Sociology Times

Study documents the importance of supportive spouses in coping with work-related stress

Saturday, February 25, 2012 00:00 MST

The growth of two-income families and increasing levels of job stress are two of the most significant work trends affecting American businesses and families in recent years. Having just one stressed-out spouse can harm couple's work and home lives -- but what about when it's both?

No kids in public school? You still benefit

Friday, February 24, 2012 00:00 MST

Quality public schools benefit everyone - including those without school-aged children - and therefore everyone should play a role in maintaining them, according to a study by two Michigan State University scholars.

Social workers should reclaim role in juvenile corrections system, researcher says

Thursday, February 23, 2012 00:00 MST

A University of Missouri expert on juvenile justice and child welfare says social workers should return to the juvenile corrections system and reclaim their role as rehabilitators.

Identifying poverty levels requires accurate measurements

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 00:00 MST

When food prices spiked in 2008, the number of households that moved into poverty was overestimated by about 60 percent, according to a recent University of Illinois study. In middle-income countries such as Mexico that have more diversity in their diets, households are able to substitute other foods and cope with the change in prices.

Neighborhood bar density linked to intimate partner violence-related visits to emergency department

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 00:00 MST

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been linked to heavy drinking, and alcohol outlet density to violence. A new study looks at links between alcohol outlet densities and IPV-related Emergency Department (ED) visits. Findings showed that bars are positively related to IPV-related ED visits, while there is no relationship between restaurant density and IPV-related ED visits.

Study posits a theory of moral behavior

Monday, February 20, 2012 00:00 MST

Why do some people behave morally while others do not? Sociologists at the University of California, Riverside and California State University, Northridge have developed a theory of the moral self that may help explain the ethical lapses in the banking, investment and mortgage-lending industries that nearly ruined the US economy.

Violent radicalisation better tackled with public health measures, say researchers

Sunday, February 19, 2012 00:00 MST

Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London propose a drastic re-think to tackling terrorism, moving away from the criminal justice system and putting public health into the spotlight.

Green spaces reduce stress levels of jobless, study shows

Saturday, February 18, 2012 00:00 MST

Stress levels of unemployed people are linked more to their surroundings than their age, gender, disposable income, and degree of deprivation, a study shows.

Online role-playing games hurt marital satisfaction, says study

Friday, February 17, 2012 00:00 MST

The first study to document a link between online role-playing games and marital satisfaction says it's not just about how much time is spent playing - the ensuing arguments and disruption of routines are the real sore spots.

Kids show cultural gender bias

Thursday, February 16, 2012 00:00 MST

Talk about gender confusion! A recent study by University of Alberta researchers Elena Nicoladis and Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology into whether speaking French influenced how children assigned gender to objects yielded some interesting observations. Nicoladis and Foursha-Stevenson found some differences between the monolingual English children and the bilingual French-English children they surveyed.

People with easy-to-pronounce names are favored at work and in personal life

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 00:00 MST

Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name is more likely to win you friends and favor in the workplace, a study by Dr. Simon Laham at the University of Melbourne and Dr. Adam Alter at New York University Stern School of Business, has found.

Teenage pregnancy is not a racial issue

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 00:00 MST

While researchers have long set to determine if there is a tie between race and teenage pregnancy, according to a new study, equating black teenagers with the problem of teenage pregnancy is a misrepresentation of today's real�ity. This new study is detailed in the article, "Black Teenage Pregnancy: A Dynamic Social Problem," published in SAGE Open.

East views the world differently to West

Monday, February 13, 2012 00:00 MST

Cultural differences between the West and East are well documented, but a study shows that concrete differences also exist in how British and Chinese people recognize people and the world around them. Easterners really do look at the world differently to Westerners, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Online dating research shows cupid's arrow is turning digital

Sunday, February 12, 2012 00:00 MST

Online dating has not only shed its stigma, it has surpassed all forms of matchmaking in the United States other than meeting through friends, according to a new analysis of research on the burgeoning relationship industry. But the industry's claims to offering a "science-based" approach with sophisticated algorithm-based matching have not been substantiated by independent researchers and, therefore, "should be given little credence," the authors conclude.

Facebook is not such a good thing for those with low self-esteem

Saturday, February 11, 2012 00:00 MST

In theory, the social networking website Facebook could be great for people with low self-esteem. Sharing is important for improving friendships. But in practice, people with low self-esteem seem to behave counterproductively, bombarding their friends with negative tidbits about their lives and making themselves less likeable, according to a new study which will be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.