The global learning community, led by researchers in fields such as psychology, sociology and pedagogics, had arrived at a consensus about the social "and" biological nature of learning until work in epigenetics brought new insights. After a brief overview of learning theories and the role of the environment, recent findings from…

Every baby brings its own temperament with it into the world. Although it is widely accepted by scientists that genetic factors are effective in the formation of temperament, this study aims to examine the possible effects of the pregnancy process on the temperament characteristics of children in line with the experiences of mothers and the role…

Understanding what people believe the causes of autism to be has implications for experiences of familial guilt and stigma. Using a qualitative approach, we investigated how Brazilian healthcare professionals, parents of young and adult autistic people and young and adult autistic people consider the origins of autism and the interaction between…

Epigenetic processes, and the investigative practices that take these as their focus, are of increasing interest to a range of professionals beyond biomedicine. This has been piqued by, especially, the belief that bioscientific research is demonstrating new molecular mechanisms through which the social and physical environment impact upon the…

Mother and child wellbeing are intimately connected during pregnancy and the first 12 months of the infant's life. The fetus and child directly experience the mother's life and are shaped by it. A mother's environmental experiences, physical health, and psychological distress affect her interactions with her infant, which in turn have…

Conoley, Powers, and Gutkin (2020) called for an increased emphasis on models of psychological service delivery that are primarily indirect, adult-focused, and geared toward systems-level change in the schools. They asserted that research in school psychology should not focus on the problems of individual children and youth but address the…

Mathematics anxiety is a pervasive issue in education that requires attention from both educators and researchers to help students reach their full academic potential. This review provides an overview of past research that has investigated the association between math anxiety and math achievement, factors that can cause math anxiety,…

Since the Human Genome Project mapped the gene sequence, new biological sciences have been generating a raft of new knowledges about the mechanisms and functions of the molecular body. One area of work that has particular potential to speak to sociology of education, is the emerging field of epigenetics. Epigenetics moves away from the mapped…

This article is targeted to faculty teaching race and ethnicity, racism, diversity, and multicultural courses. Many students equate race with skin color. The premise of this article is that to teach students about the social construction of race, teachers must first know enough science to teach students that race is not biological. This article…

This paper explores the phenomenon in which, for many people, subjective personal belief is viewed as a more accurate representation of reality than objective scientific knowledge developed over the course of human history and transmitted through secular education. The first half of the article is based on personal observations of the author…

There has been significant interest in examining the developmental factors that predispose individuals to chronic criminal offending. This body of research has identified some social-environmental risk factors as potentially important. At the same time, the research producing these results has generally failed to employ genetically sensitive…

Although the prevalence of childhood obesity has not increased in recent years, it remains unacceptably high and warrants continued study. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential relationship between weight status and length of sleep (both daytime and nighttime) among preschool children. Special attention was given to the role…

Research suggests that sibling--peer connections are important for understanding adolescent problem behaviors. Using a novel behavioral genetic design, the current study investigated peer network overlap in 300 child--child pairs (aged 7-13 years) in 5 dyad types: monozygotic (MZ), dizygotic twins, full siblings (FSs), friend pairs, and virtual…

The study of delinquent peers has remained at the forefront of much criminological research and theorizing. One issue of particular importance involves the factors related to why people associate with and maintain a sustained involvement with delinquent peers. Although efforts have been made to address these questions, relatively little attempt…

Reviews salient emerging themes in the scientific literature related to identifying etiology and pathophysiology of ADHD. While bypassing the need for new treatment research, the review highlights three themes. First, recognition of the epigenetic effects is expected to revitalize the search for and mapping of early environmental influences on the…