.
"Being poor or having less than a high school education can be regarded as an extra risk when assessing a patient's chances of developing cardiovascular ...
Miami — August 26, 2011 — Remember frozen iguanas falling from trees during Florida's 2010 record-breaking cold snap? Well, a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science shows that Florida's corals also dropped in numbers due to the cold conditions.
"It was a major setback," said Diego Lirman, associate professor at the UM Rosenstiel School and lead author of the study. "Centuries-old coral colonies were lost in a matter of days."
The chilly January temperatures caused the most catastrophic loss of corals ...
The problems experienced by the Nassau County crime lab have been well-publicized. Evidence tested by the lab has been found to be unreliable due to a lapse in protocol. Now, many cases are starting to go through the courts in an effort to determine if some individuals have been wrongly convicted.
Many of these cases concern drug crimes or DWI matters that went to trial. Technicians at the lab were found to have not followed basic crime lab procedures, meaning that either samples or equipment may have been contaminated in drug cases. For those who were convicted of driving ...
Case is Complicated by Biological Father, Who Also Now Wants Custody of Young Girl
Child custody issues are possibly some of the most contentious cases in family law. As couples dissolve relationships, conflict over influence and contact with their adopted, step and biological children can become a new battleground. A prime example is the case of little Miranda Wilkerson, where the battle is between Miranda's grandmother and her legal father, who is a registered sex offender, and her biological father, who was not married to Miranda's mother at the time of birth.
In ...
While a great number of people are preparing to evacuate in the face of Hurricane Irene, Andrew Kennedy, a researcher in the University of Notre Dame Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, rushed to the outer banks of North Carolina yesterday in anticipation of its arrival.
Kennedy, a member of Notre Dame's Hydraulic Computation Research Group, is on a helicopter rapidly deploying wave and surge gauges for data collection in conjunction with Irene.
"Irene looks likely to have large impacts in North Carolina and I am at the outer banks to deploy wave/surge ...
