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Research Shows Sleep and Social Support Are Vital to Latina Teen Mothers' Mental Health
Department of Psychological Sciences professors and Health Sciences Research Institute members Alexandra Main, Eric Walle and Rose Scott, along with graduate student Shun Ting Yung and then-undergraduate student Yaoyu Chen, conducted a study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology that looked at two issues: the associations between the quality and quantity of Latina adolescent mothers' sleep and mental health (depressive symptoms and anxiety) and whether social support buffered the effects of poor sleep on mental health.
Rose Scott (pictured left), Interim Director; Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of California Merced
CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES
The UC Merced Center for the Humanities fosters individual and collaborative research in the humanities and allied fields. Faculty, students, artists and visitors affiliated with the Center study human experiences and human consciousness around the world and throughout time, focusing on topics that range from the search for beauty to the quest for power. Center exhibitions, publications and performances showcase the cultural products – from films to dances to maps – that record, reflect, and express human solidarity, conflict, and transcendence. Inspired by the UC Merced vision of “The World at Home/At Home in the World,” Center activities strive to link the local with the global, the campus with the community, and the empirical with the conceptual.
Sharim's "Central Valley Portraits" Exhibit Showcased Online and at UC Merced Library
"Central Valley Portraits," an exhibit by Department of Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies Professor Yehuda Sharim, is being showcased virtually through the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) Living Through Upheaval research and public programming initiative.
Together with his graduate students Alma Alvarado Cabrera and Oscar Montero Hernández, Sharim created an exhibit that documents the current historical moment: growth and urban change together with deep agony, political and racial tension and the spread of various prisons across California.
Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center
The Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) is part of the Health Sciences Research Institute (HSRI) where the mission is to understand and promote the thoughts and feelings of rural California residents on current tobacco and cannabis policy.
COVID-19 More Likely to Impact Smokers and People Exposed to Secondhand Smoke, Report Finds
Smokers and former smokers are not only more susceptible to COVID-19, they are far more likely to see their conditions worsen over time and to require intensive respiratory assistance.
In a report by NCPC researchers, smoking and exposure to nicotine not only weaken the immune system, it increases expression of the ACE2 enzyme in the respiratory system. COVID-19 binds to ACE2 receptors and an increase in the receptors may relate to an increased likelihood of contracting the disease.
Smokers Light Up More Cigarettes Following California COVID-19 Lockdown Order, Study Finds
The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has been felt around the world. COVID-19's grip has affected people's mental health and sense of what was once normal, prompting them to turn to new and familiar behaviors to help cope. According to a new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, smokers reported smoking more cigarettes following the COVID-19 lockdown order in California. UC Merced's Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) researchers looked at the habits of adult smokers in an 11-county region in Central California both before and after the California COVID-19 lockdown order was implemented.
