6A the university daily kansan
news
friday, october 10,2003
Spirituality, religion could decrease depression in teens
By Meghan Brune
mbrune@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
One solution to teenage depression may be involvement in church.
Todd Little, associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, said that spirituality and religion are social activities, and that teenagers who find a supportive congregation may be better off.
Little, who studies adolescent development and self-regulation, said that teenagers were rarely considered in terms of psychology, and that religious involvement was neglected as well.
"Spirituality has not been a mainstream topic in psychology," Little said. "But that certainly doesn't have to be the case."
Little published his study this year in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. He collected data in 1998 and 1999 with Yale graduate students Michelle Pearce and John Perez while he was a professor at
Little, also the director of the research at the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, moved to the University last year.
Yale.
Little and his colleagues interviewed 744 middle school-aged students with different levels of faith and religion.
They found that teenagers who have positive experiences with their congregations scored lower on a test for depression.
Little said that adolescents were a hard age group to evaluate because of surveying and confidentiality concerns.
Depression is measured in various levels of symptoms. A high percentage of teens — two to 18 percent — suffer from symptoms including anxiety, moodiness and anger. Little said.
"During adolescence there are a lot of normative life changes." Little said. "There are a lot of challenges going on during that phase."
Depression and anxiety are the two most common problems at the University, said John Wade, psychologist at KU Counseling
When assessing people's level of coping, Wade said he typically asked about church involvement.
and Psychological Services.
"Religion and spirituality can certainly be a strength to draw on." he said.
"I think there is a presumption that spirituality is not as well-developed in that age group," Little said.
Little said that religion and spirituality were understudied in psychology and that he would be interested in doing more studies.
Vince Krische, director of the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, said he saw the connection between religion and depression from the other side. The center has programs primarily for KU students as well as the 60 to 75 younger children in the congregation.
"So many students are looking for ways to grow religiously." Krische said. "They have healthier attitudes and a meaningful outlook on life."
Edited by Dave Nobles
VOTES: Fliers distributed to employees violate University policy
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
the Coalition tried to pass out fliers made by the Kansas Association of Public Employees at a Sept. 24 town hall meeting to discuss the issue. The Association is a statewide organization of civil servants that supports the Coalition.
Ola Faucher, director of Human Resources, and Linda Fund, the assistant director,
stopped them on the grounds that it violated University of Kansas policy for employees to distribute non-University material to other employees who were on the clock, which those who attended the meeting were.
Hearing about the incident, members of the student-run Campus Labor Issues Group, led by their president Dan Carey, a graduate teaching
assistant at the University, stepped in to help.
Carey and other members of the group handed out fliers at the next meeting, on Oct. 2.
In the end, however, he said it doesn't matter.
Carey's group has no position on the issue but wanted to make sure that both sides were presented. Either way, Carey said, the classified employees are going to have to wind up fighting
someone to be treated fairly; the Legislature if they stay with civil service, and the Administration if they don't.
"The thing that just screams out to me is unionize," he said.
Sources on both sides agreed that the vote will be close.
All ballots are due to University Governance by Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Colony Woods pool treated to kill parasites
— Edited by Doyle Murphy
The Associated Press
LAWRENCE — An indoor swimming pool at an apartment complex that tested positive for cryptosporidium was treated to kill the parasite that causes diarrhea and its symptoms.
One of three samples taken in late August by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested positive for cryp-
tosporidium in the pool at Colony Woods Apartments, Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department officials said Wednesday.
However, none of the 89 con- firmed cases of the illness in Lawrence were linked to the Colony Woods pool, Health Department director Kay Kent said.
Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that causes diarrhea, loose or watery stool, stomach cramps, upset stomach and a slight fever. The parasite is passed through oral ingestion of even microscopic amounts of tainted feces.
The pool was hyperchlorinated Wednesday afternoon as a precaution. "Everything is done," said Julie Gibler, manager at Colony Woods.
new cases of cryptosporidiosis since Oct. 2. But the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Wednesday that three cases had been confirmed in Riley County, bringing the total number of cases in northeast Kansas to 141.
The Health Department continues to urge people not to swim when ill with diarrhea or two weeks after having diarrhea.
Kent said there have been no
PALACIOS, Texas — Cold, frightened and desperate after 13 hours in the choppy Gulf of Mexico, Melinda Lopez refused to give up.
at an oil platform, spray-painted a distress signal and managed to activate an alarm system to summon help.
Woman falls overboard, swims to oil rig for safety
After falling overboard Tuesday from the shrimp boat where she worked, Lopez swam and floated until she reached safety
Lopez's ordeal began 70 miles off Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico, where Lopez was climbing around the 76-foot shrimper Ike and Zack to find a spot to read. She slipped and fell in the water without a life jacket.
Neither the boat's three-man
crew nor those of other boats that floated past heard her cries
Lopez said she swam all night, following a distant sound and finally reaching a foghorn on the offshore rig about daybreak Wednesday. There, she found some black and white paint.
She painted an SOS on the platform, made a balloon out of a black trash bag and spray painted it with another plea for
help. She was also able to trigger an alarm system on the platform, which activated sirens and lights.
Rescued by a helicopter crew, she was "cold, shaking, dehydrated and in a slight state of shock, but stable" when she was transferred to Galveston's University of Texas Medical Branch, Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine said.
Suspension hearing focuses on payments
The Associated Press
District Attorney Robert Hect filed a lawsuit two weeks ago to remove Felker from office, but he also wants Felker suspended while that lawsuit is pending in Shawnee County District Court. A hearing on the suspension request was in its second day yesterday.
TOPEKA — An agreement that led to $113,000 in payments to a former city employee who had resigned became the focus yesterday in a hearing into whether Mayor Butch Felker should be suspended from office.
One witness Hecht called was John Arnold, who resigned as city administrative officer in February 2002, but continued to receive payments from the city for eight months under the agreement with Felker.
Hecht contends there was no legal justification for the payments and that Felker violated Kansas law by not seeking City Council approval for the agreement.
sel for the state pension system, who testified the city made contributions under the agreement to pension benefits to which Arnold was not entitled.
Defense attorney Mike Francis used his questioning to undercut Hecht's characterization of the agreement as improper.
But Francis noted the agreement was approved by the city's attorney. He asked McKinnon if she were a client and saw that an attorney approved a document, whether she would conclude "everything is OK."
For example, Hecht called Laurie McKinnon, general coun-
McKinnon answered,
"Absolutely."
In his ouster lawsuit, Hecht also said that Felker, again without the council's knowledge, signed a "power of attorney" document in August 2001, giving Betty Simecka, president of cultural exhibitors and events, the right to contract with the Kremlin museum in Moscow for an exhibition of Russian artifacts.
Testimony Wednesday dealt with allegations that Felker falsified a campaign finance report filed before the February 2001 city primary. The state Governmental Ethics Commission fined Felker $7,500 in July.
Felker was Topeka parks commissioner in 1975-85, then mayor from 1989-97. He declined to run in 1997, citing health reasons, but won a third term in 2001.
ALSO ON SALE...
LIZ PHAIR
POLYPHONIC SPREE
GRANDADDY
KMFDM
LEO KOTTKE
GOVT MULE
ROBERT RANDOLPH
AND THE FAMILY BAND
It's a part of student life
KANSAN
National Coming Out Day
Staceyann Chin:
Slam Poetry
Oct 10th @ 8:00p
Alderson Auditorium
Sponsored by: Q&A | Dep't of Sociology
Straight Eye for the Queer Guy Dep't of Sociology '03 Clark Lecture Series Oct 10th 4:00p Alderson Auditorium
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