Researchers studying the genetic roots of antisocial behavior report that children with one variant of a serotonin transporter gene are more likely to exhibit psychopathic traits if they also grow up poor. The study, the first to identify a specific gene associated with psychopathic tendencies in youth, appears this month in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. ...

Relieving poverty during pregnancy can reduce the incidence of low birth-weight babies and may help break the succession of childhood poor health, a study published in the August 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR) has found. The study was led by Kate Strully, a professor of sociology and epidemiology at the University at Albany. Strully conducted the study as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundati ...

Five years ago Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans caused the evacuation of 1.5 million Gulf Coast residents. After a year, 500,000 people remained displaced, many residing in highly transitional shelters, including the notorious FEMA trailer parks. Now at the five-year mark, substantial consequences from this prolonged displacement have resulted in widespread mental health issues in children ...

From the many images sent home from foreign battlefields over the last several decades, Americans have viewed the plight of their country's combat-weary veterans as stark and often iconic scenes that seem somehow frozen in time. But recent research at Washington State University (WSU) suggests that, for many U.S. veterans, combat is a defining experience that often sets the trajectory of the balance of thei ...

In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state - about 4.9 million people - said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem. In addition, approximately one in 25, or more than 1 million, reported symptoms associated with serious psychologica ...

A team of researchers from the UK and Finland has discovered why people who stay in education longer have a lower risk of developing dementia – a question that has puzzled scientists for the past decade. The results are published today in the journal Brain. The study was funded by the BUPA Foundation, the European Union and the Medical Research Council. ...

The information gap and general lack of understanding of obesity's unique and disproportionate impact on women contributes to the challenges of the 65 million American women who are considered overweight or obese, said the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance Task Force on Women at a meeting on Capitol Hill today. Through discussions with health experts and an extensive review of obesi ...

Studies have shown fathers who are active in their children's upbringing can significantly benefit their children's early development, academic achievement and well being.  Now, a new study by University of South Florida researchers suggests that a father's involvement before his child is born may play an important role in preventing death during the first year of life – particularly if the infant is black. ...

Children in King County, Washington, are more likely to be obese if they live in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is according to a team of researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute, the University of Washington (UW), and Group Health Research Institute. Social Science & Medicine e-published the research this week in advance of printing it. ...

A study of young Swedish men has linked cardiovascular fitness with increased intelligence, better performance on cognitive tests, and higher educational achievement. Many earlier studies have linked physical exercise with cognition in animals and humans, but most of the human studies focused on children or older adults. The few studies of young adulthood—a time when the brain changes rapidly and many cogni ...