All this week on Family Anatomy we’ll be focusing on the phenomenon of “fitting-in” or belonging.
Belonging is a fundamental need stemming from the fact that human beings are social creatures. Over the past two decades, researchers have established that peoples’ behaviour can be predictably changed by manipulating their perception of fitting-in.
In 2005, an experiment by Gardner, Pickett, Jefferies, and Knowles found that people who scored low on feelings of exclusion or rejection, had more accurate judgments and recall of negative and positive social cues including facial expressions and vocal tone. The implication of this research is that a high need to be accepted socially can distort our social perceptions. In 2007, a study by Maner, DeWall, Baumeister, and Schaller found that feelings of exclusion led people to want to be with others more often, see new potential friends in a more positive light, and be more friendly than would otherwise be the case when interacting with people who represent good prospects for future friendship. Read More »
Being bullied can lead to a number of pretty serious problems for some kids – an article in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry reported 
In June 2009, Drs. James Mercy and Janet Saul wrote an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that summarized the state of knowledge regarding the benefits of early childhood interventions. Research has conclusively shown that family breakdowns, such as parental mental health and substance abuse, neglect, and abuse, have been linked to increased levels of aggression, conduct disorder, antisocial behaviour, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, anxiety, depression and suicide in children. The authors noted that while most researchers are now clear that preschool interventions can improve early childhood experiences and development, policy makers are not yet fully aware of the research showing that adolescent and adult health is also “profoundly affected by early childhood experiences and can similarly be improved”. Research is now showing that health in adulthood depends on the development of psychological, behavioural and social competencies that can only be built on a childhood foundation of safety, stability and nurturance. These three concepts are particularly important and deserve to be clearly defined. Safety has to do with the extent to which a child is free from excessive fear. Stability has to do with the consistency of a child’s relationship with his/her caregiver, and nurturance measures the extent to which a caregiver is available and able to respond sensitively and meet the varied needs of a particular child. Early interventions that help promote these three factors have been shown to improve health during later childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Doctors Brian and Giuseppe talk about three recent stories from 
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