Law & Society

A pilot study of the prevalence of cardiac risk factors in a group of agricultural workers and of their decision-making abilities with regard to when and how they would seek help when experiencing chest pain has found that most put themselves at risk of dying.

Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest issues facing patients with glaucoma - the second leading cause of blindness worldwide after cataracts - according to research in the April issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.  People also worry about how the eye disease, which can be hereditary, will affect other members of their family.

Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, but a new study reveals that the reverse is also true; unattractiveness is in the eye of the beheld. Research published in Ethology finds that people with bloodshot eyes are considered sadder, unhealthier and less attractive than people whose eye whites are untinted, a cue which is uniquely human.

Psychological research has consistently shown that women feel unhappy with their body after looking at images of thin, idealized models, which are typically represented in the media. However, today's consumer culture and media promote not only the ideal of perfect beauty, but also that of the material affluent lifestyle, both of which are commonly depicted together, and highlight the benefits of beauty and of owning material goods to one's personal success and fame. A new study from the British Journal of Social Psychology is the first to examine the impact of materialistic messages and values - the desire for financial success and an affluent lifestyle on women's feelings about their own body.

Oil’s Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Oil to Secure Our Economy by veteran oil trader and commentator Dan Dicker is a timely and trenchant analysis of the extreme volatility of oil prices. The book illuminates one of the most important financial stories of the last decade, examining the changes that have taken place in the oil markets in recent years as investment banks have come to dominate energy trading and wreak havoc on consumer prices.

“Drink in moderation. Think in excess.”

Singing May Offer Alternative Therapy for Chronic Pain; Surgical Interventions in Osteoarthritis

Public interest in the issue of teenage childbearing has recently increased, largely due to increases in both the teen pregnancy rate and the teen birth rate. A new study from Economic Inquiry examines the negative educational and economic outcomes of teenage fatherhood, a topic far less researched than teenage motherhood.

Answers to the philosophical underpinnings behind AMC's Emmy Award-winning, sexy, hit TV show, Mad Men

New study shows that toddlers diagnosed with autism who played with a limited number of toys showed more improvement in their communication skills following parent-guided treatment than those receiving other community-based treatments

Durham, NH —March 21, 2011— According to a new study from the Journal of Management Studies, corruption, which is endemic in many countries, can benefit the performance of some companies. Without doubt, corruption stands as a corrosive influence on investment and economic growth, but the corrosive nature of corruption does not necessarily hamper all companies equally.

Jeff Kingston, Author of Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s Available for Comment

Minneapolis, MN —March 15, 2011—A new study from the Journal of Marriage and Family shows that contrary to popular anxieties about slacker young adults who refuse to grow up, or indulgent parents who stifle their adult children’s development by continuing to support them, there is evidence that parental assistance in early adulthood promotes progress toward autonomy and self-reliance.

Montreal, QC —March 10, 2011 —In childhood, boys and girls tend to form friendships almost exclusively with same-sex peers. Around early adolescence, they gradually begin to include other-sex friends in their network. A new study published in Journal of Research on Adolescence suggests that girls and boys experience this transition very differently. The findings show that girls tend to initiate the transition to a mixed-gender friendship network earlier than boys, and continue this transition at a faster pace during adolescence. As a result girls who experienced this transition early and fast were more likely to develop substance abuse problems during late adolescence.

An Australian study to determine the likelihood of school-aged children waking up to their home smoke alarm found that 78% of children slept through a smoke alarm sounding for 30 seconds. The outcomes of the study are published today in the journal Fire and Materials.

Dr. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, issues a major analysis of the U.S. government's economic recovery

A new study published in the International Journal of Andrology reveals that semen quality has significantly deteriorated during the last ten years in Finland, a country that previously was a region with high sperm counts. At the same time, the incidence of testis cancer in the Finnish population showed a remarkable increase, following the worrying trends observed in several countries in Europe and the Americas.

KNOXVILLE, TN —March 2, 2011 — In an effort to develop strategies for breast health awareness in rural populations researchers asked the question, “What message strategies will motivate Appalachian women to attend to breast health issues and become actively involved in their own breast health?” A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs finds that two types of reasons motivate rural Appalachian women to perform breast health self-examinations, get mammograms, and to talk with doctors about their breast health.

According to major investigative interviewing protocols police investigators are expected to create a comfortable environment before interviewing adult witnesses to a crime. Police often fail to spend time building rapport with adult witnesses before a criminal interview, possibly in an effort to save time. An article published in a forthcoming issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that the additional time spent on building rapport (in particular using verbal techniques) may prevent inaccuracies in witness accounts and decrease the witness’ susceptibility to post-event misinformation.

The world consumes 500 billion cups of coffee per year. Caffeine is one of the most widely taken psychoactive drugs on earth, and coffee is its foremost delivery system. Coffee: Grounds for Debate (March 2011) asks how and why we have come to prefer the infused beverage as one of our most popular drinks and how our chief indulgence and symbol of “the good life” has become a source of full-bodied ethical, aesthetic, and environmental philosophical debate.