Poverty and Learning News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

Attachment Theory: A New Lens for Understanding Human-AI Relationships

June 2, 2025 — Human-AI interactions are well understood in terms of trust and companionship. However, the role of attachment and experiences in such relationships is not entirely clear. In a new breakthrough, researchers from Waseda University have devised a ...

Studies Point to Redlining as a 'Perfect Storm' for Breast Cancer

May 9, 2025 — New research indicates that while the residential segregation policy was outlawed decades ago, it still impacts women's health ...

Climate Change: Future of Today's Young People

May 7, 2025 — Climate scientists reveal that millions of today's young people will live through unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, river floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical storms under current climate policies. If global ...

Neighborhood Stress May Impact Kids' Brains -- And Increase Depression Risk

May 6, 2025 — Children who grow up in disadvantaged neighborhoods -- areas with higher levels of crime and deprivation, and lower access to community resources -- are at risk of developing depression, and new research may help to explain ...

Missed School Is an Overlooked Consequence of Tropical Cyclones, Warming Planet

May 1, 2025 — New research finds that tropical cyclones reduce years of schooling for children in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in areas unaccustomed to frequent storms. Girls are ...

Government Urged to Tackle Inequality in 'Low-Carbon Tech' Like Solar Panels and Electric Cars

Apr. 14, 2025 — The UK government needs to go beyond offering subsidies for low-carbon technologies (LCTs) like electric cars and solar panels for energy and heating, if it is to meet its net-zero targets by 2050, a ...

Early Education Impacts Teenage Behavior

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers explored the long-term effects of preschool expansion in Japan in the 1960s, revealing significant reductions in risky behaviors amongst teenagers. By analyzing regional differences in the rollout of the program, the study identified ...

Role of Social Workers in Addressing Marginalized Communities Bearing Brunt of Climate Disasters

Apr. 8, 2025 — A researcher spent a year living in a jjokbang-chon, an extremely impoverished neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. While there, he calculated residents' carbon footprints, finding they contribute ...

Your Neighborhood May Affect Your Risk of Dementia

Mar. 30, 2025 — People living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods may be more likely to develop dementia than people living in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to a new study. The study does not prove that neighborhood factors cause dementia; it ...

How Changing L.A.'s Tree Rules Could Cool More Neighborhoods

Mar. 26, 2025 — Los Angeles has some of the strictest tree planting rules in the nation. These policies limit tree growth, worsen shade disparities and don't improve safety, researchers found. When researchers modeled looser planting restrictions in a lower-income ...

How Family Background Can Help Lead to Athletic Success

Mar. 20, 2025 — Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities. But new research suggests that this belief is largely a myth, and that success in high ...

New Research Explores Mental Health Costs of Emotional Labor at Work

Mar. 14, 2025 — 'Fake it till you make it' might be common advice to climb the corporate ladder, but new research shows that this attitude could also adversely affect job satisfaction and mental ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:42pm EDT

Half of Today’s Jobs Could vanish—Here’s How Smart Countries Are Future-Proofing Workers

June 22, 2025 — AI is revolutionizing the job landscape, prompting nations worldwide to prepare their workforces for dramatic changes. A University of Georgia study ...

More Than Marks: How Wellbeing Shapes Academic Success

Mar. 11, 2025 — A world first* study of more than 215,000 students, researchers found that while standardized tests measure academic skills, different dimensions of wellbeing -- emotional wellbeing, engagement, and ...

ALS Survival May Be Cut Short by Living in Disadvantaged Communities

Feb. 7, 2025 — Living in a disadvantaged community may decrease the length of time a person can survive with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, by over 30%, a study suggests. Similar studies have shown that ...

School Bans Alone Not Enough to Tackle Negative Impacts of Phone and Social Media Use, Researchers Find

Feb. 6, 2025 — Students attending schools that ban the use of phones throughout the school day aren't necessarily experiencing better mental health and wellbeing, ...

Study in India Shows Kids Use Different Math Skills at Work Vs. School

Feb. 5, 2025 — A study by economists shows a wide gap between the kinds of math problems kids who work in retail markets do well and the kinds of problems kids in school do ...

UMaine-Led Team Develops More Holistic Way to Monitor Lobster Industry

Jan. 23, 2025 — After two years of data collection, quantitative and qualitative analyses, meetings and stakeholder interviews, a team of researchers developed new socioeconomic indicators to holistically monitor ...

How Households Can Cut Energy Costs

Jan. 16, 2025 — Giving people better data about their energy use, plus some coaching, can help them substantially reduce their consumption and costs, according to a new ...

Acoustic Sensors Find Frequent Gunfire on School Walking Routes

Jan. 6, 2025 — A new study used acoustic sensors that detect the sound of gunfire to show how often children in one Chicago neighborhood are exposed to gunshots while walking to and from school. Results showed that ...

How Loss of Urban Trees Affects Educational Outcomes

Dec. 17, 2024 — Economists looked at test scores and school attendance for Chicago-area kids before and after a bug infestation wiped out the city's ash trees. Education outcomes for low-income students went down, ...

Staying Sharp: Study Explores How Brain Changes May Affect Financial Skills

Dec. 16, 2024 — A new article sheds light on how age-related changes may affect the way we handle finances -- and how we can stay sharp as we ...

COVID Lockdowns Disrupted a Crucial Social Skill Among Preschoolers, Trailblazing Study Finds

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers discovered children ages 3 to 5 tested before and after COVID lockdowns had a significant gap in a key cognitive skill, particularly for children from homes with low financial resources ...

Efforts to Reduce Kids' Screen Time Weakened by Unequal Access to Green Space

Jan. 6, 2025 — When children have a place to play outside, programs aimed at reducing their screen time use are more ...

11 To 12-Year-Olds Use Smartphones Mainly to Talk to Family and Friends

Dec. 26, 2024 — A research group has analyzed the digital ecosystem of 11- to 12-year-old children across the Basque Autonomous Community, and concluded that two out of three own a smartphone. They use smartphones ...

More People Living Without Running Water in U.S. Cities Since the Global Financial Crisis, Study Reveals

Dec. 19, 2024 — More American cities -- even those seen as affluent -- are home to people living without running water as people are being 'squeezed' by unaffordable housing and the cost-of-living crisis, ...

Education Scholar Calls for Ecological Shift to 'School Within a School' to Give Students Autonomy Needed for Success

Dec. 12, 2024 — An international education expert, argues in a new study for an ecological shift to a 'school within a school' approach that would give students, teachers and parents the ability to guide ...

Too Much Screen Time Can Reduce Sleep Quality in Preschool-Age Children, Making Behavioral Problems Worse

Dec. 12, 2024 — Excessive screen use by preschool-age children can lead to reduced sleep quality, exacerbating problems such as poor attention, hyperactivity and unstable mood, a new study ...

Increased Area Income Improves Birthweight Rates, Researchers Find

Dec. 10, 2024 — Higher incomes are often correlated with healthier pregnancies and babies, but is it really the money that matters? Sedimentary rocks that formed 390 million years ago, surprisingly, help provide the ...

Preschool Education: A Key to Supporting Allophone Children

Nov. 28, 2024 — A Canadian study reveals that allophone children often face learning and communication difficulties in kindergarten, which can negatively impact their educational ...

Need a Landing Pad for Helicopter Parenting? Frame Tasks as Learning

Nov. 22, 2024 — Parents are much less likely to intervene when their young children are getting dressed or performing other simple chores if those tasks are framed as learning opportunities, according to a new ...

'Emotional Contagion' a Factor in Seniors' Mental Health

Nov. 11, 2024 — A new study finds that seniors who tend to mirror other people's feelings are more likely to show signs of being anxious or depressed ...

An Extra Year of Education Does Not Protect Against Brain Aging, Study Finds

Nov. 5, 2024 — Thanks to a 'natural experiment' involving 30,000 people, researchers were able to determine very precisely what an extra year of education does to the brain in the long term. To their ...

Childhood Overweight Is Associated With Socio-Economic Vulnerability

Nov. 4, 2024 — More children have overweight in regions with high rates of single parenthood, low education levels, low income and high child poverty. The pandemic may also have reinforced this ...

Trees Cool Better Than Reflective Roofs in Vulnerable Houston Neighborhoods

Nov. 1, 2024 — As heatwaves become more intense, cities are looking for strategies that can help keep neighborhoods cooler. A new tool has already helped identify potential solutions in Houston, a city where the ...

Early Active Learning Boosts Skills for Children Born Into Extreme Poverty, but Gains Fade for Black Boys, Study Shows

Oct. 23, 2024 — Research findings provide further evidence that early childhood education can improve educational outcomes for low-income Black children, but that subsequent experiences may erode those impacts ...

Sweetened Beverage Taxes Decrease Consumption in Lower-Income Households by Nearly 50%

Oct. 21, 2024 — New research investigated responses to sweetened beverage taxes using the purchasing behavior of approximately 400 households in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia. Researchers found ...

Raising Happy Eaters: Unlocking the Secrets of Childhood Appetite

Oct. 17, 2024 — The foundation for healthy eating behavior starts in infancy. Young children learn to regulate their appetite through a combination of biological, psychological, and sociological factors. Researchers ...

Green Education Can Create New Generation of Eco-Leaders

Oct. 8, 2024 — Countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region can overcome major shared environmental challenges such as water scarcity and air pollution by harnessing the power of 'green ...

Play It Forward: Lasting Effects of Pretend Play in Early Childhood

Sep. 19, 2024 — As the school year revs up, a renowned child developmental psychologist highlights the robust benefits of pretend play on cognitive, social, and emotional development in children and cautions how ...

People Aren't Volunteering as Much These Days: What Gives?

Sep. 17, 2024 — Volunteering used to be a mainstay of U.S. culture. But in recent years, giving back to their community hasn't played as big a role in many Americans' lives. New research suggests the ...

Lower Neighborhood Opportunity May Increase Risk for Preterm Birth

Sep. 16, 2024 — A new study has found that more than half of Black and Hispanic infants were born into very low-opportunity neighborhoods, and that babies born into these neighborhoods had a 16-percent greater risk ...