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Children's Autonomy and responsibility: an analysis of childrearing advice

Rutherford's analysis of back issues of the popular US magazine, Parents, maps how the portrayal of parental authority and children's autonomy has changed over the last century. Her findings are published online in Springer's journal Qualitative Sociology.

4 Aug 2009

Marital biography and health at mid-life

A stable, long-term marriage can be good for your health, but divorce or widowhood leave a lasting scar on the health of middle-aged and older people, according to a new study. Remarriage seems to reduce but not erase the damage done by losing a marriage, and those who remain single after a marriage ends show consistently worse health than those who remarried.

27 Jul 2009

Adolescent cocaine use in Northern Ireland

Research conducted by the Institute of Child Care Research at Queen's School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work has found that 7.5% of young people who took part in the Belfast Youth Development Survey had tried cocaine at least once by the age of 16.

30 Jun 2009

Stress may indeed be a direct contributor to childhood obesity.

That's according to a new Iowa State University study finding that increased levels of stress in adolescents are associated with a greater likelihood of them being overweight or obese.

15 May 2009

Job losses have negative effect on health, study finds

Workers who lost their job through no fault of their own were twice as likely as continuously employed workers to report over the next 18 months that they developed a new illness, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, according to a study released last week, the New York Times reports.

12 May 2009

New influenza A (H1N1) having powerful impact on us

The new influenza A (H1N1), known as the swine flu, demonstrates the power of people's perceptions of risk. Sales of face masks are breaking all records not only in Mexico but also in Sweden. Hotel guests are being isolated at a hotel in Hong Kong, and people with the sniffles are being isolated in airports around the world. But before the outbreak of the flu, this was a risk that extremely few Swedes perceived as a serious threat to themselves.

6 May 2009

Poor health and unemployment go hand in hand

Recent research shakes up the myth that Scandinavia's welfare states are best at keeping unemployment from affecting health.

30 Apr 2009

Parents: Slow down and get off the marriage-go-round

After a divorce or break-up, parents need to be very cautious about bringing new love interests into their homes, according to Andrew Cherlin, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University.

27 Apr 2009

Black-white differences in avoidable mortality in the United States, 1980-2005

Two-thirds of the difference between death rates among African Americans and Caucasians are now due to causes that could be prevented or cured, according to a new study appearing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

23 Apr 2009

The influence of risk-taking behaviors on the transition into marriage

A national study of data collected over 12 years finds that delinquent teens marry earlier than their peers, while substance-abusing teens -- especially girls who abuse marijuana -- marry later than peers, if at all.

22 Apr 2009

What makes young people happy?

Living with a partner and having good health are key sources of happiness for both young men and women, according to a new report from researchers in the Department of Sociology at Bristol University.

8 Apr 2009

Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water reduces excess calorie consumption in kids

Replacing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with water could eliminate an average of 235 excess calories per day among children and adolescents, according to a study published in the April 2009 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

6 Apr 2009

Stem cell innovation in UK at risk

Despite great hopes for stem cell therapy, major structural and cultural changes within the NHS are needed if it is to succeed in the UK.

6 Apr 2009

Stem cell innovation at risk

Despite great hopes for stem cell therapy, major structural and cultural changes within the NHS are needed if it is to succeed in the UK. Currently the chances of getting effective treatments into routine use in the short-term are small and the industry is at serious risk of 'market failure'.

6 Apr 2009

Do Americans have an identity crisis when it comes to race and ethnicity?

Say goodbye to Italian-Americans and German-Americans and say hello to Vietnamese-Americans, Salvadoran-Americans and a bunch of other hyphenated Americans.

29 Mar 2009

Increased schooling slowing HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

Increased schooling across sub-Saharan Africa may be lowering new HIV infections among younger adults, according to sociologists, suggesting a shift in a decades-long trend where formal education is considered an AIDS risk factor.

22 Mar 2009

A new perspective on the obesity 'epidemic'

Headlines tell us the nation is getting fatter, and that obesity has become an epidemic.

16 Mar 2009

Telehealth for diabetes promotes aging at home, not in the hospital

A large study of ethnically and racially diverse individuals with diabetes has found that home telemonitoring of their health resulted in significantly fewer deaths than in a similar group that was not monitored. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

12 Mar 2009

College science requirements keep US ahead of world, MSU researcher argues

Despite frequent warnings of the inadequacy of education in the United States, citizens here are still among the world's most scientifically literate, a Michigan State University researcher said.

16 Feb 2009

Parents 'avoid pregnancy' rather than face testing choices

Parents of children with genetic conditions may avoid the need to choose whether to undergo pre-natal testing or to abort future pregnancies by simply avoiding subsequent pregnancy altogether, a study has found.

15 Feb 2009