Posts Tagged ‘University of Virginia’

Who Needs Real Friends When You Have Facebook Friends?

December 18, 2012

friends

It is a shame that many youngsters would prefer collecting Facebook friends rather than taking the time and energy to cultivate real ones:

Some people like to have a few close friends on Facebook, while others have hundreds who they barely know.

Researchers now believe that the number of friends you have can depend on how successful you are, and even how often you move.

Researchers from the University of Virginia and the London Business school say the ‘perfect’ number of friends actually depends on several socioeconomic factors, and varies from country to country.

Shigehiro Oishi, a psychology professor in the University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences, and Selin Kesebir of the London Business School explored the benefits of social networking strategies in two studies currently published in the journal Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

‘In the age of Facebook, many Americans seem to opt for a broad, shallow networking strategy,’ they say.

‘Yet cross-cultural research has shown that having many friends is not always viewed positively outside the United States.’

One reason that Americans may prefer a large social network, the researchers claim, is because Americans move around a lot.

Another important factor may be the economic conditions at a given time.

‘When times are prosperous, your friends are less likely to need much help, whether it’s covering a hospital bill or providing babysitting, and so a broad network of friends is easy to maintain,’ they claim.

‘But when times aren’t as flush, having more friends might incur huge costs in terms of both time and resources.’

Click on the link to read Parents and Teachers Should Not Be Facebook Friends

Click on the link to read Introducing the App that will Give Parents Nightmares

Click on the link to read Facebook’s Ugly Little Secret

Click on the link to read Facebook and Child Exploitation

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Teaching Children How to Argue

June 19, 2012

I noticed while teaching students about persuasive writing how difficult they find it to form opinions of their own. It is almost as if children today do what they have learned to do without ever reflecting on the reasons why. This poses a significant problem when it comes to peer pressure. If you don’t have the tools to work out right from wrong, positive from negative, you can be very easily lead.

This unfortunate consequence was part of the findings of a recent study undertaken by the University of Virginia:

WHILE parents have been teaching their kids not to argue with adults for generations, new research shows it may have its benefits.

A study by the University of Virginia shows that young teenagers who are taught to argue effectively are more likely to resist peer pressure to use drugs or alcohol later in adolescence.

“It turns out that what goes on in the family is actually a training ground for teens in terms of how to negotiate with other people,” said Joseph Allen, psychology professor and lead author of the study, results of which were published in a recent edition of the journal Child Development.

Prof Allen said that parents are often “scared to death about peer pressure” but also frustrated by argumentative children.

“What we’re finding is there’s a surprising connection between the two,” he said.

Prof Allen said that teens “learn they can be taken seriously” through interactions with their parents.

“Sometimes, it can be counterintuitive to tell parents to let their teens argue with them,” said Joanna Chango, a clinical psychology graduate student who worked on the study.

In fact, learning effective argumentation skills can help teenagers learn to “assert themselves and establish a sense of autonomy”, she said.

I don’t agree with the assertion that we should encourage our children to argue with us. Instead, teachers and parents alike, should encourage students to question everything, to feel confident to form their own opinions and not to follow a crowd just for the sake of safety in numbers.
Click on the link to read my post on beating peer pressure.

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Posted in Child Welfare, Parenting | Leave a Comment »