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Social Prescribing: Why Purpose Is Good for Your Health
In a bid to improve health and wellbeing, social prescriptions can cover everything from volunteering and art classes to support with household bills. But do they really work? ... Perhaps counterintuitively, prescribing "service" is proving to be one particularly effective form. Early studies have shown that those in nursing homes who are given choices and responsibilities to serve their surrounding environment (such as taking care of a houseplant) can thrive more than those who are simply there to be taken care of, not to do the caring.
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A New Development in the Debate About Instagram and Teens
The teens are on Instagram. That much is obvious. A majority of teens say they use the app, including 8 percent who say they use it “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center. And yet a lot is still unknown about what such extensive use might do to kids. Many people believe that it and other social-media apps are contributing to a teen mental-health crisis. ... Candice Odgers, a psychologist at UC Irvine who studies the effects of technology on adolescent mental health and has written on the subject for The Atlantic, said the pilot program is a decent, if limited, first step.
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Racial Disparities in Drug Intervention: Culturally Inclusive Approaches
Podcast: APS’s Özge Gürcanlı Fischer Baum and guests examine evidence-based drug treatment studies, highlighting racial disparities in treatment effectiveness and much more.
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New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on children’s memory formation, the gender-equality paradox, AI hyperrealism, prototypes of people with depression, and much more.
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Incoming PSPI Editor Colleen Seifert Outlines Her Goals for the Journal
Colleen Seifert aims to expand the range of topics covered in the APS publication.
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Some Seniors Readily Step Back. Some Never Will.
Researchers are only beginning to understand why some people embrace retirement while others won’t even consider it. ... Yet “the reality is that retirement can be a very challenging time,” said Teresa Amabile, a psychologist at Harvard Business School and a co-author of the forthcoming book “Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You.” After a decade of research into the retirement trajectories of professionals and executives, her team found that detaching from work can prove difficult, a phase often lasting two to three years before retirees settle into new routines.
