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Financial Infidelity: Secret Spending Costs Couples and Companies
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Financial Infidelity: Secret Spending Costs Couples and Companies

Along with sexual dalliances and emotional dishonesty, add “financial infidelity” to the perils of the modern relationship, according to Boston College Assistant Professor Marketing Hristina Nikolova and fellow researchers who undertook the first systemic investigation into the secretive spending of romantic partners. As retailers enter the holiday shopping season, the new study identifies “financial infidelity”...

Social Media Contributes to Increased Perception of Food Technology as Risky Business
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Social Media Contributes to Increased Perception of Food Technology as Risky Business

When it comes to food technology, the information shared on social media often trumps the facts put out by the scientific community and food experts, leading to the dissemination of disinformation, “fake news” and conspiracy theories. Nowhere is this more evident than consumers’ mistrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite assurances from the scientific community...

Unemployment Encourages Men to Try Traditionally Female-Dominated Work
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Unemployment Encourages Men to Try Traditionally Female-Dominated Work

Unemployment significantly increases the odds of men entering jobs traditionally performed by women. And, notably, some men find real job advantages as a result. The U.S. labor market has been in the midst of significant changes for decades, and some traditionally male-dominated work sectors have been shrinking. Accordingly, many men in these fields risk unstable...

Love, Lies and Money: Study Introduces, Defines and Measures Financial Infidelity
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Love, Lies and Money: Study Introduces, Defines and Measures Financial Infidelity

Romantic relationships are built on trust — yet when it comes to money, even faithful partners are not always honest about their spending and saving habits. New research from the University of Notre Dame introduces the concept of financial infidelity — engaging in any financial behavior likely to be frowned upon by a romantic partner...

Helicopter Parents and ‘Hothouse Children’ — Exploring the High Stakes of Family Dynamics
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Helicopter Parents and ‘Hothouse Children’ — Exploring the High Stakes of Family Dynamics

True helicopter parents talk a good game in making their actions all about their children, but according to one West Virginia University researcher, what they’re doing is reaping–and heaping–the rewards for themselves. Kristin Moilanen, associate professor of child development and family studies, said the phenomena of helicopter parenting most often occurs in middle- to upper-class families where stakes...

How Religion Can Heighten or Help with Financial Stress
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How Religion Can Heighten or Help with Financial Stress

Churchgoers who are strapped for cash may experience a spike in anxiety when the donation plate is passed. However, knowing they have a church family to support them in times of need may help ease their money worries. A new study by University of Arizona researcher Ashley LeBaron illuminates the ways in which religious involvement...

How Much Credit Should Corporations Get for the Advancement of LGBTQ Rights?
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How Much Credit Should Corporations Get for the Advancement of LGBTQ Rights?

Gay pride parades increasingly include marchers representing corporations, from defense contractor Raytheon to telecommunications conglomerate Comcast. During the most recent Pride Month, Starbucks unveiled its “Pride Cup,” while Target released a Pride line of clothing and accessories. It’s easy to view these gestures through a lens of cynicism – that they’re a way for companies...

How Steak Became Manly and Salads Became Feminine
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How Steak Became Manly and Salads Became Feminine

When was it decided that women prefer some types of food – yogurt with fruit, salads and white wine – while men are supposed to gravitate to chili, steak and bacon? In my new book, “American Cuisine: And How It Got This Way,” I show how the idea that women don’t want red meat and...

Slurs Offend Young Adults More Than Swearing
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Slurs Offend Young Adults More Than Swearing

In 1972, the comedian George Carlin performed a comedy routine in which he listed the seven words you couldn’t say on television. He opined that profanity related to sexual activities, body parts and bodily functions wasn’t inherently good or bad. All words, he would say, are “innocent.” But reciting those seven words in public got...

Revenge Porn Is Sexual Violence, Not Millennial Negligence
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Revenge Porn Is Sexual Violence, Not Millennial Negligence

U.S. Representative Katie Hill was the latest victim of a form of sexual abuse that’s become increasingly common: revenge porn. Intimate photos of her were leaked to the media and published, without her consent, for the world to see – a transgression Hill suspects her estranged husband was behind. The photos implicated Hill in a...