Behavioral and Social Sciences

Recent trends in state legislators and school districts across the United States to remove social- emotional programs from schools (Information, 2022) threaten to undermine the learning of empathy and prosocial skills that are fundamental to both social and cognitive development. To date, several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of Social Emotional Learning programs at increasing both social-emotional skills and academic ... Read More

In addressing the increasingly urgent issue of climate change, policymakers around the world turn to carbon taxes as a primary initiative. However, in the status quo, the effectiveness of these various carbon tax systems is extremely contested, largely due to the variety of methods used to measure the effectiveness of said taxes and the high error rates associated with these ... Read More

Chicago southside neighborhoods are systemically underfunded which limits opportunities for youth. The youth in these neighborhoods face the reality of having improper educational resources and the trauma that comes from gang violence within these neighborhoods. We have developed the following research question: Do Chicago neighborhoods have more negative teen outcomes when mental health resources aren’t offered in the main language ... Read More

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa), also known as “puberty blockers”, are used in early pubertal transgender youth who are looking to pause puberty as treatment for gender dysphoria. With pursuing GnRH agonists, the maturation of germ cells does not occur. Without germ cell maturation, future fertility is impaired. Earlier studies have focused on an older cohort of transgender and gender diverse ... Read More

In current times, attaining a college degree has become a required step for pursuing a wide array of career opportunities. However, beyond simply obtaining a diploma, the choice of university where a person pursues their higher education can influence their future path. Guided by Dr. Carola Frydman at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, this paper addresses the question of ... Read More

Extant literature suggests that rewards in the environment drive learning. Additionally, older adults have demonstrated an impaired ability to learn from reward feedback. However, recent work indicates that information can be just as, if not more, useful as rewards in reinforcement learning paradigms. The Battleship project aimed to explore how these cues uniquely guide learning about one’s environment differently across ... Read More

The USA is currently facing its largest illicit drug consumption crisis among younger generations. Additionally, high-intensity drinking is currently at historically high levels prompting diverse prevention efforts. Research has revealed disparities in substance use behaviors and disorders by sex and ethnicity, yet few studies have examined intersectionality of these factors. A better understanding of how biological (sex) and environmental/societal (race, ... Read More

High comorbidity exists between AUD and mood disorders, especially in women, with unclear causes. Depressive symptoms may affect alcohol abuse liability and mood effects. Women, twice as likely to have depressive disorders, face higher AUD risk post-major depressive disorder diagnosis.

Understanding alcohol abuse and depression link in women is vital. We assessed alcohol abuse liability in moderately to heavily drinking ... Read More