Marital Conflict and Divorce
Marital conflict hurts children whether it results in the breakup of marriages or not. Nearly all the studies on children of divorce have focused on the period after the parents separated. But some recent studies suggest that the negative effects children experience may not come so much from divorce itself as from marital discord between parents prior to divorce. In fact, some research suggests that many problems reported with troubled teens not only began during the marriage but may have contributed to the breakup of the marriage. Children raised in discord and marital instability often experience a variety of social, emotional, and psychological problems.
TABLE 5.14
| Percentage of high school students who engaged in healthy and unhealthy behaviors associated with weight control1, by sex, race, ethnicity, and grade, 2003 | |||||||||||||||
| Ate less food, fewer calories, or foods low in fat to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight | Exercised to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight | Went without eating for≥24 hours to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight | Took diet pills, powders, or liquids to lose weight3 or to keep from gaining weight | Vomited or took laxatives to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight | |||||||||||
| Category | Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
| 1During the 30 days preceding the survey | |||||||||||||||
| 2Non-Hispanic | |||||||||||||||
| 3Without a doctor's advice | |||||||||||||||
| SOURCE: Adapted from "Table 62. Percentage of High School Students Who Engaged in Healthy Behaviors Associated with Weight Control to Lose Weight or to Keep from Gaining Weight, by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade," and "Table 64. Percentage of High School Students Who Engaged in Unhealthy Behaviors Associated with Weight Control, by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade," in "Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2003," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance Summaries: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 53, no. SS–02, May 21, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS5302.pdf (accessed September 3, 2004) | |||||||||||||||
| Race/ethnicity | |||||||||||||||
| White2 | 61.1 | 29.1 | 44.6 | 69.6 | 48.1 | 58.5 | 18.4 | 7.1 | 12.5 | 13.0 | 6.8 | 9.8 | 8.5 | 2.7 | 5.5 |
| Black2 | 39.0 | 21.8 | 30.5 | 49.2 | 46.1 | 47.5 | 14.5 | 10.5 | 12.5 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
| Hispanic | 54.9 | 33.7 | 44.2 | 64.1 | 53.7 | 58.9 | 18.2 | 9.2 | 13.7 | 11.7 | 9.2 | 10.5 | 9.7 | 5.1 | 7.4 |
| Grade | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | 53.0 | 28.8 | 40.4 | 65.7 | 50.2 | 57.6 | 18.8 | 10.7 | 14.6 | 9.2 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 4.6 | 6.2 |
| 10 | 58.1 | 27.8 | 42.7 | 68.9 | 49.8 | 59.2 | 18.5 | 7.0 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 5.8 | 8.3 | 9.3 | 3.5 | 6.4 |
| 11 | 56.4 | 29.4 | 42.8 | 64.5 | 49.4 | 56.8 | 19.6 | 8.2 | 13.8 | 12.6 | 7.7 | 10.1 | 8.3 | 2.6 | 5.7 |
| 12 | 57.9 | 29.8 | 43.7 | 63.2 | 46.4 | 54.6 | 15.7 | 6.9 | 11.2 | 13.0 | 8.5 | 10.8 | 7.3 | 3.8 | 5.5 |
| Total | 56.2 | 28.9 | 42.2 | 65.7 | 49.0 | 57.1 | 18.3 | 8.5 | 13.3 | 11.3 | 7.1 | 9.2 | 8.4 | 3.7 | 6.0 |
Divorce can cause stressful situations for children in several ways. One or both parents may have to move to a new home, removing the children from family and friends who could have given them support. Custody issues can generate hostility between parents. And if one or both parents remarry, children are faced with yet another adjustment in their living arrangements.
Eating Disorders
While young people who are overweight increase their risk for certain diseases in adulthood, an over-emphasis on thinness during childhood may contribute to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (extreme and often fatal weight loss) and bulimia ("binging and purging"). Girls are both more likely to have a distorted view of their weight and more likely to have eating disorders than boys.
The CDC reported that although 13.5% of students were overweight, a much higher proportion thought they were overweight (29.6%) (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2003). (See Table 5.12.) Girls (36.1%) are much more likely than boys (23.5%) to believe they are overweight. White (30.8%) and Hispanic (31.6%) youths are more likely than African-American youths (22.3%) to think of themselves as overweight.
In 2003 nearly half (43.8%) of high school students nationwide were trying to lose weight by a variety of methods. (See Table 5.12.) Six percent of high school students had taken laxatives or induced vomiting to lose weight, 13.3% went without eating for twenty-four hours or more, and 9.2% took diet pills. (See Table 5.14.) Hispanic and white students were more likely to resort to these unhealthy behaviors than African-American students. Many more females than males engaged in risky weight-loss methods.
Well over half of high school females dieted or exercised to lose weight (56.2% and 65.7%, respectively); among males, only 28.9% dieted and 49% exercised to lose weight. (See Table 5.14.) Once again, among females these behaviors varied by race: far more white and Hispanic female students engaged in these weight loss activities than did African-American female students.
Hyperactivity (ADHD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders to appear in childhood. No one knows what causes ADHD, although recent research reported by the National Institute of Mental Health has found a link between a person's ability to pay attention and the body's use of glucose in the brain. Symptoms include restlessness, inability to concentrate, aggressiveness, and impulsivity; lack of treatment can lead to problems in school, at work, and in making friends. The National Institute of Mental Health estimated that 4.1% of youths ages nine to seventeen are affected in any six-month period by ADHD. Boys are two or three times more likely to be affected by ADHD than girls. Ritalin, a stimulant, is frequently used to treat hyperactive children.
User Comments Add a comment…