Friday’s Morning Zone

Today on The Morning Zone, It's Kids At Risk, Wyoming Perspectives and Open Lines.

7:07AM MDT: Dave Chaffin is joined by Renee Hanson, Licensed Professional Counselor and John Frentheway, Child Advocate Attorney in our long-running Kids-At-Risk series. Today, they will explore a new article out this week that discusses that unhappy kids who watch a lot of TV ads may come to believe that material possessions are the key to feeling better, new research hints.

A number of studies in adults have suggested that unhappiness and materialism can create a vicious circle: People who are dissatisfied with their lives may think material possessions will make them happy; and when that fails, they become even more discontent.

Since we're living in a material world, there is concern about what that mindset could mean for kids' life satisfaction.

In the new study, researchers found that, unlike adults, materialistic 8- to 11-year-olds did not become less happy over time.

On the other hand, unhappy kids did become more consumed by material possessions - but only if they watched a lot of TV.

The findings, which appear in the journal Pediatrics, point to links among unhappiness, TV and materialism, though they cannot prove that TV is the villain.

8:07AM MDT: Wyoming State Legislator, Amy Edmonds and Wyoming Liberty Group Economist, Sven Larson, continue their new series called Wyoming Perspectives. Today, "post mortum" on the elections from Tuesday, focusing in on the 6th penny projects.  Then they will take a "Wyoming" look at Paul Ryan and his federal budget ideas and what they could mean for Wyoming.  For example we want to talk about the idea of doing block grants for medicaid and what that could mean for us.  We can use UW as an example locally, as they get a block grant from the state.

9:07AM MDT: Open Lines...You are our guest and you pick the topic. Call in at 1-888-503-6500 toll free or locally 307-632-6500 or 632-3323