by accent on eclectic

Children Of Divorce: The Shocking Statistics

Though no one should presume to understand the circumstances which lead to the decision to divorce, or indeed discount a couples reasoning for divorce, it is worth understanding and considering the statistical evidence which demonstrates the damage divorce can do to a family and child. It is up to a separating couple to identify when and where they can lessen the impact of divorce upon their children, and these statistics may go some way to helping them to identify those areas where children are most vulnerable.

Firstly, an unpleasant truth about marriage in the USA: Half of all marriages are expected to fail before a child reaches 18 (Fagan, Fitzgerald, Rector, The Effects of Divorce On America), and nearly one in four children will see their parents’ divorce twice before adulthood (Furstenberg, Peterson, Nord, and Zill, Life Course).

Now we will take a look at a statistical representation of the various emotional impacts of divorce.

American teenagers in single parent families and in blended families are three times more likely to need psychological help within a given year. (Peter Hill, Recent Advances in Selected Aspects of Adolescent Development, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1993)

Unfortunately, when compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have statistically more psychological problems. (Robert E. Emery, Marriage, Divorce and Children’s Adjustment, Sage Publications, 1988).

Children in divorced families have a greater risk of injury, asthma, headaches and speech defects than those from an un-separated family. (Dawson, Family Structure and Children’s Health and Well Being, National Health Interview Survey on Child Health, Journal of Marriage and the Family)

Sadly, following divorce, children are fifty percent more likely to develop health problems than two parent families. (Angel, Worobey, Single Motherhood and Children’s Health)

In regards to parenting statistics:

79.6% of custodial mothers receive a support award
29.9% of custodial fathers receive a support award.
46.9% of non-custodial mothers totally default on support.
26.9% of non-custodial fathers totally default on support.
[Technical Analysis Paper No. 42 - U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services - Office of Income Security Policy]

But what do all these statistics add up to?

Children from fatherless homes are:

4.6 times more likely to commit suicide,
6.6 times to become teenage mothers,
24.3 times more likely to run away,
15.3 times more likely to have behavioural disorders,
6.3 times more likely to be in a state-operated institutions,
10.8 times more likely to commit rape,
6.6 times more likely to drop out of school,
15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager

(“Marriage: The Safest Place for Women and Children”, by Patrick F. Fagan and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. Backgrounder #1535.)
These disturbing statistics go some way to highlighting the severe impact a poorly handled divorce and resulting separation can have on children.

The best way to handle a divorce effectively with limited lasting impact on yourself and your children, is to hire a family law specialist who will help to guide your family effectively through this difficult time that won’t have a lasting effect on you or your family.

More National Health Statistics Articles

Massachusetts leads a trend of later-in-life motherhood
Shal Shahani got married in her mid-20s, while she and her husband were still in graduate school. They knew they wanted to have children, just not right away.
Read more on Boston Globe

NHS IVF treatment ‘lottery’ slammed
An MSP has hit out at the Scottish Government over the number of private patients receiving IVF treatment on the NHS.
Read more on Spalding Today

by SomosMedicina

Unm Works To Reduce Health Insurance Costs

With no national health care plan in America’s immediate future, the Student Health and Counseling Center is working to reduce insurance costs for students.

The UNM Student Health Insurance Committee met Tuesday to discuss how to make health insurance affordable with benefits.
Beverly Kloeppel, Student Health Center director, said students need health insurance because health care is expensive without it.

“You really don’t have to have some major health problem. All you have to do is have an accident — fall on a skateboard, hit your head on a bike — and you can rack up significant costs,” Kloeppel said.

More than 700 UNM students pay for UNM health insurance, according to Student Health Insurance Committee statistics. But 35,058 people came to the SHAC for services in 2006. Of those, Kloeppel said about 15 percent of UNM students went without insurance, according to a 2006 survey.

The Committee meets periodically for a few months every year, Kloeppel said. They’re working on uniting all colleges and universities in New Mexico to put together a request for one insurance company with the lowest bid and highest quality. This method, “consortion,” reduces the cost of health care for students.

Colleges in Georgia and Arizona have already used this method to reduce insurance costs, she said, and New Mexico Tech is onboard for the plan.

UNM offers health insurance per year or semester. The spring and summer 2010 semester rate is 4 for January through most of August.

UNM’s insurance is the least expensive out of three peer institutions. University of Arizona charges 3 for the spring semester and University of Utah charges 6 monthly, according to their Web sites. University of Colorado Boulder came in as the most expensive — a mandatory ,052.50 for all students without health insurance through their parents.

Despite the relatively high price for insurance at UNM, students must pay the money up front and can’t get payment plans unless they sign up for an entire year.

Student Andrea Torrez said if a monthly payment plan was available, she would be more likely to get coverage.

“It has to be a lump-sum payment — that’s what’s hard,” she said. “If it was spread out it wouldn’t be so hard, because it’s better than most.”

Torrez is the only person in her family without health insurance because it is so expensive, she said.

“My husband gets it through his work, but it’s so ridiculous for a spouse and my kids,” she said. “Since I’m in school, they’re lucky enough that they get Salud!, which is like Medicaid for kids.”

Medicaid is free health insurance provided by the state and federal government for families with low income, according to the New Mexico Human Services Department Web site.

Kloeppel said the Student Health Insurance Committee will continue to meet through March. She said staggered payment plans will be part of the discussions. She also said UNM probably won’t make health insurance mandatory like CSU-Boulder.

Teaching and graduate assistants receive free UNM health insurance coverage as part of their employment.

Tamara Zibners, UNM student and teaching assistant, said she now receives free heath care through UNM but purchased it last semester when she wasn’t a TA. She said the insurance can be helpful for all students — if they utilize it.

“The main benefits that I come here for are probably women’s health, and I’ve been going to the counseling services, which is a really wonderful resource to have here,” she said.

Last semester she said she paid around 0 for health insurance at UNM

by SandyEm

Is It Healthy To Read Health News?

Doctors who followed a checklist developed by the World Health Organization cut the worldwide surgical death rate by almost half and reduced complications by more than one-third. Ask patient’s name, mark incision site, count sponges after surgery – those are three of the nineteen items on the checklist. Although the results of using the list are most dramatic in developing countries, Britain, Ireland, Jordon and the Philippines will use it in all operating rooms. The Joint Commission, which sets standards for most U.S. hospitals, is considering using more of the steps – which would be steps in the right direction.

According to numbers released in January 2009 by the National Center for Health Statistics, some numbers are going in the wrong direction. The number of obese Americans (people 100 pounds or more overweight) now exceeds the number of overweight Americans. Thirty-four percent are obese and 32.7 percent are overweight. Thirty-four percent means more than 72 million Americans are obese – more than double the number in 1980. Although the percent of overweight Americans remained stable, the percent of extremely obese is now 6 percent. Among other things, excess weight increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer – and being healthy becomes a fat chance.

In a study done at Carnegie Mellon University 150 healthy men and women were asked to record how long they slept at night and how much time they spent tossing and turning. After 2 weeks the volunteers were infected with a cold virus. Those who slept less than 7 hours nightly were 3 times more likely to get a cold. Those who tossed and turned or spent a lot of time trying to go to sleep were also much more likely to get sick. It seems the importance of sleep is a cold, hard fact.

Researchers at MIT told 82 healthy volunteers they’d be helping to determine the facts regarding the effectiveness of a new, pain-relieving drug. Each volunteer was given a placebo before and after receiving a series of electric shocks up to their pain tolerance. Half the group was told each pill cost .50. The other half was told each cost 10 cents. Those who thought they had gotten the more expensive drug reported significantly less pain. This study explains why patients prefer brand-name drugs to cheaper generic drugs which contain the same active compound – brand namely because they’ve been convinced by advertisements.

by Renegade98

Question by Dana1981: Why are red states divorce rates so high while claiming to be the voice of Christian values (with sources)?
Chi guy asked this question w/o sources.

http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS2.shtml

“As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are also frequently the areas where many evangelical Christians live.

Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, voted overwhelmingly for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. But they had three of the highest divorce rates in 2003, based on figures from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.

The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.

In 2003, the rate in Massachusetts was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people, compared with 10.8 in Kentucky, 11.1 in Mississippi and 12.7 in Arkansas.”

http://www.logcabin.org/lef/divorce_rates_higher_in_red_states.html?member_key=we3ge6i217nkxn

Best answer:

Answer by Layne B
How many times are you going to ask this?

Add your own answer in the comments!

by The City Project

Hypnotic Way To Health Good Health

Hypnosis was once relegated to the realms of entertainment, with stage hypnotists performing to a drunken audience in night-clubs and pubs. Later it developed into a massive money-spinner for TV celebrities such as Paul McKenna. Hypnotherapy made many people wealthy with self improvement hypnosis tapes and videos. Now, however, hypnosis is regarded as a powerful medical tool by the medical establishment!

Clinical Hypnosis techniques are being increasingly and successfully employed by medical practitioners to treat a diverse amount of symptoms. They target the symptoms of diseases and illnesses such as eczema, asthma, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, cystic fibrosis, warts, snoring, migraines and even chest pain. It has been used to relieve pain and eliminate the need for medication in dental work and to create an optimum pain-free state during childbirth. It has also been used prior to, and after, medical procedures that require surgery and to alleviate anxiety and stress.

In France hypnotherapists have successfully used hypnosis to lower blood pressure. In America it was found that 50% of smokers who used hypnotherapy to quit did not return to the habit. As far as smoking goes, this is a huge statistic!

Although hypnosis is a mind altering technique that spans thousands of years and has been used throughout that time to treat many diverse illness and conditions it disappeared from public consciousness until relatively recently. As was already mentioned its return was in the form of entertainment. Hollywood certainly had a role to play in this within this and the last century. Unfortunately, Hollywood hasn’t portrayed hypnotists as being that ethical or helpful. Most have a criminal mind-set and hypnosis itself, in the film industry, tends to be used for selfish, governmental or even evil purposes.

Real hypnosis is a far cry from anything Hollywood has offered us. However, exactly how it works no-one knows. At its simplest explanation hypnosis can be called a form of mental and physical relaxation but anyone who has experienced a hypnotic state or practised hypnosis on another knows there is a lot more to it than that!

Old memories, long forgotten, can be evoked from the mind. Emotional upsets can be released. Physical pain can be controlled and eliminated. Some physical symptoms can be completely eradicated and some can be induced. In addition to these astonishing uses, post hypnotic suggestions can also be given that can cause life-altering behavioural changes (but only when the subject is willing!).

In order to gain the full benefits of using hypnosis you must move past the Hollywood myths, stereotypes and common misconceptions about all forms of hypnosis and what you think it can and can’t do.

Hypnotherapy has a reported 50-60% success rate for quitting smoking. It would probably be much higher if the subjects took a 6 week course. Hypnotherapy is now being used in a number of ways in dentistry. It is used instead of a local or general anaesthetic during filings and teeth extractions.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 people suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) as it is probably the most common of the sever gastrointestinal disorders. The main symptoms of this disorder include severe abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation. The colon of the sufferer stops working but the reason for this is not known. Current medical treatment for IBS has an extremely limited effectiveness for most people and just doesn’t work at all for many. This is perhaps why so many sufferers turn to alternative therapies for treatment and why hypnotherapists have developed such effective treatments. Hypnosis has a very high success rate at eliminating the symptoms of IBS.

In Manchester, England, NHS (National Health Service) studies have been conducted into reducing chest pain in patients who had angina with an 80% success rate. In the USA Harvard medical research teams discovered that surgical wounds healed at a much faster rate when hypnotherapy was employed. They found that people with broken bones healed up to three weeks faster than those who received no hypnosis. In the case of surgical wounds they found that hypnosis not only increased recovery time but also reduced pain, inflammation and scarring!

To list all the uses and successes of clinical hypnosis would take a book. I therefore leave with food for thought. If hypnosis can help heal bones quicker and reduce scarring what else can it do?

More National Health Statistics Articles

by bill barber

Beware of Summer Heat, a Lurking Health Hazard

Did you know that between 350 – 400 people die each year from Heat Stroke? In especially hot years that number has risen over to 1700 deaths according to the National Center for Health Statistics!

Especially vulnerable are active people (adults and children), and even more for those who regularly consume alcohol.

What to watch for: lethargy, depression, dizziness, weakness, feeling faint, passing out suddenly without obvious cause, headaches from mild to severe, a general malaise or overall body pain accompanied with mild to severe fatigue that doesn’t seem to go away.

Do these symptoms describe you or anyone you know during hot weather months?

For such a complex array of symptoms, the solution is amazingly simple: Salt and plenty of water.

Salt? Yes, salt.

The body requires sodium to help maintain the proper levels of hydration in your body. Keeping your body hydrated is critical to your well-being, which is why the body sends such nagging and painful warnings when it is dehydrated.

Did you know that our body’s composition is almost exactly the same as seawater? What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the ocean?

Most likely, it is salt and water!

The FDA recommends 3 grams of salt per day as a minimum. However, the medical establishment says to stay away from too much salt. There is a long list of health problems that arise from too much salt, so how can it be possible that we need MORE salt?

First, we must understand where these medical warnings about salt intake come from. In our society of fast-food and pre-packaged meals, the salt used to season and preserve the food is industrial sodium chloride. Sodium chloride by itself is a harmful chemical, but it is what you will find in most salt shakers across America. Salt in its natural state contains beneficial minerals. However, since most salt is mined for industrial purposes and requires no minerals for that use, the salt producers sell off the remaining salt as sodium chloride.

There are some brave souls who have marched away from convention and have switched to using sea salt in their food.Sea Salt is a vast improvement over pure sodium chloride, with many minerals still intact. However, due to vast pollution in our oceans, the most pure and best source of salt is mined from the ancient salt deposits.

Himalayan Salt is perhaps the finest selection of mineral salt in the world due to the high altitude of the Himalayans, which protects the water source feeding the great mineral salt beds.

Let’s look at the effect of massive doses of Himalayan salt on human health.

For hundreds of years, the indigenous people of the Himalayans have been widely recognized as the longest living people in the world. But not only do they live a long time, they are healthy, as well.

It is fascinating to learn that they routinely put a chunk of mineral salt in their tea each day (and they truly love their tea, drinking 10 to 20 cups per day). The salt and pure water are the cornerstone of everything they eat and drink. They benefit from the health-giving minerals found in their amazing crystal salt.

Here are some of the recognized health benefits of Himalayan salt:

*It regulates the water content throughout your body.

*It normalizes blood-pressure.

*It balances excess acidity from your cells.

*It balances your blood sugar levels.

*It helps reduce your aging rate.

*It generates hydroelectric energy in your cells.

*It helps with food absorption in intestinal tract.

*It regulates your sleep.

*It is a natural hypnotic.

*It helps clear mucus and phlegm from your lungs.

*It acts as a strong antihistamine

*It helps clear up sinus congestion.

*It helps prevent muscle cramps.

*It helps prevent osteoporosis by firming bones.

*It helps maintain libido.

*It prevents spider veins on your legs and thighs.

*It stabilizes irregular heartbeats.

*It destroys a wide range of potentially harmful microbes, bacteria, protozoa and parasites.

How it all relates to summer heat.

The summer sun steals our body’s hydration in many ways, sweating is only one way. You may not even be aware of how much water you lose each day. The rule of thumb is that if you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.You should also be aware that alcohol and coffee dehydrate your body even more than the sun. The well-known hang-over is nothing more than a warning message from your body that it needs water’s beneficial hydration (not soda). Dehydration causes the list of symptoms that were mentioned at the beginning of this article and more. So it is important to be aware of keeping your body fully hydrated at all times.

Here are a few tips to do so.

* Drink plenty of distilled or spring water.

* Don’t drink soda or fancy electrolyte drinks that can cause even more problems than they cure.

* Use Himalayan salt in all of your cooking and to season your food.

* For athletes, instead of calorie-laden electrolyte drinks, add Himalayan salt capsules taken with plenty of water to keep your body properly hydrated during intense or prolonged exercise.

So try Himalayan salt!

You will notice increased energy, and those dehydration symptoms will disappear.

Feds to expand use of social media
The federal government is developing plans to give public servants more freedom to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter so departments can engage more directly with the public and recruit young talent who expect a “Web 2.0” workplace.
Read more on Dose

Press for the Cure raises ,000 for Komen affiliate
The numbers are staggering. Yesterday, if it were an average day in New Jersey, 16 people were diagnosed with breast cancer and another four people died.
Read more on Daily Record

Domestic violence conference teaches new tools
The North Platte Telegraph Statistics have shown a decrease in domestic violence cases in Lincoln County ever since the Community Domestic Violence Intervention Program (CDVIP) was established in 1996. However, the philosophy of Executive Director Tonya Folk has always been “Even one case of domestic violence is one too many.”
Read more on North Platte Telegraph

October unemployment down in D.C., unchanged in Maryland, Virginia
Unemployment levels in October remained steady in Maryland and Virginia but dropped in the District, according to federal government data released Tuesday. Maryland’s unemployment rate for a second straight month stayed at 7.4 percent, and Virginia’s remained at 6.8 percent, according to the Bureau
Read more on Washington Post

W. Va. blast: Coal firm had worst safety record
Despite its claims that its safety record was “average,” no coal company had a worse fatality record than Massey Energy Co., an analysis by American University finds.
Read more on MSNBC

Dozens of federal departments, agencies count on census: Report
More than 50 federal government agencies and departments rely on long-form census data on ethnic origins, visible minorities, citizenship and immigration for planning and policies, according to a newly released internal report.
Read more on Dose

Report on LGBTQ youth spurs forum
Patrick Germain of Safe Space, left, Erica Sullivan of Queens Pride House and Councilman Danny Dromm discuss issues facing the LGBTQ youth community at a forum Tuesday night at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.
Read more on Queens Chronicle