Researchers have found that toddlers who had poor self-regulation skills — the ability to control their behaviors and emotions — went on to have lower BMIs as preschoolers if their mothers engaged with them during playtime and then helped direct them during clean up.

While people with autism may avoid eye contact in one-on-one conversations, they may not avoid looking at people in photos, according to Penn State researchers.

The number of people who died as a result of Hurricane Maria — which hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 — may be as high as 1,139, surpassing the official death count of 64, according to researchers, who used official government records to calculate the number. This effort took into account not just those who died from the immediate effects of the hurricane, but also from secondary effects in the following months.

The reason why some people find it so hard to resist finishing an entire bag of chips or bowl of candy may lie with how their brain responds to food rewards, according to researchers who found that when certain regions of the brain reacted more strongly to being rewarded with food than being rewarded with money, those people were more likely to overeat.

There may be some truth to the saying “getting up on the wrong side of the bed,” according to Penn State researchers who say starting your morning by focusing on how stressful your day will be may be harmful to your mindset throughout the day.

Taking a walk may be a good opportunity to mentally review your to-do list, but using the time to instead be more mindful of your breathing and surroundings may help boost your wellbeing, according to researchers who found that while students reported being less stressed while they were on their feet and moving, they received an even greater benefit when they reported also being more mindful.

The effects of sibling relationships may go beyond childhood bickering and bonding, according to Penn State researchers who found that these relationships may predict similarities and differences in siblings’ education later in life.

For patients with chronic conditions like arthritis or diabetes, arguments with a spouse may have physical repercussions, according to researchers. They found that in two groups of older individuals — one group with arthritis and one with diabetes — the patients who felt more tension with their spouse also reported worse symptoms on those days.

Warm, nurturing parents may pass along strategies for building and maintaining positive relationships to their kids, setting them up for healthier, less-violent romantic relationships as young adults, according to researchers. In a study, adolescents who reported a positive family climate and their parents using more effective parenting strategies tended to go on to have better relationship problem-solving skills and less-violent romantic relationships as young adults.

The extra amount of time needed to walk or bike to work is often cited as a reason most people drive instead. But people are often bad at guessing how it takes to get somewhere, and researchers say most people think it will take longer to walk or bike somewhere than it actually does.

The more mothers use food to soothe their babies, the more weight certain babies gained, according to researchers. The effect was only seen in babies with a surgent temperament — characterized by being more outgoing, active and drawn to new things and people, putting these children at a risk for obesity later on.

The more students think their parents approve of drinking, the more alcohol those students tend to drink, according to researchers who say the results suggest that parents can still influence their children into young adulthood.

High school students may prefer seasoned vegetables more than plain, according to Penn State researchers who hope that this will lead to students liking and eating more veggies, and result in less food waste in school.

Prenatal exposure to androgens is not associated with girls spending more or less time with other girls, but was associated with an increased interest in activities that have traditionally been thought of as masculine, according to Penn State researchers, who say it supports the idea that gender development is complex and does not solely rely on either biological or social factors.