Study points to unmet need for social support among older women in rural South Africa

Researchers affiliated with the HAALSI research project have published a new study that found that older women in South Africa have weaker social network connections and are more socially isolated than men and younger women. Higher levels of widowhood and fewer connections outside of the family network are thought to explain this age- and gender-based difference.

Possible molecular link to stroke and dementia may be associated with level of social support

Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, and faculty member Joel Salinas, MD, are among the authors on a paper published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions that reveals that those with more social support were found to have higher serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is linked to reduced risk of dementia and stroke in certain subsets.  

Chicago police use Papachristos’ theories to target those at highest risk & curb violence

The research of Harvard Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar program alum Andrew Papachristos, PhD, on social-network violence is featured in an article in the Chicago Sun Times. Papachristos and colleagues published a study in Social Science & Medicine that revealed that 70 percent of nonfatal injuries occur within networks containing 6 percent of the city’s population. Based on Papachristos’ social-network theories, the Chicago Police Department is generating lists…

Papachristos suggests ways to curb gun violence “epidemic” in Chicago in Huffington Post

Former Harvard RWJF Scholar Andrew Papachristos, PhD was lead author in a study in Social Science & Medicine that is highlighted in a Huffington Post article. Papachristos compares the majority of nonfatal gun violence in Chicago to a blood-borne pathogen transmitted within networks for specific reasons.

Study finds poverty & social isolation put older men at increased risk for higher resting heart rate, a known risk factor for CVD

Visiting Scientist Cathal McCrory, PhD, is lead author on a paper published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B that examines the impact of poverty and psychosocial factors, such as social connectedness and loneliness, on resting heart rate (RHR) in older adults.