Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Social Sciences

Health and Medicine Photo illustration showing breathalyzer and phone app.

Study: People using mobile breathalyzers changed their drinking behavior

People who repeatedly used DIY breathalyzers changed their drinking behavior and improved the accuracy of self-assessments of blood-alcohol levels, study finds.

Humanities Photo of Cline Center researchers. From left, Emmy Tither, a PhD candidate in Informatics at Illinois; Joseph Bajjalieh, a senior research manager at the Cline Center; Scott Althaus, the director of the Cline Center and the Merriam Professor of Political Science at Illinois; and Loretta Auvil, a senior project coordinator at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and a data scientist at the Cline Center.

New interactive dashboard will help policymakers better understand global instability

The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has released an innovative new interactive dashboard for policymakers who want to better understand governmental instability around the world.

Social Sciences Professor Stewart Coles studies the way media depictions of social issues and marginalized groups evoke prejudice and stereotypes, shape and activate identity, and influence public opinion and political behavior.

Racial, political cues on social media shape TV audiences’ choices

CONTACT: Sharita Forrest, Research Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Social media users are more likely to watch TV programs that are endorsed by members of their political party, a recent study suggests. However, individuals’ racial identity and their perceptions of racial and political ingroup norms and the demographics of a program’s intended audience also […]

Humanities From left, co-authors Greg Howard, a professor of economics, and Russell Weinstein, a professor of labor and employment relations and of economics.

Paper: HBCUs promote social, economic mobility for Black children who live nearby

New research from a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists estimates the social mobility effects of four-year public historically Black colleges and universities on Black children who live in the same county as an HBCU.

Social Sciences Professor Moses Okumu studied the factors associated with HIV prevention and testing among displaced youths in Uganda.

Despite high risks of HIV, condom use low among displaced youths in Uganda

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — While the rate of HIV in Kampala, Uganda, is more than double the national average, a recent survey of displaced youths in the city found that only about 20% consistently used condoms and just half of the study participants had been tested for HIV in the past year. Moses Okumu, a professor […]

Expert Viewpoints Photo of an interpretive sign on the Trail of Time at Grand Canyon National Park.

How does politics influence interpretive signs at National Park Service sites?

The Trump administration recently ordered the National Park Service to remove interpretive signs that discuss slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, following an executive order issued last year stating that public monuments should not “inappropriately disparage Americans” and instead “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.” A […]

Social Sciences Diptych image with book cover of "Dracula Urbanism and Smart City Mania" and headshot of David Wilson.

Illinois professor’s book explores ‘Dracula Urbanism,’ the dark side of smart city development

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — City development is increasingly associated with creating “smart cities” that use technology for managing city services, home construction and attracting resources. But those strategies come with negative consequences to a city’s poor residents, said David Wilson, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of geography and geographic information science. Wilson is a critical […]

Social Sciences Line drawing of a couple embracing while watching fireworks in the sky

Savoring pleasurable moments strengthens couples’ bonds   

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Couples who spend more time savoring the pleasurable moments they share are happier together, argue less and are more confident their relationship will last, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers say in a new study. “Savoring involves slowing down to become aware of and focus on positive experiences,” said first author Noah Larsen, […]

Expert Viewpoints Social Sciences Professor Bayat wearing a burgundy scarf and jacket

Will the mass protests in Iran succeed in regime change?

Asef Bayat is a sociology professor and the Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with expertise in global social movements and revolutions in the Middle East. A native of Iran, Bayat spoke with News Bureau research editor Sharita Forrest about the mass protests currently erupting […]

Health and Medicine Social Sciences Sociology professor Christina Kamis standing on a stairwell in a campus building.

Your neighborhood, plus emotional stress, may be aging you prematurely

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — While scientists have long known that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with biological symptoms of accelerated aging, emotional distress accounts for a significant portion of these effects, researchers found in a recent study. “Consistent with a chains-of-risk framework — the theory that later-life health conditions are triggered by sequential, linked […]

Health and Medicine Illinois professors Mikihiro Sato and Toni Liechty found that access to parks and recreation facilities and residents' physical activity.

Study: Access to parks linked with greater physical activity for some, but not all, residents

Access to parks linked with greater physical activity for some, but not all, residents

Social Sciences Photo of Mahbubeh Moqadam standing outdoors wearing a red knit scarf and grey coat.

Study explores the use of dance as a form of protest, resistance in Iran

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Young women in postrevolutionary Iran used audacious acts of public dance, particularly during the past decade, to resist unjust gender-based laws and cultural norms that disenfranchise women, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sociology scholar says in a digital ethnographic study. After all, every social movement begins in moving bodies; it is through […]

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