In Brief: Dec. 31, 2001

GRANDPARENT COOL Just a generation ago, elderly people in children's literature were often portrayed as grumpy, mean or doddering, but a University of Florida study has found that contemporary kids books now overwhelmingly depict grandparents as upbeat, active and wise. Researchers believe that elders are getting added positive attention because more people are living to be active grandparents. The number of people age 65 or older has tripled over the past 50 years to a record 420 million worldwide, and older people in general are better educated, retiring earlier and living longer, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.

KIDS UP, MOM DOWN Mothers who are frequently up at night with their infant children could be at risk for depression, according to a study in the medical journal Pediatrics. Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 700 new moms and their offspring. About half of the women reported that their babies were poor sleepers, and almost 25% of those sleep-deprived moms scored high on depression tests. Researchers discovered that mothers who found ways to get enough sleep by napping when their baby did or having their partners take on some night duty were not depression prone.

--By Lisa McLaughlin