TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Jose Luis Bobadilla A2 - Christine A. Costello A2 - Faith Mitchell TI - Premature Death in the New Independent States SN - DO - 10.17226/5530 PY - 1997 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5530/premature-death-in-the-new-independent-states PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - In recent years there have been alarming reports of rapid decreases in life expectancy in the New Independent States (former members of the Soviet Union). To help assess priorities for health policy, the Committee on Population organized two workshops—the first on adult mortality and disability, the second on adult health priorities and policies. Participants included demographers, epidemiologists, public health specialists, economists, and policymakers from the NIS countries, the United States, and Western Europe. This volume consists of selected papers presented at the workshops. They assess the reliability of data on mortality, morbidity, and disability; analyze regional patterns and trends in mortality rates and causes of death; review evidence about major determinants of adult mortality; and discuss implications for health policy. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Contraception and Reproduction: Health Consequences for Women and Children in the Developing World SN - DO - 10.17226/1421 PY - 1989 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1421/contraception-and-reproduction-health-consequences-for-women-and-children-in PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - This book examines how changes in reproductive patterns (such as the number and timing of births and spacing between births) have affected the health of women and children in the developing world. It reviews the relationships between contraceptive use, reproductive patterns, and health; the effects of differences and changes in reproductive patterns; as well as the role of family planning in women's fertility and health. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Neil J. Smelser A2 - William Julius Wilson A2 - Faith Mitchell TI - America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences: Volume II SN - DO - 10.17226/9719 PY - 2001 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9719/america-becoming-racial-trends-and-their-consequences-volume-ii PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - The 20th Century has been marked by enormous change in terms of how we define race. In large part, we have thrown out the antiquated notions of the 1800s, giving way to a more realistic, sociocultural view of the world. The United States is, perhaps more than any other industrialized country, distinguished by the size and diversity of its racial and ethnic minority populations. Current trends promise that these features will endure. Fifty years from now, there will most likely be no single majority group in the United States. How will we fare as a nation when race-based issues such as immigration, job opportunities, and affirmative action are already so contentious today? In America Becoming, leading scholars and commentators explore past and current trends among African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in the context of a white majority. This volume presents the most up-to-date findings and analysis on racial and social dynamics, with recommendations for ongoing research. It examines compelling issues in the field of race relations, including: Race and ethnicity in criminal justice. Demographic and social trends for Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. Trends in minority-owned businesses. Wealth, welfare, and racial stratification. Residential segregation and the meaning of "neighborhood." Disparities in educational test scores among races and ethnicities. Health and development for minority children, adolescents, and adults. Race and ethnicity in the labor market, including the role of minorities in America's military. Immigration and the dynamics of race and ethnicity. The changing meaning of race. Changing racial attitudes. This collection of papers, compiled and edited by distinguished leaders in the behavioral and social sciences, represents the most current literature in the field. Volume 1 covers demographic trends, immigration, racial attitudes, and the geography of opportunity. Volume 2 deals with the criminal justice system, the labor market, welfare, and health trends, Both books will be of great interest to educators, scholars, researchers, students, social scientists, and policymakers. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Sharon L. Lohr A2 - Daniel H. Weinberg A2 - Krisztina Marton TI - Toward a 21st Century National Data Infrastructure: Enhancing Survey Programs by Using Multiple Data Sources SN - DO - 10.17226/26804 PY - 2023 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26804/toward-a-21st-century-national-data-infrastructure-enhancing-survey-programs-by-using-multiple-data-sources PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Much of the statistical information currently produced by federal statistical agencies - information about economic, social, and physical well-being that is essential for the functioning of modern society - comes from sample surveys. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of data from other sources, including data collected by government agencies while administering programs, satellite and sensor data, private-sector data such as electronic health records and credit card transaction data, and massive amounts of data available on the internet. How can these data sources be used to enhance the information currently collected on surveys, and to provide new frontiers for producing information and statistics to benefit American society? Toward a 21st Century National Data Infrastructure: Enhancing Survey Programs by Using Multiple Data Sources, the second report in a series funded by the National Science Foundation, discusses how use of multiple data sources can improve the quality of national and subnational statistics while promoting data equity. This report explores implications of combining survey data with other data sources through examples relating to the areas of income, health, crime, and agriculture. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Charles F. Wellford A2 - John V. Pepper A2 - Carol V. Petrie TI - Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review SN - DO - 10.17226/10881 PY - 2005 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10881/firearms-and-violence-a-critical-review PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts about the relationship between guns and violence as well as conflicting constitutional claims and divided public opinion. In performing these tasks, legislators need adequate data and research to judge both the effects of firearms on violence and the effects of different violence control policies. Readers of the research literature on firearms may sometimes find themselves unable to distinguish scholarship from advocacy. Given the importance of this issue, there is a pressing need for a clear and unbiased assessment of the existing portfolio of data and research. Firearms and Violence uses conventional standards of science to examine three major themes - firearms and violence, the quality of research, and the quality of data available. The book assesses the strengths and limitations of current databases, examining current research studies on firearm use and the efforts to reduce unjustified firearm use and suggests ways in which they can be improved. ER - TY - BOOK A2 - Rosemary Chalk A2 - Patricia A. King TI - Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs SN - DO - 10.17226/5285 PY - 1998 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5285/violence-in-families-assessing-prevention-and-treatment-programs PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - Reports of mistreated children, domestic violence, and abuse of elderly persons continue to strain the capacity of police, courts, social services agencies, and medical centers. At the same time, myriad treatment and prevention programs are providing services to victims and offenders. Although limited research knowledge exists regarding the effectiveness of these programs, such information is often scattered, inaccessible, and difficult to obtain. Violence in Families takes the first hard look at the successes and failures of family violence interventions. It offers recommendations to guide services, programs, policy, and research on victim support and assistance, treatments and penalties for offenders, and law enforcement. Included is an analysis of more than 100 evaluation studies on the outcomes of different kinds of programs and services. Violence in Families provides the most comprehensive review on the topic to date. It explores the scope and complexity of family violence, including identification of the multiple types of victims and offenders, who require different approaches to intervention. The book outlines new strategies that offer promising approaches for service providers and researchers and for improving the evaluation of prevention and treatment services. Violence in Families discusses issues that underlie all types of family violence, such as the tension between family support and the protection of children, risk factors that contribute to violent behavior in families, and the balance between family privacy and community interventions. The core of the book is a research-based review of interventions used in three institutional sectors—social services, health, and law enforcement settings—and how to measure their effectiveness in combating maltreatment of children, domestic violence, and abuse of the elderly. Among the questions explored by the committee: Does the child protective services system work? Does the threat of arrest deter batterers? The volume discusses the strength of the evidence and highlights emerging links among interventions in different institutional settings. Thorough, readable, and well organized, Violence in Families synthesizes what is known and outlines what needs to be discovered. This volume will be of great interest to policymakers, social services providers, health care professionals, police and court officials, victim advocates, researchers, and concerned individuals. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect SN - DO - 10.17226/2117 PY - 1993 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2117/understanding-child-abuse-and-neglect PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - The tragedy of child abuse and neglect is in the forefront of public attention. Yet, without a conceptual framework, research in this area has been highly fragmented. Understanding the broad dimensions of this crisis has suffered as a result. This new volume provides a comprehensive, integrated, child-oriented research agenda for the nation. The committee presents an overview of three major areas: Definitions and scope—exploring standardized classifications, analysis of incidence and prevalence trends, and more. Etiology, consequences, treatment, and prevention—analyzing relationships between cause and effect, reviewing prevention research with a unique systems approach, looking at short- and long-term consequences of abuse, and evaluating interventions. Infrastructure and ethics—including a review of current research efforts, ways to strengthen human resources and research tools, and guidance on sensitive ethical and legal issues. This volume will be useful to organizations involved in research, social service agencies, child advocacy groups, and researchers. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Michele Ver Ploeg A2 - Robert A. Moffitt A2 - Constance F. Citro TI - Studies of Welfare Populations: Data Collection and Research Issues SN - DO - 10.17226/10206 PY - 2002 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10206/studies-of-welfare-populations-data-collection-and-research-issues PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - This volume, a companion to Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition, is a collection of papers on data collection issues for welfare and low-income populations. The papers on survey issues cover methods for designing surveys taking into account nonresponse in advance, obtaining high response rates in telephone surveys, obtaining high response rates in in-person surveys, the effects of incentive payments, methods for adjusting for missing data in surveys of low-income populations, and measurement error issues in surveys, with a special focus on recall error. The papers on administrative data cover the issues of matching and cleaning, access and confidentiality, problems in measuring employment and income, and the availability of data on children. The papers on welfare leavers and welfare dynamics cover a comparison of existing welfare leaver studies, data from the state of Wisconsin on welfare leavers, and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth used to construct measures of heterogeneity in the welfare population based on the recipient's own welfare experience. A final paper discusses qualitative data. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Norman B. Anderson A2 - Rodolfo A. Bulatao A2 - Barney Cohen TI - Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life SN - DO - 10.17226/11086 PY - 2004 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11086/critical-perspectives-on-racial-and-ethnic-differences-in-health-in-late-life PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good--or equally poor--health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Burton H. Singer A2 - Carol D. Ryff TI - New Horizons in Health: An Integrative Approach SN - DO - 10.17226/10002 PY - 2001 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10002/new-horizons-in-health-an-integrative-approach PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - New Horizons in Health discusses how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can integrate research in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences to better understand the causes of disease as well as interventions that promote health. It outlines a set of research priorities for consideration by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), with particular attention to research that can support and complement the work of the National Institutes of Health. By addressing the range of interactions among social settings, behavioral patterns, and important health concerns, it highlights areas of scientific opportunity where significant investment is most likely to improve national—and global—health outcomes. These opportunities will apply the knowledge and methods of the behavioral and social sciences to contemporary health needs, and give attention to the chief health concerns of the general public. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Katharine G. Abraham A2 - Christopher Mackie TI - Beyond the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States SN - DO - 10.17226/11181 PY - 2005 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11181/beyond-the-market-designing-nonmarket-accounts-for-the-united-states PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Industry and Labor KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Surveys and Statistics AB - The national income and product accounts that underlie gross domestic product (GDP), together with other key economic data—price and employment statistics— are widely used as indicators of how well the nation is doing. GDP, however, is focused on the production of goods and services sold in markets and reveals relatively little about important production in the home and other areas outside of markets. A set of satellite accounts—in areas such as health, education, volunteer and home production, and environmental improvement or pollution—would contribute to a better understanding of major issues related to economic growth and societal well-being. Beyond the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States hopes to encourage social scientists to make further efforts and contributions in the analysis of nonmarket activities and in corresponding data collection and accounting systems. The book illustrates new data sources and new ideas that have improved the prospects for progress. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Janet L. Lauritsen A2 - Daniel L. Cork TI - Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 1: Defining and Classifying Crime SN - DO - 10.17226/23492 PY - 2016 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23492/modernizing-crime-statistics-report-1-defining-and-classifying-crime PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Surveys and Statistics AB - To derive statistics about crime – to estimate its levels and trends, assess its costs to and impacts on society, and inform law enforcement approaches to prevent it – a conceptual framework for defining and thinking about crime is virtually a prerequisite. Developing and maintaining such a framework is no easy task, because the mechanics of crime are ever evolving and shifting: tied to shifts and development in technology, society, and legislation. Interest in understanding crime surged in the 1920s, which proved to be a pivotal decade for the collection of nationwide crime statistics. Now established as a permanent agency, the Census Bureau commissioned the drafting of a manual for preparing crime statistics—intended for use by the police, corrections departments, and courts alike. The new manual sought to solve a perennial problem by suggesting a standard taxonomy of crime. Shortly after the Census Bureau issued its manual, the International Association of Chiefs of Police in convention adopted a resolution to create a Committee on Uniform Crime Records —to begin the process of describing what a national system of data on crimes known to the police might look like. The key distinction between the rigorous classification proposed in this report and the “classifications” that have come before in U.S. crime statistics is that it is intended to partition the entirety of behaviors that could be considered criminal offenses into mutually exclusive categories. Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 1: Defining and Classifying Crime assesses and makes recommendations for the development of a modern set of crime measures in the United States and the best means for obtaining them. This first report develops a new classification of crime by weighing various perspectives on how crime should be defined and organized with the needs and demands of the full array of crime data users and stakeholders. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Steve Olson TI - The Role of Human Factors in Home Health Care: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/12927 PY - 2010 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12927/the-role-of-human-factors-in-home-health-care-workshop PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - The rapid growth of home health care has raised many unsolved issues and will have consequences that are far too broad for any one group to analyze in their entirety. Yet a major influence on the safety, quality, and effectiveness of home health care will be the set of issues encompassed by the field of human factors research—the discipline of applying what is known about human capabilities and limitations to the design of products, processes, systems, and work environments. To address these challenges, the National Research Council began a multidisciplinary study to examine a diverse range of behavioral and human factors issues resulting from the increasing migration of medical devices, technologies, and care practices into the home. Its goal is to lay the groundwork for a thorough integration of human factors research with the design and implementation of home health care devices, technologies, and practices. On October 1 and 2, 2009, a group of human factors and other experts met to consider a diverse range of behavioral and human factors issues associated with the increasing migration of medical devices, technologies, and care practices into the home. This book is a summary of that workshop, representing the culmination of the first phase of the study. ER - TY - BOOK A2 - Donald J. Hernandez A2 - Evan Charney TI - From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families SN - DO - 10.17226/6164 PY - 1998 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/6164/from-generation-to-generation-the-health-and-well-being-of PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Immigrant children and youth are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, and so their prospects bear heavily on the well-being of the country. However, relevant public policy is shaped less by informed discussion than by politicized contention over welfare reform and immigration limits. From Generation to Generation explores what we know about the development of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian children and youth from numerous countries of origin. Describing the status of immigrant children and youth as "severely understudied," the committee both draws on and supplements existing research to characterize the current status and outlook of immigrant children. The book discusses the many factors—family size, fluency in English, parent employment, acculturation, delivery of health and social services, and public policies—that shape the outlook for the lives of these children and youth. The committee makes recommendations for improved research and data collection designed to advance knowledge about these children and, as a result, their visibility in current policy debates. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Jeanne C. Rivard A2 - Mary Ellen O'Connell A2 - David H. Wegman TI - Review of Disability and Rehabilitation Research: NIDRR Grantmaking Processes and Products SN - DO - 10.17226/13285 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13285/review-of-disability-and-rehabilitation-research-nidrr-grantmaking-processes-and PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) is the principal federal agency supporting applied research, training, and development to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. NIDRR's mission is to generate new knowledge and promote its effective use in improving the ability of persons with disabilities to perform activities of their choice in the community, as well as to expand society's capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for its citizens with disabilities. NIDRR prides itself on being proactive in establishing program performance measures and developing accountability data systems to track the progress of its grantees. An electronic annual reporting system is used to collect data from grantees on many aspects of grant operation and outputs. Various formative and summative evaluation approaches have been used to assess the quality of the performance and results of the agency's research portfolio and its grantees. Prompted by the need to provide more data on its program results, in 2009 NIDRR requested that the National Research Council (NRC) conduct an external evaluation of some of the agency's key processes and assess the quality of outputs produced by NIDRR grantees (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 2009a). Review of Disability and Rehabilitation Research presents the results of that evaluation. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Gerald David Jaynes A2 - Robin M. Williams, Jr. TI - A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society SN - DO - 10.17226/1210 PY - 1989 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1210/a-common-destiny-blacks-and-american-society PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - "[A] collection of scholars [has] released a monumental study called A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society. It offers detailed evidence of the progress our nation has made in the past 50 years in living up to American ideals. But the study makes clear that our work is far from over." —President Bush, Remarks by the president to the National Urban League Conference The product of a four-year, intensive study by distinguished experts, A Common Destiny presents a clear, readable "big picture" of blacks' position in America. Drawing on historical perspectives and a vast amount of data, the book examines the past 50 years of change and continuity in the status of black Americans. By studying and comparing black and white age cohorts, this volume charts the status of blacks in areas such as education, housing, employment, political participation and family life. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Alan I. Leshner A2 - Bruce M. Altevogt A2 - Arlene F. Lee A2 - Margaret A. McCoy A2 - Patrick W. Kelley TI - Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence SN - DO - 10.17226/18319 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18319/priorities-for-research-to-reduce-the-threat-of-firearm-related-violence PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - In 2010, more than 105,000 people were injured or killed in the United States as the result of a firearm-related incident. Recent, highly publicized, tragic mass shootings in Newtown, CT; Aurora, CO; Oak Creek, WI; and Tucson, AZ, have sharpened the American public's interest in protecting our children and communities from the harmful effects of firearm violence. While many Americans legally use firearms for a variety of activities, fatal and nonfatal firearm violence poses a serious threat to public safety and welfare. In January 2013, President Barack Obama issued 23 executive orders directing federal agencies to improve knowledge of the causes of firearm violence, what might help prevent it, and how to minimize its burden on public health. One of these orders directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to, along with other federal agencies, immediately begin identifying the most pressing problems in firearm violence research. The CDC and the CDC Foundation asked the IOM, in collaboration with the National Research Council, to convene a committee tasked with developing a potential research agenda that focuses on the causes of, possible interventions to, and strategies to minimize the burden of firearm-related violence. Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence focuses on the characteristics of firearm violence, risk and protective factors, interventions and strategies, the impact of gun safety technology, and the influence of video games and other media. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Steve Olson TI - Using Existing Platforms to Integrate and Coordinate Investments for Children: Summary of a Joint Workshop by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Centre for Health Education and Health Promotion; and Wu Yee Sun College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong SN - DO - 10.17226/21799 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21799/using-existing-platforms-to-integrate-and-coordinate-investments-for-children PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - The integration and coordination of health, education, nutrition, social protection, and other services have the potential to improve the lives of children and their caregivers around the world. However, integration and coordination of policies and programs affecting early childhood development can create both risks and benefits. In different localities, these services are more or less effective in achieving their objectives. They also are more or less coordinated in delivering services to the same recipients, and in some cases services are delivered by integrated multisectoral organizations. The result is a rich arena for policy analysis and change and a complex challenge for public- and private-sector organizations that are seeking to improve the lives of children. To examine the science and policy issues involved in coordinating investments in children and their caregivers, the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally held a workshop in Hong Kong on March 14-15, 2015. Held in partnership with the Centre for Health Education and Health Promotion and Wu Yee Sun College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the workshop brought together researchers, policy makers, program practitioners, and other experts from 22 countries. This report highlights the presentations and discussions of the event. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Steven H. Woolf A2 - Laudan Aron TI - U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health SN - DO - 10.17226/13497 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13497/us-health-in-international-perspective-shorter-lives-poorer-health PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine KW - Surveys and Statistics AB - The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences Within the Weather Enterprise SN - DO - 10.17226/24865 PY - 2018 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24865/integrating-social-and-behavioral-sciences-within-the-weather-enterprise PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Our ability to observe and forecast severe weather events has improved markedly over the past few decades. Forecasts of snow and ice storms, hurricanes and storm surge, extreme heat, and other severe weather events are made with greater accuracy, geographic specificity, and lead time to allow people and communities to take appropriate protective measures. Yet hazardous weather continues to cause loss of life and result in other preventable social costs. There is growing recognition that a host of social and behavioral factors affect how we prepare for, observe, predict, respond to, and are impacted by weather hazards. For example, an individual's response to a severe weather event may depend on their understanding of the forecast, prior experience with severe weather, concerns about their other family members or property, their capacity to take the recommended protective actions, and numerous other factors. Indeed, it is these factors that can determine whether or not a potential hazard becomes an actual disaster. Thus, it is essential to bring to bear expertise in the social and behavioral sciences (SBS)—including disciplines such as anthropology, communication, demography, economics, geography, political science, psychology, and sociology—to understand how people's knowledge, experiences, perceptions, and attitudes shape their responses to weather risks and to understand how human cognitive and social dynamics affect the forecast process itself. Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences Within the Weather Enterprise explores and provides guidance on the challenges of integrating social and behavioral sciences within the weather enterprise. It assesses current SBS activities, describes the potential value of improved integration of SBS and barriers that impede this integration, develops a research agenda, and identifies infrastructural and institutional arrangements for successfully pursuing SBS-weather research and the transfer of relevant findings to operational settings. ER -