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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Sep-2025 10:11 ET (10-Sep-2025 14:11 GMT/UTC)

Patients with Long COVID forced to become their own doctors

University of Surrey
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An inability to get the support they need from medical professionals is forcing Long COVID sufferers to navigate and self-manage their illness using digital self-tracking tools and online support groups, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.

Journal: Sociology

Sports clubs participation rises among Finnish youth

University of Jyväskylä - Jyväskylän yliopisto
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, reveals that sports clubs have grown in popularity among children and adolescents since the 1980s. Girls now participate in sports clubs as much as boys do. However, participation in sports clubs is less common in rural areas, and rising costs are limiting opportunities for low-income families. The researcher suggests providing sports opportunities with a low barrier to entry, such as physical activities organised during and around the school day.

Journal: Journal of Public Health

California Jews experiencing heightened depression, anxiety since 2023 Hamas violence

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

California Jews are reporting significantly greater symptoms of depression and anxiety since the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians in October 2023, according to a University of California, Davis, study.

Journal: Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy

National study finds energy bills hit minority households the hardest

Binghamton University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A first-of-its-kind national study co-authored by Associate Professor George Homsy at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals a stark reality: minority communities, namely Black Americans, are paying a disproportionately higher share of their income to power their homes.

Ternary, gradually changing reputation system found to sustain cooperation in indirect reciprocity

Rissho University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by Hitoshi Yamamoto (Rissho Univ. JAPAN) has unveiled new insights into how humans build and update reputations in cooperative social interactions. Human societies have achieved remarkable levels of cooperation, facilitated mainly by mechanisms of indirect reciprocity, where reputation and social norms play crucial roles. While theoretical models have proposed complex, multi-layered systems for how reputation information sustains cooperation, experimental studies often rely on oversimplified binary categorizations. This research aimed to bridge this gap by investigating the type of information and level of granularity required to define and maintain reputation-based cooperation in real-world contexts. The study's results appeared in PLOS One on August 8, 2025.

Journal: PLOS One

Blending direct and indirect reciprocity: Tolerant integrated reciprocity found to sustain cooperation in noisy environments

Rissho University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by Professor Hitoshi Yamamoto (Rissho University, Japan) has developed a new model that integrates direct and indirect reciprocity, the two core mechanisms underpinning human cooperation. Unlike previous models that treat these processes separately, this study proposes a tolerant integrated reciprocity strategy that draws upon both personal experience and social reputation. The study's results appeared in Scientific Reports on August 7, 2025.

Journal: Scientific Reports

What geese teach us about leadership and followers

University of Vienna
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led by the Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition at the University of Vienna sheds light on a long-standing mystery in animal behavior: why do certain individuals gain more influence than others within a group? The research shows that bold geese – but not aggressive ones – are more likely to be accepted as leaders, while exploratory individuals tend to follow them – revealing a nuanced interplay of personality and social roles in collective movement decisions. The results of the study have just been published in the journal iScience.

Journal: iScience

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