Skip to main content

The Value of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences to National Priorities A Report for the National Science Foundation (2017) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Do the SBE Sciences Advance NSF's Mission? Health
Pages 11-12

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 11...
... evidence that newly developed programs and approaches can help children overcome the effects of these toxic forms of stress.41 Research at the intersection of behavior and biology has also revealed that social isolation is a risk factor for early death, comparable in magnitude to well-established risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, and lack of physical activity.42 In both adolescence and old age, the number and quality of people's social connections have a strong and direct effect on cardiovascular, immune, and metabolic health, resulting in less hypertension, lower rates of inflammation, a lower body mass index (a mea sure of obesity) , and reductions in metabolic syndrome (defined as increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels)
Read the entire page →
From page 12...
... For example, SBE research that compared generations born in 1912 and 194144 showed that, between these two generations, life expectancy at age 65 rose by 6 years for people in the top half of the earnings distribution, but by only 1 year for those in the bottom half. This finding is consistent with other studies.45 Some groups with lower levels of education, including middle-aged white women without a high school degree, have experienced rising death rates over the last two decades; opioids, suicide, and alcohol-related diseases have played a role in this trend.46 This and other findings about the health and mortality of the U.S.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • sbe sciences
  • sbe researchers
  • economic sciences
  • risk factors
  • national priorities

  • social relationships
  • common risk
  • lower body
  • value sbe
  • toxic forms

  • multiple sources
  • help children
  • affects hypertension
  • biomedical scientists
  • healthful behavior

  • specific public
  • experienced rising
  • physical inactivity
  • abnormal cholesterol
  • population provide

  • rapidly developing
  • body mass
  • isolation increases
  • newly developed
  • lower rates

  • developing biological
  • consequences throughout
  • relationships affect
  • triglyceride levels
  • increased blood


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.