More Britons are living alone than ever before, with more men than women living on their own between the ages of 25 and 44. And once someone has gone solo, they are more likely to remain living alone shows new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Using census statistics and data tracking the lives of more than 150,000 individuals in England and Wales since 1971, researchers led by Malcolm Williams, of the University of Plymouth, found a significan
The chances of gaining approval for a change in public policy through a referendum are about 50 percent or lower, research conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has shown. This is the case, even if a government is sure of its chances of gaining approval of its policy via the referendum process, the research indicates.
The research is part of a doctoral thesis written by Dr. Avital Moshinsky on the subject, “The Status-Quo Bias in Policy Judgment.” Her research incorpora
The recently formed Social Contexts and Responses to Risk network (SCARR) will be launched at a conference in Canterbury 28 – 29 January.
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and co-ordinated by Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby and Dr Jens Zinn from the University of Kent, the SCARR network brings together social scientists from a wide range of backgrounds, including sociologists, psychologists, and media, law and social policy experts. Risks are at the centre
In an age when neither jobs nor marriages are for life, how do people perceive and weigh-up their options for partnering, reproduction and employment?
Precisely what those starting out on adult life today are prepared to ‘take a chance on’, and what kind of security they seek, are to be investigated in new ESRC-funded research led by Professor Jane Lewis of the London School of Economics. Rebellious students in the late 1960s were contemptuous of what may be termed ‘the standard
Stories in their own words from men and women directly caught up in debates and controversies over threats from technologies to themselves and their environment are to be recorded and analysed in new research sponsored by the ESRC.
This new approach, which pays much more attention to how ordinary people understand risks in the context of their everyday lives, could give them a greater say with planners and policy-makers, according to Professor Nick Pidgeon, who is leading a pro
Social science is regarded as a relatively inexpensive area of research, but human decision processes are as complex and elusive as anything in biology, physics or chemistry, and the resources needed to study them effectively are considerable.
That is the view of the man leading a ground-breaking ESRC-funded investigation of new ways to design survey questions which come as close as possible to how we actually weigh the pros and cons of issues affecting our lives.
Profess
Social phobia or social anxiety disorder is a common and distressing problem that can cause sufferers immense difficulties in all areas of their lives, affecting their performance at work and personal relationships.
Now, a team of researchers at the University of Southampton is about to embark on a study which aims to develop a better understanding of how emotions such as social phobia affect sufferers’ thinking and attention. Their findings could help to develop strategies in th
For the first time, sociologists have mapped the romantic and sexual relationships of an entire high school over 18 months, providing evidence that these adolescent networks may be structured differently than researchers previously thought.
The results showed that, unlike many adult networks, there was no core group of very sexually active people at the high school. There were not many students who had many partners and who provided links to the rest of the community.
Inste
Ever since Aids appeared, migration has been thought to be a driving force behind the epidemic. The disease is often represented either as an “imported pathology”, migrants being the disease (or at least risk), carriers or as a “pathology of adaptation”. Migrants, mainly young men who move around to find work, are subjected to the constraints of a new environment they find in the host region or country. They therefore become economically, socially and emotionally more vulnerable. This situation e
For most of the growing number of women who go out to work, organising childcare for young children is a highly complicated process in which the slightest disruption is likely to cause a crisis, according to new research sponsored by the ESRC.
Among big city-dwellers, pre-school arrangements – even for the most affluent households – involve careful scheduling in time and travel, typically using three or four different types of regular care, says the study, led at University Colle
Whether it is barn-raising or crafting a business plan, humans are among the few creatures that are able to work well cooperatively. According to an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, our success at cooperation results from three distinct personality types.
“In any given group of people, youl find three kinds of people: Cooperators, Free Riders, and what we call Reciprocators. Cooperators do the most work and Free Riders do as little as possible, but
Those abused as adults often say no to marriage, cohabitation
Poor women who are physically or sexually abused at some point in their lives are less likely to maintain stable intimate relationships, according to a new study of more than 2,500 women by sociologists from The Johns Hopkins University and Penn State University.
The women involved in the study said they want fair treatment and companionship from their partners, just like everybody does, the researchers said. Many
Words may be a clue to how people, regardless of their language, think about and process emotions, according to a Penn State researcher.
“It has been suggested in the past that all cultures have in common a small number of emotions or emotion words, but that every culture has multiple ways of nuancing them, sometimes quite differently,” says Dr. Robert W. Schrauf, associate professor of applied linguistics at Penn State.
These words include joy or happiness, fear, anger a
Elderly carers have larger social networks and are not as lonely as other people in their age group, according to a paper in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. They also tend to be healthier and have a better quality of life.
A study of 4,278 people aged 75 and over showed strong links between loneliness, a weak social network and low mental quality of life.
Researchers from Lund University in Sweden also reported that women were more likely to report frequent and intense l
Chronic, constant worry (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) is most frequently treated with psychotropic drugs (benzodiazepines and antidepressants). A randomized controlled trial published in the Jan 2005 issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a group of researchers of the University of Berlin suggests the usefulness of psychotherapy.
Generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) are amongst the most prevalent mental disorders. Recent studies have suggested that cognitive behaviour th
Delegation, open responsive management and managers with greater assertiveness, emotional intelligence and self-confidence are the keys for businesses wanting to keep and develop good staff.
These are the findings of research by Robert Myatt of Kaisen Consulting to be reported at the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference. The conference, sponsored by Pearn Kandola, is being held at the Chesford Grange Hotel, just outside the town of W
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