Social Sciences

Why did human ancestors evolve such large brains? While humans have an unusual array of characteristics that distinguish us from other species, it is our cognitive abilities and open-ended thinking that are most remarkable. University of Missouri-Columbia researchers found that the ability to excel at social problem solving led human brains to surpass other species in size, developing ecological dominance 1.5 to 2 million years ago.

Mark Flinn and Carol Ward, associate professors of anthrop

How can we build communities that encourage a more active lifestyle? Researchers at Saint Louis University School of Public Health have received a $99,000 grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to answer that question as they study how the features of our physical environment affect our activity levels.

The researchers, led by Ross Brownson, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and director of the Prevention Research Center at Saint Louis University School of Public Health, will

Today, adulthood no longer begins when adolescence ends. In the bridge to adulthood, also referred to as early adulthood, many more young people are caught between the demands of employment (e.g., the need to learn advanced job skills) and economic dependence on their family to support them during this transition.

While most young adults are physically mature and possess the intellectual, social, and physiological skills needed for adulthood, many lack the economic independence to be

Many couples who move in together don’t do it with marriage in mind, a small study of New York City residents suggests.

Nearly all of the people interviewed who lived with a boyfriend or girlfriend said the major impetus was finances, convenience or housing needs. “The common wisdom seems to be that people live together because they’re testing the water before marriage. But we didn’t have a single person in this study who said that was the reason they moved in together,” said S

A new study suggests household residents don’t always agree on the extent of smoking restrictions in their home, and disagreement is more likely to happen if at least one of the residents is a smoker.

Residents provided conflicting accounts of strict home smoking bans in 12 percent of the households surveyed, according to Elizabeth Mumford, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

The report in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive

As ministers prepare to decamp for their holidays, Professor Fiona Williams of the University of Leeds has just published the perfect summer reading. It’s only 96 pages long, it’s jargon-free, and it could change our lives – and theirs – immeasurably.
Rethinking Families is the crystallation of a £1.3 million research project by the ESRC-funded team on Care, Values and the Future of Welfare (CAVA). Over the course of five years, some 400 people gave 500 hours of interviews about their family live