How are children effected by divorce?

Screen Shot 2017-04-05 at 1.11.10 PM

In today’s society divorce has become so common. We hear about divorce, what it seems from every few people we meet or interact with. If so many people undergo divorce, its no surprise that the children are affected too but how much are they affected… Are there long term side effects or do children come out of divorce with no effects at all? I’ll be arguing both sides of this controversial topic, if divorce is harmful for children or if children can come out of divorce without any serious consequences.

Generally, when thinking about children who underwent a divorce, its normal to think that the child could have longterm effects. Children who’s emotions are not properly dealt with during and after a divorce could potentially lead to long term negative effects that may last all through adulthood. These children could end up feeling alienated and unhappy, the mindset they previously had about a 2 parent household is lost leaving them feeling stigmatized. It is also see that children whose families had gone through divorce had a harder time getting along with their peers and ming new friends, again showing how kids could feel alienated and unhappy.

On the other hand, some suggest that children can come out of divorce without any serious consequences. Children make a rapid recovery after the “initial blow.” A study was conducted by Pennsylvania State University where they observed behaviors and emotions of children with both parents and children who have gone through divorce. They made sure to look at children of all ages. Researchers saw there were not many differences in children between intact families and families who had undergone divorce, suggesting that children handle divorce well. Another study looked at a “good divorce,” which was something that protected children from the possible negative effects of a bad divorce. They saw that the “good divorce” families had the smallest number of behavior problems. These children did not show signs of long term effects due to divorce or major behavioral or emotional problems.

After analyzing both sides of the argument, I believe that divorce does have a negative effect on children, not only at the time of the divorce but also after the divorce has finished. Of course, every divorce ranges in severity but no divorce in my opinion is a happy one. I think that the children struggle to make friends and build relationships that are a vital part of growing up and learning social interactions, thus leading to long term effects of alienation and unhappiness. I hope that every child is give the opportunity to grow up in a happy healthy environment where they have all the possibilities on enrichment.

Citations:

-Arguing that divorce is bad:

http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=essai

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/14470/The%20Effects%20of%20Divorce%20on%20Children–2005.pdf?sequence=2

-Arguing that divorce is ok:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-divorce-bad-for-children/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223936/

Spotlight // Learning

For my first spotlight blog, I chose to review three sources focusing on study tips for college students, parents, and high school students.

The first source provided study tips for college students and consisted of a visual that provided study tips and statistics derived from various scientific studies that back up the advice given. For example, t included the percentages of students who played games, checked emails, surfed the net, and used instant messaging while using their laptops in class to suggest that laptops could be a source of distraction when in the classroom. The source emphasized setting aside a designated study time ranging from 30 to 50 minutes with a 10 minute break and studying within 24 hours of receiving the information due to higher retention rates at that time period. This related to the textbook’s tip on chunking, organizing information into chunks for better memory. The source also included techniques that we have discussed in class, such as rewriting notes, using flashcards, and making up examples. The source mentioned tips relating the negative of effects of listening to music while studying, cramming, and lack of sleep, all of which were discussed in the textbook. I would consider all of the tips in this source as good tips since they are reliable due to evidence from scientific research . Despite the biases the article seems to give off, it encourages its readers to discover what study techniques work best for them.

The next source from U.S. News targets parents, specifically those of middle and high school students. Some of the tips it provides are similar to the previous source, such as to develop a study plan and to designate a study area. Although I thought the advice was good, the source did not provide scientific studies to support the advices, making it less believable to readers. Some of the advice, such as “get organized”, were vague and superficial. Many of us know organization is important when it come to effective studying. A way to improve this advice is to provide multiple strategies for organization, such as maintaining a sleep schedule, setting daily goals, and motivating yourself with rewards.

The source targeting high school students was titles “10 Study Methods for College-Bound Teens”. It included tips that were mentioned in the previous two sources, but also different ones, such as working on soft skills, tracking habits, and maintaining good health. While the most of the advice was good, this source was similar to the source for parents and did not include studies or further details to support the advice. For example, the advice that suggests for using peers to study, should provide ways to set up and organize a study group.

Overall, the sources provided useful study tips, but the last two could have used more evidence to support the methods.

Sources:

Boynton, Briana. “10 Study Methods for College-Bound Teens.” U.S. News. U.S. News, 13 Dec. 2016. Web.

Comer, Ronald J., Michael Clifford Boyes, Elizabeth Gould, and Nancy A. Ogden. Psychology around Us. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons Canada, 2015. Print.

Media, Column Five. “Rasmussen College.” Rasmussen College – Regionally Accredited College Online and on Campus. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

“10 Good Study Habits to Help Your Child Succeed in the New School Year.” Sylvan Learning Blog. N.p., 26 July 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Spotlight Post 1

Today, I’m going to be talking about the ever-unpleasant subject of divorce. Divorce rates have been decreasing over the past few years but approximately half of marriages still end in divorce so the effects of divorce on children is indeed an important and often controversial question. The consensus amongst most people is that divorce is detrimental to children and you would be hard pressed to find someone who entirely disagreed with that idea. The question then, is not so much “Does divorce negatively impact children,” so much as it is “How much does divorce negatively affect children?” In order to answer this question, I will be examining both sides of the argument regarding the effects of divorce on children.

First, I am going to lay out the reasons given by those who suggest that divorce is extremely detrimental to children, not only during the immediate proceedings of the divorce, but also for the rest of their lives. Most people who support this argument believe that, in the short-term, divorce has a myriad of detrimental effects on children depending on their age. Young children from 5-9 will often react with fear, anxiety, temper tantrums, and increased dependency on the parent that they live with. Preteens and teenagers will often react with anger, aggressive independence, isolation, and rebellion. These things, however, aren’t really disputed by anyone. What sets this argument apart is the idea that divorce can cause long lasting effects much later in life such as difficulty creating healthy, meaningful relationships, lack of trust, difficulty parenting, and lasting damage to the affected children’s relationship with their parents. People on this side of the argument will point to studies such as the one conducted by Judith Wallerstein in her book, “The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study,” to say that children of divorce can suffer from various forms of mental illness such as depression in adulthood. This claim is dubious at best because this was a group of a little over a hundred case studies so the findings, while interesting, can not be applied to the general population. Furthermore, only approximately a quarter of the those involved in the studied suffered from long term mental illness. The two sources I used to in my perusal of this argument were “Divorce Hurts Children, Even Grown Ones,” by Jann Gumbiner and “The Effects of Divorce on Children,” from Divorce Source Inc. Gumbiner certainly seems to have done her research and is a licensed psychologist and professor specializing in adolescent and child development so I would say that she is credible. The only issue that I have with her article is that she seems to have a strong bias based on her own personal experience. These experiences should not be discounted but further evidence would be appreciated. Divorce Source Inc. is a website that is organized for the purpose of providing information and resources to those who are considering a divorce. I chose to use it as a source for this argument, despite its sole purpose being to assist those considering divorce, because it strongly encourages other options whenever children are involved unless extreme conflict or domestic abuse are involved.

People who oppose this view generally concede that divorce is indeed harmful at first, but within two years most children are able to bounce back fairly quickly. Typically, people of this persuasion think that any long-term problems that arise from divorce are not so much a result of the divorce itself so much as they are a symptom of improper handling of proceedings during and after the divorce. Otherwise, they agree with that there are usually negative behavioral changes in children following a divorce but that they fade with time and these people can go on to life regular lives. The sources I used for this side of the argument were “Is Divorce Bad for Children?” by Hal Arkowitz and Scott O. Lilienfeld and “The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents,” by Carl E. Pickhardt. I found both sources to be credible because they were written by professors of psychology and the gave information that was backed by other studies.

I personally am a child of two divorces and to be quite honest, I haven’t ever felt particularly strong about either of them. I still have an amicable relationship with both of my biological parents and I wasn’t sad to see my ex-stepfather leave. I do understand, however, that not everyone has such a smooth experience and so I think that divorce should be something of a last resort when children are involved but not so much that you put your own health, mental or physical.

Links to the articles I read in preparation for this post:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201112/the-impact-divorce-young-children-and-adolescents

http://www.divorcesource.com/ds/children/the-effects-of-divorce-on-children-239.shtml

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-divorce-bad-for-children/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/jann-gumbiner-phd

Spotlight on Divorce

What is a marriage divorce? By definition a divorce in a marriage is when people who are wedded to each other get unmarried. This is a sad occurrence because the individuals who had gotten married wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each and now they are separating. This is a hard experience, not only for the couple who are getting a divorced, but also for the children of these divorced couples who are dealing with a new set of problems and situations. How a divorce is played out and handled determines how these children are affected and turn out.

In a case where a divorce is carried out in an angry, harsh, and argument filled process then there is no doubt that children will be affected negatively. In a Psychology Today article written by Jann Gumbiner, titled Divorce Hurts Children, Even Grown Ones, she talks about how there is no such thing as a good divorce; however, the problem with her statement is that divorce she described was bad divorce about her parents that transpired back in the 70s, a time when divorces were not as common. Because of this Jann Gumbiner’s experience and situation concerning the divorce of her parents might have been different if the divorce had taken place in today’s time period where divorces are more common. The divorce of her parents caused lifelong effects that affected her as a child, affected her marriage, and still continues to affect her and because of these lifelong effects Jann Gumbiner believe that there is no such thing a good divorce. This article is credible source because Jann Gumbiner was telling her story and her thoughts about it, she is a credible source because she is a licensed psychologist and clinical professor at the University of California, where she specialized in adolescent and child development, despite the fact that she does not list any resources as a reference. Jann Gumbiner is describing how divorce was harmful to her as a child and how it can be harmful to other children.

The research article The Effects of Divorce on Children, describes how divorces are inherently harmful to children. This article talks about how the relationship within the family that the child had become strained and how family members were not as close to each other as they used to be. Some of the effects of children of several divorces are that their emotional state had been negatively influenced, meaning they were not as cheerful nor happy as they used to be, these children had become more bitter towards their parents, they were falling in the performance in school, and their behavior towards other had become intimidating. All of these are true possible effects that children can go through in a bad divorce. If these children had gone through a good divorce, then they would have understood the situation more and may not have been as negatively affected. This article is a credible source because it cited several references that can be looked at and supports the content written.

Not all divorces are bad, there are many cases where parents go through a good divorce and the children are not negatively affected as much compared to if they had experienced a bad divorce. In a Huffington post article by Brette Sember, titled Why a Good Divorce Is Better Than a Bad Marriage for Kids, several points are stated explaining why getting a divorce and resolving the issues in that situation is better than having the kids experience a life of arguments, constant fighting, unstable security in their own homes. Even though divorces are hard for children, because they don’t want to deal with a new lifestyle or the separation of their parents, it is much better than living in a home filled with tension and unstable emotions for most of their childhood. The article stated that parents sometimes stay married for the sake of their kids and will get a divorce once their kids reach adulthood; however, this is not the best decision regarding the sake of the entire family. When parents get a divorce it is because they are unhappy with each other, and staying together for the sake of their children, while sweet and thoughtful, is not fare to their children and to themselves. It is important that children learn to be happy in life and to be true to themselves, even if it means difficult decisions have to be made. This is a credible source because Brette Sember is an experienced author, freelancer, ghostwriter, book coach, editor, blogger, indexer, content provider, social media specialist, consultant and editor who can be looked up online to see if she is qualified to make such statements that she wrote in the article, despite the fact that no resources were referenced.

Despite the fact that many children are negatively affected by their parents’ divorce it is still possible to raise happy children. In other a Psychology Today article written by Wendy Paris, titled Yes, You Can Raise Happy Children After Divorce, the author lists ways that parents can help their children through divorces so that they can still have a happy childhood. Paris Wendy talks going through a divorce and wondering how her child will be affected by this. She talked about how children of divorced couples still do generally well in everyday life and in school, and she even lists several ways and principles to keep a child happy in a divorce. This usually includes making sure the children keep a good relationship with both parents, both parents lead structurally stable lives after the divorce, and the children are receiving the basic requirements needed such as love, food, shelter, and good health. This article is a credible source because in the writing Wendy Paris talked about a meta-study by Cambridge University professor Michael Lamb, talks about other research results to support her argument, and exemplifies that children can come through a divorce without serious consequences.

After reading all these articles on divorce I argue that the children of divorced couples can come through a divorce without serious consequences. I believe this because I am one of these children. My parents got divorced when I wasn’t even six years old and I have been raised by my mom, though I have kept in contact with my dad. My mom did everything to make sure my sister and I grew up to be happy and to be great individuals as well. I still wonder what my life might have been like if my parents had stayed together, but currently I am happy with my life, how my sister and I turned out to be, and grateful to my mom.
Works Cited

Gumbiner, Jann. “Divorce Hurts Children, Even Grown Ones.” Psychology Today. N.p., 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Apr. 2017. <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201110/divorce-hurts-children-even-grown-ones>.

“An Overview of the Psychological Literature on the Effects of Divorce on Children.” Pardon Our Interruption. N.p., May 2004. Web. 01 Apr. 2017. <http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/cyf/divorce.aspx>.

Paris, Wendy. “Yes, You Can Raise Happy Children After Divorce.” Psychology Today. N.p., 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2017. <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/splitopia/201503/yes-you-can-raise-happy-children-after-divorce>.

Sember, Brette. “Why a Good Divorce Is Better Than a Bad Marriage for Kids.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2017. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brette-sember/why-a-good-divorce-is-better-than-a-bad-marriage-for-kids_b_6925236.html>.

Spotlight post: Divorce

When it comes to the topic of divorce there are many opinions on what the repercussions of the situation can be on the kids involved. Divorce is a very common topic in many American households in this time period because it has become more socially acceptable. I think society has become more open minded as time has progressed which has caused families to see divorce as an everyday thing. In many families; such as in minority families, the topic of divorce is very controversial because family ties and reputation is very important. Marriage in Latino communities for example is highly tied with God and religion therefore making it harder to approve of divorce. I think that Americans are more likely to consider divorce because they have a more liberal mentality than compared to minorities, in my opinion. Today I found 4 different online sources that talk about this controversial topic and differ on the idea of what the divorce consequences are.

In a college study that took place in Bridgewater State University , the student talked about the effects of divorce on academics. Based on this source I discovered that divorce leads many children to face depression while the divorce process is taking place which in turn causes a detrimental decline in their focus on their education. This source mentioned how the behaviors of the parents affected the actions of the children during childhood and how it could continue on into their adulthood. This source also used a lot of quotations from different scientific studies to back up their data. Another point mentioned here was that the emotions and behavior of the children are highly tied with how strong their relationship is with their parents. Another source that talked about the negavtive effects of divorce was one from public.iastate.edu. This source mentioned that one of the major effects of divorce is the pressure that it places on children to decide which parent they want to have their custody. It mentioned how the limited amount of time spent with the parents drastically effects the ties between parent and child relations. This post mentioned that children that go through divorce are more likely to develope social problems and have a harder time maintaining intimate relationships due to what they experienced at home. These two sources both urge that divorce is highly detrimental to the behavior and state of emotion of children that experience custody battles and the unhealthy pressures of divorce. I think these two sources are credible because they back their statements with many research papers, books, and journals. They base their ideas around primary sources that present the effects of divorce.

On the contrary, their are many people that believe that divorce does not have a long-term effect on children. A source that backs this up is an article from Scientific America titled, ” Is divorce bad for children?” The main topic behind this article is that children only undergo a short-term effect when presented with a divorce. This article backs this idea up with the 2002 study from psychologist E. Mavis Hetherington suggesting that the negative reactions to the divorce often diminish after the second year. This article suggests that with discipline and adjustment these children can become well adjusted adults later on. A second source supporting the idea that children can endure the effects of divorce is one from Kidshealth.org. This article claims that having a routine and adjusting to a new living environment right away can properly help kids understand the situation they are in which makes it easier for them to adjust. This article mentions that encouragement, support, and consistency help children cope with the idea of a loss of union in the family. Even though these two sources take an opposite stance on the controversy of divorce they are credible as well. These sources are credible because they use back up support from many psychologists, research, and online organizations that deal with helping families with divorce.

When presented with these two different views I think that I agree that divorce can be very harming to children. I can take this from personal experience. Many times my parents have had conflicts and many times I have been scared of them getting a divorce. I think that if my parents were to get a divorce I would greatly be affected emotionally, mentally, and academically because the bond that I have with both parents would be broken and I would be exposed to a negative view on marriage that could possibly later on take a toll on my investment with relationships.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-divorce-bad-for-children/

http://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/help-child-divorce.html?WT.ac=

Odenweller, Bri any. (2014). Does Parental Divorce Have an A ect on a Child’s Education?. In BSU Honors Program eses and Projects. Item 48. Available at: h p://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj/48 Copyright © 2014 Bri any Odenweller

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rhetoric/105H16/cova/jlscova.html

Addiction

Drug addiction is a problem that requires a holistic approach. It has been proven time and time again that addiction is unpredictable, and the initial motivation for an addict to seek treatment is not an indicator of how successful their treatment will be. The two main schools of thought behind treating addiction are the abstinence model and the harm-reduction model.

The abstinence model is the “classic” model of addiction treatment e.g. alcoholics anonymous. The idea behind this model is that the chemical/mental dependency that leads to addiction is so great that even a single indulgence can lead to relapse. Behavioral Health compared and contrasted the benefits and drawbacks of both models. It should be noted that the statistics for many addiction programs are flawed due to the nature of the issue. They largely rely on self-reporting, which can easily be influenced by the sense of shame associated with substance abuse. Abstinence-only models report that only 7% of addicts were able to remain sober for at least 90 days over a three-year period (Henwood et al. 2013). Addicts that have been sober for a year or less have an 80% chance of relapsing; that number drops to 34% for those have been sober for three years (Horton). Addicts that have been sober for five years or more have a 14% chance of relapse (Horton). Although these numbers may seem encouraging, many are unhappy with the way in which abstinence programs operate. Many users abandon this type of treatment because they don’t want to completely stop using (Tennison 2010). Even worse, these programs tend to demonize those that relapse, rather than realizing that relapse is an unavoidable outcome for many users (Stoicesu).

The harm reduction model is a treatment philosophy that was popularized by Audrey Kishline. An addict herself, Kishline opposed the ideas of the abstinence model. This model aims to gradually reduce the frequency of use while accepting that relapse may be an unavoidable setback in the battle against addiction (Tennison 2010). Although moderation may sound like an attainable goal, it may be too much of a temptation for some (Horton). Many addicts use moderation as an excuse to relapse (Henwood et al. 2013). Encouraging someone to moderate themselves enables that person to continue a risky behavior. In addition to this, the harm reduction model is insufficient when dealing with “hard drugs”, like heroin or cocaine. These drugs are so detrimental to one’s health and general well being that there is no acceptable amount (Horton). In addition to all of these factors, many of the statistics proving the effectiveness of the harm reduction model are controversial. Due to its arbitrary nature, operationalizing moderation is difficult. What can be said is that around 30% of patients enrolled in a harm reduction course move onto abstinence-only programs (Stoicescu).

Based on the physiology of addiction I believe that the abstinence model should be the golden standard for addiction treatment. Often times moderation can have a snowball effect and quickly escalate into a full-blown relapse. Also, there is evidence that drug addicts are hard wired to respond better to drugs i.e. their reward pathway is more sensitive to the effects of drugs, resulting in poor impulse control (Henwood et al. 2013).

The internet articles I chose to use were found from pages that were specifically related to mental health. Behavioral health had been featured on A&E and CNN, two news outlets that strive to report the most accurate information they can. Harm Reduction International is an institution that works globally to educate people about how the harm reduction model operates. Much of their information comes from top researchers. The other two sources were primary literature articles that presented sound findings.

References

Tennison, L. R. (2010). Abstinence-Based Treatment. Addiction and Substance Abuse, 3-5. Retrieved April 2, 2017.

Horton, G. (n.d.). The Efficacy of Abstinence Treatment vs. Harm Reduction. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://www.bhpalmbeach.com/recovery-articles/efficacy-abstinence-treatment-vs-harm-reduction

Stoicescu, C. (n.d.). What is harm reduction? Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://www.hri.global/what-is-harm-reduction

Henwood, B. F., Padgett, D. K., & Tiderington, E. (2013). Provider Views of Harm Reduction Versus Abstinence Policies Within Homeless Services for Dually Diagnosed Adults. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 41(1), 80-89. doi:10.1007/s11414-013-9318-2

Memory in the “Spotlight”

The ability to quickly learn, memorize and recall new material for classes has many improvement methods. Some are reasonable while others don’t pan out due to their flawed components. Unfortunately, not too many of us have photographic memories so how do we maximize our individual ability to learn and remember what we learned? Below are a few tips I found and tweaked a little bit:

Study tips for high school students-

“High School Study Tips: Three Steps to a better grade” outlined and described three tips to improving memorization of information learned in high school classes. The first step, motivation, focuses on using what motivates a high school student to learn, as a tool to increase your memory. Next, according to this article, being organized leads to better memory. Lastly, study habits that focus on being proactive will increase a high school student’s ability to recall learned information as well. The first step includes rewarding oneself as a part of motivated memory. This would work because reward is an example of positive reinforcement. Hyopthetically, if a high school student rewards oneself for doing well on a test, it could motivate them to continue to improve their learining behavior because of the chance at more rewards. Having an organized workplace could lead to improved learning and memory. In context, encoding information pertaining to one subject at a time could increase the retention of that information through the chunking process, or the grouping of similar information together, of transferring working memory to long-term memory. The third step involves dispersed learning as a method to better grades for high school students. Reviewing learned material at different points over a period of time would increase the understanding of that material and result in more of the material being stored in long-term memory. This information stored in long-term memory can be recalled on an exam thus leading to better grades.

Sources: http://study.com/articles/High_School_Study_Tips_Three_Steps_to_Better_Grades.html

Psychology Around Us, 2nd Edition (Richard Comer, Elizabeth Gould)

Study tips for college students-

An article published by Rasmussen College advised college students to improve learning and memory by studying information over-time (i.e. no cramming or all-nighters before a test), using mnemonic devices and taking notes on paper rather than on a computer. Reviewing learned information over-time could increase rentention of and subsequently recall of materila later on. This would work because dispersed learning exposes information to the brain more frequently than pulling an all-night right before a test. Using menomic devices as a way of memorizing information increases the recall of that information later on through associative learning. The brain will relate the acronym, song or any other mnemonic device to the information that its representing which helps with recalling the information later on. Another tip given in the article was writing down notes during lecture instead of typing them on a laptop or personal tablet. This was advised because a science direct study showed that, on average, students used their laptops for stuff other than lecture notes for 17 minutes of a 75 minute class. When writing down notes and eliminating the distractions offered by using a computer, one’s attention is focused mainly on the information that try and be stored in long-term memory and not on information not pertaining to the class. This could increase the retention and recall of the information needed for a particular class.

Sources:

http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/college-life/how-to-study/

Psychology Around Us, 2nd Edition (Richard Comer, Elizabeth Gould)

Tips for parents to improve their students’ studying-

The third article I looked at advised parents to use positive and negative reinforcement as a means of improving study habits for their students. The postive reinforcemnt aspect focused on parents rewarding their teens when they performed well on tests and grade reports. This could encourage the students to study more and thus increase their memory of information. This tip, however, does not gurantee improved results because it does not focus on the actual aspect of studying new material. The article suggested making study time a routine which would increase learning and memory by reinforcing the learned material at set intervals of time. Lastly, the article suggested for parents to have consequences for their teens if they perform poorly on tests or grade reports. Again, this is flawed because the students could experience a decrease in memory and recall by worrying about what is going to happen to them if they don’t do well in school.

Sources:

http://www.ldonline.org/article/5904

Psychology Around Us, 2nd Edition (Richard Comer, Elizabeth Gould)

Overall, the study tips of the articles would work in improving memory and recall because they focused on contiually reviewing information which would increase retention.

Studying about Studying- Spotlight Post 1

There are three websites listed below that give advice on studying skills. The first, which I will refer to as Method A, is geared toward college students. The second, which I will call Method B, is directed toward middle school students. The last website, which I will mention as Method C, is meant for parents.

Method A: College Students

Ask for help
Block Off Time to Study Outside of Class
Use your Peers
Get organized
Go to sleep
Eliminate Distractions
Maintain Health
Track Your Habits
Stop Procrastination
Work on Your Soft Skill

For the college student advice, points 5 and 7 are health related as it is proven that mental health will come with the right amount of physical health. In the US National Library of Medicine’s article About Sleep’s Role in Memory, we learn that slow wave sleep (SWS) is critical in consolidating memories. In addition, sleeping is the best state for encoding memories as compared to being awake. Overall health is impacted by sleep as the amount of sleep you can affect your immune system which in turn affects your health. As told in the article Sleep and Immune Function, factors that affect your immunity peak during sleep in the night. Examples of this are numbers of T cells and proinflammatory cytokines. Points 2, 9, and 8 have to do awareness and the concept of time management. As discussed in the mini lecture on studying, studying and spreading that over a longer period of time can help create long term memories as well as help us recall better. Similarly, you should not leave things to be done at the last minute as this will put loads of pressure on the student as well as not having the benefit of creating long term memory of what you’ve learned. Tracking habits sounds like it could help as knowing where you are putting your time is important, however, it doesn’t seem to be as important and helpful in studying better. Points 4 and 6 relate to having a less jumbled mind and being more focused. You need to be organized and have no distractions in order to focus. Being organized can lead to having one less distraction, as if you were focused on cleaning your desk, you would take away energy and time that could be used to study. Also, unless you are focused, information you have in your short term memory will not be stored in your long term memory. Points 1,3, and 10 relate more to utilizing others to benefit you. Asking for help whether that be from professors or in a study group fashion with friends can benefit the student, only if the student first understands the material for the most part and as seen in the mini lecture, practice testing another to get the student to practice test taking. These tips seem very broad and basic, but I believe that they are credible and useful for helping the student study more effectively.

Method B: Middle School

Make academics the focus of your life
If you are struggling ask for help
Talk about assignments with friends
Make your own study guide
Make study cards
Stay organized throughout the year
Dedicate a space for every class in your book bag
Buy an agenda and use it
Don’t wait until the last minute
Select a consistent place to study

It is true that making academics the focus of your life can make studying a lot easier. Tip #2 of asking for help is mentioned in Method A as well. Tip #3 of studying in groups is also talked about in Method A. It makes sense, as discussing can lead to the possibility of giving meaning to the things studying. Discussion on topics can really increase understanding as well as show what parts of the exam one is lacking in. Tips #4 and 5 are shown in the studying mini lecture. Writing notes in your own words and creating what seems to be almost a study guide of your own could help engrain the knowledge learned into long term memory and increase the number of connections made. When trying to memorize definitions or key concepts, writing the word on the front and definition/ key characteristics on the back and then testing yourself to see if you remember, can really be effective for studying. Shuffling the cards and changing the sides that you start with are also good to do as well. Tip #9 of not procrastination is just like Method A. In tip 10, I think changing up the place to study can be more beneficial than going to the same place again and again as you could get bored. This can only help if you are studying in the place similar to where you will take the test. This concept is called state-dependent learning as learned in lecture. Tip #8 is a little more simple and obvious. Most people know by now to write down what assignments are due because we only have a certain capacity of holding information, and not writing what is due every day is prone to forgetting some of the assignments and dates mentioned in class. Tip #7 of assigning space for every subject in the backpack seems unnecessary as well. If that was the case for me, currently, I would always have a overfull backpack, one that I could not carry.

Method C: For Parents

Planner
Know the expectations
Designate a Study Area
Develop a Study Plan
Think Positively
Create a study group
Practice active listening
Review test taking strategies
Read actively
Look to the future

Tip 1 of having a planner is mentioned in Method B. Tip 4 is like this, when you have a planner, you make study plans for the rest of the week. If you want to go way ahead in planning, tip 10 does the trick- looking to the future. Tip 3 of designating a study area is similar to Method B, and one that I disagree with. Tip 8 is interesting as it is in a way talked about in lecture, not the mini lecture. People are prone to get nervous, but as mentioned in the intelligence lecture, how nervous they get before a task, in this case a test, will predict their outcome and performance. So finding methods to destress and calm down before taking the test could really be helpful. I already agreed with tip 6 as shown in Method A. Tip 7 seems to be common sense. Active listening has to do with being focused, and as mentioned before, is essential in moving things to long term memory. Tip 9 I believe is the most helpful tip of this list. Using different and unique ways to think about concepts in class such as forming concept maps and diagrams, can really instill what you’ve learned into your long term memory as you give it meaning semantically. Tip 5 of thinking positively can relate to tip 8 of being calm. This is very elementary to me, but in my personal experience, telling yourself that you can do it can really do wonders. At the very least, I know when I tell myself that I cannot do something or that I am inadequate and not understanding of anything, my test performances seem to not be as good as compared to when I am confident and optimistic in my abilities and time spent on studying. Tip 2 of knowing expectations is obvious in my opinion. If you know what is expected of you and know how much time you need to spend for each class, you can better plan.

If I had to choose, I would say that Method A was the best, followed by Method C, and then Method B.

Method A: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/10-college-study-tips-that-high-school-students-can-master-now?slide=11
1. Sleep and Memory: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768102/
2. Sleep and Immune System:
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3256323/
Method B: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-middle-school/3521-study-skills-for-middle-school-students/

Method C: http://www.sylvanlearning.com/blog/index.php/10-good-study-habits-new-school-year/

Spotlight Blog “Memory”

Study tips are basically review tips for how to study efficiently and effectively. These vary from person to person but overall the tips involve many different strategies that involve the same tactics with a little adjustment for each age category.

When discussing middle school students, greatschools.org discusses many ideas of physical discipline to help the student physically stay involved in studying with the help of parents. Some of the ideas discussed involve,

Helping your child get organized
Provide a place to study for your child
Communicate with your child’s teachers
Use of a planner

Most of this tips from the website involve personal help from the teacher and outside sources not involving the kids. Although this is a great situation for middle school students, this in fact does not so much involve the student but more the ones helping the students in this situation. The advice on using a planner and delegating a specific study space allow for the student to prioritize school work and make for a solid foundation of study tactics. Although these tips are good for middle school students, I feel as though not involving the student and not making the student the main subject of responsibility is a problem and might help the student in the situation, but will not help the situation in the long run after it is removed from the present.

In terms of high school study tips we see an advancement in terms and ways of studying on academictips.org. These tips focus on the mind of a young adult and specifically state that it is how “you” study, making this more personalized for the student. I agree on many of the topics at hand concerning things such as, determining your concentration span, maximizing recall, and improving your memory, which are all topics of discussing in the article. Determining your concentration span, picks on making sure your brain is actually focused and you are involved in what you’re learning otherwise this information will never making it into long term storage regardless of how hard we try. maximizing recall, deals with how we should space out our learning and not crunch everything into one big study session.This being seen as the space learning process, makes it easier for our minds to process information and encode the information into long term storage. Lastly the article reviews improving our memory, which involves working our mind like a jigsaw puzzles and putting together the information how only we can understand. This can be seen as another way of connecting our research or readings of study material to more relative things in our everyday life, such as anagrams or relating a word or phrase you already know to the new material. I see this source in particular very well rounded and credible due to my previous knowledge of what I have learned through personal experience and exposure in our current psych class.

As for study tips for adults and parents we get into the more helping your student or child succeed role. These study tips aren’t directly pushed towards the parents tidying habits but are coded for them helping their kids succeed. childdevelopmentinfo.com does a great job of offering some basic tips for the parents of these children to make sure they are getting the studying habits they need to be successful these in turn are contributed to,

Turn off the TV set.
Designate specific areas for homework and studying.
Regularity is a key factor in academic success.
Organize study and homework projects.

and many more. These basic ideas are very credible in relationship to our knowledge of studying and memorization based on the ideas that these are all prioritizing study and making routines. The goals in these tips are to turn your child’s focus towards the task at hand and make sure the homework and studying is the number one thing on their mind. Again these tips are directed toward what the parent can do to help with the homework situation whether that is organizing the environment or helping the student learn and practice study tips for the future. This guide is a great base for parents who have high school or middle school aged kids and I feel like is a great source based on the key factor that all of these have been proven in our recent readings. This site was credidited by other sources and has many resources that go beyond these basics as well.

For what I consider the most challenging situation to study for, college students, we turn to collegetips.com. This website offers some great insight on some advanced tactics that work well in the college situations for studying.

Create Mnemonics
Make Flash Cards
Remember to Take Breaks
Get lots of sleep
Avoid Studying on Coffee, Ritalin and Adderall

All of these specific situations are more prescribed towards the college students frame of mind. Obviously a middle school student would not be thinking of addrerall or pulling all nighters frequently worrying about how much sleep they are getting. These tips I have found to be very useful and easily backed up by the information we have previously received as far as mnemonics being able to help your brain in the encoding process, making flash cards for the same reason, and getting sleep to allow your brain to process this information. As far as the drug use goes prescription or not prescription it is always best to stay away from these if you are able to like the article says. No one knows how they will react and it could affect your habits and overall performance. The most important of these tips for college students especially is the use of sleep. With many college students opting to substitute an hour of sleep for more studying time we see these results constantly fail so its good that this site reminds the students of this exposure. ne thing I do not agree with on this site is the advice to study during the week. Although many students do have lives on the weekend I believe that studying throughout the week as you wish is the best way of retaining information and not putting any effort in on the weekends could greatly affect you. Overall I found this article to credit many of the things we have discussed in class and has given me great insight on my own study tactics.

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/study-skills-for-middle-school-and-beyond/
http://academictips.org/study-skills/improving-your-learning-ability/
https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/tips-for-helping-kids-and-teens-with-homework-and-study-habits/#.WOHMyIWcH4g
http://www.collegetips.com/college-classes/study-tips.php

Spotlight Blog #1

http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/college-life/how-to-study/

This website article is an info graphic on study tips for college students. The post talks about taking effective notes, studying those notes, getting enough sleep and which study techniques are best for college students to use. They first talk about notes and how 64.3% of college students use laptops to take notes. And taking notes is an essential process for effective studying, however students who used laptops to take notes reported that they are distracted when taking notes which takes down the quality of the notes they take because they are distracted by things like games, the internet, testing and email The website gives tips against being distracted in class, which is helpful for memory because good notes equal easy ways to study. Next the website lays out ways to study: review your notes every day, set aside 30-50 minutes to study with a 10 minute break, read notes, rewrite notes, highlight notes, make flashcards and make up examples. All of these study tips are fantastic for helping students memorize. Reviewing your notes each day is a great way to study because you have a longer amount of time to study and commit the material to memory, and scheduling study time in chunks with breaks in between is very good. However, it is mostly recommended that you study material for 20 or so minutes and take a small break. 30-50 minutes may be a rather steep amount of time to study at once, so shortening it may be more effective. Reading through and rewriting notes is another very effective way to study because writing things down multiple time helps commit it to memory and this will be especially helpful if a student has taken notes on a laptop. The next tip of making up examples is very help because it is based on the way of studying that is called elaboration which helps people associate concepts in their mind with real life stories and helps them remember. The infographic also warns against cramming the night before an assessment and talks about the benefits of getting enough sleep.

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-middle-school/3521-study-skills-for-middle-school-students/

This website has an article that talks about 10 studying tips for middle school students as given by teachers. The first tip is to select a consistent and calm place to study. The environment that one studies in can vary from person to person and each student needs to develop that perfect place to study: with music or without, a desk or a bed, the bedroom or the library. And once the perfect study place is found, it needs to be used pretty regularly. The next tip is to not cram when studying and to studying a little every night, which is a good tip because you have more time to commit things to memory. Avoid cramming and get a good nights sleep will help you perform better on you exams. The next tip is my personal favorite for studying well and staying organized is to buy a planner and write all your assignments in it so that you remember what is coming up and what you need to get done. Most students have too much on their minds to remember everything without writing it down. Another tip on the this site is to make flash cards or a study guide and practice with them each night leading up to the test so that you know what you will be tested on. This is helpful simply because it is an effective way to study but you can also divide it into what you know really well and what you need to practice more so that you are focusing on what you actually need to practice. This article also recommends forming study groups if that is something helps you and to ask for help from other students or teachers if you’re struggling.

http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html

The first article I looked at was study tips for parents and more specifically for parents of elementary school students. It laid out 10 tips that included: knowing the child’s teacher, setting up a homework area, regular study time, homework plan, minimizing distractions, letting kids do their own work, monitoring and motivating kids, setting an good example, praising them for good work and working with their teacher if there is an ongoing issue for the kid. For the most part, these tips are good. Some of these tips don’t fall under the sphere of helping a child’s memory though, some are simply there to promote parental involvement with a young child’s education. However, a child who is positively encouraged by his/her parents and by his/her teacher will tend to do better in school. (ADD A LINK) In terms of studying and memory, the tips about a study plan, minimizing distraction, and regular study times is very good and can help with memory. Having a set way and plan to study, even from a young age can benefit memory and how well kids study. Also, minimizing distraction is essential to the effectiveness of studying. When you sit down to study, it is not at all effective if you are constantly distracted by other people, the TV, or other electronics like the phone or iPod.