Study: Health, education, marital status affect birth weight of girls

“The odds of having a low-birth-weight baby were one and a half to two times greater for mothers who themselves were born low birth weight compared to mothers who were not born low birth weight,” Jennifer B. Kane, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California Irvine, said in a press release. “But also important are social factors, including education and marital status.”

Does asking white people for moral self-reflection about race actually work?

“When people have their self-worth validated in some way, they tend to be more receptive to information that challenges their beliefs,” Peter Ditto, a psychology professor at the University of California, Irvine, told me last year.)

Best U.S. colleges for business majors

5. University of California, Irvine. Students who go to this school, with over 20,000 undergraduates, will see the second-highest median salary 10 years or more after graduation: $121,000. Located in California’s Orange County, the university is just a short trip from Newport Beach, a perfect place for sun seekers.

Vocabulary at 2 may help predict kindergarten success

Children with a larger speaking vocabulary at age 2 are better prepared for kindergarten, a new study shows. … “Interventions may need to be targeted to 2-year-olds being raised in disadvantaged home environments,” study co-author George Farkas, a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine, said in the news release.

The search for Greenland’s missing ice

New underwater data shows warm Atlantic water reaching far up into the fjords and cutting out the undersides of glaciers, causing them to melt faster and become unstable, according to a recent publication from a team led by Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Slaying casts pall on plan to reduce solitary confinement

Hugo “Yogi” Pinell’s repeated assaults on guards landed him in solitary confinement beginning in the early 1970s, making him one of the longest-serving solitary confinement inmates in the nation, said Keramet Reiter, a University of California, Irvine, professor of criminology who studies the issue.

Investors should beware when good managers make great traders

And new research suggests adept trading by managers at such times can be a red flag for investors. … From 1986 through 2014, about 16 percent of trades by corporate insiders occurred in the 21 trading days before quarterly earnings announcements, according to research conducted by … David Hirshleifer, a finance professor at the University of California, Irvine.  PDF

Cops didn’t understand ‘Straight Outta Compton’ in the ’80s and they don’t today

Charis Kurbrin, a sociologist at the University of California, Irvine, says prosecutors often use this tactic because they know it will scare jurors who have little knowledge of rap music’s artistic metaphors, characters, hyperbole and word play.

How economists define poverty

Joining me now is Jennifer Lee. She is the author of The Asian American Achievement Paradox, and she is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine.  [Jennifer Lee discusses college applications and SAT test scores. Starts at 14:00]

Trains are great! But what L.A. needs are bus lanes

There is little doubt that self-driving cars will be on our roads in the not-too-distant future.. … Planners, policy makers, stakeholders, and citizens all need to prepare for this game changer. … Sarah L. Catz is … a research associate at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine.