The U.S. Spends Less Than Nearly Every Country on Unemployment. That's Why People Can't Get Jobs.
By Sarah Damaske for Time
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported significant job growth in June: 850,000 new jobs. But with the unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at 5.9 percent, the debate about whether generous federal unemployment benefits keep people from returning to work continues. Last…
SPR 'Abstract of Distinction' award goes to Research-to-Policy Collaborative
A symposium organized by Assistant Research Professor and Co-Director of the Research-to-Policy Collaborative (RPC) Taylor Scott won an 'Abstract of Distinction' Award at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) held June 2-4.
More information about the symposium,…
Serving larger portions of veggies may increase young kids' veggie consumption
It can be difficult to get young kids to eat enough vegetables, but a new Penn State study found that simply adding more veggies to their plates resulted in children consuming more vegetables at the meal.
The researchers found that when they doubled the amount of corn and broccoli served at a meal…
New book: Time-Varying Effect Modeling for the Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
This book, co-authored by Stephanie Lanza, Penn State professor of biobehavioral health and director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (PRC); and Ashley Linden-Carmichael, PRC assistant research professor, is the first to introduce applied behavioral, social, and health sciences…
Why Social Science? - Because Trans Activism Can Change How We Understand Language
By Aris Keshav, UC Santa Barbara
If you're reading this, you've probably already encountered transgender linguistic activism. When people introduce themselves, for example, it's increasingly common to share pronouns and ask what others use, instead of assuming the best way to refer to them based on…
SAFE-T Center awarded grant to expand training, establish workforce advancement
Sexual assault victims have better outcomes when they receive specialized care, yet there is a shortage of trained sexual-assault nurses across the country, especially in rural areas.
A $1.5 million, three-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration will allow the Penn State’s…
Engage Podcast highlights project
Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute released the latest episode of its Engage Podcast discussing research into e-cigarettes. Andrea Hobkirk, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavior health, discusses her work into how the brain responds to flavored e-cigarettes…
US women feel guilty about this, but men don't
Opinion by PRI Associate Director Sarah Damaske for CNN
An engaged mother of three, Vanessa worked as a certified nursing assistant, making just above minimum wage. She had no savings when her employer downsized, and she worried about how her job loss would impact her kids and her fiancé. She…
Privilege plays a huge role in getting an ADHD diagnosis
By Jess Joho for Mashable
For more than two decades now, the prevailing cultural narratives around ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) centered on suspicions of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. A significant rise in ADHD diagnoses in the '90s sparked concerns that continue to this day…
Penn State early career scholars selected for postdoctoral fellowships
SSRI cofunded faculty member Ericka Weathers, assistant professor of education (educational theory and policy), and Matthew Gardner Kelly, assistant professor of education (educational leadership) in Penn State’s College of Education have been selected as 2021 National Academy of Education (NAEd)…
Behavior limits COVID-19 spread between University and community
When universities across the U.S. opted to return students to campus for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020, surrounding communities were understandably concerned that COVID-19 infections rates would significantly increase.
In response, several Penn State…
Ehrenthal named director of Social Science Research Institute
The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research welcomes Deborah Ehrenthal, MD, MPH, as the new Director of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), effective September 1, 2021. Dr. Ehrenthal succeeds Dr. Susan McHale, who is returning to her full‐time faculty position after 14 years as…
Penn State researchers are developing app to promote family well-being
The middle-school years mark a time of rapid change for pre-teens and teens, as well as for their parents. As adolescents seek greater independence, it can be challenging for their parents to connect with and guide them. Penn State researchers, with funding from the Mental Research Institute, are…
Human development and family studies professor joins Recovery Rising initiative
H. Harrington ‘Bo’ Cleveland, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State and SSRI cofunded faculty member, has been appointed to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs’ Recovery Rising initiative.
Recovery Rising works to foster a resilient, diverse and…
Parents may underestimate impact of involving adolescent children in conflicts
When parents who are fighting with each other draw their adolescent children into their conflicts, the children may perceive those conflicts very differently than their parents, according to a new Penn State study.
"Parents may not realize the impact they are having on their children," said Devin…
After School Shootings, Well-Off Families Flee and Enrollment Drops. Low-Income Kids are Left to Confront the Aftermath
For more than a decade after the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in suburban Denver, Frank DeAngelis held a simple promise: He’d stay on as principal until every student class enrolled in the district during the attack reached the graduation stage.
Despite the community upheaval and…
New book, 'The Tolls of Uncertainty,' examines the US unemployment system
In April 2020, soon after the pandemic forced the U.S. into lockdown, the unemployment rate reached 14.8%, the highest documented since data collection began in 1948. More than a year later, 4.2 million fewer women and 3.5 million fewer men are employed, compared to just before the start of the…
Report highlights economic impact of research at Penn State
Research at Penn State has supported more than 2,500 jobs and generated nearly $200 million in economic impact since 2015, according to a report released in April by The Science Coalition. The report, titled "Sparking Economic Growth," highlights 53 companies from coalition member institutions that…
McHale featured in Best and Worst Places to Raise a Family feature
SSRI Director Susan McHale is featured as an expert in WalletHub's 2021 Best and Worst Places to Raise a Family feature. Read McHale's insight and advice.
Training scientists in substance use prevention the focus of $3.2M grant
A $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will fund the continuation of Penn State's Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) program, which focuses on training the next generation of scientists in preventing substance use and addiction.
Effective strategies to prevent…
Rural-Urban Differences in the Labor-Force Impacts of COVID-19 in the United States
COVID-19 has had dramatic impacts on economic outcomes across the United States, yet most research on the pandemic’s labor-market impacts has had a national or urban focus. We overcome this limitation using data from the U.S. Current Population Survey’s COVID-19 supplement to study pandemic-related…
Child Maltreatment Solutions Network conference registration open
Registration for the 2021 Child Maltreatment Solutions Network Conference, Innovative Methods in Child Maltreatment Research, is now open. The conference will take place September 2 - 3 virtually and in person at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on Penn State’s University Park campus.…
Institute awards 14 computational and data sciences seed grants
From making our roads safer to paving the way to exoplanet discovery, the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) seed grants have funded 14 projects backed by researchers from across the disciplines and around the University. The 2021-22 ICDS seed grant program is designed to help…
Coupled brain activity, cerebrospinal fluid flow could indicate Alzheimer's risk
Penn State researchers may have discovered a potential marker to clinically evaluate patients’ risk for Alzheimer’s disease through non-invasive imaging tests, according to a study published today (June 1) in PLOS Biology. The finding may have implications for diagnosis and treatment of the disease…
The impacts of children's emotions and behavior on parenting
While both inherited traits and environmental influences affect parent-child interactions, not much is known about how child behavior impacts parenting and, in turn, later child outcomes.
Elizabeth Shewark, a former Penn State doctoral student in developmental psychology and current postdoctoral…