News by Subject Social & Behavior

Anti-Asian hate crimes during health crises are unfortunately not new, according to a new academic paper examining the history of this phenomenon. The research team, including an Iowa State University criminal justice researcher, looked at how anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic have furthered the historical 'othering' of Asian Americans and reproduced inequalities.

In April, more than 2 million jobholders were out sick from work, the highest number since at least 1976, and more than double the rate from mid-April 2019, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The surge in absences was largest for immigrant workers, whose absence rate rose almost five-fold from 12 months earlier, when their absenteeism rate had been 37% lower than that of U.S.- born jobholders.

In a new study, University of Colorado Denver researchers found when people have access to the food stamp program, they are less likely to frequent a physician for medical care. About 44 percent of food stamp recipients in the United States also receive health insurance coverage through the Medicaid program. Since there is a reduction in the need for medical treatment, government health care spending is reduced, and there's an increase in savings for the individuals who pay out of pocket.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the United States has seen a surge of Asian Americans reporting racially motivated hate crimes. Earlier this month, University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs professor Angela Gover, PhD, along with researchers from Iowa State University and RTI International, published a research paper outlining how COVID-19 has enabled the spread of racism and created national insecurity, fear of foreigners, and general xenophobia.

World's population likely to shrink after mid-century, forecasting major shifts in global population and economic power - new analysis, published in The Lancet forecasts global, regional, and national populations, mortality, fertility, and migration for 195 countries worldwide.

According to the latest UN report, the number of displaced persons and refugees has surged, again, by several millions. Most of them will not be able to return to their homes in the foreseeable future. Psychologists at Münster University have developed a model of the psychological factors affecting the successful integration of refugees. The model has been published in the journal "Perspectives on Psychological Science".

The employment prospects of some ethnic minorities in the UK have improved since the 1970s but still lag behind the white majority because of 'persistent racism', a major new study says.