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Card playing for money among college-age youth (18 to 22) has declined, according to the latest National Annenberg Survey of Youth. Weekly use of the Internet for gambling also declined among this age group. Both declines are statistically significant.  “This year’s strong drop in weekly card playing among college-age youth indicates that the fad has

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans who live in states that hold partisan judicial elections are more cynical toward the courts than Americans who live in states that do not hold partisan elections. Partisan judicial elections foster the belief that “judges are just politicians in robes.” Partisan judicial elections also decrease public trust that state courts are

Schools may contribute to reducing adolescent health risks by building “climates of respect,” in which teachers and administrators are responsive to — and value — the feelings and perspectives of students, a new study has concluded. Such climates produce healthier behavior than those that focus exclusively on behavioral control. The results of the study, which

Most Americans know little about the workings of the U.S. Supreme Court, including the fact that Supreme Court rulings are final, according to a national survey conducted for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. The findings are being released today in advance of Constitution Day, Monday, September 17. When asked “if a person

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer features an op-ed in favor of the adoption of Canadian-style cigarette warning labels in the U.S. Such large, graphic warning labels are more effective, argue Professor Paul Slovic of the University of Oregon and APPC scholars Dan Romer and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, authors of the op-ed. The authors cite their research, published earlier this year in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, suggesting that graphic warnings

FactCheck.org has won a Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications. The prize, given in the online media category, recognizes FactCheck’s 2006 election coverage. It will be presented in October at the Association for Women in Communications’ annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Earlier this year, FactCheck.org won two Webby “People’s Voice” awards in

C-Span viewers this weekend watched as 12 voters from the Baltimore area talked about the direction of the nation and what they wanted in  a presidential candidate. The two-hour program is the first in a series of focus groups to be conducted in advance of the 2008 election by Democratic pollster Peter Hart, on behalf

Thirty-nine states elect their judges in some fashion. What once were “sleepy little affairs,” judicial campaigns have become high-stakes races, drawing in big money and increasingly negative advertising campaigns. In 2006, an estimated $16 million was spent on advertising in supreme court races in 10 states, a record. If predictions hold true, contests in 2008

Nearly two-thirds, 65 percent, of Americans prefer electing their judges rather than having governors nominate them from a list prepared by a nonpartisan committee. Yet when judges run for office they usually have to raise money for their election campaigns. Seven in 10 Americans believe that the necessity to raise campaign funds will affect a

In June 2005, a distinguished group of researchers gathered at the University of Pennsylvania to synthesize recent developments in the field of adolescent brain development and their implications for the prevention of mental disorder. The results have been released in a new volume, Adolescent Psychopathology and the Developing Brain: Integrating Brain and Prevention Science, published