The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) archives materials older than three years that are no longer updated. This content is available for historical purposes, and the information and links may have changed over time.
Imagine a city. Is it a thriving metropolis with clean and occupied residential areas? Are people leisurely strolling through the neighborhood park? Or is it a concrete jungle with abandoned houses, boarded up businesses, and a flourishing drug trade…
Gangs evoke clear images of certain people, places, and activities—racial and ethnic minority boys, prisons and inner cities, and health risk behaviors, such as violence, drug dealing, and weapon carrying. It is also thought the gang membership is a…
Matilda White Riley, Ph.D. (1911-2004), was an academic and human force of nature whose legacy endures in the fields of communication, human development, interpersonal and intergenerational relationships, gerontology, and sociology. Current researche…
Peer relationships are important for children’s mental health. Yet, little is known about the factors that shape them. Children tend to organize into networks, which represent how they are connected to each other along dimensions such as friendship,…
Future-oriented behaviors, including planning for the future and seeking long-term rewards, are associated with higher levels of health and well-being. Such behaviors are also associated with less impulsivity, addictive behavior, and risky sexual beh…
“All of this work, my work, flows directly from Caryn’s work,” says Dr. Suzanne O’Neill, Assistant Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University and behavioral scientist at the Fisher Center for Hereditary Cancer and Clinical Genomics Research.
“I had a big ‘AHA’ moment in the ‘90s when we wanted to see if giving people genetic feedback about their risk for lung cancer would increase their ability to quit smoking,” said Dr. Caryn Lerman, John H. Glick Professor of Psychiatry at the Universi…
Sleep—it’s a precious commodity. It’s also a basic necessity for good mental and physical health. Considered a critically important process for brain and body recovery, sleep allows the brain to rest and restore. Yet, when the lights go out, many of…
In the beginning was the word…and that has never ceased to be the case. Spoken or unspoken, words reign supreme, as humans are such only as they communicate. Symbolic behavior, such as geometric engravings, has long been indicative of modern cognitio…
The 2016 Matilda White Riley Day will feature a distinguished panel of women whose research in the behavioral sciences and public health epitomize Matilda White Riley’s spirit of integrating behavioral and biological aspects of health and disease.
