Research Library

A survey of Houston area high school students finds the highest levels of depression occur among older students and transgender youth. This issue brief from the Child Health Policy Program explains how demographic factors affect survey outcomes, noting that school absenteeism and behavioral issues are also associated with students’ poor mental health.

Latinos are the largest and most rapidly expanding minority group in the U.S. Our latest brief describes the overall state of health and wellness among Latino children and the broader community — including indicators of obesity, mental health, and kindergarten readiness.

This brief outlines how the Small Business Administration's long-standing 7(a) loan program can build upon the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen its operations and impact.

In the second brief of a two-part series on the Chinese Communist Party's 100th anniversary, the author examines the rhetoric of China's president, Xi Jinping, and his deeply nationalistic vision of a unified country that erases ways of being Chinese that do not conform to that of the Han majority.

Given the current dearth of women exercising Islamic authority, it may be assumed that for most of Islamic history, questions of religion and religious law were the near-exclusive domain of men. This brief discusses the various roles and contributions of women in Islam and religious scholarship and outlines recommendations for improving attitudes towards women in religious leadership in Muslim countries. This is one of 10 briefs in a series on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

A study comparing the community benefit expenditures of two sets of Houston hospitals leads the authors to propose strategies that can better justify the tax exemptions the institutions enjoy.

Houston and Harris County area law enforcement leaders weigh in on the need for drug policy reforms in the United States.

With the Texas Legislature now considering several bills that would decrease penalties for marijuana possession and legalize the use of medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, authors William Martin and Katharine A. Neill present updated findings in this new issue brief that support the case for reforming marijuana policy in Texas.

Drug Policy Program director Bill Martin summarizes the scientific and fiscal evidence supporting the efficacy of syringe exchange programs and outlines a framework for public policies to deal with this aspect of drug use and abuse.

Using charts, figures and graphs of this survey data originally created by former career intelligence analyst Brian C. Bennett and updated by the Drug Policy Program, this issue brief offers an overview of drug use trends in America over the last four decades. The brief is part of a larger online project chronicling the pattern of the use and abuse of individual drugs over (in most cases) more than 40 years.