EurekAlert! News by Subject: Social & Behavior - News by Subject: Social & Behavior

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Oct-2025 09:11 ET (31-Oct-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)

Ditch ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach to women’s running shoes, manufacturers urged

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sports footwear manufacturers need to ditch the ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach to women’s running shoes, because this is failing to differentiate their distinct anatomical and biomechanical needs across the life course from those of men, concludes a small qualitative study published in the open access journal BMJ Open Sports & Exercise Medicine. Female-, rather than male-based, designs might not only boost women runners’ comfort, but also enhance injury prevention, and their performance, say the researchers.

Journal: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
Funder: Hettas Sport Ltd; Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada

Concordia study links urban heat in Montreal to unequal greenspace access

Concordia University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by Concordia researchers at the Next Generation Cities Institute and the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre found that in Montreal, both the amount and layout of green spaces strongly affect how much neighborhoods cool down during the summer — areas with more trees and larger, connected patches of vegetation are significantly cooler. However, neighborhoods with lower incomes, more visible minorities, and fewer university-educated residents have less access to these cooling benefits, highlighting a clear inequity in how urban greening mitigates heat across the city

Journal: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
Funder: Fondation familiale Trottier, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) funding for research on academic advising experiences of Division I Black/African American student-athletes at minority serving institutions

George Mason University
Grant and Award Announcement

The NCAA has awarded one of its four 2025 Graduate Student Research grants to support the dissertation research of doctoral student Jada Crocker (PhD in education candidate), who is exploring the academic advising experiences of Black/African American student-athletes at Minority Serving Institutions. As the lead researcher, Crocker is conducting in-depth interviews with participants to gain insights into the unique challenges and opportunities faced by these student-athletes at Division I institutions. This research aims to inform policy and practice by identifying barriers to success, promoting tailored support services, and encouraging inclusive practices that enhance student success and persistence.

Funder: National Collegiate Athletic Association

Social adversity and triple-negative breast cancer incidence among black women

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This cohort study shows that high social adversity is associated with a high incidence of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) among Black women. As subtype is intrinsic to tumor development, these findings suggest an early and critical source of downstream breast cancer survival disparities. The findings of this study suggest potential social (epi)genomic and gene-environment interactions between social adversity and TNBC development in Black women.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Study finds group reflective practice beneficial to planning commissions, staff, yet rarely used

University of Kansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Bonnie Johnson, a public affairs researcher at the University of Kansas, conducted a study examining ways to improve public planning commission staff reports. She found that changing the way the reports are produced and presented led planning commissions and their staff to discussing why they do their jobs the way they do. This group reflective practice is common in professions like social work, nursing and teaching, but rare in public service. Teaching the practice and adopting it in the public sphere could both improve services and reduce stress among officials, the author argues.

Journal: Journal of the American Planning Association

World of digital cycling: More than competition

SWPS University

Are sports apps only about competition and breaking personal records? Research conducted by scientists from SWPS University shows that cycling enthusiasts in Eastern Europe are increasingly treating digital tools as a path to well-being and comfort, not necessarily as a virtual racetrack.

Journal: International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Funder: Polish National Science Centre

Facial expression recognition is modulated by approach-avoidance behavior

Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team from the Cognitive Neurotechnology Unit and the Visual Perception and Cognition Laboratory at Toyohashi University of Technology has found that approach–avoidance behavior in a virtual reality (VR) environment modulates how individuals recognize facial expressions. Notably, the study demonstrated that participants were more likely to perceive a facial expression as “angry” when they actively moved away from the face stimulus than when the face moved away from them. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the reciprocal relationship between perception and action in social contexts. The study was published online on July 31, 2025, in the International Journal of Affective Engineering. https://doi.org/10.5057/ijae.IJAE-D-24-00049

Journal: International Journal of Affective Engineering
Funder: JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI, JSPS KAKENHI

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