Features

By Mariam Hakim

Relationships and Couples Therapist

How happy and satisfied are you in your relationship? Thanks to studies by marriage expert John Gottman, we can now identify a few habits shared by those marriages that thrive. 

Happy couples recognise and respond to each other’s bids for attention

Little things count in relationships. On a daily basis, people make “bids” for their partner’s attention, affection and support, such as asking questions, sharing an idea or a thought, or smiling and touching each other. These things may seem unimportant or trivial, but they are attempts made by our partner to connect intimately and emotionally. If these bids are habitually ignored or overlooked, partners will eventually stop making them, which contributes to emotional loneliness and distance in the relationship.

- Be attentive to your partner’s bids for connection

- Apologise or make up when you miss them; we often miss them not because of malice but because of our preoccupation with other things

-  Try to be emotionally present and engaged when with your partner instead of ignoring him or taking him for granted

Happy couples prioritise intimacy and sex

We are all emotional and physical beings that need love, attention and affection. Enhancing intimacy with our partner needs to be intentional and prioritised, even when time is a constraint. 

-  Have rituals of connection, such as hugging or kissing when leaving in the morning and reuniting for lunch or at the end of the day. Non-sexual touch releases the chemical oxytocin which makes you feel close to someone. Non-sexual touch also has the ability to spark sexual desire

-  Each person has different needs when it comes to emotional and physical intimacy. Talk about what makes you feel close and what satisfies you physically. Even if your needs differ, by talking about them, you are more likely to make small changes to accommodate each other’s preferences

-      Remember words of appreciation and kindness enhance intimacy, while disrespect and meanness drives your partner away both physically and emotionally

Happy couples show interest in each other’s worlds by asking questions

Intimate couples are familiar with each other’s world, both the external and internal world; they know who their partner’s enemies and friends are as well as their partner’s dreams, fears and aspirations. This is the basis of a good friendship, which in turn is the basis for maintaining passion and keeping love alive.

- Check in with your partner on a daily basis; share your plans and how the day went

- Have weekly date nights where you can talk about deeper issues

- Ask your partner open-ended questions instead of questions that are answered with a simple yes or no

-  Make eye contact and listen attentively; show that you are interested in what your partner has to say

-     Do not assume that you already know everything about your partner; each person grows and changes on a daily basis 

Happy couples support each other’s growth and learning of new things

Autonomy is necessary for personal growth. We often need time alone to recharge. This can benefit our relationships, as we come back feeling more energised, but too much time or space apart can be destructive to a relationship. We need to strike a healthy balance and neither become too co-dependent, nor too distant. This healthy balance will form a healthy base for partners to grow and support each other in fulfilling each partner’s personal dreams.

-  Remember that your partner cannot fulfil all your needs, so do reach out to family and friends to fulfil some of them

-  Maintain supportive circles of friends that can support you and celebrate your bond. Partners that tend to be too dependent on each other or too distant often form less outside common friendships that can be of great support and encouragement in helping each other grow both individually and as a couple

Happy couples see problems as joint problems to be solved

- Understand that conflict and misunderstandings are inevitable in all relationships and an integral part of any healthy relationship

- Tackle problems from a “WE” stance; instead of blaming each other and accusing your partner to be the cause of the problem, try to understand each other’s perspective and accept responsibility for your part in creating the problem, even if it is just a small part

-   Approach the problem with the aim of working together to solve it instead of just venting and letting out anger and frustration

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours
magazine

STOCKHOLM — “Mamma Mia! Here we go again”: Sweden’s legendary disco group ABBA announced on Friday that they have reunited to record two new songs, 35 years after their last single, sparking joy and surprise among fans. 

“We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did,” the group said in a statement after repeatedly vowing they would never reunite. 

The new songs “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down” were recorded last summer, the band’s manager Gorel Hanser told TT news agency. 

The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like “Waterloo”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia” and “Super Trouper”.

“It was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!” members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson added. 

The group, which sold more than 400 million albums, have not sung together publicly since 1986.

“I think it’s going to sound pretty much like their last songs from 1982, with quite a mild tempo, not like ‘Voulez-Vous’ or ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’,” Carl Magnus Palm, who has written several books about the group, told AFP. 

“Frida’s and Agnetha’s voices are the same, so it won’t be a huge difference,” he said.

Palm said he was stunned by Friday’s announcement. 

“I’m as surprised as everyone else.... They’ve always been so adamant that they weren’t going to make new music.”

The news came as Sweden mourned the death of another of its music sensations, Avicii, one of the world’s most successful DJs whose real name was Tim Bergling.

He was found dead a week ago in Oman where he had been on holiday with friends. 

‘Come of age’

Computerised avatars are to perform “I Still Have Faith In You” in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC to be broadcast in December, the group said. 

“We have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good.”

Bjorn, 73, was married to Agnetha, 68, and Benny, 71, was married to Anni-Frid, 72.

The group dominated the 1970s disco scene with their glitzy costumes, kitsch dance routines and catchy melodies.

They first found global fame after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with “Waterloo”.

While they have appeared in public together on rare occasions, they have never reunited to perform as a group, and have vowed that will not ever happen.

“There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were,” Ulvaeus said in a 2008 interview.

Friday’s announcement elicited as much joy as shock among observers. 

Richard Skold, a 46-year-old ABBA fan who works at a Stockholm book store, jumped up with surprise after hearing the news. 

“This is the craziest thing I’ve heard! I never thought this would happen. And the fact that they’re all still alive is fantastic!” he told AFP.

“BREAKING: ABBA have reformed. This may be bigger than Korea,” British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan tweeted, referring to Friday’s historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in.

‘The same wonderful chemistry’

The group’s manager Gorel Hanser told TT that hearing the four record the two new songs was “just like in the ABBA days”. 

“It was the same wonderful chemistry. It was as if time had stood still,” Hanser said. 

“Everyone got into their role and sang, and sang and sang,” she said, adding the band was not planning to tour together in real life. 

Their popularity has continued to grow over the years, with the 1999 hit musical “Mamma Mia” and the 2008 film of the same name starring Meryl Streep bringing their music to a whole new generation of fans.

ABBA’s music also featured prominently in two cult Australian films, “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “Muriel’s Wedding”, both released in 1994.

In 2013, the world’s first museum dedicated to ABBA opened in Stockholm, offering visitors a chance to get up close and personal with the foursome with a little help from modern technology.

People with lower socio-economic status may have fewer years of good physical functioning in old age than their more affluent, educated counterparts, a recent study suggests. 

Researchers examined data on socioeconomic status, chronic medical problems, and walking speed — a proxy for physical functioning — for 109,000 adults ages 45 to 90 from 24 countries in Europe, the US, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Socio-economic status includes income, education and occupation and offers a snapshot of how class shapes opportunities within a given society. 

At age 60, men of low socio-economic status had the same walking speed as 67-year-old men with high socio-economic status, meaning the poorer and less educated people had almost seven fewer years of good physical functioning, the study found. 

Women at age 60, meanwhile, lost more than five years of good physical functioning when they had low socio-economic status, compared to their more affluent counterparts. 

“The impact of poor socio-economic conditions on functioning is comparable to that of major risk factors such as smoking or physical inactivity,” said lead study author Silvia Stringhini of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at Lausanne University Hospital and Lausanne University in Switzerland. 

Plenty of previous research has linked poverty, a lack of education and limited job prospects to an increased risk of chronic disease and premature death, researchers note in the BMJ. Along the way, many people experience a decline in physical functioning, which is thought to be caused by the combination of limited resources and complex medical problems. 

The current study builds on this thesis by showing that in addition to any chronic health problems that may hasten physical decline, socio-economic status is an independent risk factor for worsening function. This means some poor people who are otherwise healthy may still have an increased risk of losing physical function. 

Men and women of low socio-economic status, for example, lost more than five years of physical functioning to a lack of exercise, the study found. They also lost five to seven years of good functioning due to obesity, and about six years from diabetes. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how socio-economic status might directly impact health or physical functioning. 

Even so, the results suggest that doctors and policy makers should focus on socio-economic status as a risk factor for premature aging, the authors conclude. 

Efforts to promote disability-free aging will take on heightened importance as the global population ages, particularly because improvements in healthy aging have not kept pace with gains in life expectancy, said Dr Rachel Cooper, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at the University College London in the UK. 

“Socio-economic adversity is, alongside other risk factors, an important target in global efforts to extend disability-free life expectancy,” Cooper said by e-mail. “These new findings provide further empirical evidence in support of renewed calls for action to address global increases in socio-economic inequality as a matter of urgency for the benefit of the health and wellbeing of our ageing global population.”

AMMAN — Simply called “The Amman Period”, Venezuelan artist Fausto Borge’s exhibition at Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts is the result of his artistic creation while here and, one assumes, a tribute of sorts to the capital city where he has been serving as his country’s ambassador for the past eight years.

The awe-inspiring outcome of his solemn labour of love is abstract imagery of distinguished beauty and subdued, elegant, colour, the result of his long experience as an artist and of his aesthetic credo. 

Like some prehistoric megaliths, his carved aluminium columns may evoke vestiges of ancient civilisations, but they could also be abstract hugging figures, dripping molten metal that suggests the passage and ravages of time, faces trying to break free of the embracing metal, or just towers, as the artist prefers to call them.

The amorphous aluminium bars, drilled, torched and polished to a warm gleam, become tortuous creatures, eerie life that one almost feels pulsating and trying to break free of the imprisoning metal.

Polished to a satiny finish, the columns, like the brown wooden “Woman” reigning solitarily in the exhibition hall, make it difficult to resist the temptation to touch, caress, trace their contorted contours in an attempt to understand and communicate with the hinted life within.

Borge’s sculptures, and many of his paintings, have a primeval, yet, majestic quality. They draw the eye, keep it prisoner for a long time, dare it to decipher the meaning behind the obvious, are tantalising, mysterious, detached yet warmly embracing.

In the paintings, both monumental and of smaller size, the artist makes use of different media — wood, canvas, melted aluminium and resin — to render encrypt messages in arcane script that asks to be deciphered.

Whether abstract silver aluminium “Upside down tears” that seem to defy gravity, a lapis lazuli rendition of the vast “Cosmos” where slivers of shiny metal beckon like far-away stars, or earthen-colour images that remind of prehistoric caves or pottery from the dawn of civilisation, whether on canvas, wood or metal sheets, Borge’s paintings are poignant and touch an inner cord that ties us to our primordial ancestors.

Some themes are a repetition of works presented in a previous exhibition. 

Like then, the metal seems to have docilely submitted to the artist’s whim, but that is clearly not the case. Drill and torch and long hours of polishing imply hard work during which the artist, rather, is forced to yield to the caprices of the metal, a happy relation with intriguing results.

Like then, Borge skilfully plays with texture to create depth and movement, and like then, his works in soothing, almost monochromatic colours, are rich and fascinating.

One cannot but be grateful to the artist’s professor at a New York university where he was studying art administration who suggested that he start painting rather than engrave. In some sort of contrasting activity, he thus started building on the medium rather than taking away from it, and the result is outstanding.

Borge studied engraving at New York University and painting at The Arts Students League of New York; he holds a master of arts degree from New York University, and a diploma in advanced studies in sociology and a certificate in aesthetics from the University of Bordeaux.

This exhibition, “dedicated to my daughter”, Zoe, is then the second this artist is having in Jordan.

And even though he held several solo exhibitions in France and Venezuela, and several group exhibitions in the US, France and his country, this “is the most important exhibition I ever had because it is held in a museum”.

It is indeed a prestigious institution where Borge is “proud” to have had the “honour” to exhibit, but choosing him for the task could not have been difficult. He is an artist of the highest calibre, so the “honour” goes both ways.

His works will be on display until May 14.

The world and the specialised media keep trying to impress us with hot but somewhat mysterious IT topics such as bitcoin, blockchain, driverless cars, unmanned taxi drones and the fancy biometrics used in personal identification. At the same time, and in a more pragmatic, down-to-earth manner, there are quiet, on-going improvements that are being introduced in the hardware we use to be on the network and do all our computing.

These apparently simple but important new features contribute to make life with computers more efficient and more pleasant. Especially when these features combine. This is mainly the case with the new laptop machines. 

The good side of it is significantly better computing for us all. The bad side is that it comes to make laptops you bought just a couple of years ago look old.

Perhaps the most important element introduced in laptops is the SSD disk technology. SSD stands for Solid State Disk. The new disks replace traditional HDDs, Hard Disk Drives. SSD technology is based on a structure that has no moving parts and that works more like the memory of your computer, except that it retains data after you switch off the machine, something that the main memory does not do.

The main advantage of SSD is speed. You start your laptop in ten seconds instead of 40, on average. Files also are saved and opened much faster. Because it has no moving parts an SSD is silent, more shock-tolerant and consumes less power. As for error rates, the two technologies are more or less on the same level. The only aspect that hurt a little is price. Typically, and for the same storage capacity, SSD is about five times more expensive than HDD. Still, SSDs are slowly but surely replacing HDDs in most new laptop models, in all brands.

Another significant addition is the USB-C port. The new standard already is available on Samsung’s high-end smartphones like the Galaxy S8 and S9. Now it is being fitted as a standard in the most recent laptop computers. Again, it is essentially a matter of speed. However, and in addition to pure speed, USB-C also brings with it a nice little improvement that adds convenience of use.

Unlike its predecessors, USB2.0 and USB3.0 that had an “up” and a “down” side of the connector, forcing you to look carefully before plugging it in the computer, USB-C connectors can be plugged either way — no need to look anymore, and no risk of breaking the connector by inserting it the wrong way.

Inexpensive memory chips have made it easy and affordable to buy laptops with 8GB and even 16GB. Whereas 2G and 4G were the norm, because of price, this size was just not enough to power modern laptops, and to run with satisfactory speed Windows 10, Photoshop CC, and the like, or to process heavy graphics. Now several models by Dell and Lenovo, mainly, come with 8GB as standard and 16GB as an option, for just a little more money: about JD50. Definitely worth the expenditure.

Last but not least is the touch screen. It is not anymore the exclusive privilege of tablets and smartphones, the place where it started. Many laptops are now made with a touch screen. Even if computers already do have a physical keyboard, having a touch screen brings added comfort of use whenever a quick touch action, a click or drawing are necessary.  

The combination of SSD disks, USB-C ports, large memory size and touch screen, drastically changes the performance of a laptop and the pleasure of using it. But again, it makes models not fitted with these features obsolete.

By now, Facebook users seem to finally get that they may not get charged anything for using the social networking service, but it sure is not free, not after being subjected to ad after spookily-tailoured ad.

Yet, users still seem to have a long way to go to fully understand what Facebook and the other big tech companies are really doing. And, of course, Facebook seems just as far away from delivering what consumers clearly seem to want.

That is my pessimistic conclusion from a new research note by the venture capital firm Loup Ventures of Minneapolis, in which managing partner Doug Clinton answered the question of what the online data of a single US user are really worth.

Clinton and his Loup partners are technology optimists, with Clinton saying this week that people should expect at least a few problems with pretty much all innovations that make their lives better.

He started looking into the topic of what he called social data, not because of Facebook’s still-unfolding privacy scandal, but by puzzling over technical solutions for locking up and then selling one’s own personal data. One problem Loup found here — which is that a user is not worth nearly as much to Facebook as consumers seem to think — seems to also suggest that Facebook has a lot of work ahead to regain consumer trust.

As almost everyone must know by now, Google does not charge for using Google Maps, and Facebook does not charge for its popular Facebook and Instagram applications. These applications are almost too easy to use, as even novices can get online and be liking and friending like mad within minutes.

Facebook’s business model of “free” is shared by other big technology firms, a peculiar outcome of popular Silicon Valley ideas that seem to be impossible to hold in your head at the same time.

One was how the technology community had to celebrate the entrepreneurs of this age, builders of thriving businesses such as Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google or Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. The other is that the internet must remain a free and wide-open place, without government interference and available at no cost to anybody with the interest and means to get online.

The problem with free, of course, is that the entrepreneurs had to get their money from someone in order to have a business. That meant selling advertising.

The Silicon Valley firms offered advertisers a different deal, though, not the mass-market approach of 30-¬second radio spots or a quarter of a newspaper page. Facebook promised ads in front of the eyeballs of just the right person, having learned who that was by closely paying attention to what its users did online.

Meanwhile, Clinton and his colleagues at Loup Ventures had recently been noodling a potential business opportunity for the emerging blockchain technology, best known now for being the foundation of virtual currencies. Maybe consumers could use something like that to lock up their personal-use histories on technologies like Facebook’s and Google’s. Instead of giving their data away to these companies, they could sell it.

So what is that worth?

Last year, Facebook generated about $19.5 billion in US and Canada ad revenue from its average monthly active users of more than 235 million, working out to about $82 each. Pare that amount back, applying things like expenses and taxes, and the value of their data per user is about $20.72.

A $20 bill likely will not be enough to get anyone excited about the prospect of trading away personal data to a company like Facebook.

Facebook users, though, seem to have no idea they are worth so little. When about 500 users were asked by Loup about that, about a quarter responded with less than $25. The most popular response, more than four in 10, was $500 or more.

Even armed with annual filings from Facebook and a calculator, it is not exactly easy for people to figure out what their data might be worth. But that is not really Clinton’s point.

He thinks that by putting a big number on the value of their own data, Facebook’s users are once again saying how angry they were at having found out their personal profile had been used in a way they would never want. So what is their privacy worth? It is priceless.

What to do about their data privacy is not obvious, either. Facebook rolled out changes to its privacy settings after the scandal erupted over user data being mined by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm. But Clinton found out what a hassle managing settings can be.

“I was 10 minutes in, and I was probably 10 per cent of the way through the process of figuring out how to manage my data,” Clinton said. “To do it well, and this is just on Facebook, it’s probably an hourlong-plus project.”

Just one in 10 respondents to Loup’s survey said they had spend more than 20 minutes tweaking the privacy settings. By far, the most popular answer was zero minutes.

If people don’t even want to think about their privacy settings, one thing for Facebook to do, Clinton suggested in our conversation, is to make more of the default privacy choices “closed” rather than open. Let consumers choose if they want to share more about themselves to help Facebook provide better ads, videos and other material.

Of course, he also noted that what people really want is not fully rational. They insist their privacy be completely protected even as they use Facebook and Instagram to blast out photos of their kids along with lots and lots of very personal details all over the world.

If anybody understands the curious ways of Facebook users right now, you would assume it has to be Facebook’s executives. It remains to be seen what they may do next with those insights.

When my generation was growing up, our parents took great efforts in imparting good manners to the children, and immense time was spent on instilling the traditional Indian greeting ritual into each of us. This involved folding the hands together with the palms touching, lowering the head a bit, and with a smile saying  “Namaste”  to the person who was being greeted.

There was never a chance of avoiding it because our elders always prompted with a “do Namaste” the minute we spotted any relatives, friends or acquaintances. I am told that I mastered the smiling and joining hands bit quite easily but used to lisp out “Manaste”, instead. In my enthusiasm I would mix up the consonants, which lead to a lot of laughter at my expense. I had no idea of the comic slipup and thought that all the people who laughed were just happy to see me. 

I don’t remember exactly when I switched to the correct form of the salutation but I can recall our grandmother describing the significance of the term, in patient detail. It was derived from the Sanskrit word “Namaskar” that meant “I bow to you”, she explained. There was a spiritual divinity within each of us, our grandma would clarify, and by doing this prayer-like gesture towards another person, you are acknowledging the divinity in them, she used to say.

By using “Namaste” as a way to say hello or goodbye, one makes an effort to actively connect to others. It does not have any spiritual connotation though interestingly, a related word, namazlik, meaning “prayer rug”, was entered in Merriam-Webster’s 1934 Unabridged edition, Webster’s Second. It comes from the Turkish word namaz meaning “worship ritual or prayer” and goes back to Middle Persian and Avestan (the oldest Iranian language) to nemahya- (“honour, pay homage to”), a derivative of nem- (“bend”), which is exactly cognate with Sanskrit namati, thereby connecting the ancient gesture and the ancient tradition of prayer rugs through the earliest roots of distantly related languages, according to merriam-webster.com

So, once I understood that there was so much of culture and conventional wisdom associated with this simple gesture, I taught it to our daughter too. She grasped it almost immediately and did not need too much prompting in public, as reinforcement. The minute she met any friend or relative of mine, she was ready with a “Namaste Uncle” or “Namaste Aunty”, as the case may be. But once she went off to college, she switched to greeting everyone with a short and truncated “hello”. When I protested, she smilingly opted for the “how do you do” followed by a handshake.

Nobody could find fault with that and her doting father insisted that it was a very well mannered thing to do. As a last resort I told her that the reason she fell sick so often was because each time she shook hands with a person suffering from influenza, the germs got transferred to her. Like most mothers, after putting this idea in her head I promptly forgot about it. 

“Mom, I met your friend in London recently,” our daughter said on the phone. 

“Yes, she wrote to me,” I said. 

“You greeted her with a Namaste?” I asked. 

“I am so proud of you,” I exclaimed. 

“She was very impressed,” I gushed. 

“Oh! That was because Aunty had a cold,” our daughter justified. 

There was a moment’s pause. 

“Mum?” our daughter prompted. 

“I’m still proud of you,” I answered.

Middle-aged men who are sedentary much of the day and don’t get a lot of exercise are more likely to develop bladder and urinary tract symptoms than their peers who sit less, a Korean study suggests. 

Researchers examined data on 69,795 men who were 40 years old on average and didn’t have a history of bladder disease. All of the men completed questionnaires about their activity levels, sedentary time and the frequency and severity of symptoms such as leakage, difficulties voiding, a constant need to urinate or sleep disruptions related to urination. 

After an average follow-up of 2.6 years, 9,217 men developed significant lower urinary tract symptoms, researchers report in BJU International. 

Compared to inactive men, participants who got even a little exercise were 6 per cent less likely to develop urinary problems during the study, and men who got lots of physical activity had 7 per cent lower odds. 

In addition, compared to men who spent less than five hours a day sitting, men who spent at least 10 hours sedentary were 15 per cent more likely to develop bladder issues. For men who were sedentary from five to nine hours a day, the risk was increased by 8 per cent. 

“This suggests that both reducing time spent sitting and promoting physical activity are important for preventing lower urinary tract symptoms,” said senior study author Dr Seungho Ryu of Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul. 

“Too much sitting is considered an emerging health risk factor for the development of chronic diseases,” Ryu said by e-mail. 

The connection between inactivity and bladder problems persisted even after researchers accounted for several other risk factors that can independently contribute to urinary issues such as obesity and diabetes. 

One limitation of the study is that the questionnaire about sedentary time didn’t distinguish between different types of inactivity such as watching television, working or commuting, the authors note. 

Another drawback is that few participants were over 65 years old, and the risk of bladder problems increases dramatically with age. 

Still, the results add to evidence linking less exercise to more urinary symptoms, said Dr J. Kellogg Parsons, of the Moores Comprehensive Cancer Centre and University of California, San Diego Health. 

“Scientists are uncertain as to why there is a link,” Parsons, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. “The take home message is that bladder symptoms are yet another health problem that can occur when adults do not exercise often enough.” 

It’s also possible that the ability to exercise might be a proxy for something else, like other medical conditions or general fitness that might also contribute to urinary tract health, said Dr David Penson, director of the Centre for Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee. 

“What this tells me is that, in patients who can exercise and be physically active, they may garner some additional benefit from this,” Penson, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “Basically, exercise isn’t just good for your heart — it might be good for your bladder.” 

Yoga, exercise, education and personal skills training are among the many types of interventions that may help kids improve what is known as self-regulation, or their ability to manage their behaviour and emotions, a study suggests. 

Self-regulation covers a lot of things that kids need to succeed inside and outside the classroom, ranging from the ability to have positive interactions with others, the capacity to avoid inappropriate or aggressive actions, and the ability to carry out self-directed learning. Cognitive processes contributing to self-regulation are often referred to as “executive function” and can include impulse control as well as the ability to direct or focus attention, adapt flexibly to changes and retain information. 

For the current study, researchers examined data from 49 previously published studies with a total of more than 23,000 children and teens who were randomly selected to receive an intervention to improve self-regulation or join a control group that did not get this help. 

Most of the interventions were associated with improvements in kids’ ability to appropriately adjust their behaviour and emotional responses to fit different situations, researchers report in JAMA Paediatrics. While many things appeared helpful, the most effective approach involved training teachers to incorporate self-regulation education into their routine classroom activities. 

“Self-regulation skills can be a powerful predictor of positive health, educational, financial and social outcomes,” said lead study author Dr Anuja Pandey of the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health at the University College of London in the UK. 

“While interventions to improve self-regulation mostly target pre-school and primary school age, our study findings show that such interventions can be effective even during adolescence, thus providing an extended window of opportunity to improve self-regulation,” Pandey said by e-mail. 

Children and teens who struggle with self-regulation may be prone to behavioural problems and emotional outbursts that make it hard for them to maintain friendships, enjoy sports and other group activities, and meet academic expectations in school. These kids can also have difficulties concentrating on tasks and lose interest in daily activities. 

Researchers found consistent improvements in self-regulation in 16 of 21 interventions that were incorporated into school curriculums, making this the most successful approach. 

However, many other options worked at least some of the time, including four of six exercise-based interventions, four of eight yoga and mindfulness interventions, and four of six interventions targeting social and personal skills. 

In some instances, these interventions were also associated with improved academic achievement and reductions in substance abuse, school suspensions, depression, conduct disorders and behavioural problems. 

One limitation of the study is that the many smaller experiments included in the analysis tested a wide variety of approaches and had different ways of measuring any improvements in self-regulation, the authors note. 

Another drawback is that even though study participants ranged in age from two to 17 years old, the average age was six, and few of the studies focused on older children and teens. 

Still, parents should be encouraged by the results, which suggest that self-regulation is a teachable skill and that many approaches to these lessons may work, said Laurence Steinberg, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia. 

“What’s surprising is that so many different types of activity — meditation, physical exercise, yoga, executive function training programs — are reasonably effective,” Steinberg said by e-mail. 

“This matters for parents because it indicates that there may be different routes to the same goal, and that parents ought to be able to find some approach that suits their child,” Steinberg added. 

By virtue of occupying the same position in Audi’s range as a high performance coupe variant based on the same basic platform as the brand’s junior executive saloon, the new Audi RS5 Coupe is for all intents and purposes, the latest and most potent successor to Ingolstadt’s most defining and iconic 1980-91 Quattro. Though not being actively promoted as such, and without its predecessor’s rallying links, the RS5 may be thoroughly more modern and sophisticated, but retains its famous predecessor’s basic formula and shares a similar rivalry with the BMW M3.

Knowing nod

The most nimble of the traditional longitudinal front engine current Audis, the RS5 still does things a little different to its premium coupe M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe rivals, with more emphasis on dogmatic road-holding and tenacious traction, courtesy of its Quattro four-wheel-drive. And like its German rivals, the RS5 has downsized its engine capacity — to an all-new 2.9-litre V6 — and adopted twin-turbochargers without forsaking power or performance. With its smaller and lighter engine partly accounting for its enhanced agility, the new RS5’s performance improves on its immediate naturally-aspirated 4.2-litre V8 RS5 predecessor’s. 

Sharing the garden-variety A5 base model line’s sleek and sophisticated design, the RS5 features similarly swept back and moodily browed headlights, snouty and vast grille and elegantly long, flowing lines. With an almost fastback look roofline and rear quarters and thick C-pillars, it harks back to the Quattro, but it is the beefier RS5-specific bulging and blistered wheel-arches, which most pointedly reference the iconic Quattro. Additional RS5-specific design elements include honey-comb grille design, bigger intakes, sharper and lower front lip, more defined side skirts and more pronounced rear air diffuser and huge dual oval exhaust tips.

Responsive and rapid

Under a long ridged bonnet, the RS5’s potent twin-turbo direct injection V6 engine is mounted low and in-line, just ahead of the front axle. Driving all wheels through a smooth and slick 8-speed gearbox with escalatingly aggressive auto and paddle-shift manual modes, the RS5’s engine develops 444BHP at 5,700-6,700rpm and a thick forceful wave of 4,42lb/ft torque throughout a broad, accessible and versatile 1,900-5,000rpm mid-range. Quick-spooling and virtually-lag free, the RS5’s engine is responsive from idling, while its Quattro system ensures vice-like traction at launch, which help return a supercar-like 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.9-seconds.

As powerful as its predecessor, but with significantly quicker and with more torque, the new RS5 may not reach the same lofty rev limit in excess of 8,250rpm, but is eager, crisp and high revving for a turbocharged engine. Capably of 280km/h with optional speed derestriction, the RS5 is, however, also more fuel efficient than its predecessor, and with stop/start system, can return 8.7l/100km combined cycle consumption. Different in character than the outgoing RS5, the new model also takes on a dual personality in its own right, depending on how one configures its various adjustable driving modes.

From smooth to snarling

Smooth, refined and quiet to the point of seeming docility in terms of acoustics when in Comfort mode, the RS5, however, adopts a sharper throttle profile and a more muscular, viciously vocal, snarling and wailing engine and exhaust tone when Dynamic mode engine and exhaust modes are activated. A hugely capable high performance sports coupe with seamlessly swift gearbox, the RS5’s progress is effortlessly rapid, with blistering acceleration from standstill and a deep mid-range providing immediate mid-range response. Meanwhile, the RS5’s high strung torque plateau arrives with and explosively urgent progression. 

Accessible, effortless and reassuring for daily driving, the RS5 is manoeuvrable in town with light Comfort mode steering, refined inside, settled and stable at speed and committed through corners and in low traction conditions. A more user-friendly, comfortable and luxurious car than its Quattro predecessor, and not unlike its S5 junior performance coupe sister model, the RS5’s character and controls, however, sharpen up and become more responsive and focused in Dynamic mode. To better experience its sporting potential, one does need to push closer to the edges of huge dynamic and performance envelope.

Agile ability

The smallest, lightest and most nimble of Audi’s traditional front inline engine models, the new RS5’s lighter engine and more sophisticate five-link all-round suspension help make it unexpectedly eager, crisp, tidy and agile on turn-in for its front-biased weighting. Riding on fixed rate sports suspension, the RS5 is smooth and firm without being uncomfortable over imperfections, yet is flat and well-controlled through corners. Meanwhile, its rear-biased four-wheel-drive — and optional rear sports differential — are able re-apportion power front and rear and along the rear axle to the wheel that can best put it down to tarmac.

With comfortable, supportive quilted leather seats, well-adjustable driving position, good visibility and chunky sports steering wheel, one feels involved and alert when driving the RS5 through corners and switchbacks. Able to carry high speed through tight corners with ease, the RS5 is more than a one trick pony, and with a dab of mid-corner braking or throttle lift-off, is eager to pivot and tighten a cornering line before blasting out of a corner as throttle is reapplied. Steering is meanwhile accurate, brakes reassuringly capable, while interior design, quality and ergonomics of a high level and infotainment, convenience and driver assistance systems extensive.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2.9-litre, twin-turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 86mm
• Compression ratio: 10:1
• Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1st 5.0; 2nd 3.2; 3rd 2.143; 4th 1.72; 5th 1.313; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.823; 8th 0.64
• Reverse/final drive: 3.478/3.204
• Drive-line: Self-locking centre differential, optional rear sport differential
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 444 (450) [331] @5700-6700rpm
• Specific power: 153.3BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 268.1BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 442.5 (600) @1900-5000rpm
• Specific torque: 207.3Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 262.5Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 3.9-seconds
• Top speed (optional de-restriction): 250km/h (280km/h)
• Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 11.5-/7.1-/8.7-litres/100km 
• CO2 emissions, combined: 197g/km
• Fuel capacity: 58-litres
• Length: 4,723mm
• Width: 1,861mm
• Height: 1,360mm
• Wheelbase: 2,766mm
• Track, F/R: 1598/1,588mm
• Overhangs, F/R: 918/1,039mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.316
• Headroom, F/R: 1,005/920mm
• Shoulder width, F/R: 1,404/1,287mm
• Luggage volume: 465-litres
• Unladen/kerb weight: 1,655/1,730kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning Circle: 11.7-metres
• Suspension: Five-link, anti-roll bars
• Brakes: Ventilated, perforated discs
• Tyres: 275/30ZR20