Research
A Decade of 9/11 Research
During the past decade ISERP program affiliates and research centers have undertaken a broad range of research projects examining the aftermath of September 11, 2001 — from exhaustive oral histories to the role of crisis mental health to analyzing the social movement of architects that sprang up after 9/11.
Highlighted Research
Study: "Social influence" playing role in increased autism diagnoses
Social influence plays a substantial role in recent increases in autism diagnoses, according to a study in the March, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Sociology. The study, by researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Columbia University, found that children living near a child
who has been previously diagnosed with the disorder are far more likely to be diagnosed themselves in the following year. The proximity effect
is not due to environmental factors or contagious agents, the study
found. Rather, it is due to mainly to parents learning about autism from
other parents who have a child diagnosed with autism. Read more »
- Children who live within 250 meters of a child with autism have a 42 percent higher chance being diagnosed
- Children who lived between 250 meters and 500 meters from a child with autism were 22 percent more likely to be diagnosed
- The Columbia University team looked at more than 300,000 children born between 1997 and 2003 in California
