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Wellness

Side Gigs for Good, part three
Two people sitting on an L-shaped couch amidst four pillows. The one on the right is holding a clipboard.

Altagracia Felix (right) is a financial coordinator for the Annenberg School for Communication, but she also has a side gig as a money coach. Her aim is to help “disrupt the cycle of poverty and struggle,” she says. (Image: Courtesy of Altagracia Felix)

Side Gigs for Good, part three

The final 2019 installment in our series highlighting impactful work Penn faculty and staff do.

Katherine Unger Baillie, Michele W. Berger

Do smartphones and social media lead to adolescent suicide?
Two teens lay on couch with smartphones looking bored

Do smartphones and social media lead to adolescent suicide?

The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Daniel Romer argues that the tendency to correlate uptick in suicides and social media is not backed by data. Instead, he argues the economic recession may be to blame.

Penn Today Staff

Eating disorders grow more prevalent and skew younger
closeup of a person's hands cutting a single pea with a fork and knife on a dinner plate

Eating disorders grow more prevalent and skew younger

Experts say a team approach between clinicians and those close to the individual are necessary to properly address an eating disorder, and still, relapses are a common occurrence.

Penn Today Staff

Paideia’s spring course offerings highlight wellness, service, and citizenship
A group of students sit on the lawn under a cherry blossom tree on College Green.

Paideia’s spring course offerings highlight wellness, service, and citizenship

The first four courses offered to Penn undergraduates as part of the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program will focus on passion, civility, effective communication, and a deep dive into American Chinatowns.

Kristen de Groot

The key to keeping your employees happy
Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade details her research on emotional contagion with text bubbles on a white board behind her.

Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade details her research on emotional contagion. (Image: Wharton Magazine)

The key to keeping your employees happy

Moods, emotions, even smiles are some of the emotional contagions Wharton professor Sigal Barsade cites as what are passed along throughout the workplace, making the professional environment either more pleasant or more unhappy.

Penn Today Staff

Tweets from Twitter users could predict loneliness
Person wearing a hoodie sits on a structural beam alone in an isolated area holding a smartphone.

Tweets from Twitter users could predict loneliness

By identifying similar themes across tweets, researchers are uncovering markers that could be used to predict loneliness, something that could lead to depression, heart disease, and dementia.

Penn Today Staff

Childhood exposure to trauma costs society $458 billion annually
A young child sits in a hallway burying their head in their arms on a rather dirty carpet

Childhood exposure to trauma costs society $458 billion annually

Bureaucratic hurdles block access to treatment services, so they tend to go unused. This leads to adverse outcomes that put stress on public systems like social services and law enforcement.

Michele W. Berger

Bariatric surgery is safe for teens with morbid obesity
Floor view of a person stepping onto a scale on a bath mat

Bariatric surgery is safe for teens with morbid obesity

A new Penn Medicine study shows the risks of complications and readmissions may be lower than the risks associated with lifelong obesity.

Penn Today Staff

Leadership named for Paideia Program at Penn
Students sit in circle under a tree

Students lounge on the grass of College Green. (Photo: Penn Sustainability)

Leadership named for Paideia Program at Penn

Michael X. Delli Carpini has been named the inaugural faculty director and Leah Seppanen Anderson the inaugural executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program for Penn undergraduates.