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Before this weekend’s unrest following the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith, Milwaukee’s police department reached out to the Department of Justice for help. “The Milwaukee mayor and police chief asked the Department of Justice for technical assistance,” said Ronald Davis, the director of the DOJ’s office of community-oriented policing services. “They [said] there were community concerns about the police department, and they wanted … to open the department up for an evaluation and...

In the now-famous “marshmallow” experiments, researchers at Stanford tested preschoolers’ self-control and ability to delay gratification by sitting them in a room alone with a tempting treat and measuring how long they were able to wait. Years later, those kids who resisted temptation the longest also tended to have the highest academic achievement. In fact, their ability to delay eating the marshmallow was a better predictor of their future academic success than their IQ scores. Further...

In April, the AARP asked me to help moderate an international meeting of 15 exercise scientists in Vancouver. Their goal was to write a consensus statement about how best to use exercise to promote health (specifically “brain health”). What types of exercise are ideal? Is walking as good as running? Does yoga count? How do we measure exercise—as a matter of heart rate, calories burned, or simply of time spent? All or none, of these? I was blunt about my skepticism. These are huge questions.

S harp differences along lines of race and politics shape American attitudes toward the poor and poverty, according to a new survey of public opinion, which finds empathy toward the poor and deep skepticism about government antipoverty efforts. The differences illuminate some of the passions that have driven this year’s contentious presidential campaign. But the poll, which updates a survey The Times conducted three decades ago, also illustrates how attitudes about poverty have remained...

Incivility is pretty much inescapable these days, with everyone from presidential candidates to Olympic athletes behaving in remarkably rude ways. If, as some research suggests , this is an epidemic, how exactly does it spread? Well, according to newly published research , the answer is: quickly and easily, under the right conditions. A research team led by Christopher Rosen of University of Arkansas–Fayetteville and Russell Johnson of Michigan State University provides a flow chart of sorts...

by Bailey Kirkpatrick, What is Epigenetics August 16, 2016 It’s possible that the impact of traumatic experiences may be epigenetically inherited via molecular memory that is passed down through generations. Although still controversial, new research takes this concept a step further and demonstrates that traumatic behavior could be reversed when it would otherwise be inherited. A study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology , was conducted by researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH...

"There is a series of 20 elements to the program. There may be a victim that steps forward that wants two or three of us those. We don't put what we believe someone needs on the person who was victimized. We let them tell us what they need and that's a real shift from the traditional law enforcement response which can be pretty assumptive of what someone needs or wants or should want if they've been victimized." Detective, Carrie Hall on WBUR's Here and Now program today speaking about the...

Extreme stress and young brains are a bad combination, something that sets in motion feelings and behaviors that can haunt us long into adulthood. And just in time for the school year, a new study may help explain why. The Duke University study used neuro-imaging to look at the biological effect of childhood stress on the adult brain. It's important research, because it parallels existing knowledge about the relationship of stress to unhealthy behavior. For families, the timing is important...

Twice a week in St. Louis, at around 5 p.m., a line begins to form in front of a truck. The people waiting are all homeless. Most haven’t had a shower in over a month, but that’s what awaits them when they reach the front of the line. Since it officially launched in May, the Shower to the People truck has been making its way around St. Louis, docking in various locations on Monday and Thursday evenings. The project’s founder, Jake Austin, says that in a typical five-hour shift, as many as 50...

Just about everyone is talking about the Pinellas County mother, 62-year-old Kathleen Steele, who has been charged after her 6-year-old son allegedly beat his infant sister to death. Friday night Steele bonded out of jail while her son and his 3-year-old brother have been placed in separate foster homes. Brigit Towey is a licensed mental health counselor and a certified child protection professional. She's the executive director of Life, Beauty and Balance, 10013 Water Works Lane in...

Black children and young adults are about half as likely as their white counterparts to get mental health care despite having similar rates of mental health problems, according to a study published today [Friday, Aug. 12] in the International Journal of Health Services. Hispanic youth also get only half as much mental health care as whites. The study used data on children under 18 and young adults 18-34 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey covering all 50 states for the years 2006-2012.

Juvenile justice professionals are evolving to better understand the impact of trauma on youth. In 2012 the U.S. Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence called for organizations to provide trauma-informed care and develop trauma-informed policies. Since 2013 in Texas, all juvenile supervision officers receive state-mandated trauma-informed care training. The six-hour training provides critical components that go beyond traditional verbal de-escalation...