A Penn State Smeal College of Business research team has found that less wealthy taxpayers who take the standard federal deduction have become more likely to vote against local spending for repairing or building infrastructure or other community services.

A new study in the American Journal of Public Health shows that proposed bills aiming to reduce vaccine access, weaken vaccination requirements, and increase vaccine exemptions increased dramatically in state legislatures from 2021-2023, at times exceeding the number of bills seeking to strengthen vaccine access and mandates. At least 40 percent of bills introduced in each full legislative cycle after the start of the pandemic have been antivaccine-related. Republican lawmakers sponsored 86 percent of the antivaccine bills introduced during this period. Democratic lawmakers introduced 54 percent of provaccine bills, which are bills that supported an increase in access to, or funding and promotion of, vaccines across state legislatures. 

This cohort study of U.S. youths found that year-to-year elevations in self-reported problematic social media use were directly associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms during mid-adolescence, particularly among males; reverse associations of ADHD symptoms with later problematic social media use were small in magnitude and sporadic. Screening for hard-to-control social media use, time spent on social media, and attention to sex-specific patterns may be warranted, although the population-based associations may be small.

New research examines how dual-earner couples balanced work and family responsibilities during the early weeks of the pandemic.

In a new book, University of Copenhagen associate professor Séamus Power outlines three realistic scenarios for the future of the world economy – ranging from escalating inequality to fairer forms of capitalism.