Facebook has no negative effects on academic grades

September 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Parents in low-income environments are more prone to depression when there is a lack of social support, especially in rural regions where mental health and social resources can be deficient, according to a study. Published in the journal Family Relations, a report on the study says that social support mechanisms like community groups, churches, and school or sports-related activities, can act as a barrier against negative thinking, and allow parents who are prone to depression to make better, more positive choices and engage in healthy parental practices.

September 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Negative messages make for the most effective subliminal messaging, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust. A report on the study describes subliminal images as those shown so briefly that the viewer does not consciously 'see' them.

September 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A bad vacation can cause more grief than the purchase of poor-quality goods of equivalent price, researchers have found. The study is the first to compare the after-effects of experiential and material purchases on the happiness levels of buyers, both when the purchases went well and when they did not.

September 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - High quality child care not only boosts the chances of academic success for low-income kids, but it also combats the effects of poverty, according to a new study. Researchers from Boston College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Samford University studied 1,300 middle school students, and found that the children who spent more time in high-quality child care in the first five years of their lives had better reading and math scores in middle school.

September 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Spanking negatively affects the behaviour of toddlers in low-income families, according to a new study. Published in the journal Child Development, the longitudinal study looked at how low-income parents discipline their young children.

August 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A father's influence upon a child's academic success later in life is felt the most when he's involved from the very beginning, according to a new study. Brent McBride, a professor of human development at University of Illinois says while a mother's involvement in school was found to be positively related to a child's academic achievement, a father's involvement was found to be negatively related to later student achievement.

August 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - College students who spend most of their time on Facebook are more likely to feel jealous toward their romantic partners, which later traps them into a vicious cycle of envy, according to a study. Such a tendency leads students to spend more time on Facebook as they search for additional information that will further fuel their jealousy, in an escalating cycle that may become addictive.

July 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An Indian-origin researcher in the U.S. says that people who keep too much of their emotions to themselves may find it difficult to build friendships.

July 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Michael Jackson features at the top when it comes to having most number of fans on the popular social networking site Facebook. According to figures released by AllFacebook.com, the late King of Pop reigns the upper echelons of Facebook's superstar culture, with more than 7 million devotees.

July 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Those looking to challenge the popularity of Vin Diesel can take a back seat, for the actor has a staggering 5,149,734 fans on the popular social networking site Facebook. According to figures released by AllFacebook.com, The Fast and the Furious star ranked third in the upper echelons of Facebook's superstar culture.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Students who share a healthy relationship with their teachers and schools tend to have higher success rates, suggests a new study. According to a research review co-authored by Christi Bergin and David Bergin, the University of Missouri, students with positive attachments to their professors and institutions display higher grades and higher standardised test scores.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A healthy relationship with a partner can act as a buffer for people who are constantly exposed to work-related stress, according to a PhD student in psychology. In her new doctoral dissertation, Ann-Christine Andersson Arnten, from the University of Gothenburg, interviewed 900 persons under a survey.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that getting more high-quality sleep positively impacts academic performance, especially in maths. Presented on Wednesday at SLEEP, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, the study indicated that higher maths scores were related to greater sleep quality, less awakenings and increased sleep efficiency.

May 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Veteran singer Smokey Robinson has praised modern day performers like Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys for their outstanding musical talents. The R and B and soul legend believes the current artists are on their way to becoming lasting icons for being the exceptional voice of their generation.

May 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Want to excel in studies? Well, then, start thinking positive. That's the advice from researchers at Indiana University, who have found that women perform worse on math tasks if simply made aware of the negative stereotype that women are weaker in math than men.