adults

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Than Previously Thought Far More Adults Don’t Want Children

Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University and Zachary Neal, Michigan State University Fertility rates in the United States have plunged to record lows, and this could be related to the fact that more people are choosing not to have children. But just how many “child-free” adults there are has been tricky for researchers to pin down. National fertility data provided by the U.S. Census and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lump together all adults who aren’t parents, making it difficult to understand how many people identify as child-free. As social scientists, we think it’s important to distinguish child-free individuals from those who are childless or not yet parents. People who are child-free make the conscious decision not to have kids. They’re distinct from childless...

In Any Way Is Drinking Good For You? If Not, Why Is Alcohol Legal For Adults?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

In Any Way Is Drinking Good For You? If Not, Why Is Alcohol Legal For Adults?

Margie Skeer, Tufts University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Is alcohol consumption of any benefit to humans? If not, why aren’t we thinking about banning it forever? – Lamiah S., Kerala, India Scientists have been trying to figure out whether alcoholic beverages can be good for your health for a long time, often reaching contradictory conclusions. What is clear is that wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages can be bad for you for many reasons. That’s especially true for people who frequently drink heavily. The effects of drinking alcohol, which is made by fermenting the sugars found in grapes, barley, potatoes and other plants, vary according to how much som...

Men, Women, Kids And Adults In Developed Countries Are All Moving Less – A Boom In Fitness Trackers Isn’t Leading To A Boom In Physical Activity

4May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, TOP FOUR

Men, Women, Kids And Adults In Developed Countries Are All Moving Less – A Boom In Fitness Trackers Isn’t Leading To A Boom In Physical Activity

Worldwide sales of fitness trackers increased from US$14 billion in 2017 to over $36 billion in 2020. The skyrocketing success of these gadgets suggests that more people than ever see some value in keeping tabs on the number of steps they take, flights of stairs they climb, time they spend sitting and calories they burn. The manufacturers of these devices certainly want consumers to believe that tracking fitness or health-related behaviors will spur them on to increase their activity levels and make them healthier. Our analysis of research published over the past 25 years suggests otherwise. We are professors of kinesiology – the science of human body movement – at Boise State, the University of Tennessee and the University of North Florida. To learn whether and how physical activity ha...

Suicidal Thoughts In Black Adults And Children Linked To Racial Discrimination

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Suicidal Thoughts In Black Adults And Children Linked To Racial Discrimination

Janelle R. Goodwill, University of Chicago Frederick Douglass is regarded as one of the most prominent abolitionists the world has ever seen. Alongside his extraordinary contributions as an influential speaker, writer and human rights advocate, Douglass – who was born into slavery and gained freedom in September 1838 – also wrote openly about his struggles with suicidal thoughts. Douglass’ writings are both revolutionary and transformative, particularly when considering that he lived during a time when several anti-literacy laws prevented enslaved Black persons from learning to read and write. Douglass published his first autobiography – “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” – in 1845. In it, he boldly shared, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself...

Young Asian American Adults Are The Only Racial Group With Suicide As Their Leading Cause Of Death, So Why Is No One Talking About This?

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

Young Asian American Adults Are The Only Racial Group With Suicide As Their Leading Cause Of Death, So Why Is No One Talking About This?

Racially motivated violence looks like the mass shootings that killed Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Chung Park, Hyun Grant and Suncha Kim in Atlanta on March 16, 2021. Racially motivated violence also looks like suicide, which is defined as a deliberate act of self-directed violence in order to cause injury to oneself that results in death. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. When broken down by race, suicide is the first leading cause of death among Asian American young adults age 15-24. This is true of no other racial group in this age range in America. Despite this disparity, very little attention is paid by society and by gatekeeping institutions like academe and private and public funding...

In The COVID-19 Era, Older Adults See Time Differently And Are Doing Better Than Younger People

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

In The COVID-19 Era, Older Adults See Time Differently And Are Doing Better Than Younger People

Time in the era of COVID-19 has taken on new meaning. “Blursday” is the new time word of the year – where every day seems the same when staying home and restricting socializing and work. As a public health and aging expert and founding director of the Texas A&M Center of Population Health and Aging, I have been studying the impacts of COVID-19 with an interest in debunking myths and identifying unexpected positive consequences for our aging population. It is common to view older adults as especially vulnerable. Public health statistics reinforce the picture of older adults infected with SARS-CoV-2 as more likely to have serious complications, to be hospitalized and to die. But what do we know about how older adults themselves are responding to social distancing restrictions in place...

More Young Adults Are Living With Their Parents – Is That Necessarily A Bad Thing?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

More Young Adults Are Living With Their Parents – Is That Necessarily A Bad Thing?

When the Pew Research Center recently reported that the proportion of 18-to-29-year-old Americans who live with their parents has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps you saw some of the breathless headlines hyping how it’s higher than at any time since the Great Depression. From my perspective, the real story here is less alarming than you might think. And it’s actually quite a bit more interesting than the sound bite summary. For 30 years I’ve been studying 18-to-29-year-olds, an age group I call “emerging adults” to describe their in-between status as no longer adolescents, but not fully adult. Even 30 years ago, adulthood – typically marked by a stable job, a long-term partnership and financial independence – was coming later than it had in the past. Yes, a lot of emergi...

The Kids Are All Right, But the Adults Are Struggling

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

The Kids Are All Right, But the Adults Are Struggling

While much attention on the rising suicide rate focuses on youth, data shows that it's actually working-age adults who are being hit hardest. The rise of suicide and other self-destructive behavior in the U.S. raises questions both tragic and curious. Suicide rates are up for every age group over the past few years, and they tend to get attention when someone—usually a young person—takes their own life. What’s causing this upswing? The truth is complicated. But the short version is this: It’s not youth who are creating the crisis. It’s their parents’ generation. Americans have the worst levels of addiction, suicide, and self-destruction in the Western world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a record 120,000 Americans died from suicides and ...