Education

According to survey data, American women consistently score lower on questions of political knowledge than do men. This difference makes women less likely to vote, run for office or communicate with their elected representatives. However, the root causes and structural barriers that explain this persistent gender gap in political knowledge — typically a 10-point difference in surveys — are not well understood.

A 2011 study in Demography, “The Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Historical Trends and Racial Comparisons” (PDF), uses Census data from 1940 to 2000, with additional data from the Census Bureau’s companion American Community Survey, to compare higher education completion rates for black men and women between 1940 and 2000.

Football-related concussions and their long-term health effects are a topic of controversy and a focus of sports journalism. Players at all levels, from high school to professional, frequently suffer mild brain injuries, despite helmet innovations and rules instituted to discourage certain kinds of helmet-to-helmet contact.

While distance education has a long history, the development of computers and the Internet has provoked a boom in online classes, as students have sought to learn more as well as cut costs, and institutions have worked to extend their reach.

Beginning in 1999, New York City enrolled the majority of its welfare recipients in the Employment Services and Placement (ESP) job training program. Participants spent 14 hours a week in the ESP program, focusing primarily on skills such as resume writing and interviewing.

In the United States, about 19% of children and adolescents are obese. Without any change in eating and lifestyle patterns, overweight children are more likely to grow up overweight, which contributes to the odds of their becoming diabetic later in life.