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This study investigated whether changes in neighborhood context induced by neighborhood relocation mediated the impact of the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) housing voucher experiment on adolescent mental health. Mediators included participant-reported neighborhood safety, social control, disorder, and externally-collected neighborhood collective efficacy. For treatment group members, improvement in neighborhood disorder and drug activity partially explained MTO's beneficial effects on girls' distress. Improvement in neighborhood disorder, violent victimization, and informal social control helped counteract MTO's adverse effects on boys' behavioral problems, but not distress. Housing mobility policy targeting neighborhood improvements may improve mental health for adolescent girls, and mitigate harmful effects for boys.

In Maryland and across the nation, black people are becoming ill and dying at disproportionate rates because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Long Doan along with Faculty Associates Liana Sayer, Sociology, and Jessica Fish, Family Science, will examine the social impacts of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.

Erich Battistin examines a relatively understudied early-childhood intervention for low birth-weight infants using new policy parameter

Two new indicators designed to gauge economic activity on a real-time basis show that the U.S. has already experienced an economic crisis sharper than the 2008 recession and continues to deteriorate.

Police departments across the country are reporting a spike in domestic violence cases as stay-at-home orders put victims and their abusers in constant proximity.

University of Maryland Seed Grant funds research into COVID-19 social impacts

Purpose This study aimed to examine whether the timing of depression onset relative to age at sexual debut is associated with teenage pregnancy. Methods Using data from 1,025 adolescent girls who reported having had sex in the National Comorbidity Survey—Adolescent Supplement, we applied cox proportional hazards models to test whether depression onset before first sex, at the same age as first sex, or after first sex compared with no depression onset was associated with experiencing a first teenage pregnancy. We examined the unadjusted risk by depression status as well as risk adjusted for adolescents' race/ethnicity, marital status, poverty level, whether the adolescent lived in a metropolitan area, living status, age at first sex, parental education, and age of mother when the adolescent was born. Results In both unadjusted and adjusted models, we found that adolescents with depression onset at the same age as having initiated sex were at an increased risk of experiencing a teenage pregnancy (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08–5.96; adjusted HR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.15–6.34) compared with those with no depression onset. Moreover, compared with those with no depression onset, the risk of pregnancy for girls experiencing depression onset before first sex also increased but was not significant (adjusted HR = 1.5, 95% CI: .82–2.76). Conclusions Timing of first depressive episode relative to age at first sexual intercourse plays a critical role in determining the risk of teenage pregnancy. Timely diagnosis and treatment of depression may not only help adolescents' mental well-being but may also help them prevent teenage pregnancy.

Purpose This study aimed to examine whether the timing of depression onset relative to age at sexual debut is associated with teenage pregnancy. Methods Using data from 1,025 adolescent girls who reported having had sex in the National Comorbidity Survey—Adolescent Supplement, we applied cox proportional hazards models to test whether depression onset before first sex, at the same age as first sex, or after first sex compared with no depression onset was associated with experiencing a first teenage pregnancy. We examined the unadjusted risk by depression status as well as risk adjusted for adolescents' race/ethnicity, marital status, poverty level, whether the adolescent lived in a metropolitan area, living status, age at first sex, parental education, and age of mother when the adolescent was born. Results In both unadjusted and adjusted models, we found that adolescents with depression onset at the same age as having initiated sex were at an increased risk of experiencing a teenage pregnancy (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08–5.96; adjusted HR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.15–6.34) compared with those with no depression onset. Moreover, compared with those with no depression onset, the risk of pregnancy for girls experiencing depression onset before first sex also increased but was not significant (adjusted HR = 1.5, 95% CI: .82–2.76). Conclusions Timing of first depressive episode relative to age at first sexual intercourse plays a critical role in determining the risk of teenage pregnancy. Timely diagnosis and treatment of depression may not only help adolescents' mental well-being but may also help them prevent teenage pregnancy.

Health experts had suspected the coronavirus pandemic would kill more people in areas where there’s higher air pollution. Now, they have preliminary data to back it up.