TUCSON, Ariz. - Arizona ranks 42nd in a national survey by state of important factors for working fathers, including health and child-care costs. WalletHub gives Arizona low ratings for economic and social well-being, and says the state has the highest number of dads with children younger than 18 living in poverty.

At the University of Arizona South, anthropologist Dieter Steklis said America has been slow in general to adopt workplace policies that allow men to balance home and family life, including flexible schedules and paid paternity leave. He said he thinks eventually that will change.

"Fathers are seen more and more as playing a vital role in their kids' lives, in their kids' development," he said. "Research on that has just really come to light only in the last 10, 20 years, max. So a lot of policy, therefore, hasn't caught up with that."

Steklis and wife Netzin Steklis, who also is an anthroplogist, are part of an online expert panel for this survey. They teach courses on fatherhood, and do primate research around the globe. They say that in the animal world, the males in only about 5 percent of the species play active roles in raising their offspring.

The Steklises point to one activity any father can do with young children that doesn't cost a penny and could make all the difference in their development. Netzin Steklis said getting on the floor and rough-housing with children teaches some valuable lessons.

"Parents at home, especially Dad, can be the big wrestling partner that starts training that little brain on how to regulate their emotions," she said, "not get too scared, learn how to pull the punches, learn how to react."

She noted that children today are discouraged from rough-housing with friends, so home often is the only place they can experience that kind of play. She said research shows mountain gorilla fathers also teach their young by rough-housing with them.

When children become old enough to shrug off the physical play, Dieter Steklis added, hugs and one-on-one conversations still are important, even in the busiest families.

"I think this is perhaps the key," he said. "Whatever time you have, be fully engaged. Make it clear to your child that your full attention, your full everything, is devoted in that moment to them."

The WalletHub survey is online at wallethub.com.


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October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a recent study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about life prospects.

The study, published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence found students who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about both academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.

Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.

"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."

Maryland requires county boards of education to track and report on bullying. This year's report showed there were more than 7,800 incidences of bullying reported during the 2022-23 school year, an increase of 25% over the year prior.

Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Earlier research showed relational victimization had negative effects on elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also an educational priority.

"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence based large scale school interventions for bullying."

Maryland's State Department of Education adopted a model policy to address bullying, harassment and intimidation in 2009 and has updated it in the years since. Last year the department began offering an online introduction to bullying prevention for educators.


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October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a new study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about their future.

Researchers found adolescents who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.

Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.

"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."

The study began with more than 300 9th graders at 38 different high schools across Michigan. Students completed online surveys multiple times per year over three years.

Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Prior research established relational victimization affected elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also as an educational priority.

"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti-bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence-based large-scale school interventions for bullying."

She added it is important to have strong communication between researchers, policymakers and administrators to address bullying so it is not too burdensome for schools and is backed by what researchers have learned.

The biannual Pro-Kid Scorecard from the Children Now Action Fund was released today.

In it, 12 state Assembly members and seven state Senators earned a 100% rating.

Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research at the nonprofit Children Now Action Fund, said the scoring reflects more than how lawmakers vote.

"They voted the right way on health and child welfare, child care, education," Hardy outlined. "They also supported kids in the budget, which is not always an easy thing to do when we've got budget deficits."

The lowest scores hovered around 48%, awarded to lawmakers who voted against certain bills but also voted for proposals like forced outing policies for LGBTQ+ students in schools.

Hardy noted the report is intended to inform voters as they head to the ballot box next month.

"Kids may not vote but we want to elect legislators who do their best to support kids," Hardy explained.

California ranks 35th in the nation for child well-being, according to the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation report and is just above the national average for per-pupil spending on K-12 education.