New research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) reveals why some children are badly affected by negative family conflicts while other children survive without significant problems.

People with depression often feel their life is out of control. Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) suggests that these feeling may be caused by subtle changes in the way depressed people perceive time and process their surroundings.

Researchers in the UK have taken an important step towards understanding how the human brain 'decodes' letters on a page to read a word according to work funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

A new UK-India PhD Partnering Initiative in the Social Sciences has been launched with funding from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)

Feeling comfortable and confident in sport, health, or PE can be very difficult for some young people who can be seen as a 'risk' of becoming obese. Young people from ethnic minorities, especially girls, are more likely to be physically inactive and unhealthy.

The internet offers users a cost-effective way of accessing information and advice on any health problem, 24-hours a day. A group of social scientists has taken advantage of this by developing software which enables other researchers to easily create interactive internet-based intervention programmes to support behavioural change

With reports of abuse in care settings rising, it has never been more vital that staff are trained to provide the highest standards of care to vulnerable people. For this reason Cornwall Council enlisted the help of ESRC-funded researchers from Plymouth University to improve training for their social care workforce.

The health benefits of 'water clubs' in care homes for the elderly owe as least as much to the social nature of the activity as to the value of drinking water itself, an investigation by psychologists and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has shown

The use of technology in the classroom is nothing new, but Topcliffe Primary School in Birmingham is breaking new ground by using technology to help pupils with autism communicate more effectively in a project jointly funded by the ESRC and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)

‘Social medicines’ are beneficial to the health and wellbeing of individuals and the population. By combining social and biological information from UK Longitudinal studies (life-course studies) researchers have identified that the more ‘social medicines’ you have, the better your physical and mental health.

Learning about surviving disasters has resulted in a unique bank of research data which provides insights into what makes an effective community response at this critical time. Community responses are key to helping children and young people who survive major natural disasters.

Introducing abstinence education into UK schools could be a less effective substitute for comprehensive Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) aimed at children and young adults, say a research team led by Sheffield Hallam University.

Children’s parties or activity days, where prospective adopters meet children awaiting adoption, could be part of the solution to the current adoption crisis, according to research that will be showcased during the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)’s Festival of Social Science.

A world-leading initiative which brings together some of the most important studies of people’s lives in the UK, has been launched today by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Insomnia sufferers in England could have greater access to successful treatment, thanks to a training programme developed as part of trials of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Obesity is not to blame for poor educational performance, according to early findings from research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

World experts in social, biological and medical science will today (Monday 25 June 2012) in Edinburgh to discuss how they can cooperate to improve our understanding of the way behaviours and life experiences influence how our genetic inheritance is expressed (epigenetics)

Over the next 20 years the proportion of older people living within the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities in the UK will increase significantly according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

People make complex judgements about a person from looking at their face that are based on a range of factors beyond simply their race and gender, according to findings of new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Many boys say they would prefer a male befriender according to early findings, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Yet, less than a quarter of UK volunteer child befrienders are men.

Steep rises in taxes on alcohol do not necessarily reduce consumption, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) into the history of intoxicants in 16th and 17th England.

A complex and fascinating portrait of a society suffering the effects of the deepest recession since the early 1990s and in which young people appear to have been hardest hit is revealed by new findings from the UK’s largest longitudinal household survey Understanding Society.

Do your parents know where you are at night? According to 36 per cent of 15 year old boys and nearly a quarter of 15 year old girls the answer to that question, at least once a month, is no

Teenagers who turn their backs on a healthy lifestyle and turn to drink, cigarettes and junk food are significantly unhappier than their healthier peers.

Partners provide a vital source of positive emotional support for the vast majority of people in the UK. Nine out of ten people who were married or cohabiting talk to their partner about their worries, according to data from Understanding Society, the world’s largest longitudinal household study of 40,000 UK households.