New research published by Wiley online in CANCER indicates that psychosocial factors—which influence how a person perceives, interprets, and reacts to their surroundings—do not affect an individual’s risk of developing cancer.

What we believe is determined by more than just the facts we are exposed to, according to a new study in Psychological Science.

Why this matters:

Youth in foster care often experience family instability, which can disrupt their social relationships, support systems and make the transition to adulthood more challenging. This is especially important to recognize in March during National Criminal Justice Awareness Month.

MSU research found that strong social support networks—the holistic web of family and community members who provide support—are associated with a lower likelihood of incarceration among older adolescents transitioning out of foster care. Emotional support in particular plays a critical role in helping youth navigate this transition.

The findings underscore the importance of efforts by child welfare professionals to strengthen relationships and provide consistent emotional support to youth in foster care, helping them avoid incarceration and achieve more stable and positive outcomes in adulthood.

Rice University sociologist Corey M. Abramson has been selected as a 2026–27 residential fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Abramson’s research examines how health and American society are deeply interconnected, combining large-scale computational analysis with in-depth fieldwork in settings such as cancer clinics, dementia care facilities and urban neighborhoods. During the fellowship, he will complete a forthcoming book, Unequal Anatomies, and further develop AI-based methods for qualitative health research. His work aims to better understand how social conditions shape health outcomes and to inform policy conversations around aging, inequality and care.