Social science

July 10, 2012

Multiracial youths show similar vulnerability to peer pressure as whites

Experts have thought that multiracial adolescents use drugs and engage in violence more than their single-race peers. But in a new study, researchers find that mixed-race adolescents are more similar to their white counterparts than previously believed.

June 27, 2012

Standard surveys overestimate black progress in education, earnings

In “Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress,” UW sociologist Becky Pettit shows how most surveys overestimate black progress in the United States.

June 14, 2012

Geographers seek stories of Seattle's pre-AIDS gay communities

Two UW geographers are piecing together how policies relating to alcohol and public health shaped how gays and lesbians in Seattle carried out their lives during the pre-AIDS era, before 1983.

June 12, 2012

Intervention to improve foster families’ trust, connectedness

UW researchers adapted a parenting program to help foster families address their greatest challenges, including overwhelmed foster parents and a lack of trust between caregivers and foster children.

June 4, 2012

New statistical model lets patient’s past forecast future ailments

Analyzing medical records from thousands of patients, statisticians have devised a statistical model for predicting what other medical problems a patient might encounter.

May 16, 2012

Gaydar automatic and more accurate for women's faces, psychologists find

After seeing faces for less than a blink of an eye, college students have accuracy greater than mere chance in judging others sexual orientation.

May 10, 2012

School of Social Work to lead new partnership for child welfare

The School of Social Work at the University of Washington will lead a newly formed partnership to provide professional development for the state’s social workers involved in child welfare.

May 8, 2012

Caregivers must keep ‘a slice of selfishness’ – UW social worker

Wendy Lustbader, with the UW School of Social Work, is a nationally known speaker on how to cope with aging, disability and end-of-life issues. She will speak June 4 at a caregivers conference in Tukwila, Wash.

May 7, 2012

Unconscious racial attitudes playing large role in 2012 presidential vote

After the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, many proclaimed that the country had entered a post-racial era. But a new large-scale study by UW psychologists shows that racial attitudes have already played a substantial role in 2012, during the Republican primaries.

April 24, 2012

Global health priorities should shift to preventing risky behaviors in adolescence: UW professor

As deaths from infectious diseases have declined worldwide, policymakers are shifting attention to preventing deaths from noncommunicable causes, such as drug and alcohol use, traffic crashes and unsafe sex practices.

April 23, 2012

Robots fighting wars could be blamed for mistakes on the battlefield

Humans apply a moderate amount of morality and other human characteristics to robots that are equipped with social capabilities and are capable of harming humans, according to UW psychologists.

April 13, 2012

Your child gets diagnosed with autism – what now?

A new workshop at the UW Autism Center teaches parents and other caregivers techniques to encourage social and communication skills in their children recently diagnosed with autism.

April 5, 2012

Children perceive humanoid robot as emotional, moral being

Robot nannies could diminish child care worries for parents of young children, but UW psychologists warn that this could impoverish kids’ emotional and social growth.

April 2, 2012

Sex-offender registries list individuals not living in community, UW study

A UW Tacoma researcher has discovered that sex-offender registries include people who are not actually living within the community,such as individuals who have died, been deported, are in jail or have moved out of state.

March 27, 2012

Testosterone low, but responsive to competition, in Amazonian tribe — with slideshow

UW anthropologists report that Tsimane men have less baseline testosterone compared with U.S. men, but show the same increase in testosterone following a soccer game.

Secrets of famous 1930s ‘blonde bombshell of rhythm’ revealed with help from UW library

Ina Ray Hutton rose to fame in the 1930s and was known as blonde bombshell of rhythm. But she had a secret that could have damaged her stardom.

March 23, 2012

Emotionally supportive teachers lower risk for alcohol use in middle schoolers

Middle school students who felt more emotional support from teachers reported a delay in alcohol and other illicit substance initiation.

March 19, 2012

Pediatricians' pain-medication judgments affected by unconscious racial bias, says UW study

Pediatricians who showed an unconscious preference for European Americans tended to prescribe better pain-management for white patients than they did for African-American patients, new UW research shows.

February 29, 2012

Chinas urbanization unlikely to lead to fast growth of middle class: UW geographer

Chinas growing cities are considered a boon for the consumer goods market, but a UW geographer presents evidence that new city dwellers will unlikely have much disposable income.

February 22, 2012

AAAS Notebook: Faculty views range across natural world, human health, more

Last weeks American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver, BC, included 11 speakers from the University of Washington on topics including marine protected areas, the myth of black progress, womens reproductive health and how undergraduates learn best.

February 10, 2012