Family research of interest

I work around this stuff all the time, but these pieces really caught my attention recently:

~Video games linked to poor relationships with friends, family in new study

The research is based on information collected from 813 college students around the country. As the amount of time playing video games went up, the quality of relationships with peers and parents went down.

“It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time,” Walker said. “My guess is that it’s some of both and becomes circular.”

BYU home page

~Sisters give siblings better mental health, study shows

Padilla-Walker’s research stems from BYU’s Flourishing Families Project and will appear in the August issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. The study included 395 families with more than one child, at least one of whom was an adolescent between 10 and 14 years old. The researchers gathered a wealth of information about each family’s dynamic, then followed up one year later. Statistical analyses showed that having a sister protected adolescents from feeling lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious and fearful. It didn’t matter whether the sister was younger or older, or how far apart the siblings were agewise.

Brothers mattered, too. The study found that having a loving sibling of either gender promoted good deeds, such as helping a neighbor or watching out for other kids at school. In fact, loving siblings fostered charitable attitudes more than loving parents did. The relationship between sibling affection and good deeds was twice as strong as that between parenting and good deeds.

USA Today and BYU home page.

~Child behavior ~ Routine can help kids stave off anxiety ~
Keeping young children on a stable schedule of activities - with consistent wake and sleep times, regular play periods and reliable intervals between meals - can make them less anxious about new situations and environments as they grow older...research finds that babies who had more dependable routines at 1 month were less likely to be anxious at age 10. Time magazine, August 9, 2010.

~Stayin’ alive: That’s what friends are for

Relationships improve your odds of survival by 50 percent

In the journal PLoS Medicine, BYU professors Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothy Smith report that social connections – friends, family, neighbors or colleagues – improve our odds of survival by 50 percent. Here is how low social interaction compares to more well-known risk factors:

- Equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day

- Equivalent to being an alcoholic

- More harmful than not exercising

- Twice as harmful as obesity

“The idea that a lack of social relationships is a risk factor for death is still not widely recognized by health organizations and the public,” write the PLoS Medicine editors in a summary of the BYU study and why it was done.

National outlets shown on the BYU homepage.

Does some of this research make you think??? It does for me.

Sexual purity blesses our lives

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

I thought this article was very succinct about what I believe and why I believe it.

Chastity means being morally clean in our thoughts, words, and actions. This sexual purity is “pleasing unto God.” Our Heavenly Father has given us the sacred powers of procreation for the purpose of bringing forth children and for the expression of love within marriage between a man and a woman. He has also given us the law of chastity to protect us from the damage that comes from sharing physical intimacies outside of marriage.

Heavenly Father has set clear boundaries for chastity. He commands us not to have any sexual relations before we are married. After we are married, we are commanded to be completely faithful to our spouse. If we break the law of chastity, we have committed a grievous sin. The prophet Alma taught that sexual sins are more serious than any other sins except murder or denying the Holy Ghost.

Satan makes a mockery of chastity and of the sanctity of marriage when he tempts us to believe that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is acceptable as long as a man and a woman are in love. This is not true. It is a serious sin that defiles the power God has given us to create life.

Our Father in Heaven has commanded all of us to live the law of chastity. The blessings for obeying this commandment and the consequences for breaking it are the same for each of us, regardless of our impulses, desires, or sexual temptations.

If we have committed sexual sins, the Lord will forgive us if we truly repent. The despair of sin can be replaced with the sweet peace of forgiveness.

As we keep ourselves sexually pure, we will become more sensitive to the Holy Ghost’s guidance and receive strength, comfort, and protection.

1. You can decide now to be chaste and never waver. Some may feel that they can commit sexual sins with the idea that they will simply repent later. This attitude shows irreverence for the Lord’s commandments and a lack of understanding of repentance and righteousness.

2. Through modesty in dress and appearance, you show God that you know your body is a sacred creation from Him. Modesty promotes chastity.

3. Pornography is addictive and destructive. It will rob you of your self-respect and self-control and often leads to more serious sexual sins.

4. If you find yourself struggling with sexual temptations, including feelings of same-gender attraction, you can choose to resist those temptations. The Lord will “make a way to escape” so that you will “be able to bear it.”

5. If you have committed sexual transgressions, speak with your bishop or branch president. He will help you through the process of repentance.

6. If you have been a victim of rape, incest, abuse, or other sexual crimes, you are not guilty of sin. Your bishop or branch president can help guide you through the process of emotional healing.

7. If single and dating, treat your date with respect, plan constructive activities, and refrain from conversations or activities that arouse sexual feelings.

8. If married, be faithful to your spouse in thought, word, and action. Flirting with others is not appropriate. Stay away from situations where temptation may develop.

“We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”

Ensign, July 2010, page 10-11.

Come to Zion, come to Zion

Over the Pioneer day weekend (the 24th of July - when we celebrate the arrival of the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley) we had a great outing with Rick’s parents and his sister Robyn and her great husband Bob. We met in Cedar City and attended the annual Shakespeare festival. I’ve already talked about my love for Shakespeare in previous posts, and once again we attended some amazing performances of Macbeth, Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations. We also took some time to visit Cedar Breaks

National Monument and Zion National Park. I absolutely LOVE attending our nation’s parks, and even though we have seen these parks before, I continue to marvel at the treasure that they are.

We drove in Rick’s new Hyundai Sonata. When we told Pat about the smoking deal we got on the car, she went right in and bought her own on the spot. So they now have twinner cars. His is silver, hers is gold. Nice!

Here are some majestic views from Cedar Breaks…

and Zion National Park…

We arrived less than an hour after a huge cloud burst. Luckily it dropped the temperature by 20 degrees, so we enjoyed some lovely weather. It’s usually in the 100s at Zion National Park in July. Some hikers were washed down some ravines of 40 and 60 foot drops, but survived. It can be a dangerous place when it rains. We walked the river trail and enjoyed the beauties of nature.

If you ever to go visit Zion, be sure to eat as Oscars, it’s a great Tex-Mex restaurant nearby.

Summertime fun

Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime? (v. 2)

I've done most of the fun summertime things on this list plus many more. I watched a parade instead of marched in one and I haven't gone fishing...yet. This was one of my favorite childhood songs. I got to do many of these fun things with our grandchildren this summer. I hope they enjoy looking at the pictures and singing along!

For all you great family men out there