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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2025 22:11 ET (27-Oct-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)

1-Oct-2025

Education appears to have a long-lasting protective effect in cognitive aging, even at 90+ years, according to a small, long-term cohort study

Journal: PLOS One

1-Oct-2025

Loneliness in U.S. adults linked with amount, frequency of social media use

Oregon State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and similar platforms are apparently no antidote for the global loneliness epidemic, according to Oregon State University research that linked increases in social media use with a greater likelihood of feeling alone.

Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

1-Oct-2025

UC Davis researchers develop theoretical model to determine how pilgrimages can emerge

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pilgrimages are ubiquitous across all major world religions. Hundreds of millions of people travel to various sites across the globe to engage in rituals and connect with their faith.

But how do pilgrimages get established? How do people become convinced to try something new? What makes a pilgrimage so special that it persists over generations, drawing people to it repeatedly?

Using a theoretical game model, University of California, Davis, anthropologists suggest that lucky outcomes — such as a lone miner discovering gold after a pilgrimage — can sometimes give rise to the perception that a new site cures, blesses, grants miracles or otherwise produces great outcomes in pilgrims’ lives.

Journal: Royal Society Open Science
Funder: John Templeton Foundation

1-Oct-2025

Alzheimer’s disease medication shows promise for improving social impairment in some youth with autism

Mass General Brigham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A clinical trial of 42 intellectually capable individuals with autism spectrum disorder found that participants tolerated the drug memantine well and showed significant improvements in social functioning

Mass General Brigham researchers identified a potential biomarker that could help pinpoint those who are likely to respond well to treatment

Journal: JAMA Network Open

1-Oct-2025

New research shows global economy doubles, but poverty persists and planetary damage deepens

University of Oxford
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, researchers have created an annual global dashboard that tracks 21st century trends in social shortfall and ecological overshoot, and reveals the extent to which wealthy countries drive most of the overshoot while poorer countries bear the brunt of deprivation.

Journal: Nature

1-Oct-2025

Study reveals genetic and developmental differences in people with earlier versus later autism diagnosis

University of Cambridge
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers find different genetic profiles related to two trajectories that autistic children tend to follow. One linked to early diagnosis, and communication difficulties in infancy. The other linked to later diagnosis, increased social and behavioural difficulties in adolescence, and higher rates of conditions like ADHD, depression, and PTSD.

Journal: Nature

1-Oct-2025

Where financial advisors grew up influences their business ethics

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study finds that where financial advisors were raised plays a significant role in establishing their core code of ethics, which has a significant impact on their professional behavior as adults. Specifically, researchers found that where advisors grew up significantly predicted the likelihood that they engaged in professional misconduct as adults – regardless of whether they worked in the same area where they were raised.

Journal: Review of Financial Studies