Blog

How does living in subsidized housing change the academic forecast for low-income kids? Previous research suggests: not much at all. But a new study published in the American Journal of Community Psychology presents a new and nuanced answer.The effect of living in subsidized housing isn’t the same for all kids: Those who are already flourishing at school benefit, while the ones who’re struggling actually do worse compared to peers from similarly low-income families without housing...

Despite a sprawling and varied financial industry, more than one-quarter of Americans don’t have adequate access to basic banking tools, such as checking accounts, credit cards, or loans for instance. That group—known as the underbanked—is made up of those who suffer the most from growing inequality and systemic marginalization: Americans with low incomes, those with less than a college degree, and minorities. There are signs of improvement: A recent study from the FDIC found that the share...

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded up to a total of $278 million over the next five years for programs that help people and communities recover from, and build resiliency from trauma. “Trauma, whether from exposure to child abuse, community violence, or natural disaster can have a devastating effect on people,” said SAMHSA Principal Deputy Administrator Kana Enomoto. “We must help people in every segment of our community -- especially youth and...

Efforts to strengthen the country’s tattered mental health system, and help millions of Americans suffering from mental illness, got a big boost Wednesday thanks to a massive health care package approved by the House of Representatives. The 21st Century Cures Act, which provides funding for biomedical research and aims to speed up drug development, was approved by a vote of 392-26. Republican leaders added a number of other health-related items to the act, including the text of a mental...

“I didn’t know how to be a mom,” Lisa Galvan said. “I was used to being by myself. It was really hard for me to adjust and even for the kids to adjust because I never was around. So when I came back out [of rehab] they gave them back to me, and within a month I started using again.” By the time Galvan was 20, she had three children and had been using meth for seven years. She had been a drug addict for far longer than she’d been a mother, and when she tried to get sober, she found out she...

It’s not without reason that it might seem like the video game industry is dominated by awkward, angry young men: In 2014, awkward, angry young men launched GamerGate , a misogynist attack on indie game developer Zoë Quinn, critic Anita Sarkeesian, and other women. But GamerGate is just one example, and one might wonder: Is it really so bad for the average woman gamer? Yes, it really is, according to a new study of the live-streaming platform Twitch . To put it bluntly, you’re more likely to...

In November 2016, the Office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report on the prevention, treatment and recovery of substance misuse and substance use disorders. The report, titled Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health , provides a comprehensive look at these critical issues affecting the lives of millions of people, their families and their communities. The report explores the neurobiology...

Even the simple things became too difficult for Melissa Woodall—going to parties with friends, doing charity work in her community, going to see her husband’s performances. At one point, she was only able to handle going to work, home, and the grocery store. One day, she decided she’d had enough. After seeing several Facebook advertisements for Joyable, a mobile mental health application aiming to help users with social anxiety, Woodall, a liquor store manager and Portsmouth, Arkansas,...

Back in September, the online crib-sharing platform Airbnb confessed that it has been slow to address complaints of discrimination against black and Latino would-be renters and released a slate of new policies to remedy the problem. These remedies haven’t been in place long enough to determine whether they are up to the task. However, Boston University economist Ray Fisman and Harvard University business professor Michael Luca have identified one area where Airbnb’s anti-discrimination...

When Donald Trump and other Republican legislators proposed a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States last November, many commentators turned to history. My colleague Matt Ford argued that the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, along with the jurisprudence initially used to justify it , shows why these kinds of ethnic- or religious-based policies are flawed. More recently, Trump and his aides have spoken in favor of reviving a registry for Muslims entering the...

“I’m so busy being a wife, mother, daughter, and nurse that I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’m always taking care of others and trying to keep them happy. I’m not even sure what I like, believe, and value.” “I’m really self-critical. It’s hard for me to accept compliments. I dwell on my mistakes and imperfections.” “I don’t know how to show my family, my friends, or the rest of the world who I really am. I keep hearing that I should “show up and be seen,” but that makes me really...

On public-access TV in 1985, Bernie Sanders defended an element of Fidel Castro’s regime: It was rarely mentioned that Castro provided health care to his country. Sanders grumbled that the same could not be said of then-President Reagan. The comment came back to haunt Sanders in the wake of Castro’s death. On Sunday on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz played the old clip and then asked Sanders if he was aware that “this was a brutal dictatorship despite the romanticized version that some...