July 13th, 2016
Weekly Chatter
Kids, Teens Benefit from Time Spent with Dad
According to a recent report, studies show that involved fathers have important effects on kids' health and well-being. Older kids with involved fathers tend to have fewer depression symptoms and behavioral problems, and lower rates of teen pregnancy. When it comes to young children, fathers can have effects on language development and mental health.

Some fathers need extra support and child health care providers are encouraged to include fathers as much as possible in the healthcare of the child. Pediatricians can help children and families by encouraging fathers to be involved with their children from birth. Click here for a list of suggestions for pediatricians interested in supporting the father's role in a child's life.

Consider sharing the following ACPeds resources in your practice and on social media:
Additional resources for supporting fathers:
Youth Alcohol Consumption Trends
Underage drinking is a major public health and social problem in the U.S. Research suggests a new trend is developing across college campuses in which young people deliberately refrain from eating in order to have an increased level of intoxication after consuming alcohol. The trend, referred to by researchers as Drunkorexia, is also related to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. This type of behavior can have dangerous consequences including blacking out, driving under the influence and even getting into fights.
The ability to identify at-risk children before they initiate heavy alcohol use has immense clinical and public health implications. According to a recent study, demographic factors, cognitive functioning, and brain features during early adolescence (age 12-14) can be used to predict with 74% accuracy which youth eventually initiate alcohol use during later adolescence around the age of 18.
 
Demographic factors that predict adolescent drinking include being male, coming from a higher socioeconomic status - which means coming from families with more money and education, dating by age 14, and positive expectations of how alcohol is going to make you feel and behave, particularly in social situations. In addition, poorer performance on tests of executive functioning - for example, on tasks of planning, problem solving, and reasoning - as well as differences in the structure and function of the brain during executive functioning tasks at ages 12-14, are also predictive of which youth initiate alcohol use by age 18.

Consider sharing the following ACPeds resources in your practice and on social media:
Raising Resilient Children #WeeklyBlogPost
As adults in our communities and families, we want to see our children succeed even when the odds are against them. Research has found some consistent themes of what factors promote resiliency in children. 

These protective factors fall under 4 broad categories: child characteristics, family life, social support and community resources/opportunities . 

For more on these 4 categories and how they can be used to raise resilient children , click here  and leave a comment. We love to hear from you!

A new blog article is published each Monday at ACPeds.org/Blog. Click here to subscribe. 

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Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions and comments. We look forward to hearing from you.
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