Social sciences

In recent years members of the Social Science Committee have contributed to the RSNZ submission for the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, advised on the RSNZ Code of Ethics and organised a forum on Research, Policy and Practice. Work in progress includes professional development initiatives for social science teachers and improvement in the number of applications by social science teachers for Teacher Fellowships.

Links

• Memorandum of Understanding: The Royal Society of New Zealand/Te Whainga Aronui - The Council for The Humanities
• Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online
• Latest news links on social sciences from our international pages
• Association of Social Science Researchers
• RSNZ Social Sciences Committee
• Social Sciences Committee report
• Science in Society
• Social sciences and human security
• Human Capital
• Research, Policy & Practice 

 News

Below are social science news headlines. Full articles are available from this site under the 'News, Events, Policy' heading for RSNZ members only. If you'd like to become a member or would like information on member benefits, click here.

2 July 2007: Video games rob reading, homework time - Study investigates how video games affect academic pursuits and social relationships in adolescents

28 June 2007:  "Liver holiday" may do drinkers some good - Claim Massey research supports their view

20 May 2007:  Is gossip really good for you? - Increasingly gossip is attracting the attention of researchers from psychology and sociology to history and communications as a global phenomenon

26 April 2007:  Critical report on Down Syndrome screening - Antenatal Down Syndrome Screening Advisory Group agreed that the current practice of screening using only maternal age and/or nuchal translucency, without biochemical markers is unsafe

12 March 2007: US war veterans need more mental help - study - Vets younger than 25 are particularly at risk from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and substance abuse

13 November 2006: Bad acne causes teens to attempt suicide - An Auckland University study led by Peter Watson found the association between problem acne and mental health is independent of anxiety and depressive symptoms.

26 September 2006: Childhood behaviour linked to driver attitude - Findings of a 20-year University of Melbourne study of Victorian children

12 September 2006: Women's family choices have impact on later health - A study based on women born in 1911 and later has found older mothers to be in better health in their later years than those who did not have children, had them too young, or too closely-spaced

9 August 2006: Poverty and deprivation behind violence not gene - Says Maori MP Hone Harawira.

8 August 2006: Dads may suffer postpartum depression too - In a study of more than 5000 US couples, 10 percent of fathers were found to have significant levels of depression, more than twice the rate seen among the general US population of men. 

3 August 2006: Study looks at significance of early life events on development - Several hundred Auckland families are to come under scrutiny from researchers as part of a new trial study into factors influencing disease and developmental problems.

1 August 2006: News release: Poorer people still hardest hit by problem gambling - The 2002/03 NZ Health Survey shows almost two thirds of problem gamblers live in 40 per cent of NZ's most socio-economically deprived areas

17 July 2006: Human clones happy to share genes - New research on identical twins published in the journal Social Science and Medicine

26 May 2006: In an extract from her book 'An intelligent person's guide to modern ethics', the UK's Mary Warnock discusses the ethical issues raised by technological advances such as stem cell research. 4 February 2006: Alpine ice man may have been childless outcast. Oetzi's DNA shows mutations consistent with sterility

11 January 2006: 15 percent of US workforce affected by alcohol – study. Coming into work with a hangover was the most common finding

10 January 2006: Selective abortion caused up to 10 million lost female babies. Researchers studied data on female fertility from a continuing Indian national survey of 6 million people

10 January 2006: NZ study of criminal propensity in toddlers promoted in Britain. A British charity, The Wave Trust, has partly based a plan to fight crime in the UK on the Dunedin longitudinal study

4 January 2006: Archaeologists find South America's oldest known irrigation canal. Irrigation technology was critical to the development of Peru's early civilisation

News from 2005