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I've had bosses who praised my work and bosses who tried to take the credit for it.  I've had bosses who follow the company line, even when they know it's not right (like lying about the downfalls of products), and I've had bosses who've called the media back to say they misspoke on something and now they want to come clean. It takes all kinds but did you know ethical bosses may not be the bosses we should want? A new study suggests that ethical conduct leads to mental exhaustion and the "moral licensing" to lash out at employees, according to newswise.com.  Ethical behavior can turn abusive because of ego depletion and moral licensing. "Moral licensing" is a phenomenon in which people, after doing something good, feel they have earned the right to act in a negative manner. "Ironically, when leaders felt mentally fatigued and morally licensed after displays of ethical behavior, they were more likely to be abusive toward their ...

It probably shouldn't come as a surprise but people who were abused as children find they're happier if they stay in the present moment, rather than reliving their past or looking off into the future. It's called mindfulness and it works for everyone. According to newswise.com, adults who were abused or neglected as children are known to have poorer health, but adults who tend to focus on and accept their reactions to the present moment—or are mindful—report having better health, regardless of their childhood adversity. Mindfulness is all the rage today.  It's what you learn in yoga.  It's what courses are trying to teach doctors to do, or maybe, I should say be.  It's all about living in the moment, right now.  Because it's the only time you have. I remember when I was first diagnosed with cancer thinking far, far ahead to the treatments I'd have to have.  First, surgery.  Then, radiation.  Then, surgery again.  But I had to get through e...

It makes perfect sense.  Early life stress may damage our brains. According to newswise.com, a little stress is good for kids because it helps them learn to overcome it, and cope.  But "chronic, toxic stress like poverty, neglect and physical abuse — can have lasting negative impacts." A study has showed that these kinds of stressors, experienced in early life, might be changing the parts of developing children’s brains responsible for learning, memory and the processing of stress and emotion. These changes may be tied to negative impacts on behavior, health, employment and even the choice of romantic partners later in life. As a person who experienced this kind of stress as a child, I can attest to its truth.  It affects how you view life and shapes your perspective, for better or worse.  I was lucky.  I had people around who helped me through it  and over time, I learned to cope.  Did it affect me for life?  Yes. "We haven’t really u...

Sad but true.  Adults are at higher risk of suicide if one parent, or both, were alcoholics. A new study has found that " People who grew up with a parent who abused alcohol may be 85 percent more likely to attempt suicide than people whose parents did not abuse alcohol, according to research published by the American Psychological Association," reports newswise.com. Having divorced parents increased by 14 percent the risk that a person would try to take his or her own life when compared to people whose parents did not divorce, the study found. But having both -- parents who abuse alcohol and are divorced -- did not increase suicide attempts, according to the study.  One good thing! In the study, almost 14,000 participants reported they had suffered major depression at some point in their life and of those, 1,073 said they had attempted suicide. In the group that reported attempted suicide, 25 percent said they had parents who divorced and 46 percent said one or both p...

As anyone who's been bullied can tell you, they can still see that kid's face from 5th grade and remember his name long after they've graduated from college. Now a new study finds that not just the memory -- but the damage, too -- can remain long after you never see that person again. According to Mary Bowerman at USA Today, the study " shows harmful effects can extend decades after the initial bullying. Researchers found those bullied in childhood had lower levels of education, greater physical and cognitive health problems, and poor social functioning throughout their lives, compared to those who were not bullied." For five decades, she reports,  The National Child Development Study followed almost 8,000 participants of children born in England, Scotland and Wales. "In 1958, they assessed children ages 7-11 and found 28% of the participants were occasionally bullied and 15% were frequently bullied. The researchers checked in with the participants at...

As if abused children didn't have it hard enough.  A new study is saying that their abuse may lead to " long-term hormone impairment that raises the risk of developing obesity, diabetes or other metabolic disorders in adulthood," according to newswise.com. “ “The data suggest that childhood adversity places stress on the endocrine system, leading to impairment of important hormones that can contribute to abdominal obesity well into adulthood.  This study helps illuminate why people who have dealt with childhood adversity face a higher risk of developing excess belly fat and related health conditions,” the Web site quotes one of the study’s authors, Christos S. Mantzoros, MD, DSc, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the VA Boston Healthcare System, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.  “What we are seeing is a direct correlation between childhood adversity and hormone impairment, over and above the impact abuse or neglect may have on ...

I found this shocking.  But a new study has found that bullying by a sibling is every bit as bad -- maybe even worse -- than by a schoolmate. And it's linked to increased depression, anxiety and anger among victimized kids and teens, according to Michelle Healy at USA Today. She writes, "Although peer bullying has increasingly become a recognized problem and the focus of preventive efforts, sibling bullying has historically been viewed as 'benign and normal and even beneficial' for a child's social development and ability 'to learn to handle aggression in other relationships,' according to the study," which was featured in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics , published online today. I came from a family where the siblings banded together against our dysfunctional family so this is something not that well-known to me. But I've seen it in other families and what's been most disturbing is that the child being bullied very often idoliz...