Social and emotional behaviours improve learning

Students with well-developed and adaptive social and emotional behaviours are most likely to excel in school, according to UNSW researchers in educational psychology. The two-part study of 153,437 NSW kindergarten students shows that adaptive social and emotional behaviours in kindergarten correspond with better results in school years later.

The UNSW researchers, in partnership with the University of Sydney, assessed children on their cooperative, socially responsible, helpful, anxious, and aggressive-disruptive behaviours in kindergarten. These ratings were then used to identify social and emotional behavioural profiles to understand how students tend to fare on the five behaviours.

Children in profiles that were higher in cooperative, socially responsible, and helpful behaviours in kindergarten were more likely to achieve better results in grades 3 and 5. Children in profiles with higher levels of aggressive-disruptive behaviours-such as physical violence, excluding other children, or temper tantrums-tended to receive lower results.

Children who were in profiles higher in anxious behaviours had less obvious outcomes, but often achieved slightly lower school results, possibly because they tended to also exhibit lower helpful and cooperative behaviours. This may have been due to anxiety making socialisation with other students more difficult.

Children's social and emotional behaviours in the early years were powerful predictors of later outcomes, making it essential to teach social and emotional skills and behaviours from an early age.
Five major social and emotional skills that were important precursors to adaptive social and emotional behaviours: self-awareness, which refers to a person's ability to be aware of and understand their emotions, values, strengths, and weaknesses (such as being able to identify feelings of frustration or anger when they occur)

Self-management, which refers to the ability to control or adjust emotions and behaviour as needed in different situations. Social awareness, which refers the ability to take other people's perspective and feel empathy (such as being able to consider how a situation may be perceived by others) relationship skills, which entail the capacity to listen effectively, communicate clearly, cooperate with others, and offer help as needed (such as being able to work well in a group) responsible decision-making, which refers to the capacity to make choices in diverse settings that are respectful and constructive (such as understanding that actions appropriate at home may be different from those appropriate at school).

Social and emotional skills helped children and adolescents form and maintain positive relationships at school and beyond, behave in ways that allowed them to get on well with others, and perform well academically. These skills are fundamental to the way we interact and our capacity to respond to  what life throws our way.
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ADHD drugs can prevent STI

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD increases the risk of subsequent sexually transmitted infections STIs among adolescent and young adult populations, short- and long-term use of ADHD medication reduced the risk of subsequent STIs among men. ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder. Increasing evidence supports an association between ADHD and various health-risk behaviors, such as risky driving, substance abuse, and risky sexual behaviors.

Focusing on the occurrence of risky sexual behaviors and the risk of STIs among patients with ADHD, and emphasizing the treatment with ADHD medications may be a protective factor for prevention of STIs. The findings are based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, which is a nationally representative database of medical claims and healthcare data from > 99% of the entire Taiwan population.

A cohort of 17,898 adolescents and young adults who were diagnosed with ADHD and 71,592 age and sex-matched non-ADHD controls who did not have STIs prior to enrollment were studied. Adolescents aged 12-17 years and young adults aged 18-29 years were followed from January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2009. The researchers tracked data related to risk of STIs, including HIV, syphilis, genital warts, gonorrhea, chlamydial infection, and trichomoniasis, psychiatric comorbidity, and pharmacologic treatment for ADHD (methylphenidate or atomoxetine).

The researchers found that adolescents and young adults with ADHD had greater incidence of any STI (1.2% versus 0.4%), and developed STIs at a younger age (20.51 ± 4.48 versus 21.90 ± 4.49) as compared to age- and sex-matched peers. They also found that those adolescents and young adults with ADHD had a higher prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity, including disruptive behavior disorder (13.5% v. 0.3%), alcohol use disorders (1.1% versus 0.5%), and substance use disorders (2.5% versus 0.8%). Male short-term (HR 0.70) and long-term (HR 0.59) ADHD medication users had a significantly lower risk of developing any STI during follow-up.
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Dangers of taking energy drink

Short-term benefits of energy drink can be outweighed by serious health risks which include risk-seeking behavior, mental health problems, increased blood pressure, obesity and kidney damage. The health risks suggests they are harmful to health and should be limited through more stringent regulation by restricting their sales to children and adolescents.

Most energy drinks consist of similar ingredients-water, sugar, caffeine, certain vitamins, minerals and non-nutritive stimulants such as guarana, taurine and ginseng. Some can contain up to 100 mg caffeine per fluid ounce, eight times more than a regular coffee at 12 mg. A moderate daily caffeine intake of up to 400 mg is recommended for adults, but little research exists on tolerable levels for adolescents and children. Energy drinks are often marketed as a healthy beverage that people can adopt to improve their energy, stamina, athletic performance and concentration, but researchers discovered that they have  health consequences.

 The health risks associated with energy drinks are mostly attributed to their high sugar and caffeine levels. They range from risk-seeking behavior, such as substance misuse and aggression, mental health problems in the form of anxiety and stress, to increased blood pressure, obesity, kidney damage, fatigue, stomachaches and irritation.
Mixing energy drinks with alcohol leads to consumption of more alcohol than drinking alcohol alone, leading to dehydration and alcohol poisoning.
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