http://psychcentral.com/news Psychology, psychiatry and mental health news and research findings, every weekday. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:51:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en New research suggests sexist jokes and accompanying humor are associated with mental mechanisms that could predispose violence and battering against women. Men with strong macho attitudes appear to demonstrate the risky behavior. The theory will be present at a seminar about humor and its scientific applications ('International Summer School and ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/03/sexist-jokes-may-be-linked-to-domestic-violence/6898.html New research discovers mental stress causes carotid artery dilation and increases brain blood flow. A series of ultrasound experiments, described in BioMed Central's open access journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound, also found that this dilatory reflex was absent in people with high blood pressure. University of Southern California and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center researchers ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/03/mental-stress-induces-brain-rush/6902.html A new study explores the link between early education programs and adult health, and how early educational interventions affect health outcomes. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers found that early education reduces health behavioral risk factors by enhancing educational attainment, health insurance coverage, income, and family environments. However, since the ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/03/early-health-ed-reduces-risky-adult-behaviors/6905.html As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight. Researchers believe this knowledge may represent a step toward reversing the current obesity trends. A new study has found that overweight children, especially girls, show signs of the negative ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/03/loneliness-and-anxiety-accompany-child-obesity/6895.html Depression after childbirth has always been a chick and egg conundrum. That is, does sleep quality influence development of depression, or is poor sleep a characteristic of post-partum depression. A new study suggests that postpartum depression may aggravate an already impaired sleep quality. The findings, published in the July 1 ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/02/postpartum-depression-compounds-poor-sleep-cycle/6867.html Food advertising on television increases automatic snacking on available foods in children and adults, according to a series of experimental studies conducted by researchers from Yale University. Snacking is believed to be a major factor in the obesity crisis with children often a key target. The research appears in the ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/02/tv-ads-deter-weight-control/6874.html A multi-national group of investigators has discovered that nearly a third of the genetic basis of schizophrenia may be attributed to the cumulative actions of thousands of common genetic variants. The effects of each of these genetic changes, innocuous on its own, add up to a significant risk for developing ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/02/genetic-combo-influences-schizophrenia-and-bipolar/6865.html Caring for an elderly family member can be stressful and can pose health threats to caregivers. A new grant from the National Institute on Aging will study the effects of caregiving on familial caregivers. Steven Zarit, a Penn State professor and department chair will look at people who care ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/02/caregiver-stress-under-evaluation/6869.html The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it is requiring manufacturers to put a Boxed Warning on the prescribing information for the smoking cessation drugs Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (buproprion). The warning highlights the increased risk of serious mental health concerns -- including changes in behavior, depressed mood, ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/01/chantix-zyban-users-warned-of-risk-of-suicide-depression/6861.html A new neuropsychological memory test may help explain why many Parkinson’s disease patients develop depression. The test helps to understand how Parkinson's disease can alter people's ability to learn about the consequences of the choices they make. Test developer Dr. Mark Gluck found that nonmedicated patients in the early ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/01/impaired-decision-making-fosters-depression-in-parkinson%e2%80%99s/6838.html New research shows that men under stress may be more likely to take risks, correlating to such real-life behavior as gambling, smoking, unsafe sex and illegal drug use. In contrast, stressed women moderate their behavior and may be less likely to make risky choices, the study found. "Evolutionarily speaking, it's perhaps ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/01/gambling-is-male-stress-release/6841.html Researchers have discovered that one in seven adolescents believe that it is highly likely that they will die before age 35, and this belief predicted that the adolescents would engage in risky behaviors. Lead investigator Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D. of the University of Minnesota Medical School and colleagues analyzed data collected ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/01/pessimism-drives-risky-behavior-in-teens/6843.html A crying, colicky baby might not just be hungry or need a diaper changed. Instead, it might be due to a depressed dad, according to new Dutch research. The recent study of nearly, 4,430 infants showed that only a small percentage -- 2.5 percent -- of the infants showed signs of ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/30/depressed-dads-linked-to-babys-crying/6835.html Previous research has shown an association between people who have had clinical depression and obesity. But does having a major clinical depressive episode -- or the drugs used to treat depression, called antidepressants -- increase the risk of becoming obese? Researchers looked at data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/30/do-antidepressant-drugs-increase-risk-of-obesity/6832.html A new study suggests that it takes at least a year for former methamphetamine users to regain impulse control. In the report published online by the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, University of California at Davis researchers warn recovering substance abusers, their families and drug-treatment specialists that it can take an ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/30/slow-recovery-from-methamphetamine-use/6807.html