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Speaking a Second Language May Give Low-Income Kids a Boost
Children growing up in low-income homes score lower than their wealthier peers on cognitive tests and other measures of scholastic success, study after study has found. Now mounting evidence suggests a way to mitigate this disadvantage: learning another language. In an analysis published online in January in Child Development, Singapore Management University researchers probed demographic data and intellectual assessments from a subset of more than 18,000 kindergartners and first graders in the U.S.
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How romance can protect gay and lesbian youths from emotional distress
When Alexis Pegues came out to her relatives on her father’s side of the family, at age 16, they were shocked and upset and wouldn’t accept that she had a girlfriend. Her life was in turmoil. Even when she lived with her more-accepting mother’s side of the family, a few years later she had to deal with outside prejudice. Today, at 25 and living in Chicago with her girlfriend, Pegues still faces the stress of coming out to colleagues at work. What’s helped her feel better in each of these cases has been the loving support of a girlfriend.
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[Retracted] Giving Employees ‘Decoy’ Sanitizer Options Could Improve Hand Hygiene
This story was removed on June 7, 2019 because the research report on which it is based has been retracted. The full retraction notice is available online: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797619858006
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Will We Still Be Relevant ‘When We’re 64’?
A gnawing sense of irrelevancy and invisibility suddenly hits many aging adults, as their life roles shift from hands-on parent to empty nester or from workaholic to retiree. Self-worth and identity may suffer as that feeling that you matter starts to fade. Older adults see it in the workplace when younger colleagues seem uninterested in their feedback. Those who just retired might feel a bit unproductive. New research suggests this perception of becoming irrelevant is very real. And that’s why some seniors are determined to stay social, remain relevant and avert the loneliness often linked with aging.
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10 Things You Don’t Know About Yourself
1. Your perspective on yourself is distorted. Your “self” lies before you like an open book. Just peer inside and read: who you are, your likes and dislikes, your hopes and fears; they are all there, ready to be understood. This notion is popular but is probably completely false! Psychological research shows that we do not have privileged access to who we are. When we try to assess ourselves accurately, we are really poking around in a fog. Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin, who specializes in human self-perception and decision making, calls the mistaken belief in privileged access the “introspection illusion.” The way we view ourselves is distorted, but we do not realize it.
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Why You Should Argue in Front of Your Kids
In this episode of Home School, Adam Grant, a psychologist at the Wharton School and New York Times best-selling author, explains why parents shouldn’t shield children from their disagreements. “We want to raise more kids who know how to argue… to solve differences and find creative solutions,” he says. In fact, exposing children to what Grant terms “thoughtful” conflict can have surprising long-term benefits.
