Fully vaccinated adults are celebrating their new freedom and removing their face masks. Yet for parents of children under age 12, the rejoicing might be short-lived. Since children that age do not yet have access to vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are better off staying masked when in public and around people they don’t […] … learn more→

Divorce can be exceptionally difficult for families with children. While the mother  used to be favored in custody battles, that is no longer the case and there are several considerations that have to be factored into a court decision. The most important consideration is the child’s best interest, but the relationships between each parent and […] … learn more→

The American Families Plan, announced by President Joe Biden in April 2021, aims to make child care more affordable for parents. Importantly, it also seeks to ensure caregivers are paid a living wage – enough to meet basic needs given the local cost of living. If passed, all workers in child care and pre-K programs that receive federal […] … learn more→

You decide to call a store that sells some hiking boots you’re thinking of buying. As you dial in, the computer of an artificial intelligence company hired by the store is activated. It retrieves its analysis of the speaking style you used when you phoned other companies the software firm services. The computer has concluded […] … learn more→

  Since 2011, bullying has become a major political and social concern. And for good reason, about one in ten children is a victim of this scourge. To combat this phenomenon, institutions use two types of strategies. The first is to take preventive action to make students aware of the consequences of this type of behavior (dropping […] … learn more→

Friendships that bridge across social class – “cross-class friendships” – can minimize middle school academic achievement differences that are based on the level of parents’ education, according to research from the UCLA School Diversity Project. As scholars of adolescent development, we examined academic achievement differences among 4,288 middle school students in California based on their parents’ education level. […] … learn more→

We are witnessing the emergence of a new generation of disinformation that is upsetting our benchmarks. Indeed, concern over the growing popularity of deepfakes , or malicious hyper-trick, has led author and synthetic media consultant, Nina Schick, to announce an imminent infocalypse . Hyperchip are audio and video recordings of real people speaking and performing things they have never said […] … learn more→

As many schools in the U.S. figure out how to safely and fully resume in-person instruction, much of the focus is on vaccinations. But there’s another type of “vaccine” that may be beneficial for some returning K-12 students that could be overlooked. Those are known as “behavioral vaccines.” Behavioral vaccines are not some sort of serum to […] … learn more→

The deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January exposed the power of social media to influence real-world behavior and incite violence. But many adolescents, who spend more time on social media than all other age groups, have known this for years. “On social media, when you argue, something so small can turn into something so big so fast,” said Justin, […] … learn more→

Gun control is back in the U.S. political debate, in the wake of mass shootings in California, Boulder and Atlanta. Democrats see stricter gun control as a step toward addressing the problem. In March 2021, as the House of Representatives passed two gun control bills, Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that the “solutions will save lives.” […] … learn more→