Noted Elsewhere on Well-Being
Job Satisfaction Higher For Military Minorities
2 Jun 08 Patterns of job satisfaction for minorities and whites are dramatically different in the military, compared with civilian life, according to an article in the American Sociological Review. Black and Latino members of the armed services score higher on work satisfaction tests than do whites; the opposite is true for civilian jobs. "In an environment where racial stratification has been substantially reduced, traditional racial disparities across a variety of well-being dimensions reverse themselves," author Jennifer Hickes Lundquist writes.
(American Sociological Review)
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Downbeat Boomers
5 May 08 Baby boomers, at least those born from 1945-1960, "have experienced less happiness on average" than Americans born earlier or later, according to a study of 33 years of survey data by a University of Chicago sociologist. The study also reported that old people generally are happier than young ones, and that average happiness levels have changed little in recent decades.
(American Sociological Review)
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Playboys
1 Apr 08 Boys play more than girls and study less while girls spend more time doing household chores and less time watching television, according to a University of Michigan research team that studied how children between the ages of 6 and 17 spend their time. Girls spend an average of 6 hours a week playing, compared to 10 hours a week for boys. Girls also spend nearly an hour more a week studying while boys spend a hour more watching television.
(University of Michigan)
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The Politics of Shame
24 Mar 08 Shame is as effective as door-to-door canvassing in motivating people to vote, according to political scientists who compared turnout among 80,000 Michigan households that were sent one of four mailings encouraging them to vote in an August 2006 election. One said voting is a civic duty, another said researchers would study their turnout based on public records, and a third listed whether voters in the household had voted in the past. The fourth--and most effective--listed whether voters in the household and nearby homes had voted in the past--and promised a follow-up mailing.
(American Political Science Review)
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Working Teens More Likely to Smoke
10 Mar 08 Many teenagers who get a job also get a cigarette habit. Rand Corp. researchers report that teens who start working when they're sophomores or juniors in high school are at least three times more likely to begin smoking than their classmates who didn't work. They speculated that working teens may use cigarettes to relax during breaks or to relieve the stress of balancing work and school. (Rand Corp.)
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You Can Be Too Happy
14 Jan 08 Don't worry, be happy. But if you want to be rich, it may pay not to be too happy. A team of psychologists analyzed national survey data on happiness and found that the happiest people were the most successful in developing close relationships with others and engaged in more volunteer work than other Americans. But people who were slightly less happy "are the most successful in terms of income, education and political participation," they report in the December issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science.
( Perspectives on Psychological Science)
Journal abstract
Sinister Sisters and Drama Mammas
17 Dec 07 The holiday season can bring out the very worst in families. "Going home for the holidays? If so, you may witness versions of gossip, exclusion and other hurtful behaviors," says Cheryl Dellasega, a Penn State University professor, in her new book, "Forced to Be Family: A Guide for Living with Sinister Sisters, Drama Mamas, and Infuriating In-Laws." Among her recommendations for keeping the holiday peaceful: Avoid too much food, alcohol--and togetherness.
(Pennsylvania State University)
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Friends Don't Let Friends Get the Flu
10 Dec 07 College students are more likely to get a flu shot if their friends do, and often visit the same clinic at the same time, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston working paper. The decision to get a flu shot reflects "learning from peers," it says, but "peer pressure and companionship" may determine where they get vaccinated. (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston)
Full paper
Summer Makes You Dumber
27 Nov 07 Researchers have known for years that kids forget a lot of what they learned the previous school year over summer vacation. Now sociologists from Johns Hopkins say poor children are more likely to be hurt by the summertime slump than their more-privileged classmates. That's because disadvantaged kids are significantly less likely to acquire useful knowledge when they aren't in the classroom, creating a knowledge gap between them and their more advantaged peers that likely grows wider with every passing summer. (American Sociological Review)
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Good Morning
19 Nov 07 Morning people are likely to be more emotionally stable than their "night owl" counterparts, claims a Yale psychologist and his colleagues. These researchers administered psychological tests to 279 college students and found that those who reported they were most active and alert in the morning also were more agreeable and conscientious than those who felt more energized at night. (Personality and Individual Differences)
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