Sociology Research and News
 | An Indiana University School of Medicine study has determined that a patient's socioeconomic status has more influence than race on physician diagnosis of whether a child's injury was accidental or caused by abuse. ...> Full Article |
US states that enacted unilateral divorce laws saw substantial increases in violent crime in the years following the reform, according to research in the Journal of Labor Economics. But the ill-effects of the new laws appear to be largely temporary.
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A study of a controversial housing project that allows chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems to drink in their apartments found that during their first two years in the building residents cut their heavy drinking by 35 percent.
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Passersby who stopped to answer surveys next to churches reported themselves as more politically conservative and more negative toward non-Christians than did people questioned within sight of government buildings -- a finding that may be significant during elections, according to a Baylor University study. The research examines "priming" -- how visual or verbal cues can influence people.
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A program built around the concept that kids can and want to reduce violence and improve their neighborhoods led to lower crime rates, better upkeep on homes and more students who said they learned to resolve conflicts without violence.
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A new study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family reveals that married couples experience few advantages for psychological well-being, health, or social ties compared to unmarried couples who live together. While both marriage and cohabitation provide benefits over being single, these reduce over time following a honeymoon period.
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If you are unhappy at work, it could be partly due to your boss' management style. Both over-controlling managers who use threats as a way to motivate employees, and organizations that do not appear to value individuals' contributions, frustrate our basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (how we relate to others). This, in turn, is likely to have a negative impact on our well-being at work.
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Researchers at the University of Southampton have launched a unique, international project to look at the complex nature of identity, both in the real world and online.
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People with mental illness have gotten a bad rap in past studies, being labeled the group of people with the highest return rates to prison. But a researcher from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University counters those findings in a new study -- demonstrating that inmates with severe mental illnesses alone actually have lower rates of recidivism than those with substance abuse issues or no mental or substance abuse issues.
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It could be called the wingman theory or the Barney Stinson principle (after the character played by Neil Patrick Harris on hit TV show "How I Met Your Mother"). A University of Alberta researcher says that -- like Barney, who spends much of his time trying to find his single friend a mate -- people are generally willing to help a friend protect or enhance his reputation or help him otherwise save face in a social situation.
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Racial discrimination may be harmful to your health, according to new research from Rice University. In the study, the authors examined data containing measures of social class, race and perceived discriminatory behavior and found that approximately 18 percent of blacks and 4 percent of whites reported higher levels of emotional upset and/or physical symptoms due to race-based treatment.
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The perception that women are scarce leads men to become impulsive, save less, and increase borrowing, according to new research from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
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 | Every year, Americans drink 13.8 billion gallons of soda, fruit punch, sweet tea, sports drinks, and other sweetened beverages -- a mass consumption of sugar that is fueling soaring obesity and diabetes rates in the United States. ...> Full Article |
International terrorist organizations have shifted their Internet activity focus to social networks and today a number of Facebook groups are asking users to join and support Hezbollah, Hamas and other armed groups that have been included in the West's list of declared terror organizations. This has been shown in a new study conducted by professor Gabriel Weimann of the University of Haifa.
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We generally think that views about how to integrate a diverse society depend on people's positions in that society -- that is, whether they're in the racial, religious, or cultural majority or a member of a minority. In the US, "people tend to believe that blacks prefer pluralism and whites prefer assimilation," says University of Delaware psychologist Eric Hehman. Assimilation asks minorities -- whether newly arrived or historically rooted -- to drop their cultural identities and adopt the ways of the majority.
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Socioeconomic status more influential than race in determination of child abuse
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