PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Neighborhood stigma affects online transactions, NYU researchers find

2015-04-06
(Press-News.org) The stigma associated with particular neighborhoods has a direct impact on economic transactions, a team of New York University sociologists has found.

Their study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that when sellers are seen as being from an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, they receive fewer responses to advertisements placed in online marketplaces.

"Advertisements identifying the seller as a resident of a lower-income neighborhood received significantly fewer responses than advertisements identifying the seller as a resident of a more affluent neighborhood," study author Max Besbris, an NYU doctoral student, explains. "Where an individual resides thus plays a critical role in their success as participants in economic exchanges--which, of course, affects their ability to make a living."

Besbris suggests that the reason for the lower response rate to sellers from disadvantaged neighborhoods might be "because buyers used residence to infer the seller's race or ethnicity, economic status, trustworthiness, or dependability. There are plenty of characteristics that get ascribed to individuals based simply on where they live."

The study's other authors were: Jacob Faber and Peter Rich, both NYU doctoral candidates, and Patrick Sharkey, an associate professor in NYU's Department of Sociology.

In their experiment, the researchers investigated the effects of neighborhoods-- determined to be either economically advantaged or disadvantaged--on responses to advertisements posted for used iPhone 5's in 12 cities. The study used a large national online classified market where sellers post ads based on city and commonly list their neighborhood as well as the desired location for the transaction.

The study identified disadvantaged and advantaged communities by aggregating census data on racial composition and poverty to Zillow neighborhood boundaries, which define neighborhoods in U.S. cities by name. Zillow neighborhood names were cross-referenced with frequency of search results in news articles on LexisNexis to confirm that they are commonly used neighborhood names and that the selected neighborhoods are generally portrayed as either advantaged or disadvantaged.

The researchers placed two advertisements per week in each city over a 3-4 day period, with price controlled to match regional marketplaces. Researchers randomly designated the sellers for each ad, posting as either residing in a disadvantaged or advantaged neighborhood, as well as the desired meeting place, either the seller's neighborhood or a high-traffic area of the city (e.g., downtown).

The results showed that advertisements from disadvantaged neighborhoods received approximately 16 percent fewer responses than did advertisements from advantaged neighborhoods. Moreover, this disparity was greater--approximately 21 percent fewer responses--for black, disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, there was no discrepancy for disadvantaged neighborhoods that were majority Latino.

The researchers believe this study demonstrates that the perceptions other people hold affect the opportunities individuals encounter. Besbris explains that it is not merely the existing economic conditions within a neighborhood that affected residents.

"In this study, even the perceptions, true or false, that potential buyers had of a neighborhood influenced their likelihood to respond to an ad, and thus limited the economic opportunities of the seller," he observes.

The studied cities were the following: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, Seattle, Washington, D.C. In addition, the researchers considered two New York State boroughs--Manhattan and Brooklyn--as separate geographic entities.

INFORMATION:

This study was supported, in part, by the William T. Grant Foundation.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Sea sponge anchors are natural models of strength

Sea sponge anchors are natural models of strength
2015-04-06
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Life may seem precarious for the sea sponge known as Venus' flower basket. Tiny, hair-like appendages made essentially of glass are all that hold the creatures to their seafloor homes. But fear not for these creatures of the deep. Those tiny lifelines, called basalia spicules, are fine-tuned for strength, according to new research led by Brown University engineers. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers show that the secret to spicules' strength lies in their remarkable internal ...

Study: Near-death brain signaling accelerates demise of the heart

2015-04-06
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - What happens in the moments just before death is widely believed to be a slowdown of the body's systems as the heart stops beating and blood flow ends. But a new laboratory study by the University of Michigan Medical School reveals a storm of brain activity that erupts as the heart deteriorates and plays a surprising destabilizing role in heart function. This near-death brain signaling may be targeted to help cardiac arrest patients survive. Most of the more than 400,000 Americans who experience cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public die without ...

Study reveals Internet-style 'local area networks' in cerebral cortex of rats

2015-04-06
Researchers sketching out a wiring diagram for rat brains -- a field known as "connectomics" -- have discovered that its structure is organized like the Internet. For years, scientists looking for clues to brain function through its structure focused on what could be seen -- the brain's lobes, grooves and folds. Now, with a more comprehensive picture of how neurons connect to one another, they've discovered local networks of neurons nested into one another like shells. "The cerebral cortex is like a mini-Internet," said Larry Swanson, professor at the USC Dornsife College ...

NIH-funded scientists identify receptor for asthma-associated virus

2015-04-06
Scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have identified a cellular receptor for rhinovirus C, a cold-causing virus that is strongly associated with severe asthma attacks. A variant in the gene for this receptor previously had been linked to asthma in genetic studies, but the potential role of the receptor, called CDHR3, in asthma was unknown. The new findings help clarify the function of CDHR3 and point to a novel target for the development of prevention and treatment strategies against ...

Computers that mimic the function of the brain

2015-04-06
Researchers are always searching for improved technologies, but the most efficient computer possible already exists. It can learn and adapt without needing to be programmed or updated. It has nearly limitless memory, is difficult to crash, and works at extremely fast speeds. It's not a Mac or a PC; it's the human brain. And scientists around the world want to mimic its abilities. Both academic and industrial laboratories are working to develop computers that operate more like the human brain. Instead of operating like a conventional, digital system, these new devices ...

Breastfeeding women and sex: Higher sex drive or relationship management?

2015-04-06
New mothers in the Philippines spend more time in the bedroom with their partner in the first few weeks after giving birth than they did before they became pregnant. This might be a type of survival strategy to keep the relationships with the fathers of their new babies alive and well, to ensure continued support for their offspring. So says Michelle Escasa-Dorne of the University of Colorado in the US, after studying how women from a society with a low divorce rate such as the Philippines adapt to being both mothers and lovers. The study appears in Springer's journal Human ...

Common antidepressant increased coronary atherosclerosis in animal model

2015-04-06
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - April 6, 2015 - A commonly prescribed antidepressant caused up to a six-fold increase in atherosclerosis plaque in the coronary arteries of non-human primates, according to a study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Coronary artery atherosclerosis is the primary cause of heart attacks. The study is published in the current online issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. "The medical community has known for years that depression is closely associated with heart disease, but we didn't know if treating it would reduce the heart ...

Characteristic pattern of protein deposits in brains of retired NFL players who suffered concussions

Characteristic pattern of protein deposits in brains of retired NFL players who suffered concussions
2015-04-06
A new UCLA study takes another step toward the early understanding of a degenerative brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which affects athletes in contact sports who are exposed to repetitive brain injuries. Using a new imaging tool, researchers found a strikingly similar pattern of abnormal protein deposits in the brains of retired NFL players who suffered from concussions. The innovative imaging technique uses a chemical marker combined with positron emission tomography, or PET scan, and was initially tested in five retired NFL players ...

New research complicates seismic hazard for British Columbia, Alaska region

2015-04-06
SAN FRANCISCO--The Pacific and North America plate boundary off the coast of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska is a complex system of faults capable of producing very large earthquakes. The recent 2012 Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 Mw 7.5 Craig earthquakes released strain built up over years, but did not release strain along the Queen Charlotte Fault, which remains the likely source of a future large earthquake, according to reports published in a special issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA). "The study of these two quakes revealed ...

Study identifies protein that triggers lupus-associated immune system activation

2015-04-06
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have identified an inflammatory molecule that appears to play an essential role in the autoimmune disorder systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly known as lupus. In their report being published online in Nature Immunology, the researchers describe finding that a protein that regulates certain cells in the innate immune system - the body's first line of defense against infection - activates a molecular pathway known to be associated with lupus and that the protein's activity is required for the development of lupus symptoms ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds

Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

How the brain supports social processing as people age

Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

[Press-News.org] Neighborhood stigma affects online transactions, NYU researchers find