A study from Aalto University in Finland has found that online shopping is more strongly linked to stress than reading the news, checking your inbox or watching adult entertainment. The internet can be both a source and a reliever of stress though, according to research. 

A Lindner-led team spearheaded by University of Cincinnati PhD candidate Sharmeen Merchant published “Gender Differences on Dual-Earners’ Money as Achievement Congruence and Needs-Supplies Fit" in the Journal of Business and Psychology. This research took an in-depth look at the psychological role money plays in households with two sources of income, and showed how a couple's alignment on financial needs impacts job fulfillment. 

Someone in the office makes a racially insensitive comment, and a white co-worker asks a Black colleague to help correct the offender. In three studies, a Cornell University researcher found that this kind of maneuver can backfire. In such scenarios, the marginalized person then views the person who asked for their help less favorably – and is less likely to want to associate with them in the future.

As millions of us embark on New Year pledges to eat better, exercise more and learn something new, research published today suggests hobbies could do more than improve your personal life, they could make you better at work. 

 

The study by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Erasmus University Rotterdam explored how ‘leisure crafting’ - intentionally shaping your free time through goal setting, learning and connection - does not just boost well-being outside the office but can spill over into creativity, engagement, and meaning at work, especially for older employees. 

After rising for decades in the United States, opioid overdose deaths have been declining dramatically since 2023, with the annual rate of fentanyl overdose deaths dropping by more than a third by the end of 2024. What’s behind this sudden decline? In this Policy Forum, Kasey Vangelov and colleagues evaluate the evidence for an international supply shock in fentanyl in 2023 and conclude that it could be responsible for the steep decline in overdose deaths. Studying the ups and downs of an illegal drug economy is difficult, but the researchers use data from several sources, including a spike in U.S.-based Reddit users’ reports of a fentanyl drought in mid-to-late 2023. Fentanyl seized during this period shows a concurrent decline in purity and seizures themselves fell during the period, despite being an intense focus of law enforcement. In Canada, supply indicators of fentanyl precursors from China declined at the same time. Together, this evidence indicates that supply disruption may be behind the drop off in fentanyl deaths. “The incentive to restore the illicit fentanyl trade will persist as long as there is demand for the drug …” Vangelov et al. write, adding that “…it may be wise to use the current drought as an opportunity to ramp up the prevention and treatment programs that have evidence of decreasing demand.”