While more free time sounds like a good thing for everyone, new research suggests it is a better deal for men than it is for women.
A study found that men who have more free time feel less rushed than men with less leisure time. But even when women have more time free from paid work and household tasks, they don’t feel less rushed.
The results suggest that women – particularly mothers – may feel the pressures of childcare and housework even when they have ti
Research puts actors’ memory on center stage
“How do you learn all those lines?” It is the question most asked of actors and their art. The ability to remember and effortlessly deliver large quantities of dialogue verbatim amazes non-thespians. Most people imagine that learning a script involves hours, days, and even months of rote memorization. But actors seldom work that way; in fact, they often don’t consciously try to memorize lines at all. And they seldom consider mem
Fathers who are anxious during a caesarean operation may increase the pain experienced by the mother after the delivery of their baby, according to new research published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
In a study involving 65 women scheduled for an elective caesarean, researchers found that the way their birth partners felt during the operation was related to the woman’s own levels of fear and anxiety about the operation.
This increased the amount of pain the w
We might not be able to resist a pretty face after all, according to a report from the University of Pennsylvania. Experiments in which subjects were given a fraction of a second to judge “attractiveness” offered further evidence that our preference for beauty might be hard-wired. People who participated in the studies were also more likely to associate pretty faces with positive traits.
“We’re able to judge attractiveness with surprising speed and on the basis of very little inf
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) can be prevented by addressing the myriad of social and health care needs of the perpetrators and their families, according to an independent report published today.
The report studied ASB rehabilitation projects, which offer multi-disciplinary support to stop anti-social behaviour by resolving its underlying causes. This can either be by offering support to families in their own homes or by moving families to managed accommodation.
The
The popular BBC series ‘Who do you think you are?’ describes the quest of celebrities to trace their family histories back to the 19th century and beyond. Now a fascinating new study allows us all to explore the geography of our family histories, using a unique website that tracks how many people have our surnames, their origins and where they live today.
The Surname Profiler website (at www.spatial-literacy.org) is part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) sponsored stu
Brothers and sisters are more powerful role models than friends or parents when it comes to teenage drinking and smoking, research has shown.
Researchers from The University of Queensland and University of Washington have proved that tobacco and alcohol use by older siblings increases the odds of similar behaviour from younger siblings by three to five times.
University of Washington Sociologist Dr Abby Fagan studied the contributions and influence of parents, sibl
Research published in the recent issue of Ethology has discovered that men are able to potentially use smell as a mechanism to establish when their current or prospective sexual partners are at their most fertile.
Females of a number of primate species display their fertile period by behavioural and/or morphological changes. The prevalent opinion was that there are no noticeable changes in humans across the cycle. Havlícek et al, however, have found that women’s axillary odour is ass
The Tizard Centre at the University of Kent has been awarded a 350,000 euro grant by the European Commission to find out how many disabled people are still cared for in institutions across Europe and what would be the costs of replacing institutions with services in the community.
The project is led by Professor Jim Mansell and Dr Julie Beadle-Brown from the Tizard Centre, and Professor Martin Knapp from the London School of Economics. It involves researchers in Spain, Germany, Belgium a
While use of home remedies is common among people 65 and older, blacks and Native Americans tend to make much greater use of them than whites, according to a study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
And the explanation seems to be cultural differences rather than access to health care, economic hardship or health status, said Joseph G. Grzywacz, Ph.D., and colleagues, writing in the January-February issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior.
Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found that people still find it difficult to understand how mirrors work.
Dr Marco Bertamini, from the University’s School of Psychology, conducted a number of experiments by covering a mirror on a wall and inviting participants to walk along a line parallel to the mirror.
He asked them to guess the point at which they would be able to see their reflection. Results showed that people believe they can see themselves even b
A study at Karolinska Institutet of 133 violent offenders in Sweden shows that 78 (58%) had consumed alcohol within 24 hours before the violent act. A large majority of the offenders were men with psychiatric diagnoses and most of the victims were known to them.
A 13.2-fold increase of risk of violence was found within 24 hours of alcohol consumption. The relative risk of violence was based on comparison to each individual’s usual frequency of alcohol use during the previous year
A new study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence examines coping styles from youth to young adulthood. The authors find that individuals who had coherent relationships with their parents, dealt with their problems more actively by seeking support and reflecting on possible solutions. They also became increasingly more competent in dealing with a variety of stressors. Those considered insecure, or poorly attached to their parents showing only minor growth in their
How and why do young people become criminals? Why do they become criminals? What can we do to change their lives? These are the vital, socially relevant questions that two major research programmes funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) aim to address. Through supporting such work, the ESRC underlines its commitment to social science and to informing policy frameworks.
Pathways into and out of Crime: Risk, Resilience and Diversity, is a network of six universities
By 2025 the number of people in Britain over the age of 60 will outnumber those under 25. Pressure on both pensions and pensioner spending power will increase. Answers to problems, old and new, will have to be sought.
In a move to address the issues of ageing – one of the most significant aspects of change in our lives, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is highlighting the impact of ageing on society, and offering expanded research funding to provide leading edge th
A person is in trouble in a crowded place, but no-one steps over to help. The situation is called the bystander effect, and it appears that the more people watching, the less likely it is that anyone will respond.
But new research shows that even when accompanied by another person, individuals are much more likely to intervene if the situation is dangerous or violent, and when they feel empathy for the victim. The findings are published in the latest edition of the European J
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