USA Today (8/6, Jayson) reports on psychologist Robert Hogan’s presentation, during a psychology conference this past weekend, about the stress impact of poor management. USA Today quotes Hogan as saying, “Seventy-five percent of working adults say the worst aspect of their job — the most stressful aspect of their job — is their immediate boss. Bad managers create enormous health costs and are a major source of misery for many people.” USA Today adds, “Other leadership consultants across the country agree that the impact of immediate supervisors is more far-reaching than many would believe.”

Related Links:

— “Bad bosses can be bad for your health, “Sharon Jayson, USA Today, August 06, 2012.

HealthDay (8/4, Gordon) reported, “Middle school students who are physically fit are likely to score higher on standardized tests measuring reading and math abilities,” according to a study of 1,200 middle-school students presented at a psychology meeting. What’s more, “the average scores went up in correlation with levels of fitness, the findings showed.”

Related Links:

— “Fitter Kids May Make Better Grades: Study, “Serena Gordon, HealthDay, August 03, 2012.

HealthDay (8/4, Dallas) reported, “Girls who are sexually or physically abused may start menstruating earlier or later than average,” according to a study published online July 26 in the Journal of Adolescent Health. “After analyzing information on nearly 69,000 women, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found those sexually abused during their childhood were 49 percent more likely to have their first period before age 11 than women who were not abused,” while “women who suffered severe physical abuse had a 50 percent increased risk for starting their menstrual cycles late, or after age 15.”

Related Links:

— “Child Abuse Might Alter Onset of Menstruation in Girls, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 03, 2012.

USA Today (8/6, Jayson) reports, “Honesty may boost your health, suggests a study that found telling fewer lies benefits people physically and mentally.” During “the study period, the link between less lying and improved health was significantly stronger for participants in the no-lie group, the study found.” Researchers found that “when participants in the no-lie group told three fewer minor lies than they did in other weeks, for example, they experienced, on average, four fewer mental-health complaints and three fewer physical complaints.”

Related Links:

— “Study finds that avoiding lies can improve your health, “Sharon Jayson, USA Today, August 05, 2012.

HealthDay (8/6, Gray) reports that according to a study presented at a psychology meeting, “helping teens learn to count their blessings can actually play an important role in positive mental health.” The study, which “involved 700 students living in New York, aged 10 to 14,” revealed that “as gratitude increases, so do life satisfaction, happiness, positive attitudes, hope and even academic performance.”

Related Links:

— “Grateful Teens May Have Less Risk for Depression, Other Problems, “Barbara Bronson Gray, HealthDay, August 05, 2012.

MedPage Today (8/4, Petrochko) reported, “Whether or not a child maintains a treatment for mental health may depend on parents’ perceived benefits of that treatment,” according to a 573-participant study published in the August issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. Specifically, the “cohort study of parents and guardians of children receiving outpatient mental health services found those who saw treatment as providing ‘a lot’ of benefit (versus some or no benefit) to their child were significantly more likely to continue treatment at six-month follow-up, at an adjusted odds ratio of 1.96 (95% CI 1.19 to 3.21, P=0.008),” researchers reported. Notably, “medication with or without therapy was perceived as more beneficial than therapy alone and that perceived benefit was strongly related to continued use of treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Parental Approval Key to Keeping Kids on Psych Tx, “Cole Petrochko, MedPage Today, August 03, 2012.

NBC Nightly News (8/2, story 7, 0:25, Williams) reported, “The FDA has approved a kind of attachment for all types of pills, a tiny, harmless transmitter that will electronically register if you’ve taken your pill or not. It mixes with stomach acids and sends out a signal you’ve taken the pill.”

Medscape (8/3, Lowry) reports, “A questionnaire for parents is a promising tool for identifying 12-month-old infants who are at risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” according to a 699-patient study published online July 10 in Autism: The International Journal of Research & Practice. The “study showed that 31% of children identified by the inventory as being at risk for ASD at 12 months had a confirmed diagnosis by age three years.” What’s more, “85% of the children identified at 12 months had a developmental disability or concern by age three,” researchers reported.

MedPage Today (8/2, Smith) reports that “teens who expected to die young were more likely to indulge in risky behavior, including substance abuse and attempting suicide,” according to a study published online in the journal PLoS One. In addition, “the expectation of poor survival at the beginning of the study…was associated with an increase in the risk of dying in young adulthood, with those who had a low expectation of surviving to age 35 having death rates that were double those experienced by respondents saying they were ‘almost certain’ to reach that age,” researchers reported. The study’s “findings come from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative survey that began with 20,745 adolescents in grades 7 through 12 during the 1994-1995 school year.”

Related Links:

— “Teens’ Gloomy Outlook Predicts Bleak Future, “Michael Smith, MedPage Today, August 1, 2012.

Janice D’Arcy writes in a Washington Post (7/31) “On Parenting” blog, “A new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration drew on a survey of about 250,000 children ages 12 to 17 and found they were far more likely to start using drugs and alcohol during the summer than during other parts of the year.” D’Arcy discussed the study with Mylene Krzanowski, executive director of the student assistance program at the Caron Treatment Centers, who said parents must “clearly state a no-use message and…provide their teen with the accurate information as to why they have this expectation.”

Related Links:

— “Summer freedom leads to teen drug experimentation, “Janice D’Arcy, The Washington Post, July 31, 2012.