News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Whether or not a teenager develops acne depends on their family history, particularly if their mother had the same problem, according to a study from Germany.

• Researchers who evaluated data on 1,000 high school students found that 14 percent had moderate to severe acne.
• If parents or siblings had acne, that rate increased to 20 percent.
• In addition to family history, other risk factors included having an oily skin or consuming greasy foods.

This study appeared in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Labels: health, teenagers, acne, genetics

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After analyzing two million DNA variations among 32,000 people, an international team of scientists identified six genes associated with obesity.

All six genes are active in the brain and influence appetite regulation.

According to the report, which was written through the German National Genome Research Network, "The two main causes of obesity are poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. But the biology of these genes suggests genetic factors underlying the different reaction of people to lifestyle and environmental conditions."

Labels: research, obesity, genetics

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Fathers of autistic children do not prefer women with the curvy figure that many men find attractive, according to a study from the University of Bath in Great Britain. Women with curvy figures tend to have optimal levels of sex hormones, while those with thick waists tend to have higher levels of testosterone, which is linked to having a child with autism.

Researchers asked 100 fathers of autistic children to rate pictures of women with athletic frames or curvy figures. Previous research indicated that most men universally prefer the waist-to-hip ratio of 70 per cent, which has been linked to fertility and health. However, the men in this study showed no preference.

"Autism is widely regarded to have genetic origins, which may combine with hormonal influences," said Dr. Mark Brosnan, co-author of the study. "We wanted to investigate the mechanisms by which these genes come together in a parental pairing, whether it is by chance or if it could be due to different preferences in choosing a mate - so-called 'assortative mating.'"

This study appeared in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder.

Labels: autism, genetics, fathers

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If your teen is underacheiving in school, the problem could run deeper than a failure to focus or an unwillingness to do the necessary work.

If a student has a variant in the DRD2 gene, he is more likely to get lower grades in history, math, English, and science. A variant in the DRD4 gene may lower math and English, and one in DAT1 may affect the grade in English, according to new research from the Florida State University.

Professor Kevin Beaver and his colleagues used DNA information on 2500 middle and high school students enrolled in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and linked it to their grade point averages.

“We found that as the number of certain dopaminergic gene variants increased, grade point averages (GPAs) decreased, and the difference was statistically significant,” Professor Beaver said. “For example, the GPA of a student with specific variants of three dopaminergic genes might be around 2.8, versus a GPA of around 3.3 without the variants. That could mean the difference between being accepted into a college versus being rejected.

This study appears in the journal Intelligence.
 

Labels: academics, school, genetics

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment