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In honor of Earth Day, a review of the last decade of social science research on the effects of disasters

Hurricane Katrina from satellite

Three researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center—Mariana Arcaya, Ethan J. Raker, and Mary C. Waters—have published a review in the Annual Review of Sociology that concludes with their concerns about the likelihood of more severe natural disasters due to climate change in the future, and the need for innovative concepts and methods to cope with these environmental and societal challenges. Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Flickr

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Does awareness of disability assistance influence how we evaluate health symptoms of others?

Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Rourke O’Brien, PhD, has authored a Short Report in Social Science & Medicine based on evidence from a nationally representative survey. The researcher found that respondents in the experimental group (primed to consider the existence of disability assistance) were less likely to rate the symptoms of a hypothetical individual as severe relative to the control group. In addition, these respondents were more likely to…

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Differences in high school quality may impact racial & socioeconomic inequalities more than previously thought

Harvard RWJF Alum Jennifer Jennings, PhD, has co-authored a study that looks at more than just test scores to evaluate the role that high schools play in explaining socioeconomic and racial inequalities in educational outcomes, such as college attendance. The study is published in Sociology of Education.

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Height & health; new study looks at adults in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa

PGDA Fellow Mark McGovern, PhD,  has published a paper in The Journal of the Economics of Ageing that shows a positive association between height and various measures of health in adults in six emerging economies, each expected to experience significant increases in the mean age of their populations over the coming decades.