“Behavioral Health” is a term that encompasses both mental health and substance use, which are highly intertwined. The focus of this essay is the role the college environment plays in understanding mental health and substance use among college students. COVID-19 is clearly a chronic stressor, with devastating effects on health, well-being, and employment. In the past[...]

In 2020, 45,222 Americans died of gunshot wounds—the highest annual number on record and the highest per capita rate since the mid-1990s. That CDC figure reflects a surge in gun homicides and mass shootings, but it is almost certainly dwarfed by the annual number of people who get shot [...]

I have been studying technology use for over 20 years. I first became interested in this topic as a postdoctoral fellow, having moved from North Carolina to Massachusetts where I knew no one. Soon after moving to Massachusetts, I realized that one of the main ways I maintained contact with many of my social ties was through email. This led me to become interested in the [...]

Conditions of work today—both paid work and unpaid care work—are out of sync with optimal mental health and an equitable society. For paid work, even if well compensated and bounded to a reasonable number of hours, conditions are often taxing or noxious. Common problems like irregular hours, tight deadlines, or working with too few staff can affect mental health. Furth[...]

Families are a key social determinant of mental health across the life course. However, sociologists importantly note that families themselves are embedded within broader social structures that shape how, when, and why families matter. A[...]

We are entering a new period of mass human displacement. A recent study by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that in 2021 over 89 million people were forced to relocate from their homes due to war, violence, persecution, and huma[...]

Wars are catastrophic events bringing death, destruction, and long-lasting trauma to individuals and nations. While the death toll is the metric most often used to evaluate their impact, wars are known to cause both acute and chronic behavioral, physical, and mental health harm to people in afflicted societies that may be felt for generations. Despite extreme consequence[...]