ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER

Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future


MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
May 11, 2001

"Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so 
many tomorrows."Michael Landon


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EARLY STRUGGLES IN VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT CAN 
HAMPER DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

   When socioeconomically deprived children fall behind in spoken
   vocabulary development during their first three years of life, they
   are very likely to have lifelong struggles in all their studies in
   school. Even current early intervention programs such as Head Start
   may not be enough to close this learning gap, says a Penn State
   researcher.

   "Those children in our society who grow up in poverty or near
   poverty are adversely affected by their mother's own vocabulary
   deficit during their earliest years when they are learning to speak
   at home," says Dr. George Farkas, professor of sociology.
   "Social class differences in vocabulary growth emerge at the
   very earliest ages among both Black and White Americans, and they
   attain a substantial magnitude by 36 months of age," Farkas notes.
   "These social class differences widen during the fourth and fifth
   years of life, although this occurs more strongly among
   African-Americans than among Whites. Half of the social class
   differences in vocabulary growth rates can be traced to the
   differences in family linguistic instruction provided by mothers of
   varying social classes."

   By the time children reach age 6 and the first grade, they
   are learning to read, and from that point their vocabulary
   development, regardless of class or race, proceeds roughly at the
   same pace. Unfortunately for disadvantaged children, their earlier
   deficiencies in vocabulary learning will continue to have long-term
   repercussions in their teenage years, especially in the areas of
   vocabulary, reading and mathematics.

   In adult years, the consequences are often low-skill and
   poorly paid jobs that perpetuate the cycle of poverty, according to
   Farkas, a faculty member in Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts
   and a faculty associate with Penn State's Population Research
   Institute.

   Farkas and Dr. Kurt Beron of the School of Social Sciences
   at the University of Texas at Dallas, presented their findings,
   "Family Linguistic Culture and Social Reproduction: Verbal Skill from
   Parent to Child in the Preschool and School Years," recently at the
   annual meeting of the Population Association of America in
   Washington, D.C.

   Between 1986 and 1996, data were collected from several
   thousand children between the ages of 3 and 14, including the Peabody
   Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), comprised of 175 increasingly
   difficult words. The tester read the word to the child, who then
   pointed to one of the 4 pictures that best described its meaning.
   When the child failed to identify 6 out of 8 consecutive items, the
   test ended, and the child was assigned a score or "ceiling."
   "By analyzing these data according to the child's month of
   age, beginning at 36 months, we were able to examine the trajectory
   of oral vocabulary growth by social class in unprecedented detail,"
   Farkas notes.

   The researchers also compared the child's progress in
   vocabulary development with the mother's "linguistic cultural
   capital" as determined by the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT).
   Given to this particular sample of women in 1980, the AFQT measures
   skills and habits of vocabulary and speech.
   "It is not enough that the mother herself have a good
   vocabulary," the Penn State researcher says. "It is also necessary
   for mothers to teach letters to their babies, talk out loud to them
   and read books to them regularly and consistently." This is much less
   likely to happen when the mother is trapped on the bottom rungs of
   the socioeconomic ladder and is consumed by financial and emotional
   pressures or stresses, he adds.

   The authors conclude that federal and local programs and
   policies must be aimed at improving the early vocabulary development
   and school readiness skills of children from low-income households.
   In particular, the Bush administration's emphasis on improving the
   letter, sound, word recognition and pre-reading skills instruction
   provided by Head Start and similar programs is well-targeted on an
   important instructional area, which is vital to the schooling success
   of low-income children.

   Contact: Paul Blaum pab15@psu.edu
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MOMS DISCUSS SAFER SEX, NOT ONLY ABSTINENCE, WITH KIDS
Mothers don't find it easy to talk to their adolescent kids about responsible sexuality 
and AIDS but, when they do broach those subjects, they are apt to talk about safer 
sex, too, if they bring up abstinence, says Eva Lefkowitz, assistant professor of human
development and family studies and director of the study.
http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/sextalk.html
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IMPORTANCE OF SELF ESTEEM


Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. It includes the thoughts
and feelings you have about yourself. The more positive feelings you
have about yourself, the higher is your self esteem. Negative feelings
lower your self-esteem.

Self-esteem affects the way you live. It affects how you think, feel
and act. It also affects how successful you are in achieving your goals 
in life. For example, high self-esteem can make you feel effective,
productive, capable and lovable. On the other hand, low self-esteem can
make you feel ineffective, worthless, incompetent and unloved.

Your level of self-esteem is based on your personal relationships and
experiences. These include relationships and experiences with family 
and relatives; school; on the job; in society; in your social life; or
other situations in general. One event or one person is not responsible 
for your level of self-esteem. It is something that develops over time
and changes with experience.

High self-esteem and feeling good about yourself is important. When you
have high self-esteem, you don't fear developing your abilities. You 
are willing to accept challenges and to risk trying new things. It also
helps you be a happy person. It is fun to be around happy people. When
you are happy yourself, you are more actively involved in meeting new
friends. Because you are more open and comfortable with yourself, you
can develop closer relationships. High self-esteem allows you to be the
person you want to be; enjoy others more fully; and offer more of 
yourself to the world. High self-esteem helps you maintain self-confidence.
Half the battle is believing you can do something. It lets you involve
yourself completely in whatever you are doing. High self-esteem also 
allows you to remain flexible and makes it easier to accept new ideas and
ways of doing things.

Just as high self-esteem has positive effects, so also does low self-
esteem have significant negative effects. These effects can create a
vicious circle with a lack of self-confidence leading to poor performance
which creates a distorted view of self and others, creating an unhappy
personal life which, coming full circle, contributes to a lack of self-
confidence.

This cycle can be broken by taking some positive steps to raise your 
self-esteem. This starts by you becoming your own best friend. Identify
and accept your strengths and weaknesses. Set realistic goals. Develop
a "can-do" attitude. Set a reasonable timetable for your personal goals 
and provide yourself with encouragement as you pursue them. Take pride 
in what you achieve - the big as well as the small achievements. Remember
to take some time out regularly in order to be alone with your thoughts
and feelings. Go out and get yourself involved in activities you can
enjoy by yourself (for example, crafts, reading or an individual sport).
Learn how to enjoy your own company. Learn to pay attention to your
feelings and thoughts. Then, act on what YOU think is right. Do what makes 
YOU feel happy and fulfilled. Treat yourself with respect. Be proud of 
who YOU are and don't try to be someone else. Finally, learn to love the
unique person YOU are. Accept yourself and learn from your mistakes. By
the same token, don't overreact to errors. Accept your successes AND your
failures. Those who love you accept these. So also should you.

It is not easy to change your self-esteem. It takes time, but the results
will be well worth the effort. If you have trouble making progress, you
may wish to consult a counselor. High self-esteem doesn't guarantee 
success, but it does guarantee feeling good about yourself and others. A
good side-effect is that positive attitudes tend to rub off onto others.

High self-esteem is NOT egotism or snobbishness. These are usually false 
fronts for feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem. High self-esteem
means that you appreciate your uniqueness, allowing you to respond to
others in positive and productive ways.

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For further information on this topic, use the search engine below to search for
and purchase books. Begin by trying the following descriptors in the search
engine: self-esteem, self concept, personal effectiveness, personal relationships,
self-esteem and job performance, self-esteem and school performance, etc.
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
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               Contact your local Mental Health Center or
               check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
               therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
               your area for further information.
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                        George W. Doherty
                        O'Dochartaigh Associates
                        Box 786
                        Laramie, WY 82073-0786

MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news