WorldWideScience

Sample records for active social involvement

  1. African American Youths with Internalizing Difficulties: Relation to Social Support and Activity Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margolin, Sylvia

    2006-01-01

    Social support and positive activity involvement are considered protective factors that can help offset the risks for youths living in impoverished areas. This study investigated whether insufficient social support and activity involvement are related to internalizing difficulties, such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem.…

  2. Pregnant Teenager Involvement in Sexual Activity and the Social Context

    OpenAIRE

    Sant'Anna, Maria José Carvalho; Catunda, Júlia Kerr; Carvalho, Kepler Alencar Mendes; Coates, Veronica; Omar, Hatim A.

    2006-01-01

    Pregnancy during adolescence represents a challenge to society as a whole. Its incidence is increasing and brings about social and medical consequences to both the teen mothers and their children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pregnant teenager involvement in sexual activity and the social context. The group studied comprised 152 pregnant teenagers attending the Department of Pediatrics, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo (SCSP) General Hospital. All information was analyzed. The age at firs...

  3. Challenges with social media for user involvement

    OpenAIRE

    Ståhlbröst, Anna

    2012-01-01

    Integrating social media into the innovation process can offer great opportunities for organizations striving for user involvement. Due to the spread of social media in all types of user groups it is, today, possible to engage users all around the world in innovation activities simultaneously. But even if social media usage in innovation activities offers great opportunities, it can be challenging to know how to use it to engage users in these processes. In this paper, the purpose is to discu...

  4. Participation needs of older adults having disabilities and receiving home care: met needs mainly concern daily activities, while unmet needs mostly involve social activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turcotte, Pier-Luc; Larivière, Nadine; Desrosiers, Johanne; Voyer, Philippe; Champoux, Nathalie; Carbonneau, Hélène; Carrier, Annie; Levasseur, Mélanie

    2015-08-01

    Participation is a key determinant of successful aging and enables older adults to stay in their homes and be integrated into the community. Assessing participation needs involves identifying restrictions in the accomplishment of daily and social activities. Although meeting participation needs involves older adults, their caregivers and healthcare providers, little is known about their respective viewpoints. This study thus explored the participation needs of older adults having disabilities as perceived by the older adults themselves, their caregivers and healthcare providers. A qualitative multiple case study consisted of conducting 33 semi-structured interviews in eleven triads, each composed of an older adult, his/her caregiver and a healthcare provider recruited in a Health and Social Services Centre (HSSC) in Québec, Canada. Interview transcripts and reviews of clinical records were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics based on thematic saliency analysis methods. Aged 66 to 88 years, five older adults had physical disabilities, five had mild cognitive impairment and one had psychological problems, leading to moderate to severe functional decline. Caregivers and healthcare providers were mainly women, respectively retired spouses and various professionals with four to 32 years of clinical experience. Participation needs reported by each triad included all domains of participation. Needs related to daily activities, such as personal care, nutrition, and housing, were generally met. Regarding social activities, few needs were met by various resources in the community and were generally limited to personal responsibilities, including making decisions and managing budgets, and some community life activities, such as going shopping. Unmet needs were mainly related to social activities, involving leisure, other community life activities and interpersonal relationships, and some daily activities, including fitness and mobility. This study

  5. Social activism: Engaging millennials in social causes

    OpenAIRE

    Seelig, Michelle I.

    2018-01-01

    Given that young adults consume and interact with digital technologies not only a daily basis, but extensively throughout the day, it stands to reason they are more actively involved in advocating social change particularly through social media. However, national surveys of civic engagement indicate civic and community engagement drops-off after high school and while millennials attend college. While past research has compiled evidence about young adults’ social media use and some social medi...

  6. The Willingness of Military Members to Seek Help: The Role of Social Involvement and Social Responsibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Gary L; Jensen, Todd M; Martin, James A; Mancini, Jay A

    2016-03-01

    Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change, we use data from a large sample of active-duty Air Force members to examine the direct and indirect influence of social involvement and social responsibility on willingness to seek help in times of need via trust in formal systems and informal supports. Group comparisons are conducted between junior male, junior female, senior male, and senior female service members. The key mediational path in the model for all groups is the connection between social involvement and willingness to seek help via trust in formal systems. These results can inform both unit- and community-level interventions intended to increase the likelihood that active-duty AF members will seek help in times of need. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  7. Pregnant Teenager Involvement in Sexual Activity and the Social Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria José Carvalho Sant'Anna

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Pregnancy during adolescence represents a challenge to society as a whole. Its incidence is increasing and brings about social and medical consequences to both the teen mothers and their children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pregnant teenager involvement in sexual activity and the social context. The group studied comprised 152 pregnant teenagers attending the Department of Pediatrics, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo (SCSP General Hospital. All information was analyzed. The age at first intercourse was 14.2 years and the average period between first intercourse and pregnancy was 1.4 years. Most pregnancies (75% were neither planned nor wanted, however, most teen mothers (64.3% did not use any contraceptive method. Of the pregnant teenagers, 68.1% came from unstructured families where in 71% of the teen pregnancy cases, there was a role model (mother, sister, or cousin who already experienced teen pregnancy. The average number of school years attended by the analyzed pregnant teenagers was 8.1 years, however, there was a high dropout rate of 40.1%. The age at first intercourse was low and concurs with the high incidence of unstructured families. The average number of school years attended was high, which would theoretically reflect a greater knowledge with regard to human reproduction, pointing to the multicausality of teen pregnancy and the role played by the family. Conclusions: We confirmed that teen pregnancy presents multicausal etiology; sexual initiation of pregnant teenagers was quite early with high dropout rates, which indicated that prevention methodology should be based on early detection of risk factors for elaboration of appropriate prevention proposals.

  8. Estrogenic involvement in social learning, social recognition and pathogen avoidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choleris, Elena; Clipperton-Allen, Amy E; Phan, Anna; Valsecchi, Paola; Kavaliers, Martin

    2012-04-01

    Sociality comes with specific cognitive skills that allow the proper processing of information about others (social recognition), as well as of information originating from others (social learning). Because sociality and social interactions can also facilitate the spread of infection among individuals the ability to recognize and avoid pathogen threat is also essential. We review here various studies primarily from the rodent literature supporting estrogenic involvement in the regulation of social recognition, social learning (socially acquired food preferences and mate choice copying) and the recognition and avoidance of infected and potentially infected individuals. We consider both genomic and rapid estrogenic effects involving estrogen receptors α and β, and G-protein coupled estrogen receptor 1, along with their interactions with neuropeptide systems in the processing of social stimuli and the regulation and expression of these various socially relevant behaviors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. QUANTITATIVE STUDY ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF BRICOLAGE COMPANIES IN SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTIVITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai-Cosmin FANARU

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of social responsibility actions of the main bricolage companies doing business in Romania on their value, and mutually the impact these activities have on various social sectors. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept related to the contribution that companies need to have to the development of modern society. Over time, this contribution has been theorized by many different schools of thought. "Responsible" initiatives of companies have been named by a variety of terms: corporate citizenship, corporate philanthropy, corporate societal marketing, community affairs, community development etc. Consequently, currently, to demonstrate that it is "socially responsible", a company must understand the principles of CSR that are internationally promoted and regularly report about the integration of these principles in its activities.

  10. Social Work with Religious Volunteers: Activating and Sustaining Community Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garland, Diana R.; Myers, Dennis M.; Wolfer, Terry A.

    2008-01-01

    Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation…

  11. Role Performance of Social Institutions in Student Activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helen R. Lara

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The study was conducted to determine the influence of social institutions on the involvement of students in school activities. The descriptive method of research was used. Purposive sampling was utilized which involved 30 Presidents of all accredited student organizations. The study specifically determined the degree of involvement of students in school activities; and identified the roles of social institutions and the extent of their influence on the involvement of students in college activities. Interviews, documentary analysis and a survey using a questionnaire-checklist were utilized to gather data and information. The study revealed that family and school have a strong influence on the participation of students in school activities. This was so because student leaders are often in direct contact with people who provide support and spend a long time with them. The Church and community are revealed as moderate influences. The moderate influence of social institutions is because students are not exposed to a variety of activities that are equally important in the development of their abilities and skills. It was found that students had limited involvement in church and community undertakings because of the demands put upon them by their academic and non-academic school activities. There is a need to improve students’ participation in the Church and community activities that have moderate influence in order to strengthen their roles

  12. Social Work Involvement in Advance Care Planning: Findings from a Large Survey of Social Workers in Hospice and Palliative Care Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Gary L; Cagle, John G; Christ, Grace H

    2017-03-01

    Few data are available describing the involvement and activities of social workers in advance care planning (ACP). We sought to provide data about (1) social worker involvement and leadership in ACP conversations with patients and families; and (2) the extent of functions and activities when these discussions occur. We conducted a large web-based survey of social workers employed in hospice, palliative care, and related settings to explore their role, participation, and self-rated competency in facilitating ACP discussions. Respondents were recruited through the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Descriptive analyses were conducted on the full sample of respondents (N = 641) and a subsample of clinical social workers (N = 456). Responses were analyzed to explore differences in ACP involvement by practice setting. Most clinical social workers (96%) reported that social workers in their department are conducting ACP discussions with patients/families. Majorities also participate in, and lead, ACP discussions (69% and 60%, respectively). Most respondents report that social workers are responsible for educating patients/families about ACP options (80%) and are the team members responsible for documenting ACP (68%). Compared with other settings, oncology and inpatient palliative care social workers were less likely to be responsible for ensuring that patients/families are informed of ACP options and documenting ACP preferences. Social workers are prominently involved in facilitating, leading, and documenting ACP discussions. Policy-makers, administrators, and providers should incorporate the vital contributions of social work professionals in policies and programs supporting ACP.

  13. [The impact of socially involved films].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimoun, M

    1979-01-01

    During the past few years studies on linguistics and particularly on semiology have considerably renewed the approach and investigation methods in artistic expression. Ideology has several languages and expression systems (photography, painting, music, speech, architecture and so on). The film does not only carry an ideological content: besides the signification systems and the signs taken from other means of films. To consider only films which have the ostensible objective to urge the public to a political action as socially involved is wrong: any movie is socially involved. One must appreciate correctly and politically the place, role and level at which it intervenes in the framework of the ideological fight. Audiovisual alphabetization is essential for the progress of new ideas in the field of picture and sound. In the Third World, when they do exist, cinematographies rarely have the political power to consider such an action. Ideological impact depends mostly on the social, political and cultural environment. A movie is 1st questioned from the standpoint of the historical place and of the problems of the public. The example of Algerian cinematography as a socially involved one is given. At its origin, film-making in this country was working at informing the outside world of the meaning of the people's fight. Its goal was to capture the political and social reality in order to change it. Therefore the social involvement role of Algerian film-producing is tightly connected to the revolutionary process in which the whole country is engaged. Algerian film-producing is often understood as a propaganda cinematography. The stagnation or progress of a cinematography cannot be measured in relation to the universal mythical culture, but in relation to the social and cultural reality of the country where it originates. The present deepening of the reflection on film and ideology is a result of a recent accentuation of the ideologic fight.

  14. Social workers' involvement in advance care planning: a systematic narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chong-Wen; Chan, Cecilia L W; Chow, Amy Y M

    2017-07-10

    Advance care planning is a process of discussion that enables competent adults to express their wishes about end-of-life care through periods of decisional incapacity. Although a number of studies have documented social workers' attitudes toward, knowledge about, and involvement in advance care planning, the information is fragmented. The purpose of this review was to provide a narrative synthesis of evidence on social workers' perspectives and experiences regarding implementation of advance care planning. Six databases were searched for peer-reviewed research papers from their respective inception through December 2016. All of the resulting studies relevant to both advance care planning and social worker were examined. The findings of relevant studies were synthesized thematically. Thirty-one articles met the eligibility criteria. Six research themes were identified: social workers' attitudes toward advance care planning; social workers' knowledge, education and training regarding advance care planning; social workers' involvement in advance care planning; social workers' perceptions of their roles; ethical issues relevant to advance care planning; and the effect of social work intervention on advance care planning engagement. The findings suggest that there is a consensus among social workers that advance care planning is their duty and responsibility and that social workers play an important role in promoting and implementing advance care planning through an array of activities. This study provides useful knowledge for implementing advance care planning through illustrating social workers' perspectives and experiences. Further studies are warranted to understand the complexity inherent in social workers' involvement in advance care planning for different life-limiting illnesses or within different socio-cultural contexts.

  15. Maternal involvement in children's leisure activities in rural China: Relations with adjustment outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Siman; Chen, Xinyin

    2018-02-01

    This 1-year longitudinal study examined maternal involvement in children's leisure activities and its relations with children's adjustment in rural China. Participants included 184 children (93 boys and 91 girls) initially in third grade (mean age = 9.31 years). Children were asked to report the frequencies of mothers' involvement in leisure activities. Information on children's social, school, and psychological adjustment were collected from multiple sources including peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. The results showed that children's perceptions of maternal involvement in leisure activities positively predicted later social and school adjustment, particularly in boys. Furthermore, child initial adjustment status moderated the relations between maternal leisure activity involvement and child outcomes. The results suggest that maternal involvement in children's leisure activities, which has traditionally been neglected in the society, is a significant factor in contributing to child development in today's rural China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Social Relationships, Leisure Activity, and Health in Older Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Po-Ju; Wray, Linda; Lin, Yeqiang

    2015-01-01

    Objective Although the link between enhanced social relationships and better health has generally been well established, few studies have examined the role of leisure activity in this link. This study examined how leisure influences the link between social relationships and health in older age. Methods Using data from the 2006 and 2010 waves of the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study and structural equation modelling analyses, we examined data on 2,965 older participants to determine if leisure activities mediated the link between social relationships and health in 2010, controlling for race, education level, and health in 2006. Results The results demonstrated that leisure activities mediate the link between social relationships and health in these age groups. Perceptions of positive social relationships were associated with greater involvement in leisure activities, and greater involvement in leisure activities was associated with better health in older age. Discussion & Conclusions The contribution of leisure to health in these age groups is receiving increasing attention, and the results of this study add to the literature on this topic, by identifying the mediating effect of leisure activity on the link between social relationships and health. Future studies aimed at increasing leisure activity may contribute to improved health outcomes in older adults. PMID:24884905

  17. Social relationships, leisure activity, and health in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Po-Ju; Wray, Linda; Lin, Yeqiang

    2014-06-01

    Although the link between enhanced social relationships and better health has generally been well established, few studies have examined the role of leisure activity in this link. This study examined how leisure influences the link between social relationships and health in older age. Using data from the 2006 and 2010 waves of the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study and structural equation modeling analyses, we examined data on 2,965 older participants to determine if leisure activities mediated the link between social relationships and health in 2010, controlling for race, education level, and health in 2006. The results demonstrated that leisure activities mediate the link between social relationships and health in these age groups. Perceptions of positive social relationships were associated with greater involvement in leisure activities, and greater involvement in leisure activities was associated with better health in older age. The contribution of leisure to health in these age groups is receiving increasing attention, and the results of this study add to the literature on this topic, by identifying the mediating effect of leisure activity on the link between social relationships and health. Future studies aimed at increasing leisure activity may contribute to improved health outcomes in older adults. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  18. Social power and approach-related neural activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boksem, Maarten A S; Smolders, Ruud; De Cremer, David

    2012-06-01

    It has been argued that power activates a general tendency to approach whereas powerlessness activates a tendency to inhibit. The assumption is that elevated power involves reward-rich environments, freedom and, as a consequence, triggers an approach-related motivational orientation and attention to rewards. In contrast, reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition-related motivation. Moreover, approach motivation has been found to be associated with increased relative left-sided frontal brain activity, while withdrawal motivation has been associated with increased right sided activations. We measured EEG activity while subjects engaged in a task priming either high or low social power. Results show that high social power is indeed associated with greater left-frontal brain activity compared to low social power, providing the first neural evidence for the theory that high power is associated with approach-related motivation. We propose a framework accounting for differences in both approach motivation and goal-directed behaviour associated with different levels of power.

  19. Factors involved in social mobilization and empowerment of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Many community mobilizers in Uganda do not recognize that psychological empowerment is central in social mobilization, and that social mobilization involves an interplay among several social psychological variables including; social capital, psychological sense of community and group member satisfaction to produce ...

  20. Social Innovation Policies with the Involvement of Social Economy Organizations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bassi, Andrea; Ecchia, Giulio; Guerra, Alice

    In this paper, we investigate significant social innovation policies (related to the concept of social investment) involving the role of Social Economy organizations, and we discuss some relevant national and regional social innovation experiences by relying upon the current national...... and international literature, reports and website information. During the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, the concept of “social economy” has evolved from one where the emphasis was on the social (social outcomes and collective action) to a neo-liberal one with more emphasis on the economic and individual...... actors (social entrepreneurs). Nowadays we are facing a transition period nevertheless in the recent developments of the policy orientation at European level, there are some slight but significant clues of a move back towards a more ‘social’ concept. We will assume as operating definition of Social...

  1. Volunteering as Students significant social activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. A. Zaitseva

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the involvement of students in volunteer activities, examines the organization of students volunteer activities and volunteer projects realization at the university. The potential of volunteerism as an effective mechanism for addressing the urgent social problems is revealed.Theauthorstudiesexperience of volunteer services organization the I.A. Bunin State University in Yelets.

  2. Listening to humans walking together activates the social brain circuitry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saarela, Miiamaaria V; Hari, Riitta

    2008-01-01

    Human footsteps carry a vast amount of social information, which is often unconsciously noted. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we analyzed brain networks activated by footstep sounds of one or two persons walking. Listening to two persons walking together activated brain areas previously associated with affective states and social interaction, such as the subcallosal gyrus bilaterally, the right temporal pole, and the right amygdala. These areas seem to be involved in the analysis of persons' identity and complex social stimuli on the basis of auditory cues. Single footsteps activated only the biological motion area in the posterior STS region. Thus, hearing two persons walking together involved a more widespread brain network than did hearing footsteps from a single person.

  3. Social power and approach-related neural activity

    OpenAIRE

    Boksem, Maarten; Smolders, Ruud; Cremer, David

    2009-01-01

    textabstractIt has been argued that power activates a general tendency to approach whereas powerlessness activates a tendency to inhibit. The assumption is that elevated power involves reward-rich environments, freedom and, as a consequence, triggers an approach-related motivational orientation and attention to rewards. In contrast, reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition-related motivation. Moreover, approach motiva...

  4. Biological pathways and genetic mechanisms involved in social functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordoñana, Juan R; Bartels, Meike; Boomsma, Dorret I; Cella, David; Mosing, Miriam; Oliveira, Joao R; Patrick, Donald L; Veenhoven, Ruut; Wagner, Gert G; Sprangers, Mirjam A G

    2013-08-01

    To describe the major findings in the literature regarding associations between biological and genetic factors and social functioning, paying special attention to: (1) heritability studies on social functioning and related concepts; (2) hypothesized biological pathways and genetic variants that could be involved in social functioning, and (3) the implications of these results for quality-of-life research. A search of Web of Science and PubMed databases was conducted using combinations of the following keywords: genetics, twins, heritability, social functioning, social adjustment, social interaction, and social dysfunction. Variability in the definitions and measures of social functioning was extensive. Moderate to high heritability was reported for social functioning and related concepts, including prosocial behavior, loneliness, and extraversion. Disorders characterized by impairments in social functioning also show substantial heritability. Genetic variants hypothesized to be involved in social functioning are related to the network of brain structures and processes that are known to affect social cognition and behavior. Better knowledge and understanding about the impact of genetic factors on social functioning is needed to help us to attain a more comprehensive view of health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) and will ultimately enhance our ability to identify those patients who are vulnerable to poor social functioning.

  5. Integrating social science knowledge into natural resource management public involvement practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stummann, Cathy Brown

    This PhD study explores the long-recognized challenge of integrating social science knowledge into NRM public involvement practice theoretically and empirically. Theoretically, the study draws on research from adult learning, continuing rofessional education and professional knowledge development...... to better understand how social science knowledge can benefit NRM public involvement practice. Empirically, the study explores the potential of NRM continuing professional education as a means for introducing social science knowledge to public NRM professionals. The study finds social science knowledge can...... be of value to NRM public involvement prospectively and retrospectively; and that continuing professional education can be an effective means to introducing social science knowledge to public NRM professionals. In the design of NRM continuing professional education focused on social science knowledge...

  6. Barriers to involvement in physical activities of persons with mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shor, Ron; Shalev, Anat

    2016-03-01

    Participating in physical activities could be essential for reducing the multiple risk factors for health problems that persons with severe mental illness (SMI) may suffer. However, people with SMI are significantly less active than the general population. To develop knowledge about factors related to the perceived barriers hindering this population's participation in physical activities and the benefits this participation would have, a study was conducted in Israel with 86 people with mental illness living in community mental health facilities prior to their participation in a health promotion program. A mixed method was implemented and included: a scale designed to measure participants' perceptions of the barriers to and benefits of involvement in physical activities; instruments focusing on bio-psycho-social factors that may affect the level of barriers experienced; and personal interviews. The findings revealed high ranking for accessibility barriers hindering the participation in physical activities. Bio-psycho-social factors stemming from the participants' mental health, such as level of depression, were correlated with higher ranking of accessibility barriers. Bio-psycho-social factors reflecting positive mental health and health, such as positive appraisal of body weight, were correlated with lower ranking of accessibility barriers. Other barriers may include organizational and broader systemic barriers in the mental health facilities where the participants reside. These findings illuminate the need to consider the unique challenges that persons with mental illness may face in any attempt to advance their involvement in physical activity. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Health benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Junhyoung; Yamada, Naoko; Heo, Jinmoo; Han, Areum

    2014-01-01

    The existing literature suggests that serious engagement in leisure activities leads to happiness, life satisfaction, and successful aging among older adults. This qualitative study was used to examine the benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults who were members of a sports club. Using an analytic data analysis, we identified three main themes associated with the benefits of serious engagement in leisure activities: 1) the experience of psychological benefits, 2) the creation of social support, and 3) the enhancement of physical health. These themes indicate that, through serious involvement in certain physical activities, participants gain various health benefits, which may contribute to successful aging. PMID:25059979

  8. Health benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Junhyoung; Yamada, Naoko; Heo, Jinmoo; Han, Areum

    2014-01-01

    The existing literature suggests that serious engagement in leisure activities leads to happiness, life satisfaction, and successful aging among older adults. This qualitative study was used to examine the benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults who were members of a sports club. Using an analytic data analysis, we identified three main themes associated with the benefits of serious engagement in leisure activities: 1) the experience of psychological benefits, 2) the creation of social support, and 3) the enhancement of physical health. These themes indicate that, through serious involvement in certain physical activities, participants gain various health benefits, which may contribute to successful aging.

  9. Health benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junhyoung Kim

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The existing literature suggests that serious engagement in leisure activities leads to happiness, life satisfaction, and successful aging among older adults. This qualitative study was used to examine the benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean adults who were members of a sports club. Using an analytic data analysis, we identified three main themes associated with the benefits of serious engagement in leisure activities: 1 the experience of psychological benefits, 2 the creation of social support, and 3 the enhancement of physical health. These themes indicate that, through serious involvement in certain physical activities, participants gain various health benefits, which may contribute to successful aging.

  10. Pattern of brain activation during social cognitive tasks is related to social competence in siblings discordant for schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villarreal, Mirta F; Drucaroff, Lucas J; Goldschmidt, Micaela G; de Achával, Delfina; Costanzo, Elsa Y; Castro, Mariana N; Ladrón-de-Guevara, M Soledad; Busatto Filho, Geraldo; Nemeroff, Charles B; Guinjoan, Salvador M

    2014-09-01

    Measures of social competence are closely related to actual community functioning in patients with schizophrenia. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying competence in schizophrenia are not fully understood. We hypothesized that social deficits in schizophrenia are explained, at least in part, by abnormally lateralized patterns of brain activation in response to tasks engaging social cognition, as compared to healthy individuals. We predicted such patterns would be partly heritable, and therefore affected in patients' nonpsychotic siblings as well. We used a functional magnetic resonance image paradigm to characterize brain activation induced by theory of mind tasks, and two tests of social competence, the Test of Adaptive Behavior in Schizophrenia (TABS), and the Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA) in siblings discordant for schizophrenia and comparable healthy controls (n = 14 per group). Healthy individuals showed the strongest correlation between social competence and activation of right hemisphere structures involved in social cognitive processing, whereas in patients, the correlation pattern was lateralized to left hemisphere areas. Unaffected siblings of patients exhibited a pattern intermediate between the other groups. These results support the hypothesis that schizophrenia may be characterized by an abnormal functioning of nondominant hemisphere structures involved in the processing of socially salient information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Decreasing Risky Behavior on Social Network Sites: The Impact of Parental Involvement in Secondary Education Interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanderhoven, Ellen; Schellens, Tammy; Valcke, Martin

    2016-06-01

    Teenagers face significant risks when using increasingly popular social network sites. Prevention and intervention efforts to raise awareness about these risks and to change risky behavior (so-called "e-safety" interventions) are essential for the wellbeing of these minors. However, several studies have revealed that while school interventions often affect awareness, they have only a limited impact on pupils' unsafe behavior. Utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior and theories about parental involvement, we hypothesized that involving parents in an e-safety intervention would positively influence pupils' intentions and behavior. In a quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-test measures involving 207 pupils in secondary education, we compared the impact of an intervention without parental involvement with one that included active parental involvement by means of a homework task. We found that whereas parental involvement was not necessary to improve the intervention's impact on risk awareness, it did change intentions to engage in certain unsafe behavior, such as posting personal and sexual information on the profile page of a social network site, and in reducing existing problematic behavior. This beneficial impact was particularly evident for boys. These findings suggest that developing prevention campaigns with active parental involvement is well worth the effort. Researchers and developers should therefore focus on other efficient strategies to involve parents.

  12. Reflections on social activism in otolaryngology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopelovich, Jonathan C

    2014-03-01

    What is "social activism" to you? For older otolaryngologists, the term is likely to signify the tumult of the 1960s. For incoming generations, this connotation is outdated. Rather, it more broadly reflects concerted efforts to improve the public good. Some ally with existing institutions to work toward incremental progress. Some start new organizations, using technological tools to build networks, marshal resources, and leapfrog hurdles. Countering these efforts are the ever-changing challenges of practicing otolaryngology today: electronic health records, shifting incentives, and changes in the practice model. Employment by large conglomerates is more common, decreasing our visibility as community leaders. Burnout is a recognized "hazard," and budding otolaryngologists are particularly susceptible. Adding one more thing, like social activism, to a full plate seems counterintuitive. But it shouldn't be. You don't need a "bigger" plate to get involved in social causes. Start simple. Find a partner. Scale up. You'll find it rewarding.

  13. Socialization Agents and Activities of Young Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnon, Sara; Shamai, Shmuel; Ilatov, Zinaida

    2008-01-01

    Research examined the relative importance of peer groups for young adolescents as compared with diverse adult socialization agents--family, school, and community. The factors involved were teenagers' activities, preferences, feelings, and thoughts as to how they spend their leisure time, their preferences for help providers, and their sense of…

  14. Social Support Among Substance Using Women with Criminal Justice Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majer, John M.; Salina, Doreen D.; Jason, Leonard A.

    2016-01-01

    Social support types (abstinence, appraisal, belonging, tangible) were analyzed among a sample of women with criminal justice involvement and substance use disorders (n = 200). Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to examine social support types in relation to changes in abstinence self-efficacy while controlling for incarceration histories. Only abstinence social support and tangible social support predicted significant increases in abstinence self-efficacy, with tangible support accounting for more variance in the analytic model. Findings suggest women with criminal justice involvement who have substance use disorders have basic needs that if met would have an indirect effect on their recovery. Implications for treatment and research are discussed. PMID:26949443

  15. Practicing Professional Values: Factors Influencing Involvement in Social Work Student Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martindale, Dorothy; Olate, René; Anderson, Keith A.

    2017-01-01

    One of the most promising avenues for the development of professional values is involvement in professional student organizations. A convenience sample of baccalaureate social work students (n = 482) was drawn from 15 institutions. Regression analyses revealed several predictors of involvement in social work student organizations, including…

  16. Religious and Non-religious Activity Engagement as Assets in Promoting Social Ties Throughout University: The Role of Emotion Regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semplonius, Thalia; Good, Marie; Willoughby, Teena

    2015-08-01

    Emerging adulthood is a time of many changes. For example, one change that occurs for a subset of emerging adults is leaving home and starting university. Importantly, the creation of social ties can aid in promoting positive adjustment during university. This study investigated whether involvement in religious activities promotes social ties among university students directly and/or indirectly through emotion regulation. Importantly, involvement in religious activities may promote self-regulatory skills, and the ability to effectively regulate emotions can aid in navigating social interactions. To rule out potentially important confounding variables, spirituality and involvement in non-religious clubs were statistically controlled in all analyses. The participants included 1,132 university students (70.5 % female) from a university in Ontario, Canada who were surveyed each year over a period of 3 years. The results indicated that involvement in religious activities indirectly predicted more social ties over time through emotion regulation. Spirituality did not predict social ties or emotion regulation. Furthermore, non-religious clubs directly predicted more social ties over time. Thus, although involvement in religious and non-religious activities both predicted more social ties in a university setting over time, the mechanism by which these activities promote social ties differed.

  17. Towards Detecting the Crowd Involved in Social Events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Huang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Knowing how people interact with urban environments is fundamental for a variety of fields, ranging from transportation to social science. Despite the fact that human mobility patterns have been a major topic of study in recent years, a challenge to understand large-scale human behavior when a certain event occurs remains due to a lack of either relevant data or suitable approaches. Psychological crowd refers to a group of people who are usually located at different places and show different behaviors, but who are very sensitively driven to take the same act (gather together by a certain event, which has been theoretically studied by social psychologists since the 19th century. This study aims to propose a computational approach using a machine learning method to model psychological crowds, contributing to the better understanding of human activity patterns under events. Psychological features and mental unity of the crowd are computed to detect the involved individuals. A national event happening across the USA in April, 2015 is analyzed using geotagged tweets as a case study to test our approach. The result shows that 81% of individuals in the crowd can be successfully detected. Through investigating the geospatial pattern of the involved users, not only can the event related users be identified but also those unobserved users before the event can be uncovered. The proposed approach can effectively represent the psychological feature and measure the mental unity of the psychological crowd, which sheds light on the study of large-scale psychological crowd and provides an innovative way to understanding human behavior under events.

  18. Involving immigrant religious organizations in HIV/AIDS prevention: The role of bonding and bridging social capital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, ManChui R; Chin, John J; Petrescu-Prahova, Miruna

    2016-08-01

    Immigrant religious organizations in the United States are uniquely positioned to address critical issues beyond religion because of their moral, social and cultural prominence in community life. Increasingly, religious organizations have taken on a leadership role around health issues such as decreasing HIV/AIDS stigma and misinformation. However, there are barriers for some religious leaders and organizations in adopting new health programs, especially if the issue is seen as controversial. Our study examines how social network structures among religious members influence organizational acceptance of new information or controversial ideas, like HIV/AIDS. Using social network analysis methods on data from 2841 contacts in 20 immigrant Chinese Buddhist temples and Christian churches in New York City, we tested whether an immigrant religious organization's likelihood of being involved in HIV/AIDS activities was associated with the presence of bonding or bridging social capital. These two forms of social capital have been found to mediate the levels of exposure and openness to new ideas. We found HIV/AIDS-involved religious organizations were more likely to have lower levels of bonding social capital as indicated by members having fewer ties and fewer demographic attributes in common. We also found HIV/AIDS-involved religious organizations were more likely to have higher levels of bridging social capital as indicated by members having significantly more ties to people outside of their organization. Our study highlights the importance of looking beyond religion type and leadership attributes to social network structures among members in order to better explain organization-level receptiveness to HIV/AIDS involvement. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Parent Involvement on School Committees as Social Capital to Improve Student Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ravik Karsidi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explores how the participation of parents on school committees improves student achievement. In decentralized education systems like the one in Indonesia, parents’ participation has become a focal point for improving the quality of education. The data for this study were collected using questionnaires distributed to 250 students in state senior high schools, selected by quota-purposive sampling. The qualitative findings of this research are threefold: most parents participated in student learning only by providing material aspects, such as tuition and books; most parents had a misconception that it was the school that should solely be responsible for the education of their children; busy parents tended to ignore the progress of their children’s learning. In order to create social capital for their children, parents need to be active in the learning process, cooperate with school officials, and get involved in the planning of social activities.

  20. Extracurricular activities and the development of social skills in children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, B A; Floyd, F; Robins, D L; Chan, W Y

    2015-07-01

    Children with intellectual disability and specific learning disabilities often lack age-appropriate social skills, which disrupts their social functioning. Because of the limited effectiveness of classroom mainstreaming and social skills training for these children, it is important to explore alternative opportunities for social skill acquisition. Participation in social activities is positively related to children's social adjustment, but little is known about the benefits of activity participation for children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities. This study investigated the association between frequency and type of social activity participation and the social competence of 8-11-year-old children with intellectual disability (n = 40) and specific learning disabilities (n = 53), in comparison with typically developing peers (n = 24). More time involved in unstructured activities, but not structured activities, was associated with higher levels of social competence for all children. This association was strongest for children with intellectual disability, suggesting that participation in unstructured social activities was most beneficial for these children. Future research on the quality of involvement is necessary to further understand specific aspects of unstructured activities that might facilitate social development. © 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Transmitting Sport Values: The Importance of Parental Involvement in Children’s Sport Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Danioni

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The transmission of positive values between parents and children is generally considered to be the hallmark of successful socialization. As this issue has been widely discussed but surprisingly little researched - especially with reference to core sport values - in this study we aimed to: 1 analyze adolescent athletes’ acceptance of the sport values their parents want to transmit to them (i.e., parental socialization values and 2 examine the relationship between parental involvement in children’s sportive activity and adolescents’ acceptance of their parents’ socialization values. One hundred and seventy-two Italian adolescents (48.3% male, 51.7% female who regularly practice team sports were asked to fill out a questionnaire which included the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire – 2 and the Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire. The dyadic correlations revealed that young athletes are in general willing to accept their parents’ socialization values in regards to sport. Moreover, from the relative weight analysis (a relatively new data analysis strategy, it emerged that parental involvement characterized by praise and understanding is the most important predictor of adolescents’ willingness to accept their parents’ sport values. Implications of these results and further expansion of the study are discussed.

  2. Intranasal oxytocin reduces social perception in women: Neural activation and individual variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecht, Erin E; Robins, Diana L; Gautam, Pritam; King, Tricia Z

    2017-02-15

    Most intranasal oxytocin research to date has been carried out in men, but recent studies indicate that females' responses can differ substantially from males'. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involved an all-female sample of 28 women not using hormonal contraception. Participants viewed animations of geometric shapes depicting either random movement or social interactions such as playing, chasing, or fighting. Probe questions asked whether any shapes were "friends" or "not friends." Social videos were preceded by cues to attend to either social relationships or physical size changes. All subjects received intranasal placebo spray at scan 1. While the experimenter was not blinded to nasal spray contents at Scan 1, the participants were. Scan 2 followed a randomized, double-blind design. At scan 2, half received a second placebo dose while the other half received 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin. We measured neural responses to these animations at baseline, as well as the change in neural activity induced by oxytocin. Oxytocin reduced activation in early visual cortex and dorsal-stream motion processing regions for the social > size contrast, indicating reduced activity related to social attention. Oxytocin also reduced endorsements that shapes were "friends" or "not friends," and this significantly correlated with reduction in neural activation. Furthermore, participants who perceived fewer social relationships at baseline were more likely to show oxytocin-induced increases in a broad network of regions involved in social perception and social cognition, suggesting that lower social processing at baseline may predict more positive neural responses to oxytocin. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Predictors of activity involvement in dementia care homes: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smit, Dieneke; de Lange, Jacomine; Willemse, Bernadette; Pot, Anne Margriet

    2017-08-04

    Despite the finding that involvement in activities is one of the most important needs of residents with dementia living in care homes, care facilities struggle to fulfill this need. Over the years, various factors are suggested which may contribute to or disable activity provision in dementia care homes. These include limited financial resources, task oriented staff and disease-related characteristics of residents. This study aims to further clarify which of these factors predict higher activity involvement. Data were derived from the second measurement (2011) of the Living Arrangements for people with Dementia study. One thousand two hundred eighteen people residing in 139 dementia care homes were involved. Forty predictors of higher involvement were studied. Multilevel backward regression analyses were performed. The most important predictors of higher involvement were: absence of agitation, less ADL dependency, and a higher cognitive status of the residents, higher staff educational level, lower experienced job demands by care staff and a smaller number of residents living in the dementia care wards of a facility. More social supervisor support as perceived by staff was found to predict less activity involvement. To increase the activity involvement of care home residents with dementia it seems vital to: 1) reduce staff's experienced job demands; 2) elevate their overall educational level; 3) train staff to provide suitable activities, taking account of the behavior and preserved capabilities of residents; and 4) foster transition towards small-scale care. In order to achieve these aims, care organizations might need to evaluate the use of their financial means.

  4. The relationship of religious involvement indicators and social support to current and past suicidality among depressed older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rushing, Nicole C; Corsentino, Elizabeth; Hames, Jennifer L; Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie; Steffens, David C

    2013-01-01

    Elderly people, particularly those with major depression, are at the highest risk for suicide than any other age group. Religious involvement is associated with a range of health outcomes including lower odds of death by suicide. However, not much is known about the effects of religious involvement on suicidal ideation in the elderly or which aspects of religiosity are beneficial. This study examined the relative influence of various conceptualizations of religious involvement, above and beyond the protective effects of social support, on current and past suicidality among depressed older adults. Participants were 248 depressed patients, 59 years and older, enrolled in the Neurocognitive Outcomes of Depression in the Elderly study. A psychiatrist assessed current suicidal ideation using the suicidal thoughts item from the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Past history of suicide attempts, four religious involvement indicators, social support indicators, and control variables were assessed via self-report. Church attendance, above and beyond importance of religion, private religious practices, and social support, was associated with less suicidal ideation; perceived social support partially mediated this relationship. Current religious practices were not predictive of retrospective reports of past suicide attempts. Church attendance, rather than other religious involvement indicators, has the strongest relationship to current suicidal ideation. Clinicians should consider public religious activity patterns and perceived social support when assessing for other known risk and protective factors for suicide and in developing treatment plans.

  5. Connecting Corporate and Consumer Social Responsibility Through Social Media Activism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    To highlight aspects of activism obscured by a focus on legitimacy and ideology, this paper argues that shifting focus from legitimacy and ideology to identity, problem-solving & dialogue is needed to understand emerging forms of Social Media Native Activism that connect Consumer Social Responsib......To highlight aspects of activism obscured by a focus on legitimacy and ideology, this paper argues that shifting focus from legitimacy and ideology to identity, problem-solving & dialogue is needed to understand emerging forms of Social Media Native Activism that connect Consumer Social...... Responsibility (CnSR) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Taking this view as a basis for social activism offers a valuable perspective for understanding some emergent forms of social media activism towards business. Two cases of social media ‘native’ social activist organizations working to create...

  6. Partners in projects: preparing for public involvement in health and social care research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkes, Jacqueline H; Pyer, Michelle; Wray, Paula; Taylor, Jane

    2014-09-01

    In recent years, several UK and, international funders of health and social care related research have adopted the policy of requiring explicit evidence of the 'public' voice in all aspects of project design. For many academic researchers engaged within research, evaluations or audit projects, this formal requirement to actively engage members of the public will present them with both benefits and challenges to securing knowledgeable, skilled, and confident lay representation onto project teams. This could potentially lead to the exploitation of those individuals who are available, appropriately informed, and adequately prepared for such activities. Currently, much of the preparation of patients or members of the public for research involvement tends to be aligned to specific projects; however, with the call for greater active and meaningful involvement of lay representatives in future national and international funding applications, there is clearly a growing need to 'train' sufficient numbers of confident and competent representatives to meet this growing demand. This paper describes the development of a specifically designed research awareness training programme and underpinning theoretical model, which has been specifically designed to support active and meaningful lay involvement in research, evaluations and audit projects. Developed over a four year period, the course is a culmination of learning extracted from a series of four completed research projects, which have incorporated an element of public and patient involvement (PPI) training in their overall design. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Supporting Active User Involvment in Prototyping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj

    1990-01-01

    The term prototyping has in recent years become a buzzword in both research and practice of system design due to a number of claimed advantages of prototyping techniques over traditional specification techniques. In particular it is often stated that prototyping facilitates the users' involvement...... in the development process. But prototyping does not automatically imply active user involvement! Thus a cooperative prototyping approach aiming at involving users actively and creatively in system design is proposed in this paper. The key point of the approach is to involve users in activities that closely couple...... development of prototypes to early evaluation of prototypes in envisioned use situations. Having users involved in such activities creates new requirements for tool support. Tools that support direct manipulation of prototypes and simulation of behaviour have shown promise for cooperative prototyping...

  8. Social justice and the university community: does campus involvement make a difference?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAuliff, Kathleen E; Williams, Shannon M; Ferrari, Joseph R

    2013-01-01

    We examined perceptions on school sense of community and social justice attitudes among undergraduates (N = 427; 308 women, 115 men; M age = 19.72, SD = 1.91), and how year in school and club membership affected these constructs. Results demonstrated that involvement with a greater number of clubs was associated with having a stronger school sense of community and more positive social justice attitudes. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that year in school did not significantly predict social justice attitudes. Results suggested that greater involvement and sense of school belonging might be linked to social justice attitudes.

  9. Social Involvement and Commuter Students: The First-Year Student Voice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause, Kerri-Lee D.

    2007-01-01

    This qualitative study explores the nature of undergraduate commuter students' social involvement with peers during the transitional first six months of their university experience. Focus group interviews with 46 participants provided a student perspective of the role of social interactions in students' transition to university life. Findings…

  10. Trying to trust: Brain activity during interpersonal social attitude change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filkowski, Megan M; Anderson, Ian W; Haas, Brian W

    2016-04-01

    Interpersonal trust and distrust are important components of human social interaction. Although several studies have shown that brain function is associated with either trusting or distrusting others, very little is known regarding brain function during the control of social attitudes, including trust and distrust. This study was designed to investigate the neural mechanisms involved when people attempt to control their attitudes of trust or distrust toward another person. We used a novel control-of-attitudes fMRI task, which involved explicit instructions to control attitudes of interpersonal trust and distrust. Control of trust or distrust was operationally defined as changes in trustworthiness evaluations of neutral faces before and after the control-of-attitudes fMRI task. Overall, participants (n = 60) evaluated faces paired with the distrust instruction as being less trustworthy than faces paired with the trust instruction following the control-of-distrust task. Within the brain, both the control-of-trust and control-of-distrust conditions were associated with increased temporoparietal junction, precuneus (PrC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and medial prefrontal cortex activity. Individual differences in the control of trust were associated with PrC activity, and individual differences in the control of distrust were associated with IFG activity. Together, these findings identify a brain network involved in the explicit control of distrust and trust and indicate that the PrC and IFG may serve to consolidate interpersonal social attitudes.

  11. Social activity and healthy aging

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McGue, Matt; Christensen, Kaare

    2007-01-01

    with late-life physical functioning, cognitive functioning, and depression symptomatology using data from 1112 pairs of like-sex twins who participated in the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins. Consistent with previous research, we found that social activity was significantly correlated with overall...... activity did not predict change in functioning and in monozygotic twin pairs discordant on level of social activity, the more socially active twin was not less susceptible to age decreases in physical and cognitive functioning and increases in depression symptomatology than the less socially active twin......Although social and intellectual engagement have been consistently associated with late-life functioning, rather than true causation, these associations may reflect the experiential choices of high functioning individuals (i.e., selection effects). We investigated the association of social activity...

  12. Explaining consumer brand-related activities on social media : An investigation of the different roles of self-expression and socializing motivations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Vries, Lisette; Peluso, A.M.; Romani, S.; Leeflang, Pieter; Marcati, A.

    2017-01-01

    People undertake various brand-related activities on social media that differ in levels of engagement. Companies, however, want to know how to motivate consumers to become involved in the relatively more engaging activities, as such activities are more likely to lead to increased sales. In this

  13. Connecting Corporate and Consumer Social Responsibility Through Social Media Activism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    To highlight aspects of activism obscured by a focus on legitimacy and ideology, this paper argues that shifting focus from legitimacy and ideology to identity, problem-solving & dialogue is needed to understand emerging forms of Social Media Native Activism that connect Consumer Social...... Responsibility (CnSR) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Taking this view as a basis for social activism offers a valuable perspective for understanding some emergent forms of social media activism towards business. Two cases of social media ‘native’ social activist organizations working to create...... movements are examined from this problem solving & dialogue-based perspective—Carrotmob, and the Good Guide. These cases represent examples of a post-dialectic frame for understanding how social media can affect approaches to activism....

  14. Leisure Activity and Caregiver Involvement in Middle-Aged and Older Adults With Down Syndrome

    OpenAIRE

    Mihaila, Iulia; Hartley, Sigan L.; Handen, Benjamin L.; Bulova, Peter D.; Tumuluru, Rameshwari V.; Devenny, Darlynne A.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Lao, Patrick J.; Christian, Bradley T.

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined leisure activity and its association with caregiver involvement (i.e., residence and time spent with primary caregiver) in 62 middle-aged and older adults with Down syndrome (aged 30–53 years). Findings indicated that middle-aged and older adults with Down syndrome frequently participated in social and passive leisure activities, with low participation in physical and mentally stimulating leisure activities. Residence and time spent with primary caregiver were assoc...

  15. Online social networks for crowdsourced multimedia-involved behavioral testing: An empirical study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Ho eChoi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk, which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods.

  16. Online Social Networks for Crowdsourced Multimedia-Involved Behavioral Testing: An Empirical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jun-Ho; Lee, Jong-Seok

    2016-01-01

    Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods. PMID:26793137

  17. Online Social Networks for Crowdsourced Multimedia-Involved Behavioral Testing: An Empirical Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jun-Ho; Lee, Jong-Seok

    2015-01-01

    Online social networks have emerged as effective crowdsourcing media to recruit participants in recent days. However, issues regarding how to effectively exploit them have not been adequately addressed yet. In this paper, we investigate the reliability and effectiveness of multimedia-involved behavioral testing via social network-based crowdsourcing, especially focused on Facebook as a medium to recruit participants. We conduct a crowdsourcing-based experiment for a music recommendation problem. It is shown that different advertisement methods yield different degrees of efficiency and there exist significant differences in behavioral patterns across different genders and different age groups. In addition, we perform a comparison of our experiment with other multimedia-involved crowdsourcing experiments built on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which suggests that crowdsourcing-based experiments using social networks for recruitment can achieve comparable efficiency. Based on the analysis results, advantages and disadvantages of social network-based crowdsourcing and suggestions for successful experiments are also discussed. We conclude that social networks have the potential to support multimedia-involved behavioral tests to gather in-depth data even for long-term periods.

  18. Community Involvement in School: Social Relationships in a Bedroom Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preston, Jane P.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe how community involvement in school is associated with the social relationships existing/lacking within a bedroom community. Thirty-five interviews with school council members, teachers, and community members highlighted that traditional forms of community involvement in school generate…

  19. The benefits of in-group contact through physical activity involvement for health and well-being among Korean immigrants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Junhyoung; Heo, Jinmoo; Kim, Jun

    2014-01-01

    This qualitative study is designed to examine the benefits of physical activity involvement with members of the same ethnic group. For this study, Korean immigrants who were members of Korean physical activity clubs such as badminton and tennis were selected as participants. Using a constructive grounded theory methodology, three themes were identified as benefits of physical activity involvement: (1) the experience of psychological well-being, (2) the creation of a unique cultural world, and (3) the facilitation of physical activity involvement. The findings of this study suggest that Korean immigrant participants gained various social, cultural, and psychological benefits by engaging in activities with other Korean immigrants. PMID:24875239

  20. The benefits of in-group contact through physical activity involvement for health and well-being among Korean immigrants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junhyoung Kim

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This qualitative study is designed to examine the benefits of physical activity involvement with members of the same ethnic group. For this study, Korean immigrants who were members of Korean physical activity clubs such as badminton and tennis were selected as participants. Using a constructive grounded theory methodology, three themes were identified as benefits of physical activity involvement: (1 the experience of psychological well-being, (2 the creation of a unique cultural world, and (3 the facilitation of physical activity involvement. The findings of this study suggest that Korean immigrant participants gained various social, cultural, and psychological benefits by engaging in activities with other Korean immigrants.

  1. Effect of social leisure activities on object naming in healthy aging A multimodal approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyau, Elena; Gigleux, Marion; Cousin, Émilie; Fournet, Nathalie; Pichat, Cédric; Jaillard, Assia; Baciu, Monica

    2018-03-01

    Environmental factors contribute to the constitution and maintenance of the cognitive reserve and partially explain the variability of cognitive performance in older individuals. We assessed the role of leisure activities - social and individual - on the access to lexico-semantic representations evaluated through a task of object naming (ON). We hypothesize that compared to individual, social leisure activities explain better the ON performance in the older adults, which is explained by a mechanism of neural reserve. Our results in older adults indicate (a) a significant correlation between leisure social activities and the response time for ON, (b) a significant correlation between link the neural activity of the left superior and medial frontal (SmFG) for ON and leisure social activities. Interestingly, the activity of the left SmFG partially mediates the relationship between social activities and OD performance. We suggest that social leisure activities may contribute to maintain ON performances in healthy aging, through a neural reserve mechanism, in relation with left SmFG activity. This region is typically involved in the access to semantic representations, guided by the emotional state. These results open interesting perspectives on the role of social leisure activities on lexical production during aging.

  2. Aesthetic activities and aesthetic attitudes: influences of education, background and personality on interest and involvement in the arts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McManus, I C; Furnham, A

    2006-11-01

    There have been few studies of why some people are frequently involved in aesthetic activities such as going to the theatre, reading or playing musical instruments, whereas others are less involved. This study assesses the broad roles of education, personality and demographic factors such as social class, age and sex. More aesthetic activity was associated with music and art education, whereas science education had a substantial negative relationship with aesthetic activity, both directly and also indirectly via reduced art education. More aesthetic activity was particularly related to higher scores on the personality factor of openness, and also to lower scores on agreeableness and conscientiousness. Higher parental social class was also associated with more aesthetic activity, as also was lower age. Sex had no relationship to aesthetic activity, as neither did masculinity-femininity. Positive aesthetic attitudes were also related moderately to aesthetic activity, but were particularly strongly related to openness to experience, and somewhat less to extraversion. Class, age and sex had no direct relationship to aesthetic attitudes.

  3. Evaluation of legal aspects of activities involving radiations: proposal for a new legislation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borges, Jose C.

    1997-01-01

    The present brazilian legislation status concerning activities in which occurs or may occur any exposure to ionizing radiations, involves several incoherencies and privileges, as a consequence of legal rights generated from labor principles which have no social or scientific base. In this study, several legal labor topics are analysed and a new doctrine context is proposed, based mainly on a equal treatment for all insalubrious and dangerous activities done by workers of both private and public sectors (author). 8 refs

  4. Residents' perceptions and experiences of social interaction and participation in leisure activities in residential aged care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Jessica E; O'Connell, Beverly; Gaskin, Cadeyrn J

    2013-10-01

    Social interaction and participation in leisure activities are positively related to the health and well-being of elderly people. The main focus of this exploratory study was to investigate elderly peoples' perceptions and experiences of social interaction and leisure activities living in a residential aged care (RAC) facility. Six residents were interviewed. Themes emerging from discussions about their social interactions included: importance of family, fostering friendships with fellow residents, placement at dining room tables, multiple communication methods, and minimal social isolation and boredom. Excursions away from the RAC facility were favourite activities. Participants commonly were involved in leisure activities to be socially connected. Poor health, family, the RAC facility, staffing, transportation, and geography influenced their social interaction and participation in leisure activities. The use of new technologies and creative problem solving with staff are ways in which residents could enhance their social lives and remain engaged in leisure activities.

  5. Leisure Activity and Caregiver Involvement in Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Down Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihaila, Iulia; Hartley, Sigan L.; Handen, Benjamin L.; Bulova, Peter D.; Tumuluru, Rameshwari V.; Devenny, Darlynne A.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Lao, Patrick J.; Christian, Bradley, T.

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined leisure activity and its association with caregiver involvement (i.e., residence and time spent with primary caregiver) in 62 middle-aged and older adults with Down syndrome (aged 30-53 years). Findings indicated that middle-aged and older adults with Down syndrome frequently participated in social and passive leisure…

  6. The influence of peer affiliation and student activities on adolescent drug involvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, J E

    1996-01-01

    This study examined the importance of students' academic performance level and extracurricular activities as predictors of drug involvement relative to peer influence. Social development theory provided the theoretical rational for the study. Data were obtained from 2,229 randomly selected students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades from seventeen school districts in northeastern Ohio. At all three grade levels, involvement in extracurricular activities and academic level were significantly correlated with students' gateway and hard drug use. Consistent with prior research, the strongest correlate of gateway and hard drug use across all grade levels was affiliation with drug-using friends. Having a job after school was marginally related to self-reported gateway drug use at grade level ten. Multiple regression analysis revealed that extracurricular involvement and academic performance level make small, but unique contributions to the prediction of adolescents' gateway drug use beyond affiliation with drug-using peers at all three grade levels. The findings of this study suggest that students' academic performance and extracurricular involvements are significantly related to adolescent gateway and hard drug use, but have less predictive significance relative to peer relationships.

  7. Mechanisms of social synchrony between circadian activity rhythms in cohabiting marmosets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bessa, Zoélia Camila Moura; Melo, Paula Rocha De; Gonçalves, Bruno S B; Azevedo, Carolina V M De

    2018-01-26

    In marmosets, social synchrony between circadian profiles of activity is stronger in animals that cohabit in a family. The activity of three breeding pairs was recorded by actiwatches to investigate the mechanisms involved in the synchrony between the circadian activity profiles during cohabitation in marmoset reproductive pairs. The dyads were submitted to LD 12:12 (21 days) and LL: 1) cohabitation (24 days), 2) removal of the cage mate (20 days), 3) reintroduction of the mate into the cage of the 1 st situation (30 days) and 4) removal of the cage mate (7 days). Next, they were rejoined and maintained in LD 12:12 (11 days). In conditions involving cohabitation of pair, the general and maximum correlation indexes between circadian profiles were higher in cage mates compared to animals of the same or different sex with which they maintain only acoustic and olfactive contact. This strong synchrony between rhythms was accompanied by a stable phase relationship at the activity onset and offset, with identical circadian periods between mates. When the pairs were separated, there was a break in stability in the phase relationships between activity profiles with different circadian periods and a greater phase angle difference between rhythms of cage mates. During separation, two females and one male progressively anticipated the activity onset and offset in a phase similar to that in previous conditions, expressing entrainment to the mate. During the first reintroduction, two pairs exhibited signs of masking in rhythm. Although modulation in the rhythm of some animals has been observed through acoustic cues from animals outside the colony, we suggest that cohabitation favors strong synchrony between the circadian activity profiles of marmoset reproductive pairs involving synchronization by entrainment and masking. Further studies in the absence of external social cues are necessary to clarify the role of these mechanisms on social synchronization in marmosets.

  8. The Role of Classroom Teacher Social Capital in a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Michelle E.; Lorenz, Kent; Stylianou, Michalis; Kulinna, Pamela Hodges

    2018-01-01

    This study examined classroom teachers' involvement in a yearlong Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP) implemented in one K-8 rural U.S. school district. Its purpose was to describe patterns of social interaction among teachers, administrators, and families associated with the intervention (i.e., social capital) and whether…

  9. Are young adolescents' social and emotional skills protective against involvement in violence and bullying behaviors?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polan, Julie C; Sieving, Renee E; McMorris, Barbara J

    2013-07-01

    This study examined relationships between social-emotional skills and involvement in bullying and violence among young adolescents from ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Data were from 171 sixth- and seventh-grade students involved in a larger intervention study. Analyses examined relationships between social-emotional skills measures (intrapersonal skills, stress management skills, interpersonal skills) and involvement in violence, physical bullying, and relational aggression. Of social-emotional skills indicators, interpersonal skills and stress management skills demonstrated significant bivariate relationships with each of the bullying and violence outcomes. In multivariate models, greater interpersonal skills and greater stress management skills were significantly associated with lower odds of violence involvement. Greater stress management skills were also significantly associated with lower levels of physical bullying and relational aggression. Findings suggest that efforts to foster development of young adolescents' social-emotional skills may, in turn, reduce their risk for involvement in bullying and violence.

  10. SWEDISH CRIME FICTION AS SOCIALLY INVOLVED LITERATURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Samsel-Chojnacka

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Swedish crime novel has been transforming for many years to become more socially involved. The ambition of many writers is not only to entertain the readers but also to participating in the social debate, criticizing the political and economical system, focusing on important issues such as violence against women, exploitation of working class by the privileged ruling class, the problems of a modern family and the situation of immigrants. Since the moment when in the mid 60’s two journalists Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö decided to use popular literature to spread social matters many other Swedish writers have decided to follow their way. Some of them are journalists – like Liza Marklund, Börge Hellström and Anders Roslund or Stieg Larsson. Their novels as well as the ones written by Henning Mannkel on Kurt Wallander have become crucial evidence of changes of Swedish society in the past twenty years. Modern Swedish crime fiction illustrates the population in the model fashion that is the reason why it can become one of the interests of the sociology of literature.

  11. Social support plays a role in the attitude that people have towards taking an active role in medical decision-making.

    OpenAIRE

    Brabers, A.E.M.; Jong, J.D. de; Groenewegen, P.P.; Dijk, L. van

    2016-01-01

    Background: There is a growing emphasis towards including patients in medical decision-making. However, not all patients are actively involved in such decisions. Research has so far focused mainly on the influence of patient characteristics on preferences for active involvement. However, it can be argued that a patient’s social context has to be taken into account as well, because social norms and resources affect behaviour. This study aims to examine the role of social resources, in the form...

  12. Student Perceptions of Social Justice and Social Justice Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Harding, Susan R.; Steele, Cheronda; Schulz, Erica; Taha, Farah; Pico, Chantal

    2014-01-01

    Encouraging students to engage in activities that actively seek to promote social justice is a goal of many educators. This study analyzed college student perceptions around social justice and related activities in a medium-sized, urban university in the United States. Students' open-ended responses to questions assessing their perceptions of…

  13. Involvement. Senior citizens' recreational activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregersen, U B

    1992-06-01

    During the last 18 years, senior citizens in Viborg, Denmark, have participated in study circles based on the theory of impression pedagogy and socially relevant activities. They arrange excursions at home and abroad and make films about the trips. They teach schoolchildren, students at folk high schools, and nurses, as well as occupational therapists and physiotherapists. They publish poems and books, write role plays, stage musicals, sing in choirs, and function as tour guides in town. They set up educational color slide programmes on preventing bone fractures, dealing with the problem of reduced hearing, and the importance of healthy food and exercise. They travel abroad and talk about Denmark and the conditions for senior citizens in our country. With the support of the Danish Ministry for Social Affairs, they produce videos about their activities as a source of inspiration to others. The use of drugs by the participants in the study circles has declined, while the level of activities has increased, and none of the participants has ever had to enter residential care.

  14. The Interaction between Personality, Social Network Position and Involvement in Innovation Process

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. Dolgova (Evgenia); W. van Olffen (Woody); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractAbstract This dissertation proposal investigates how personality and individuals’ social network position affect individuals’ involvement into the innovation process. It posits that people would feel inclined to become involved into the different phases of the innovation process

  15. Personalized citizen assistance for social participation (APIC): A promising intervention for increasing mobility, accomplishment of social activities and frequency of leisure activities in older adults having disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levasseur, Mélanie; Lefebvre, Hélène; Levert, Marie-Josée; Lacasse-Bédard, Joanie; Desrosiers, Johanne; Therriault, Pierre-Yves; Tourigny, André; Couturier, Yves; Carbonneau, Hélène

    2016-01-01

    Social participation, a determinant of health in older adults, requires innovative interventions. The personalised citizen assistance for social participation (APIC) involves weekly three-hour personalised stimulation sessions targeting significant social and leisure activities difficult to accomplish. Recently adapted for older adults, the APIC's impact on this population is unknown. This study explored the impact of APIC on older adults with disabilities. A mixed-method design including a pre-experimental component was used with 16 participants (11 women) aged 66-91 (79.4±8.7) with disabilities, living at home. They completed functional autonomy, social participation, leisure and quality of life questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. APIC increased older adults' functional autonomy (p=0.02), accomplishment (pleisure practice (pleisure activities, and difficulties in their social environment diminished (p=0.03). Their attitude toward leisure (p=0.04) as well as their health (p<0.01) and psychological (p=0.03) quality of life improved. Older adults thought APIC helped them resume, maintain, explore and experiment with significant social activities. It also increased their psychological and physical well-being, feeling of control, connectedness, self-esteem and motivation to accomplish activities. Finally, APIC can compensate for an unavailable and crumbling social network. APIC is a promising intervention that leads to new opportunities for older adults to increase community integration and enhance the social component of their lives. It can also optimise how the needs of older adults are met, including utilisation of personal and environmental resources. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Social Network Sites, Friends, and Celebrities: The Roles of Social Comparison and Celebrity Involvement in Adolescents’ Body Image Dissatisfaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirley S. Ho

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This study applies the social comparison theory to examine the effects of adolescents’ engagement in comparison with friends and celebrities on social network sites (SNSs on (a their body image dissatisfaction (BID and (b their drive to be thin (DT or muscular (DM. The study also examines celebrity involvement as an antecedent of the outcome variables. Data were collected through a survey of 1,059 adolescents in Singapore. Regression analyses indicate that SNSs use was related to adolescents’ BID. Specifically, social comparison with friends on SNSs was significantly associated with adolescents’ BID, DT, and DM. Gender differences were also observed—social comparison with celebrities was significantly associated with BID and DT among female adolescents. Celebrity involvement was significantly associated with male BID. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

  17. Activity involvement and quality of life of people at different stages of dementia in long term care facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smit, Dieneke; de Lange, Jacomine; Willemse, Bernadette; Twisk, Jos; Pot, Anne Margriet

    2016-01-01

    Involvement in activities is assumed to positively influence the quality of life of people with dementia, yet activity provision in long-term care remains limited. This study aims to provide more insight into the value of activity involvement for domains of the quality of life of long-term dementia care residents, taking resident characteristics and cognitive status into account. Data were derived from 144 long-term care facilities participating in the second measurement (2010/2011) of the living arrangements for dementia study. Amongst 1144 residents, the relationship between time involved in activities (activity pursuit patterns; RAI-MDS) and quality of life (Qualidem) was studied using multilevel linear regression analyses. Analyses were adjusted for residents' age, gender, neuropsychiatric symptoms, ADL dependency and cognition. To check for effect modification of cognition, interactions terms of the variables activity involvement and cognitive status were added to the analyses. Despite resident's cognitive status, their activity involvement was significantly related to better scores on care relationship, positive affect, restless tense behaviour, social relations, and having something to do. A negative relationship existed between the activity involvement and positive self-image. The explained variance in the quality of life between residents caused by the activity involvement was small. Activity involvement seems to be a small yet important contributor to higher well-being in long-term care resident at all stages of dementia. Adjusting activities to individual preferences and capabilities might enlarge this relationship. Further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis, using measurement instruments less sensitive to recall bias and differentiating between the active and passive activity involvement.

  18. A process for integrating public involvement into technical/social programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiltshire, S.; Williams, C.

    1994-01-01

    Good technical/social decisions--those that are technically sound and publicly acceptable--result from a planning process that considers consulting the public a basic part of the technical program, as basic as hiring a technical consultant to advise about new ideas in computer modeling. This paper describes a specific process for making public involvement an integral part of decision-making about high-level radioactive waste management, so that important technical, social, environmental, economic, and cultural information and values can be incorporated in a meaningful way in planning and carrying out a high-level waste management program or project. The process for integration must consider: (a) the decision or task for which public interaction is needed; (b) the people who should or will want to participate in the decision or task; (c) the goals or purposes of the communication or interaction--the agency's and the public's; (d) the kinds of information the public needs and that the agency needs in order to understand the relevant technical and social issues; and (e) the types of communication or involvement that best serve to meet the agency's and the public's goals

  19. Cambodian Parental Involvement: The Role of Parental Beliefs, Social Networks, and Trust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eng, Sothy; Szmodis, Whitney; Mulsow, Miriam

    2014-01-01

    The role of social capital (parental beliefs, social networks, and trust) as a predictor of parental involvement in Cambodian children's education was examined, controlling for human capital (family socioeconomic status). Parents of elementary students (n = 273) were interviewed face to face in Cambodia. Teacher contact scored highest, followed by…

  20. Factors associated with involvement in nonmetropolitan LGBTQ organizations: Proximity? Generativity? Minority stress? Social location?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paceley, Megan S; Oswald, Ramona Faith; Hardesty, Jennifer L

    2014-01-01

    Little is known about involvement in LGBTQ organizations. Factors associated with involvement in nonmetropolitan LGBTQ organizations were examined using logistic regression and survey data from 426 LGBTQ individuals residing in a nonmetropolitan region. Involvement was examined in five types of organizations (professional, social/recreational, religious, political, and community center/charity). The same model testing proximity, generativity, minority stress, and social location hypotheses was repeated for each organization type. Results demonstrate that the generativity hypothesis is most strongly supported. Indeed, emotional attachment to the LGBTQ community significantly increased the odds of involvement in every type of organization. However, the factors associated with involvement otherwise differed by organization type. Implications for organizational leaders are discussed.

  1. Social withdrawal of persons with vascular dementia associated with disturbance of basic daily activities, apathy, and impaired social judgment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honda, Yukiko; Meguro, Kenichi; Meguro, Mitsue; Akanuma, Kyoko

    2013-01-01

    Patients with vascular dementia (VaD) are often isolated, withdrawn from society because of negative symptoms and functional disabilities. The aim of this study was to detect factors associated with social withdrawal in patients with VaD. The participants were 36 institutionalized patients with VaD. Social withdrawal was assessed with the social withdrawal of the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects (MOSES). Possible explanatory variables were the MOSES items depression and self-care, Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), apathy evaluation scale (AES), and Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Frequency-Weighted Severity Scale (BEHAVE-AD-FW). Multiple regression analyses were conducted for two groups: Analysis 1 was performed in all patients (N = 36) and Analysis 2 was performed in the patients with the ability to move by themselves (i.e., independent walking or independent movement with a cane or a wheelchair; n = 28). In Analysis 1, MOSES item social withdrawal was correlated with AES and MOSES item self-care. In Analysis 2, MOSES item social withdrawal was correlated with AES and CASI domain abstraction and judgment. Decreased social activities of VaD were not related to general cognitive function or depression. Disturbed activities of daily living (ADLs) for self-care may involve decreased frontal lobe function, indicating that comprehensive rehabilitation for both ADL and dementia are needed to improve the social activities of patients with VaD.

  2. Activity systems modeling as a theoretical lens for social exchange studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernest Jones

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The social exchange perspective seeks to acknowledge, understand and predict the dynamics of social interactions. Empirical research involving social exchange constructs have grown to be highly technical including confirmatory factor analysis to assess construct distinctiveness and structural equation modeling to assess construct causality. Each study seemingly strives to assess how underlying social exchange theoretic constructs interrelate. Yet despite this methodological depth and resultant explanatory and predictive power, a significant number of studies report findings that, once synthesized, suggest an underlying persistent threat of conceptual or construct validity brought about by a search for epistemological parsimony. Further, it is argued that a methodological approach that embraces inherent complexity such as activity systems modeling facilitates the search for simplified models while not ignoring contextual factors.

  3. Research Training, Institutional Support, and Self-Efficacy: Their Impact on Research Activity of Social Workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Thomas Lynch

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available While the expectations for social work practitioners to do research have increased, their involvement is still limited. We know little about what factors influence involvement in research. The present study proposes a theoretical model that hypothesizes research training and institutional support for research as the exogenous variables, research self-efficacy as an intervening variable, and research activity as the endogenous variable. The study tests the model using data collected from a random sample of social workers. To a large degree the data support the model. Research self-efficacy has a significant effect on research activity. It is also an important mediating variable for the effect of institutional support on research activity. Although institutional support for research has no direct effect, it has an indirect effect via self-efficacy on research activity. However, research training has no effect on research activity and self-efficacy in research. The implications of these findings are discussed.

  4. National Parks and social involvement - an argument

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.A. Loader

    1994-08-01

    Full Text Available Discrimination, whether institutionalised or not, is described as the expression of prejudice, which, it is argued, is derived from projectionism, or the supposition that one's own perception coincides with reality and is therefore the only valid one. It is the result of naive ignorance of the world view(s by which human attitudes are shaped. By means of the ecologically congenial concepts of interrelatedness and holism, it is here argued as an alternative that social involvement is (or, should be an intrinsic part of conservation. A possible model for the purpose and some practical considerations are suggested.

  5. A typology of place attachment and activity involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew J. Mowen; Alan R. Graefe; Randy J. Virden

    1998-01-01

    While previous research suggests that place attachment and activity involvement impact visitor perceptions, it has not examined the simultaneous effects of these affective constructs. This study develops a typology of both place attachment and activity involvement. It examines variations between attachment-involvement levels and visitor evaluations of quality. Results...

  6. Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Konrad

    Full Text Available Due to the omnipresent risk of epidemics, insect societies have evolved sophisticated disease defences at the individual and colony level. An intriguing yet little understood phenomenon is that social contact to pathogen-exposed individuals reduces susceptibility of previously naive nestmates to this pathogen. We tested whether such social immunisation in Lasius ants against the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is based on active upregulation of the immune system of nestmates following contact to an infectious individual or passive protection via transfer of immune effectors among group members--that is, active versus passive immunisation. We found no evidence for involvement of passive immunisation via transfer of antimicrobials among colony members. Instead, intensive allogrooming behaviour between naive and pathogen-exposed ants before fungal conidia firmly attached to their cuticle suggested passage of the pathogen from the exposed individuals to their nestmates. By tracing fluorescence-labelled conidia we indeed detected frequent pathogen transfer to the nestmates, where they caused low-level infections as revealed by growth of small numbers of fungal colony forming units from their dissected body content. These infections rarely led to death, but instead promoted an enhanced ability to inhibit fungal growth and an active upregulation of immune genes involved in antifungal defences (defensin and prophenoloxidase, PPO. Contrarily, there was no upregulation of the gene cathepsin L, which is associated with antibacterial and antiviral defences, and we found no increased antibacterial activity of nestmates of fungus-exposed ants. This indicates that social immunisation after fungal exposure is specific, similar to recent findings for individual-level immune priming in invertebrates. Epidemiological modeling further suggests that active social immunisation is adaptive, as it leads to faster elimination of the disease and lower

  7. DEVELOPING STUDENT SOCIALIZATION THROUGH MOTOR ACTIVITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioan Sabin SOPA

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available : Starting from the assumption that motor activities are the perfect environment for socialization, communication and social integration of young people, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness of these activities in improving intergroup relations at the university level. In this research, the samples were composed of two groups, the experimental group (n = 25 with students from the Physical Education specialization and control group B (n = 25, composed of students from the Faculty of Sciences. The sociological survey applied on the two samples aimed to analyze the level of socialization, communication and social integration of students. The findings showed that the experimental group is more united, having a higher level of socialization and communication, compared to the control group B, proving once again the socializing effects of motor activities.

  8. What Motivates Young Adults to Talk About Physical Activity on Social Network Sites?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ni; Campo, Shelly; Yang, Jingzhen; Eckler, Petya; Snetselaar, Linda; Janz, Kathleen; Leary, Emily

    2017-06-22

    Electronic word-of-mouth on social network sites has been used successfully in marketing. In social marketing, electronic word-of-mouth about products as health behaviors has the potential to be more effective and reach more young adults than health education through traditional mass media. However, little is known about what motivates people to actively initiate electronic word-of-mouth about health behaviors on their personal pages or profiles on social network sites, thus potentially reaching all their contacts on those sites. This study filled the gap by applying a marketing theoretical model to explore the factors associated with electronic word-of-mouth on social network sites about leisure-time physical activity. A Web survey link was sent to undergraduate students at one of the Midwestern universities and 439 of them completed the survey. The average age of the 439 participants was 19 years (SD=1 year, range: 18-24). Results suggested that emotional engagement with leisure-time physical activity (ie, affective involvement in leisure-time physical activity) predicted providing relevant opinions or information on social network sites. Social network site users who perceived stronger ties with all their contacts were more likely to provide and seek leisure-time physical activity opinions and information. People who provided leisure-time physical activity opinions and information were more likely to seek opinions and information, and people who forwarded information about leisure-time physical activity were more likely to chat about it. This study shed light on the application of the electronic word-of-mouth theoretical framework in promoting health behaviors. The findings can also guide the development of future social marketing interventions using social network sites to promote leisure-time physical activity. ©Ni Zhang, Shelly Campo, Jingzhen Yang, Petya Eckler, Linda Snetselaar, Kathleen Janz, Emily Leary. Originally published in the Journal of Medical

  9. Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mollgaard, Anders; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Mathiesen, Joachim

    2017-01-01

    A day in the life of a person involves a broad range of activities which are common across many people. Going beyond diurnal cycles, a central question is: to what extent do individuals act according to patterns shared across an entire population? Here we investigate the interplay between differe...... they be of social or of physical character....

  10. Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mollgaard, Anders; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Mathiesen, Joachim

    2017-01-01

    activity types, namely communication, motion, and physical proximity by analyzing data collected from smartphones distributed among 638 individuals. We explore two central questions: Which underlying principles govern the formation of the activity patterns? Are the patterns specific to each individual...... or shared across the entire population? We find that statistics of the entire population allows us to successfully predict 71% of the activity and 85% of the inactivity involved in communication, mobility, and physical proximity. Surprisingly, individual level statistics only result in marginally better...... they be of social or of physical character....

  11. Involving Parents in Teaching Social Communication Skills to Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Amy L.; Theadore, Geraldine

    2011-01-01

    This article focuses on why and how speech-language pathologists and other professionals can encourage the involvement of parents in teaching social communication skills to their young children. Four main topics are explored: (1) the evidence that many of the children with special needs served by speech-language pathologists and other…

  12. Social yoga mats: reinforcing synergy between physical and social activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nagargoje, Arun; Sokoler, Tomas; Maybach, Karl

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses our early research into the design space for digital technologies that extend the existing synergistic relationship between physical and social activity from fitness centers to the home. We focus on yoga activity for senior citizens and explore the concept of social yoga mats...

  13. Social and Environmental Factors Related to Boys’ and Girls’ Park-Based Physical Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floyd, Myron F.; Smith, William R.; Edwards, Michael B.; Schultz, Courtney L.; Baran, Perver; Moore, Robin A.; Cosco, Nilda; Suau, Luis J.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction Parks provide opportunities for physical activity for children. This study examined sex differences in correlates of park-based physical activity because differences may indicate that a standard environmental intervention to increase activity among children may not equally benefit boys and girls. Methods The System for Observation Play and Recreation in Communities was used to measure physical activity among 2,712 children and adolescents in 20 neighborhood parks in Durham, North Carolina, in 2007. Sedentary activity, walking, vigorous park activity, and energy expenditure were the primary outcome variables. Hierarchical logit regression models of physical activity were estimated separately for boys and girls. Results Type of activity area and presence of other active children were positively associated with boys’ and girls’ physical activity, and presence of a parent was negatively associated. A significant interaction involving number of recreation facilities in combination with formal activities was positively associated with girls’ activity. A significant interaction involving formal park activity and young boys (aged 0–5 y) was negatively associated with park-based physical activity. Conclusion Activity area and social correlates of park-based physical activity were similar for boys and girls; findings for formal park programming, age, and number of facilities were mixed. Results show that girls’ physical activity was more strongly affected by social effects (eg, presence of other active children) whereas boys’ physical activity was more strongly influenced by the availability of park facilities. These results can inform park planning and design. Additional studies are necessary to clarify sex differences in correlates of park-based physical activity. PMID:26086610

  14. Social and Environmental Factors Related to Boys' and Girls' Park-Based Physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bocarro, Jason N; Floyd, Myron F; Smith, William R; Edwards, Michael B; Schultz, Courtney L; Baran, Perver; Moore, Robin A; Cosco, Nilda; Suau, Luis J

    2015-06-18

    Parks provide opportunities for physical activity for children. This study examined sex differences in correlates of park-based physical activity because differences may indicate that a standard environmental intervention to increase activity among children may not equally benefit boys and girls. The System for Observation Play and Recreation in Communities was used to measure physical activity among 2,712 children and adolescents in 20 neighborhood parks in Durham, North Carolina, in 2007. Sedentary activity, walking, vigorous park activity, and energy expenditure were the primary outcome variables. Hierarchical logit regression models of physical activity were estimated separately for boys and girls. Type of activity area and presence of other active children were positively associated with boys' and girls' physical activity, and presence of a parent was negatively associated. A significant interaction involving number of recreation facilities in combination with formal activities was positively associated with girls' activity. A significant interaction involving formal park activity and young boys (aged 0-5 y) was negatively associated with park-based physical activity. Activity area and social correlates of park-based physical activity were similar for boys and girls; findings for formal park programming, age, and number of facilities were mixed. Results show that girls' physical activity was more strongly affected by social effects (eg, presence of other active children) whereas boys' physical activity was more strongly influenced by the availability of park facilities. These results can inform park planning and design. Additional studies are necessary to clarify sex differences in correlates of park-based physical activity.

  15. Trust and Involvement in Tourism Social Media and Web-Based Travel Information Sources

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munar, Ana Maria; KR. Steen Jacobsen, Jens

    2013-01-01

    -based information. The study also examines tourists' involvement in developing and sharing of virtual content. It critically analyses technological mediation through electronic word-of-mouth and involvement factors related to virtual dissemination of travel narratives. Moreover, the paper discusses information......While utilisation of electronic social media is increasingly relevant as tourism practices, there is still a deficiency of empirical research on tourists' creation and use of various types of online content. This study maps and explores Scandinavian tourists' perceptions of Web 1.0 and Web 2.......0 information sources and scrutinises influence of electronic social media on holidaymakers' information sharing, based on a summer season survey in the mature and well-known destination of Mallorca, Spain. Empirical evidence is presented on perceived trustworthiness of social media platforms and other Internet...

  16. Social commitments and activity-travel scheduling decisions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2006-01-01

    Social activities have received only scant attention in activity-based analysis. These activities commonly have been considered as one coherent group or have been combined with other discrete activities. Because more knowledge about social activities and commitments is needed, several descriptive

  17. Improving the active involvement of stakeholders and the public in flood risk management – tools of an involvement strategy and case study results from Austria, Germany and Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Vitale

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The EU Flood Risk Management Directive 2007/60/EC aims at an active involvement of interested parties in the setting up of flood risk management plans and thus calls for more governance-related decision-making. This requirement has two perspectives. On the one hand, there is (1 the question of how decision-makers can improve the quality of their governance process. On the other hand, there is (2 the question of how the public shall be appropriately informed and involved. These questions were the centre of the ERA-Net CRUE-funded project IMRA (integrative flood risk governance approach for improvement of risk awareness that aimed at an optimisation of the flood risk management process by increasing procedural efficiency with an explicit involvement strategy. To reach this goal, the IMRA project partners developed two new approaches that were implemented in three case study areas for the first time in flood risk management: 1. risk governance assessment tool: An indicator-based benchmarking and monitoring tool was used to evaluate the performance of a flood risk management system in regard to ideal risk governance principles; 2. social milieu approach: The concept of social milieus was used to gain a picture of the people living in the case study regions to learn more about their lifestyles, attitudes and values and to use this knowledge to plan custom-made information and participation activities for the broad public. This paper presents basic elements and the application of two innovative approaches as a part of an "involvement strategy" that aims at the active involvement of all interested parties (stakeholders for assessing, reviewing and updating flood risk management plans, as formulated in the EU Flood Risk Management Directive 2007/60/EC.

  18. Spatiotemporal dissociation of brain activity underlying threat and reward in social anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    A Richey, John; Ghane, Merage; Valdespino, Andrew; Coffman, Marika C; Strege, Marlene V; White, Susan W; Ollendick, Thomas H

    2017-01-01

    Social anxiety disorder (SAD) involves abnormalities in social motivation, which may be independent of well-documented differences in fear and arousal systems. Yet, the neurobiology underlying motivational difficulties in SAD is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to spatiotemporally dissociate reward circuitry dysfunction from alterations in fear and arousal-related neural activity during anticipation and notification of social and non-social reward and punishment. During fMRI acquisition, non-depressed adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD; N = 21) and age-, sex- and IQ-matched control subjects (N = 22) completed eight runs of an incentive delay task, alternating between social and monetary outcomes and interleaved in alternating order between gain and loss outcomes. Adults with SAD demonstrated significantly reduced neural activity in ventral striatum during the anticipation of positive but not negative social outcomes. No differences between the SAD and control groups were observed during anticipation of monetary gain or loss outcomes or during anticipation of negative social images. However, consistent with previous work, the SAD group demonstrated amygdala hyper-activity upon notification of negative social outcomes. Degraded anticipatory processing in bilateral ventral striatum in SAD was constrained exclusively to anticipation of positive social information and dissociable from the effects of negative social outcomes previously observed in the amygdala. Alterations in anticipation-related neural signals may represent a promising target for treatment that is not addressed by available evidence-based interventions, which focus primarily on fear extinction and habituation processes. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. Ideologically motivated activism: How activist groups influence corporate social change activities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    den Hond, F.; de Bakker, F.G.A.; Hickman, G. R.

    2010-01-01

    Using insights from the social movement literature and institutional change theory, we explore how activism influences corporate social change activities. As the responsibility for addressing a variety of social issues is transferred from the state to the private sector, activist groups increasingly

  20. Active audiences and journalism: Involved citizens or motivated consumers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pere Masip

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Audience participation, in any of its forms and names (public journalism, citizen journalism, participatory journalism, UGC, appears to revitalise democracy, thanks to the opportunities for public debate opened up by information and communications technology. On the other hand, however, there are many authors who question whether interactive technologies really encourage democracy or the market, empower the citizen or strengthen the consumer. In this context, we still have little information on the motivations that drive citizens to actively participate through the mechanisms that the media make available to them on their own websites or through social networks. There is a similar lack of information on the role that users attribute to their involvement in the functioning of the media and whether it contributes to improving their democratic function. This article aims to shed some light on this subject.

  1. Social Skills Scores: The Impact of Primary School Population Characteristics and Parental Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dekker, Karien; Kamerling, Margje

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The paper aims to examine to what extent and why parental involvement as well as characteristics of ethnic school population influence social skills scores (social position, behavioural skills) of students. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the COOL5-18 database (2010) that included 553 Dutch primary schools and nearly 38,000…

  2. Loss of Sodium-Activated Potassium Channel Slack and FMRP Differentially Affect Social Behavior in Mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bausch, Anne E; Ehinger, Rebekka; Straubinger, Julia; Zerfass, Patrick; Nann, Yvette; Lukowski, Robert

    2018-05-31

    The sodium-activated potassium channel Slack (Slo2.2) is widely expressed in central and peripheral neurons where it is supposed to shape firing properties important for neuronal excitability. Slack activity is enhanced by interaction with the Fragile-X-Mental-Retardation-Protein (FMRP) and loss of FMRP leads to decreased sodium-activated potassium currents in medial nucleus of the trapezoid body neurons of the Fmr1-knockout (KO) mouse representing a mouse model of the human Fragile-X-Syndrome (FXS) and autism. Autism is a frequent comorbidity of FXS, but it is unclear whether Slack is involved in autistic or related conditions of FXS in vivo. By applying a wide range of behavioral tests, we compared social and autism-related behaviors in Slack- and FMRP-deficient mice. In our hands, as expected, FMRP-deficiency causes autism-related behavioral changes in nesting and in a marble-burying test. In contrast, Slack-deficient males exhibited specific abnormalities in sociability in direct and indirect social interaction tests. Hence, we show for the first time that a proper Slack channel function is mandatory for normal social behavior in mice. Nevertheless, as deficits in social behaviors seem to occur independently from each other in FMRP and Slack null mutants, we conclude that Slack is not involved in the autistic phenotype of FMRP KO mice. Copyright © 2018 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Role of Socializing Agents in Female Sport Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greendorfer, Susan L.

    1977-01-01

    Research into the socializing of women into sports activities revealed that peers were most influential at all life-cycle stages, family was the most influential during childhood, and coaches and teachers during adolescence; in addition, males were the predominant role models during childhood, and females during adolescence and adult life. (MB)

  4. Social-pedagogical aspects of trainer's activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kramskoy S.I.

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Analysed social-pedagogical aspect of activity of trainer-teacher on preparation of sporting reserve of different level. Activity of trainer is studied on forming socially-active personalities of sportsman. The personal long-term experience is presented to trainer-teaching works of child's trainer, trainer of student command, trainer of command of major league on a handball. It is shown that multilateral activity of trainer is estimated not only the sporting results of his pupils but also has considerably more wide circle of influence on the ward. Influence of employments is represented sport on forming socially-meaningful qualities of personality. It is marked that to the basic personal qualities of trainer behave: creative activity, flexibility of mind, industriousness, honesty, disinterestedness, of principle, self-control, demand, modesty, culture.

  5. Vocal activities reflect the temporal distribution of bottlenose dolphin social and non-social activity in a zoological park.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lima, Alice; Lemasson, Alban; Boye, Martin; Hausberger, Martine

    2017-12-01

    Under natural conditions bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) spend their time mostly feeding and then travelling, socializing, or resting. These activities are not randomly distributed, with feeding being higher in early morning and late afternoon. Social activities and vocal behavior seem to be very important in dolphin daily activity. This study aimed to describe the activity time-budget and its relation to vocal behavior for dolphins in a zoological park. We recorded behaviors and vocalizations of six dolphins over 2 months. All subjects performed more non-agonistic social interactions and play in the morning than in the afternoon. The different categories of vocalizations were distributed non-randomly throughout the day, with more chirps in the afternoon, when the animals were "less social." The most striking result was the strong correlation between activities and the categories of vocalizations produced. The results confirm the association between burst pulses and whistles with social activities, but also reveal that both are also associated with solitary play. More chirps were produced when dolphins were engaged in socio-sexual behaviors, emphasizing the need for further questioning about the function of this vocal category. This study reveals that: (i) in a group kept in zoological management, social activities are mostly present in the morning; and (ii) the acoustic signals produced by dolphins may give a reliable representation of their current activities. While more studies on the context of signal production are needed, our findings provide a useful tool for understanding free ranging dolphin behavior when they are not visible. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Elementary Schoolchildren's Perceived Competence and Physical Activity Involvement: The Influence of Parents' Role Modelling Behaviours and Perceptions of their Child's Competence

    OpenAIRE

    Bois, Julien; Sarrazin, Philippe; Brustad, Robert; Trouilloud, David; Cury, François

    2005-01-01

    International audience; Objectives. To study the influence of fathers' and mothers' physical activity involvement and perceptions of their children's physical competence upon children's perceptions of competence and children's time spent in physical activity. Two forms of parental socialization influence were assessed: the direct influence of parents' actual physical activity (PA) behaviour (role modelling) on children's physical activity and the indirect influence of parents' beliefs systems...

  7. Neural activity in the prelimbic and infralimbic cortices of freely moving rats during social interaction: Effect of isolation rearing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minami, Chihiro; Shimizu, Tomoko

    2017-01-01

    Sociability promotes a sound daily life for individuals. Reduced sociability is a central symptom of various neuropsychiatric disorders, and yet the neural mechanisms underlying reduced sociability remain unclear. The prelimbic cortex (PL) and infralimbic cortex (IL) have been suggested to play an important role in the neural mechanisms underlying sociability because isolation rearing in rats results in impairment of social behavior and structural changes in the PL and IL. One possible mechanism underlying reduced sociability involves dysfunction of the PL and IL. We made a wireless telemetry system to record multiunit activity in the PL and IL of pairs of freely moving rats during social interaction and examined the influence of isolation rearing on this activity. In group-reared rats, PL neurons increased firing when the rat showed approaching behavior and also contact behavior, especially when the rat attacked the partner. Conversely, IL neurons increased firing when the rat exhibited leaving behavior, especially when the partner left on its own accord. In social interaction, the PL may be involved in active actions toward others, whereas the IL may be involved in passive relief from cautionary subjects. Isolation rearing altered social behavior and neural activity. Isolation-reared rats showed an increased frequency and decreased duration of contact behavior. The increased firing of PL neurons during approaching and contact behavior, observed in group-reared rats, was preserved in isolation-reared rats, whereas the increased firing of IL neurons during leaving behavior, observed in group-reared rats, was suppressed in isolation-reared rats. This result indicates that isolation rearing differentially alters neural activity in the PL and IL during social behavior. The differential influence of isolation rearing on neural activity in the PL and IL may be one of the neural bases of isolation rearing-induced behavior. PMID:28459875

  8. Neural activity in the prelimbic and infralimbic cortices of freely moving rats during social interaction: Effect of isolation rearing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minami, Chihiro; Shimizu, Tomoko; Mitani, Akira

    2017-01-01

    Sociability promotes a sound daily life for individuals. Reduced sociability is a central symptom of various neuropsychiatric disorders, and yet the neural mechanisms underlying reduced sociability remain unclear. The prelimbic cortex (PL) and infralimbic cortex (IL) have been suggested to play an important role in the neural mechanisms underlying sociability because isolation rearing in rats results in impairment of social behavior and structural changes in the PL and IL. One possible mechanism underlying reduced sociability involves dysfunction of the PL and IL. We made a wireless telemetry system to record multiunit activity in the PL and IL of pairs of freely moving rats during social interaction and examined the influence of isolation rearing on this activity. In group-reared rats, PL neurons increased firing when the rat showed approaching behavior and also contact behavior, especially when the rat attacked the partner. Conversely, IL neurons increased firing when the rat exhibited leaving behavior, especially when the partner left on its own accord. In social interaction, the PL may be involved in active actions toward others, whereas the IL may be involved in passive relief from cautionary subjects. Isolation rearing altered social behavior and neural activity. Isolation-reared rats showed an increased frequency and decreased duration of contact behavior. The increased firing of PL neurons during approaching and contact behavior, observed in group-reared rats, was preserved in isolation-reared rats, whereas the increased firing of IL neurons during leaving behavior, observed in group-reared rats, was suppressed in isolation-reared rats. This result indicates that isolation rearing differentially alters neural activity in the PL and IL during social behavior. The differential influence of isolation rearing on neural activity in the PL and IL may be one of the neural bases of isolation rearing-induced behavior.

  9. Involvement in Extracurricular Activities: Identifying Differences in Perceptions of School Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez, Andrew; Coker, Crystal; McMahon, Susan D.; Cohen, Jonathan; Thapa, Amrit

    2016-01-01

    Many youth participate in extracurricular activities, and research has linked activity participation with school engagement and academic success. Social-ecological theory suggests that the social contexts of different types of extracurricular activities may differentially affect student outcomes. Yet, there is scant research examining the relation…

  10. Internationalization of the Entrepreneurial Activity of Social Purpose Organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kusa Rafał

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to analyse and identify patterns of international entrepreneurial activity of social purpose organizations. The article utilizes international social entrepreneurship literature to develop an understanding of the international activity of social entrepreneurs and to identify factors that differentiate their activity. A cluster analysis was conducted to identify patterns of international social entrepreneurial activity, which included: the subject of activity, the types of beneficiaries, the scope of activity, and the legal type of organization. As a result, a survey sample of 55 international social ventures was divided into 3 homogeneous groups. The groups were (1 solution providers, (2 entrepreneurial charities, and (3 intermediaries. The results of the analysis show the diversity of the international activities of social entrepreneurs, although only a portion of them operate internationally. These findings contribute to a greater understanding of social entrepreneurs’ motivation and the paths of their internationalization activity.

  11. Community Involvement and Victimization at School: An Analysis through Family, Personal and Social Adjustment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jimenez, Teresa Isabel; Musitu, Gonzalo; Ramos, Manuel Jesus; Murgui, Sergio

    2009-01-01

    The present study analyzes the impact of adolescents' community involvement on victimization by peers at school through various indicators of family, personal and social adjustment (openness of communication with mother and father, life satisfaction, social self-esteem, and loneliness). Participating in the project were 565 adolescents aged 11 to…

  12. Beyond the Schoolyard: The Contributions of Parenting Logics, Financial Resources, and Social Institutions to the Social Class Gap in Structured Activity Participation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Pamela R.; Lutz, Amy; Jayaram, Lakshmi

    2014-01-01

    We investigate cultural and structural sources of class differences in youth activity participation with interview, survey, and archival data. We find working- and middle-class parents overlap in parenting logics about participation, though differ in one respect: middle-class parents are concerned with customizing children’s involvement in activities, while working-class parents are concerned with achieving safety and social mobility for children through participation. Second, because of financial constraints, working-class families rely on social institutions for participation opportunities, but few are available. Schools act as an equalizing institution by offering low-cost activities, allowing working-class children to resemble middle-class youth in school activities, but they remain disadvantaged in out-of-school activities. School influences are complex, however, as they also contribute to class differences by offering different activities to working- and middle-class youth. Findings raise questions about the extent to which differences in participation reflect class culture rather than the objective realities parents face. PMID:25328250

  13. Beyond the Schoolyard: The Contributions of Parenting Logics, Financial Resources, and Social Institutions to the Social Class Gap in Structured Activity Participation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Pamela R; Lutz, Amy; Jayaram, Lakshmi

    2012-01-01

    We investigate cultural and structural sources of class differences in youth activity participation with interview, survey, and archival data. We find working- and middle-class parents overlap in parenting logics about participation, though differ in one respect: middle-class parents are concerned with customizing children's involvement in activities, while working-class parents are concerned with achieving safety and social mobility for children through participation. Second, because of financial constraints, working-class families rely on social institutions for participation opportunities, but few are available. Schools act as an equalizing institution by offering low-cost activities, allowing working-class children to resemble middle-class youth in school activities, but they remain disadvantaged in out-of-school activities. School influences are complex, however, as they also contribute to class differences by offering different activities to working- and middle-class youth. Findings raise questions about the extent to which differences in participation reflect class culture rather than the objective realities parents face.

  14. Collegiate Diversity Experiences and Students' Views Regarding Social and Political Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Eugene T., III; Trolian, Teniell L.

    2015-01-01

    Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examines the relationship between engagement in diversity experiences during college and student attitudes about the importance of being socially and politically involved at the end of their fourth year of college. Findings suggest a positive link between…

  15. Social Isolation among Caregivers of Court-Involved Youths: A Qualitative Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsbrey, April D.; Frabutt, James M.; Smith, Heather L.

    2005-01-01

    The authors used qualitative research methodology to examine the lives of caregivers of court-involved youths. Caregiver social isolation, including overall lack of support, lack of school support, and isolation from self, emerged as a salient theme across 7 domains. Implications for counselors are discussed, and brief descriptions of several…

  16. Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mollgaard, Anders; Lehmann, Sune; Mathiesen, Joachim

    2017-01-01

    A day in the life of a person involves a broad range of activities which are common across many people. Going beyond diurnal cycles, a central question is: to what extent do individuals act according to patterns shared across an entire population? Here we investigate the interplay between different activity types, namely communication, motion, and physical proximity by analyzing data collected from smartphones distributed among 638 individuals. We explore two central questions: Which underlying principles govern the formation of the activity patterns? Are the patterns specific to each individual or shared across the entire population? We find that statistics of the entire population allows us to successfully predict 71% of the activity and 85% of the inactivity involved in communication, mobility, and physical proximity. Surprisingly, individual level statistics only result in marginally better predictions, indicating that a majority of activity patterns are shared across our sample population. Finally, we predict short-term activity patterns using a generalized linear model, which suggests that a simple linear description might be sufficient to explain a wide range of actions, whether they be of social or of physical character.

  17. Neural mirroring and social interaction: Motor system involvement during action observation relates to early peer cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Endedijk, H M; Meyer, M; Bekkering, H; Cillessen, A H N; Hunnius, S

    2017-04-01

    Whether we hand over objects to someone, play a team sport, or make music together, social interaction often involves interpersonal action coordination, both during instances of cooperation and entrainment. Neural mirroring is thought to play a crucial role in processing other's actions and is therefore considered important for social interaction. Still, to date, it is unknown whether interindividual differences in neural mirroring play a role in interpersonal coordination during different instances of social interaction. A relation between neural mirroring and interpersonal coordination has particularly relevant implications for early childhood, since successful early interaction with peers is predictive of a more favorable social development. We examined the relation between neural mirroring and children's interpersonal coordination during peer interaction using EEG and longitudinal behavioral data. Results showed that 4-year-old children with higher levels of motor system involvement during action observation (as indicated by lower beta-power) were more successful in early peer cooperation. This is the first evidence for a relation between motor system involvement during action observation and interpersonal coordination during other instances of social interaction. The findings suggest that interindividual differences in neural mirroring are related to interpersonal coordination and thus successful social interaction. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. Adolescents' social environment and depression: social networks, extracurricular activity, and family relationship influences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Michael J; Schmidt, Christopher; Abraham, Anisha; Walker, Leslie; Tercyak, Kenneth

    2009-12-01

    The present study examined components of adolescents' social environment (social network, extracurricular activities, and family relationships) in association with depression. A total of 332 adolescents presenting for a routine medical check-up were self-assessed for social network risk (i.e., smoking habits of best male and female friends), extracurricular activity level (i.e., participation in organized sports teams, clubs, etc.), family relationship quality (i.e., cohesion and conflict), and symptoms of depression (i.e., minimal, mild, moderate/severe). Results of a forward linear regression modeling indicate that social environment components were associated with a significant proportion of the variance in adolescent depression (Adjusted R (2) = .177, p social network (beta = .107, p depression symptoms. Conversely, adolescents who engaged in more extracurricular activities (beta = -.118, p depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important role that the social environment plays in adolescent depression, as well as yields new insights into socially-based intervention targets that may ameliorate adolescent depression. These intervention targets may be gender-specific, include positive social network skills training, increase adolescents' engagement in organized activities, and attend to the quality of their family relationships.

  19. Mediating effects of bullying involvement on the relationship of body mass index with social phobia, depression, suicidality, and self-esteem and sex differences in adolescents in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yen, Cheng-Fang; Liu, Tai-Ling; Ko, Chih-Hung; Wu, Yu-Yu; Cheng, Chung-Ping

    2014-03-01

    The aims of this study were to examine the mediating effect of bullying involvement on the relationships between body mass index (BMI) and mental health problems, including social phobia, depression, suicidality, and low self-esteem among adolescents in Taiwan. The moderation effect of sex on the mediating role of bullying involvement was also examined. Five thousand two hundred and fifty-two students of high schools completed the questionnaires. Victimization and perpetration of passive and active bullying were assessed using the Chinese version of the School Bullying Experience Questionnaire. BMI was calculated from self-reported weight and height measurements. The Social Phobia Inventory, the Mandarin Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, the suicidality-related questionnaire from the epidemiological version of the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were applied to assess social phobia, depression, suicidality, and low self-esteem, respectively. The mediating effect of bullying involvement on the associations between increased BMI and mental health problems was examined by the Sobel test. The moderation effect of sex on the mediating role of bullying involvement was tested by the multiple-group structural equation model. Victimization of passive and active bullying and perpetration of passive bullying, but not perpetration of active bullying, had a mediating effect on the relationships between increased BMI and all four mental health problems. Sex did not have a significant moderation effect on the mediating role of bullying involvement. Bullying involvement should be a target of prevention and intervention in developing a strategy to improve mental health among adolescents with increased BMI. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Operationalising active involvement in the EU water framework directive

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wright, Stuart Anthony Lewis; Fritsch, Oliver

    2011-01-01

    We identify two key stages in the river basin planning process under the Water Framework Directive: the selection of instruments for a programme of measures to achieve the environmental targets, and disproportionate cost analysis to determine whether selected measures involve high costs. Some EU...... of actively involving non-state actors, which can be summarised as increasing the effectiveness of policy and improving its implementation. Criticising the emerging economic decision-making approach, we argue that economic analyses could result in a missed opportunity to capitalise on the potential benefits...... of involvement. The article discusses the appropriateness of actively involving the public during the two aforementioned decision-making stages and suggests concrete ways in which active involvement may be operationalised. We conclude that member states should not implement a minimum form of participation...

  1. Social support plays a role in the attitude that people have towards taking an active role in medical decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brabers, Anne E M; de Jong, Judith D; Groenewegen, Peter P; van Dijk, Liset

    2016-09-21

    There is a growing emphasis towards including patients in medical decision-making. However, not all patients are actively involved in such decisions. Research has so far focused mainly on the influence of patient characteristics on preferences for active involvement. However, it can be argued that a patient's social context has to be taken into account as well, because social norms and resources affect behaviour. This study aims to examine the role of social resources, in the form of the availability of informational and emotional support, on the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. A questionnaire was sent to members of the Dutch Health Care Consumer Panel (response 70 %; n = 1300) in June 2013. A regression model was then used to estimate the relation between medical and lay informational support and emotional support and the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Availability of emotional support is positively related to the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making only in people with a low level of education, not in persons with a middle and high level of education. The latter have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making, irrespective of the level of emotional support available. People with better access to medical informational support have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making; but no significant association was found for lay informational support. This study shows that social resources are associated with the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Strategies aimed at increasing patient involvement have to address this.

  2. Gender, Social Support, and Depression in Criminal Justice Involved Adolescents

    OpenAIRE

    Johnson, Jennifer E.; Esposito-Smythers, Christianne; Miranda, Robert; Rizzo, Christie J.; Justus, Alicia N.; Clum, George

    2010-01-01

    Knowing where criminal justice involved teens look for support and whether those supports reduce depression has important and possibly gender-specific treatment implications for this vulnerable population. This study examines the relationships between social support and depression in a mixed-gender sample of 198 incarcerated adolescents. Greater support from families and overall and greater satisfaction with supports predicted lower depression for boys and girls. Support from siblings and ext...

  3. Electromyographic activity of hand muscles in a motor coordination game: effect of incentive scheme and its relation with social capital.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Censolo

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A vast body of social and cognitive psychology studies in humans reports evidence that external rewards, typically monetary ones, undermine intrinsic motivation. These findings challenge the standard selfish-rationality assumption at the core of economic reasoning. In the present work we aimed at investigating whether the different modulation of a given monetary reward automatically and unconsciously affects effort and performance of participants involved in a game devoid of visual and verbal interaction and without any perspective-taking activity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twelve pairs of participants were submitted to a simple motor coordination game while recording the electromyographic activity of First Dorsal Interosseus (FDI, the muscle mainly involved in the task. EMG data show a clear effect of alternative rewards strategies on subjects' motor behavior. Moreover, participants' stock of relevant past social experiences, measured by a specifically designed questionnaire, was significantly correlated with EMG activity, showing that only low social capital subjects responded to monetary incentives consistently with a standard rationality prediction. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings show that the effect of extrinsic motivations on performance may arise outside social contexts involving complex cognitive processes due to conscious perspective-taking activity. More importantly, the peculiar performance of low social capital individuals, in agreement with standard economic reasoning, adds to the knowledge of the circumstances that makes the crowding out/in of intrinsic motivation likely to occur. This may help in improving the prediction and accuracy of economic models and reconcile this puzzling effect of external incentives with economic theory.

  4. Social networks, social interactions, and activity-travel behavior: a framework for microsimulation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2007-01-01

    We argue that the social networks and activity-travel patterns of people interact and coevolve over time. Through social interaction, people exchange information about activity-travel choice alternatives and adapt their latent and overt preferences for alternatives to each other. At the same time,

  5. EU-level competence development projects in agri-food-environment: the involvement of sectoral social partners

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulder, M.

    2006-01-01

    Purpose - The European Commission and social partner organisations at EU level encourage the lifelong development of qualifications and competence. This is reflected in many policy reports and reviews. This paper seeks to show the involvement of social partner organisations at the level of EU-funded

  6. Differentiating the effect of social enterprise activities on health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macaulay, Bobby; Mazzei, Micaela; Roy, Michael J; Teasdale, Simon; Donaldson, Cam

    2018-03-01

    An emerging stream of literature has focused on the ways in which social enterprises might act on the social determinants of health. However, this previous work has not taken a sufficiently broad account of the wide range of stakeholders involved in social enterprises and has also tended to reduce and simplify a complex and heterogeneous set of organisations to a relatively homogenous social enterprise concept. In an attempt to address these gaps, we conducted an empirical investigation between August 2014 and October 2015 consisting of qualitative case studies involving in-depth semi-structured interviews and a focus group with a wide variety of stakeholders from three social enterprises in different regions of Scotland. We found that different forms of social enterprise impact on different dimensions of health in different ways, including through: engendering a feeling of ownership and control; improving environmental conditions (both physical and social); and providing or facilitating meaningful employment. In conclusion, we highlight areas for future research. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  7. Involvement in Physical Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Gavin

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available A total of 1,096 adolescents participated in 123 focus groups regarding the perceived outcomes of their involvement in sports and physical activity (PA. The groups, segmented by grade level, sex, and school types, were conducted in both public and private high schools in Montreal, Quebec. We sought to understand, through the participants’ own words, their perception of the outcome matrix of involvement in sports and PA. Focus group questions emphasized changes that adolescents associated with such engagement. In particular, participants were asked how sports and PA might influence behaviors, emotional states, personal characteristics, and other outcomes. Twelve themes were identified in the responses: Positive Health and Physical Changes (18.5%, Activity-Related Positive Emotions (15.6%, and Personal Learning (11.3% were most prevalent in the discussions. A cluster of deeper personal changes thematically described as Self-Identity, Autonomy, and Positive Character Development accounted for another 16.5% of the responses. Relatively few commentaries emphasized negative effects (7.1%. Converting the proportions of qualitative data into a quantitative index allowed us to analyze potential differences in emphasis according to sex, age, and school type. Though a few significant findings emerged, the larger pattern was of a uniform perceptual map across the variables for this adolescent sample. Implications drawn from this investigation highlight the need to clearly articulate concrete pathways to positive nonphysical changes (e.g., mood states, autonomy, positive character development from engagements in sports and PA.

  8. Online social activity reflects economic status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jin-Hu; Wang, Jun; Shao, Junming; Zhou, Tao

    2016-09-01

    To characterize economic development and diagnose the economic health condition, several popular indices such as gross domestic product (GDP), industrial structure and income growth are widely applied. However, computing these indices based on traditional economic census is usually costly and resources consuming, and more importantly, following a long time delay. In this paper, we analyzed nearly 200 million users' activities for four consecutive years in the largest social network (Sina Microblog) in China, aiming at exploring latent relationships between the online social activities and local economic status. Results indicate that online social activity has a strong correlation with local economic development and industrial structure, and more interestingly, allows revealing the macro-economic structure instantaneously with nearly no cost. Beyond, this work also provides a new venue to identify risky signal in local economic structure.

  9. Religious and Ethnic Discrimination: Differential Implications for Social Support Engagement, Civic Involvement, and Political Consciousness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renate Ysseldyk

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Social identity threats, depending on the content of the identity targeted, may evoke varying socio-political responses. In this regard, religious discrimination may be especially threatening, challenging both the social group and its belief system, thereby promoting more active collective responses. This research examined how religious and ethnic identification differentially evoked engagement with support resources (ingroup and spiritual, civic involvement (including individual and collective action-taking, and political participation (voting or political consciousness following group-based threats. Study 1 drew from the Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey (N = 1806. Participants who reported religious discrimination demonstrated greater religious identification, ingroup social engagement, and civic involvement—comparable associations were absent for ethnic discrimination. Study 2 (N = 287 experimentally primed participants to make salient a specific incident of religious or ethnic discrimination. Although ethnic discrimination elicited greater ingroup support-seeking and political consciousness, religious discrimination was perceived as especially harmful and evoked more individual and collective action-taking. Further to this, religious high-identifiers’ responses were mediated by engagement with ingroup or spiritual support in both studies, whereas no mediated relations were evident for ethnic identification. Findings are discussed in terms of distinct socio-political responses to threats targeting identities that are grounded in religious belief systems.

  10. Factors influencing the planning of social activities : empirical analysis of social interaction diary data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berg, van den P.E.W.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2010-01-01

    Results of a study on the planning of social activities are reported. Data collected in the Netherlands from social interaction diaries were used to estimate a multinomial logistic regression model to analyze whether a social activity is prearranged, routine, or spontaneous as a function of personal

  11. Social discounting involves modulation of neural value signals by temporoparietal junction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strombach, Tina; Weber, Bernd; Hangebrauk, Zsofia; Kenning, Peter; Karipidis, Iliana I.; Tobler, Philippe N.; Kalenscher, Tobias

    2015-01-01

    Most people are generous, but not toward everyone alike: generosity usually declines with social distance between individuals, a phenomenon called social discounting. Despite the pervasiveness of social discounting, social distance between actors has been surprisingly neglected in economic theory and neuroscientific research. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural basis of this process to understand the neural underpinnings of social decision making. Participants chose between selfish and generous alternatives, yielding either a large reward for the participant alone, or smaller rewards for the participant and another individual at a particular social distance. We found that generous choices engaged the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). In particular, the TPJ activity was scaled to the social-distance–dependent conflict between selfish and generous motives during prosocial choice, consistent with ideas that the TPJ promotes generosity by facilitating overcoming egoism bias. Based on functional coupling data, we propose and provide evidence for a biologically plausible neural model according to which the TPJ supports social discounting by modulating basic neural value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to incorporate social-distance–dependent other-regarding preferences into an otherwise exclusively own-reward value representation. PMID:25605887

  12. Modeling interdisciplinary activities involving Mathematics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iversen, Steffen Møllegaard

    2006-01-01

    In this paper a didactical model is presented. The goal of the model is to work as a didactical tool, or conceptual frame, for developing, carrying through and evaluating interdisciplinary activities involving the subject of mathematics and philosophy in the high schools. Through the terms...... of Horizontal Intertwining, Vertical Structuring and Horizontal Propagation the model consists of three phases, each considering different aspects of the nature of interdisciplinary activities. The theoretical modelling is inspired by work which focuses on the students abilities to concept formation in expanded...... domains (Michelsen, 2001, 2005a, 2005b). Furthermore the theoretical description rest on a series of qualitative interviews with teachers from the Danish high school (grades 9-11) conducted recently. The special case of concrete interdisciplinary activities between mathematics and philosophy is also...

  13. Social networks, leisure activities and maximum tongue pressure: cross-sectional associations in the Nagasaki Islands Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagayoshi, Mako; Higashi, Miho; Takamura, Noboru; Tamai, Mami; Koyamatsu, Jun; Yamanashi, Hirotomo; Kadota, Koichiro; Sato, Shimpei; Kawashiri, Shin-Ya; Koyama, Zenya; Saito, Toshiyuki; Maeda, Takahiro

    2017-12-06

    Social environment is often associated with health outcomes, but epidemiological evidence for its effect on oral frailty, a potential risk factor for aspiration, is sparse. This study aimed to assess the association between social environment and tongue pressure, as an important measure of oral function. The study focused on family structure, social networks both with and beyond neighbours, and participation in leisure activities. A population-based cross-sectional study. Annual health check-ups in a rural community in Japan. A total of 1982 participants, all over 40 years old. Anyone with missing data for the main outcome (n=14) was excluded. Tongue pressure was measured three times, and the maximum tongue pressure was used for analysis. A multivariable adjusted regression model was used to calculate parameter estimates (B) for tongue pressure. Having a social network involving neighbours (B=2.43, P=0.0001) and taking part in leisure activities (B=1.58, P=0.005) were independently associated with higher tongue pressure, but there was no link with social networks beyond neighbours (B=0.23, P=0.77). Sex-specific analyses showed that for men, having a partner was associated with higher tongue pressure, independent of the number of people in the household (B=2.26, P=0.01), but there was no association among women (B=-0.24, P=0.72; P-interaction=0.059). Having a social network involving neighbours and taking part in leisure activities were independently associated with higher tongue pressure. Marital status may be an important factor in higher tongue pressure in men. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  14. Strategic Activism, Educational Leadership and Social Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, James

    2016-01-01

    This article describes the strategic activism of educational leaders who promote social justice. Given the risks, educational leaders need to be strategic about the ways in which they pursue their activism. Citing current research, this article explores the ways in which leaders strategically pursue their social justice agendas within their own…

  15. Social media as a tool for positioning of youth non-governmental organizations activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. A. Shvab

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the social media analysis, as an important tool of the mass media in the youth non-governmental organizations activity. The article is about special popularity of social media among youth because of the rapid information technologies development. The author emphasizes that social media is a main online channel of communication among young generation, that should be taken into the consideration during the external communication creation. Youth organizations often use social media for target audience involvement, information dissimilation and exchange, service promotion and online dialogue. The author analyses different social media tools, such as: blogs, microblogs (Twitter, social networking sites (Facebook, VKontakte, video-sharing websites (YouTube and others. All these tools are easy in use, do not need any special skills and resources, they are low-cost as well. The author considers that it would be useful to include the organization’s Internet addresses on all social media websites and in traditional media publications, to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the youth non-governmental organizations they are looking for among the broad range of social media communities and services.

  16. Casino gambling among urban elders: just another social activity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaranek, Rochelle R; Chapleski, Elizabeth E

    2005-03-01

    This study explored older adults' attitudes about a range of activities and determined characteristics associated with casino participation. Activity theory was used as conceptual framework to examine casino gambling as a newer social activity and to identify characteristics related to gambling behavior among elders. The sample consisted of 1,410 randomly selected participants, aged 60 and older, who reside in the city of Detroit. Through the use of a cross-sectional analyses, selected variables tested with casino visits included health, demographics, social activities, senior optimism, opinions about casinos, transportation, and social support network. Bivariate associations revealed that sociodemographic variables such as income, age, education, marriage, and transportation were significantly associated with casino participation. Additional factors associated with casino visitation included positive attitudes about casinos, social support network, and enjoying a variety of other "active" activities. The results of this study supported the theoretical perspective underlying the basis of this project. Although not a favorite activity, gambling is among several types of social activities in which older adults do participate. Results suggest further investigation of how casino activities relate to mental health and other leisure activities.

  17. The Relationship of Student Involvement in Political Organizations to Self-Reported Capacities for Socially Responsible Leadership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogendorp, Melanie Beth

    2012-01-01

    This research investigated the relationship between college students' political involvement and their capacities for socially responsible leadership, including which student characteristics, precollege experiences, and collegiate experiences contributed to these capacities. Political involvement was defined as participation in co-curricular,…

  18. Racial/ethnic socialization and parental involvement in education as predictors of cognitive ability and achievement in African American children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, Meeta; Harrell, Zaje A T; Johnson, Deborah J

    2011-05-01

    Racial/ethnic socialization has not been studied in the context of other parenting behaviors such as parental involvement in education and its relationship to children's cognitive outcomes. The present study tested the impact of racial/ethnic socialization and parental involvement in education on cognitive ability and achievement in a sample of African American youth. Two dimensions of racial/ethnic socialization, cultural exposure (i.e., exposure to diverse cultures) and cultural socialization (i.e., in-group pride), were examined in a sample of 92 African American mother-child dyads, of which 50% were female. Maternal reports of involvement during their child's 5th grade year were examined as a moderator in the relationship between racial/ethnic socialization and cognitive ability and achievement. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that mothers' reports of cultural exposure messages measured in 4th grade predicted children's scores on 5th grade assessments of passage comprehension. There was also a significant interaction indicating that greater cultural exposure and more parental involvement in education predicted better reading passage comprehension scores over time. The implications for assessing dimensions relevant to cognitive ability and achievement in African American children are discussed.

  19. Students' Involvement in Social Networking and Attitudes towards Its Integration into Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umoh, Ukeme Ekpedeme; Etuk, Etuk Nssien

    2016-01-01

    The study examined Students' Involvement in Social Networking and attitudes towards its Integration into Teaching. The study was carried out in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 17,618 undergraduate students enrolled into full time degree programmes in the University of Uyo for 2014/2015…

  20. The Impact of Racial Socialization on the Academic Performance and Prosocial Involvement of Black Emerging Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    White-Johnson, Rhonda L.

    2015-01-01

    Despite evidence linking racial socialization processes to the functioning of Black youth, the effect of these parenting practices among Black college students is less clear. This study examined the relationship among racial socialization messages, academic performance, and prosocial involvement for 295 Black college students. Results revealed…

  1. Social activities, self-efficacy, game attitudes, and game addiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Eui Jun; Kim, Doo Hwan

    2011-04-01

    This study examines whether social activities with parents, online and offline social self-efficacy, and attitudes toward gaming are associated with the degree of game addiction among adolescents. Using data from a survey of 600 middle- and high-school students in South Korea, we tested the relationships of personal characteristics (grade point average and time spent on gaming each day), social self-efficacy (both on- and offline), general social activities (with parents, friends, and teachers), gaming activities with parents, and attitudes toward gaming (those of self, parents, friends, and teachers) with the degree of game addiction. In addition, we conducted ANOVA tests to determine the differences among three groups: non-addicts (NA), possible (mild or moderate) addicts (PA), and Internet addicts (IA). The results show that social self-efficacy in the real world (offline) was negatively related with the degree of game addiction, whereas social self-efficacy in the virtual world (online) indicated a positive association. Social activities with parents are negatively associated with game addiction, although no relationship is found between gaming activities with parents and game addiction. Parental attitude toward gaming has a negative relationship with the addiction. Results and implications are discussed.

  2. Emotion and attention interactions in social cognition: brain regions involved in processing anger prosody.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sander, David; Grandjean, Didier; Pourtois, Gilles; Schwartz, Sophie; Seghier, Mohamed L; Scherer, Klaus R; Vuilleumier, Patrik

    2005-12-01

    Multiple levels of processing are thought to be involved in the appraisal of emotionally relevant events, with some processes being engaged relatively independently of attention, whereas other processes may depend on attention and current task goals or context. We conducted an event-related fMRI experiment to examine how processing angry voice prosody, an affectively and socially salient signal, is modulated by voluntary attention. To manipulate attention orthogonally to emotional prosody, we used a dichotic listening paradigm in which meaningless utterances, pronounced with either angry or neutral prosody, were presented simultaneously to both ears on each trial. In two successive blocks, participants selectively attended to either the left or right ear and performed a gender-decision on the voice heard on the target side. Our results revealed a functional dissociation between different brain areas. Whereas the right amygdala and bilateral superior temporal sulcus responded to anger prosody irrespective of whether it was heard from a to-be-attended or to-be-ignored voice, the orbitofrontal cortex and the cuneus in medial occipital cortex showed greater activation to the same emotional stimuli when the angry voice was to-be-attended rather than to-be-ignored. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed a strong correlation between orbitofrontal regions and sensitivity on a behavioral inhibition scale measuring proneness to anxiety reactions. Our results underscore the importance of emotion and attention interactions in social cognition by demonstrating that multiple levels of processing are involved in the appraisal of emotionally relevant cues in voices, and by showing a modulation of some emotional responses by both the current task-demands and individual differences.

  3. The impact of social activities, social networks, social support and social relationships on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Michelle E; Duff, Hollie; Kelly, Sara; McHugh Power, Joanna E; Brennan, Sabina; Lawlor, Brian A; Loughrey, David G

    2017-12-19

    Social relationships, which are contingent on access to social networks, promote engagement in social activities and provide access to social support. These social factors have been shown to positively impact health outcomes. In the current systematic review, we offer a comprehensive overview of the impact of social activities, social networks and social support on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults (50+) and examine the differential effects of aspects of social relationships on various cognitive domains. We followed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines, and collated data from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), genetic and observational studies. Independent variables of interest included subjective measures of social activities, social networks, and social support, and composite measures of social relationships (CMSR). The primary outcome of interest was cognitive function divided into domains of episodic memory, semantic memory, overall memory ability, working memory, verbal fluency, reasoning, attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities, overall executive functioning and global cognition. Thirty-nine studies were included in the review; three RCTs, 34 observational studies, and two genetic studies. Evidence suggests a relationship between (1) social activity and global cognition and overall executive functioning, working memory, visuospatial abilities and processing speed but not episodic memory, verbal fluency, reasoning or attention; (2) social networks and global cognition but not episodic memory, attention or processing speed; (3) social support and global cognition and episodic memory but not attention or processing speed; and (4) CMSR and episodic memory and verbal fluency but not global cognition. The results support prior conclusions that there is an association between social relationships and cognitive function but the exact nature of this association remains unclear

  4. Determine small and medium enterprise social media activities: A community engagement project in the Tshwane community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louise van Scheers

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to determine small and medium enterprise (SME social media activities and promote CE scholarship engagement. It is a community engagement project conducted in the Tshwane community. Community engagement (CE as a planned process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people in the community to address issues affecting their well-being. The CE project SME skills transfer workshops are aimed at expanding involvement with the community. The benefits of social media seem to be ignored by most SMEs however; challenges prevent SME owners from using the tool effectively. A survey study method of research design has been selected for the research. The sample for the study comprised 200 SME owners who currently manage small businesses in the Tshwane area. The conducted research recommends that social media can be cost effective if the SMEs make use of their social networks and use best practises that enable them to get their adverts or posts shared across social networks. The conducted research also recommends that SMEs with limited resources start with social media and YouTube as a marketing tool, as the learning curve is low and cost involved is almost nil.

  5. Social Activities and Manifest Anxiety among Freshmen in Tertiary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ) in tertiary institutions in Lagos state of Nigeria were analysed to determine the relationship between social activities and manifest anxiety. Social activities in the study were measured in terms of freshmen adjustment to religious activities and ...

  6. High throughput analysis reveals dissociable gene expression profiles in two independent neural systems involved in the regulation of social behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stevenson Tyler J

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Production of contextually appropriate social behaviors involves integrated activity across many brain regions. Many songbird species produce complex vocalizations called ‘songs’ that serve to attract potential mates, defend territories, and/or maintain flock cohesion. There are a series of discrete interconnect brain regions that are essential for the successful production of song. The probability and intensity of singing behavior is influenced by the reproductive state. The objectives of this study were to examine the broad changes in gene expression in brain regions that control song production with a brain region that governs the reproductive state. Results We show using microarray cDNA analysis that two discrete brain systems that are both involved in governing singing behavior show markedly different gene expression profiles. We found that cortical and basal ganglia-like brain regions that control the socio-motor production of song in birds exhibit a categorical switch in gene expression that was dependent on their reproductive state. This pattern is in stark contrast to the pattern of expression observed in a hypothalamic brain region that governs the neuroendocrine control of reproduction. Subsequent gene ontology analysis revealed marked variation in the functional categories of active genes dependent on reproductive state and anatomical localization. HVC, one cortical-like structure, displayed significant gene expression changes associated with microtubule and neurofilament cytoskeleton organization, MAP kinase activity, and steroid hormone receptor complex activity. The transitions observed in the preoptic area, a nucleus that governs the motivation to engage in singing, exhibited variation in functional categories that included thyroid hormone receptor activity, epigenetic and angiogenetic processes. Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of considering the temporal patterns of gene expression

  7. African American and Puerto Rican American Parenting Styles, Paternal Involvement, and Head Start Children's Social Competence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Jay

    2000-01-01

    Examined similarities and differences in parenting styles and paternal involvement within and between African American and Puerto Rican American parent groups and the relationship between parenting styles, child care involvement, and Head Start children's social competence. Found a significant relationship between high levels of parental…

  8. Online activity and participation in treatment affects the perceived efficacy of social health networks among patients with chronic illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magnezi, Racheli; Bergman, Yoav S; Grosberg, Dafna

    2014-01-10

    The use of online health-related social networks for support, peer-to-peer connections, and obtaining health information has increased dramatically. Participation in an online health-related social network can enhance patients' self-efficacy and empowerment, as they are given knowledge and tools to manage their chronic health condition more effectively. Thus, we can deduce that patient activation, the extent to which individuals are able to manage their own health care, also increases. However, little is known about the effects of participation in online health-related social networks and patient activation on the perceived usefulness of a website across disease groups. The intent of the study was to evaluate the effects and benefits of participation in an online health-related social network and to determine which variables predict perceived site usefulness, while examining patient activation. Data were collected from "Camoni", the first health-related social network in the Hebrew language. It offers medical advice, including blogs, forums, support groups, internal mail, chats, and an opportunity to consult with experts. This study focused on the site's five largest and most active communities: diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, spinal injury, and depression/anxiety. Recruitment was conducted during a three-month period in which a link to the study questionnaire was displayed on the Camoni home page. Three questionnaires were used: a 13-item measure of perceived usefulness (Cronbach alpha=.93) to estimate the extent to which an individual found the website helpful and informative, a 9-item measure of active involvement in the website (Cronbach alpha=.84), and The Patient Activation Measure (PAM-13, Cronbach alpha=.86), which assesses a patient's level of active participation in his or her health care. There were 296 participants. Men 30-39 years of age scored higher in active involvement than those 40-49 years (P=.03), 50-64 years (P=.004), or 65+ years (P

  9. Social activities and travel demands : a model-based analysis of social-network data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Molin, E.J.E.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2007-01-01

    Social activities are responsible for an important share of trips conducted by individuals. This paper contributes to a rapidly increasing stream of transportation research into individuals' choice of social relations and trips made to maintain their social relations. A method that was used to

  10. Social influences upon injection initiation among street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wood Evan

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Street-involved youth are a population at risk of adopting injection as a route of administration, and preventing the transition to injection drug use among street youth represents a public health priority. In order to inform epidemiological research and prevention efforts, we conducted a qualitative study to investigate the initiation of injection drug use among street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada. Methods Qualitative interviews with street youth who inject drugs elicited descriptions of the adoption of injection as a route of administration. Interviewees were recruited from the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS, a cohort of street-involved youth who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Audio recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and a thematic analysis was conducted. Results 26 youth aged 16 to 26 participated in this study, including 12 females. Among study participants the first injection episode frequently featured another drug user who facilitated the initiation of injecting. Youth narratives indicate that the transition into injecting is influenced by social interactions with drug using peers and evolving perceptions of injecting, and rejecting identification as an injector was important among youth who did not continue to inject. It appears that social conventions discouraging initiating young drug users into injection exist among established injectors, although this ethic is often ignored. Conclusion The importance of social relationships with other drug users within the adoption of injection drug use highlights the potential of social interventions to prevent injection initiation. Additionally, developing strategies to engage current injectors who are likely to initiate youth into injection could also benefit prevention efforts.

  11. Locations that Support Social Activity Participation of the Aging Population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pauline van den Berg

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Social activities are an important aspect of health and quality of life of the aging population. They are key elements in the prevention of loneliness. In order to create living environments that stimulate older adults to engage in social activities, more insight is needed in the social activity patterns of the aging population. This study therefore analyzes the heterogeneity in older adults’ preferences for different social activity location types and the relationship between these preferences and personal and mobility characteristics. This is done using a latent class multinomial logit model based on two-day diary data collected in 2014 in Noord-Limburg in the Netherlands among 213 respondents aged 65 or over. The results show that three latent classes can be identified among the respondents who recorded social activities in the diary: a group that mainly socializes at home, a group that mainly socializes at a community center and a group that is more likely to socialize at public ‘third’ places. The respondents who did not record any interactions during the two days, are considered as a separate segment. Relationships between segment membership and personal and mobility characteristics were tested using cross-tabulations with chi-square tests and analyses of variance. The results suggest that both personal and mobility characteristics play an important role in social activity patterns of older adults.

  12. Brain oxytocin in social fear conditioning and its extinction: involvement of the lateral septum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoicas, Iulia; Slattery, David A; Neumann, Inga D

    2014-12-01

    Central oxytocin (OXT) has anxiolytic and pro-social properties both in humans and rodents, and has been proposed as a therapeutic option for anxiety and social dysfunctions. Here, we utilized a mouse model of social fear conditioning (SFC) to study the effects of OXT on social fear, and to determine whether SFC causes alterations in central OXT receptor (OXTR) binding and local OXT release. Central infusion of OXT, but not arginine vasopressin, prior to social fear extinction training completely abolished social fear expression in an OXTR-mediated fashion without affecting general anxiety or locomotion. SFC caused increased OXTR binding in the dorso-lateral septum (DLS), central amygdala, dentate gyrus, and cornu ammunis 1, which normalized after social fear extinction, suggesting that these areas form part of a brain network involved in the development and neural support of social fear. Microdialysis revealed that the increase in OXT release observed in unconditioned mice within the DLS during social fear extinction training was attenuated in conditioned mice. Consequently, increasing the availability of local OXT by infusion of OXT into the DLS reversed social fear. Thus, alterations in the brain OXT system, including altered OXTR binding and OXT release within the DLS, play an important role in SFC and social fear extinction. Thus, we suggest that the OXT system is adversely affected in disorders associated with social fear, such as social anxiety disorder and reinstalling an appropriate balance of the OXT system may alleviate some of the symptoms.

  13. Social capital, social participation and life satisfaction among Chilean older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ponce, María Soledad Herrera; Rosas, Raúl Pedro Elgueta; Lorca, María Beatriz Fernández

    2014-10-01

    To examine factors associated with social participation and their relationship with self-perceived well-being in older adults. This study was based on data obtained from the National Socioeconomic Characterization (CASEN) Survey conducted in Chile, in 2011, on a probability sample of households. We examined information of 31,428 older adults living in these households. Descriptive and explanatory analyses were performed using linear and multivariate logistic regression models. We assessed the respondents' participation in different types of associations: egotropic, sociotropic, and religious. Social participation increased with advancing age and then declined after the age of 80. The main finding of this study was that family social capital is a major determinant of social participation of older adults. Their involvement was associated with high levels of self-perceived subjective well-being. We identified four settings as sources of social participation: home-based; rural community-based; social policy programs; and religious. Older adults were significantly more likely to participate when other members of the household were also involved in social activities evidencing an intergenerational transmission of social participation. Rural communities, especially territorial associations, were the most favorable setting for participation. There has been a steady increase in the rates of involvement of older adults in social groups in Chile, especially after retirement. Religiosity remains a major determinant of associativism. The proportion of participation was higher among older women than men but these proportions equaled after the age of 80. Self-perceived subjective well-being is not only dependent upon objective factors such as health and income, but is also dependent upon active participation in social life, measured as participation in associations, though its effects are moderate.

  14. Frequent Surfing on Social Health Networks is Associated With Increased Knowledge and Patient Health Activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosberg, Dafna; Grinvald, Haya; Reuveni, Haim; Magnezi, Racheli

    2016-08-10

    The advent of the Internet has driven a technological revolution that has changed our lives. As part of this phenomenon, social networks have attained a prominent role in health care. A variety of medical services is provided over the Internet, including home monitoring, interactive communications between the patient and service providers, and social support, among others. This study emphasizes some of the practical implications of Web-based health social networks for patients and for health care systems. The objective of this study was to assess how participation in a social network among individuals with a chronic condition contributed to patient activation, based on the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). A prospective, cross-sectional survey with a retrospective component was conducted. Data were collected from Camoni, a Hebrew-language Web-based social health network, participants in the diabetes mellitus, pain, hypertension, and depression/anxiety forums, during November 2012 to 2013. Experienced users (enrolled at least 6 months) and newly enrolled received similar versions of the same questionnaire including sociodemographics and PAM. Among 686 participants, 154 of 337 experienced and 123 of 349 newly enrolled completed the questionnaire. Positive correlations (Psocial relationships, and chronic disease knowledge. Men surfed longer than women (χ²3=10.104, Psocial health network use were correlated with increased knowledge about a chronic disease. Experienced surfers had higher PAM than newly enrolled, suggesting that continued site use may contribute to increased activation. Web-based social health networks offer an opportunity to expand patient knowledge and increase involvement in personal health, thereby increasing patient activation. Further studies are needed to examine these changes on other aspects of chronic illnesses such as quality of life and costs.

  15. Finding Community Structures In Social Activity Data

    KAUST Repository

    Peng, Chengbin

    2015-01-01

    Social activity data sets are increasing in number and volume. Finding community structure in such data is valuable in many applications. For example, understand- ing the community structure of social networks may reduce the spread of epidemics

  16. Active Involvement of Software Developers in Usability Engineering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bornoe, Nis; Stage, Jan

    2017-01-01

    The essence of usability evaluations is to produce feedback that supports the downstream utility so the interaction design can be improved and problems can be fixed. In practice, software development organizations experience several obstacles for conducting usability engineering. One suggested...... approach is to train and involve developers in all phases of usability activities from evaluations, to problem reporting, and making redesign proposals. Only limited work has previously investigated the impact of actively involving developers in usability engineering. In this paper, we present two small......, and problem fixing. At the organizational level, we found that the attitude towards and understanding of the role of usability engineering improved....

  17. Why business unit controllers bias accounting figures: Involvement in management, social pressure and Machiavellianism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maas, V.S.; Hartmann, F.G.H.

    2009-01-01

    This paper investigates why some business unit controllers are more likely to deliberately bias accounting data than others. Different from the existing literature, we argue that involvement in management and social pressure are neither necessary, nor sufficient conditions for biasing behavior.

  18. The Use of Art Activities in Social Studies Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akhan, Nadire Emel

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to measure how effective the use of art activities is at achieving the goals of social studies program and to introduce a model practice that social studies teachers can follow. Accordingly, certain objectives were selected from among the main objectives of social studies program and the activities prepared for a…

  19. Ethanol intake under social circumstances or alone in sprague-dawley rats: impact of age, sex, social activity, and social anxiety-like behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varlinskaya, Elena I; Truxell, Eric M; Spear, Linda P

    2015-01-01

    In human adolescents, heavy drinking is often predicted by high sociability in males and high social anxiety in females. This study assessed the impact of baseline levels of social activity and social anxiety-like behavior in group-housed adolescent and adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats on ethanol (EtOH) intake when drinking alone or in a social group. Social activity and anxiety-like behavior initially were assessed in a modified social interaction test, followed by 6 drinking sessions that occurred every other day in animals given ad libitum food and water. Sessions consisted of 30-minute access to 10% EtOH in a "supersac" (3% sucrose + 0.1% saccharin) solution given alone as well as in groups of 5 same-sex littermates, with order of the alternating session types counterbalanced across animals. Adolescent males and adults of both sexes overall consumed more EtOH under social than alone circumstances, whereas adolescent females ingested more EtOH when alone. Highly socially active adolescent males demonstrated elevated levels of EtOH intake relative to their low and medium socially active counterparts when drinking in groups, but not when tested alone. Adolescent females with high levels of social anxiety-like behavior demonstrated the highest EtOH intake under social, but not alone circumstances. Among adults, baseline levels of social anxiety-like behavior did not contribute to individual differences in EtOH intake in either sex. The results clearly demonstrate that in adolescent rats, but not their adult counterparts, responsiveness to a social peer predicts EtOH intake in a social setting-circumstances under which drinking typically occurs in human adolescents. High levels of social activity in males and high levels of social anxiety-like behavior in females were associated with elevated social drinking, suggesting that males ingest EtOH for its socially enhancing properties, whereas females ingest EtOH for its socially anxiolytic effects. Copyright

  20. Social capital and physical activity among Croatian high school students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, D; Doubova, S V; Kawachi, I

    2016-06-01

    To examine factors associated with regular physical activity in Croatian adolescents. A cross-sectional survey among high school students was carried out in the 2013/14 school year. A survey was conducted among 33 high schools in Zagreb City, Croatia. Participants were students aged 17-18 years. The dependent variables were regular moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and overall physical activity measured by the short version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire and defined as 60 min or more of daily physical activity. The independent variables included family, neighborhood, and high school social capital. Other study covariates included: socio-economic status, self-rated health, psychological distress and nutritional status. The associations between physical activity and social capital variables were assessed separately for boys and girls through multiple logistic regression and inverse probability weighting in order to correct for missing data bias. A total of 1689 boys and 1739 girls responded to the survey. A higher percentage of boys reported performing regular vigorous and moderate physical activity (59.4%) and overall physical activity (83.4%), comparing with the girls (35.4% and 70%, respectively). For boys, high family social capital and high informal social control were associated with increased odds of regular MVPA (1.49, 95%CI: 1.18 - 1.90 and 1.26, 95%CI: 1.02 - 1.56, respectively), compared to those with low social capital. For girls, high informal social control was associated with regular overall physical activity (OR 1.38, 95% CI: 1.09 - 1.76). High social capital is associated with regular MVPA in boys and regular overall activity in girls. Intervention and policies that leverage community social capital might serve as an avenue for promotion of physical activity in youth. Copyright © 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. PersonA: Persuasive social network for physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayubi, Soleh U; Parmanto, Bambang

    2012-01-01

    Advances in physical activity (PA) monitoring devices provide ample opportunities for innovations in the way the information produced by these devices is used to encourage people to have more active lifestyles. One such innovation is expanding the current use of the information from self-management to social support. We developed a Persuasive social network for physical Activity (PersonA) that combines automatic input of physical activity data, a smartphone, and a social networking system (SNS). This paper describes the motivation for and overarching design of the PersonA and its functional and non-functional features. PersonA is designed to intelligently and automatically receive raw PA data from the sensors in the smartphone, calculate the data into meaningful PA information, store the information on a secure server, and show the information to the users as persuasive and real-time feedbacks or publish the information to the SNS to generate social support. The implementation of self-monitoring, social support, and persuasive concepts using currently available technologies has the potential for promoting healthy lifestyle, greater community participation, and higher quality of life. We also expect that PersonA will enable health professionals to collect in situ data related to physical activity. The platform is currently being used and tested to improve PA level of three groups of users in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

  2. The Involvement of the Business Sector in Corporate Social Responsability (SCR Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalia NEGREA

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper endeavors to test the hypothesis according to which by non-governmental organizations and private companies, by means of social corporate activities, can interfere with the functioning of the market in the sense of reducing the effects of negative externalities generated by the market. The structure of the article is threefold: the first section represents the theoretical framework for the analysis (main concepts: social corporate responsibility, externalities, market failures; the second section addresses the evolution of this phenomenon in Romania while the third part discusses a case study that is focused on social corporate responsibility practices.

  3. Religious congregations and social justice participation: a multilevel examination of social processes and leadership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houston, Jaclyn D; Todd, Nathan R

    2013-12-01

    Religious congregations have potential to be mediating structures for social justice participation. However, research has yet to examine the specific social processes or leadership characteristics within congregations that may promote social justice participation. In this study, we use data from 176,901 participants nested within 1,938 congregations to test how social processes (i.e., religious attendance at worship services, extra-worship participation, bonding social capital, a congregational norm for justice) and leadership characteristics (i.e., leader modeling of justice, horizontal leadership style) predict personal social justice involvement through the congregation (i.e., participation in social justice activities sponsored by the congregation) as well as personal social justice involvement outside the congregation (i.e., participation in social justice activities not sponsored by the congregation). We use multilevel logistic regression to examine these social processes and leadership characteristics at both individual and congregational levels of analysis. Results showed distinct patterns of associations at individual and congregational levels of analysis and that different social processes and leadership characteristics predicted personal social justice participation through or outside the congregation. These findings reveal the importance of social processes and leadership characteristics in understanding how congregations may mediate social justice participation. Implications for community psychology research and practiced also are discussed.

  4. Viewing Generativity and Social Capital as Underlying Factors of Parent Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Sharon; Patel, Nimisha

    2015-01-01

    Parent involvement in education is a multifaceted support that has many well-documented benefits for students of all ages. Parent involvement is also a common expression of generativity as defined in Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. The activities parents engage in during their children's educational pursuits, as well as their…

  5. Learning models of activities involving interacting objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Manfredotti, Cristina; Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup; Hamilton, Howard J.

    2013-01-01

    We propose the LEMAIO multi-layer framework, which makes use of hierarchical abstraction to learn models for activities involving multiple interacting objects from time sequences of data concerning the individual objects. Experiments in the sea navigation domain yielded learned models that were t...

  6. Association of personality with physical, social, and mental activities across the lifespan: Findings from US and French samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephan, Yannick; Boiché, Julie; Canada, Brice; Terracciano, Antonio

    2014-11-01

    Despite evidence for its health-related benefits, little is known on the psychological predictors of the participation in leisure activities across the lifespan. Therefore, this study aimed to identify whether personality is associated with a variety of different types of activities, involving physical, cognitive, and social components. The samples included individuals from the second wave of the National Study of Midlife in the United States (N = 3,396) and community-dwelling French individuals (N = 2,917) aged between 30 and 84. Both samples completed measures of the five-factor model of personality. To create an activity index, we combined the physical, social, and cognitive (games and developmental) activities performed at least once a month. In both samples, individuals who scored higher on extraversion and openness were more likely to engage in a variety of activity types. The findings were consistent across two samples from different western societies and suggest that extraversion and openness contribute to social, cognitive, and physical functioning across the lifespan. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

  7. Dysfunctional involvement of emotion and reward brain regions on social decision making in excess weight adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdejo-García, Antonio; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Rio-Valle, Jacqueline S; Lacomba, Juan A; Lagos, Francisco M; Soriano-Mas, Carles

    2015-01-01

    Obese adolescents suffer negative social experiences, but no studies have examined whether obesity is associated with dysfunction of the social brain or whether social brain abnormalities relate to disadvantageous traits and social decisions. We aimed at mapping functional activation differences in the brain circuitry of social decision making in adolescents with excess versus normal weight, and at examining whether these separate patterns correlate with reward/punishment sensitivity, disordered eating features, and behavioral decisions. In this fMRI study, 80 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old were classified in two groups based on age adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentiles: normal weight (n = 44, BMI percentiles 5th-84th) and excess weight (n = 36, BMI percentile ≥ 85th). Participants were scanned while performing a social decision-making task (ultimatum game) in which they chose to "accept" or "reject" offers to split monetary stakes made by another peer. Offers varied in fairness (Fair vs. Unfair) but in all cases "accepting" meant both players win the money, whereas "rejecting" meant both lose it. We showed that adolescents with excess weight compared to controls display significantly decreased activation of anterior insula, anterior cingulate, and midbrain during decisions about Unfair versus Fair offers. Moreover, excess weight subjects show lower sensitivity to reward and more maturity fears, which correlate with insula activation. Indeed, blunted insula activation accounted for the relationship between maturity fears and acceptance of unfair offers. Excess weight adolescents have diminished activation of brain regions essential for affective tracking of social decision making, which accounts for the association between maturity fears and social decisions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Leisure activities, the social weekend, and alcohol use: evidence from a daily study of first-year college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finlay, Andrea K; Ram, Nilam; Maggs, Jennifer L; Caldwell, Linda L

    2012-03-01

    The aim of this study was to document within-person and between-persons associations between the duration of day-to-day activities (volunteering, spiritual activities, media use, socializing, entertainment/campus events and clubs, athletics, classes, working for pay) and alcohol use (quantity and heavy drinking) and to examine whether these associations differed by gender and the time of week. First-semester college students (N = 717 persons; 51.6% female) provided up to 14 consecutive days of data (N = 9,431 days) via daily web-based surveys. Multilevel analyses tested whether alcohol use was associated with activity duration, gender, and time of week. Between-persons associations indicated that alcohol use was higher among individuals who spent more time involved in athletics and socializing and lower among students who spent more time in spiritual and volunteer activities. Within-person associations indicated that students consumed more alcohol and were more likely to drink heavily on weekends, on days they spent more time than usual socializing, and on days they spent less time than usual in spiritual activities and using media. Select activities and days were linked with less alcohol use at both the between- and within-person levels, suggesting that attention should be paid to both selection effects and social context to understand the mechanisms linking activity duration and student drinking.

  9. Leisure Activities, the Social Weekend, and Alcohol Use: Evidence From a Daily Study of First-Year College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finlay, Andrea K.; Ram, Nilam; Maggs, Jennifer L.; Caldwell, Linda L.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: The aim of this study was to document within-person and between-persons associations between the duration of day-to-day activities (volunteering, spiritual activities, media use, socializing, entertainment/campus events and clubs, athletics, classes, working for pay) and alcohol use (quantity and heavy drinking) and to examine whether these associations differed by gender and the time of week. Method: First-semester college students (N=717 persons; 51.6% female) provided up to 14 consecutive days of data (N= 9,431 days) via daily web-based surveys. Multilevel analyses tested whether alcohol use was associated with activity duration, gender, and time of week. Results: Between-persons associations indicated that alcohol use was higher among individuals who spent more time involved in athletics and socializing and lower among students who spent more time in spiritual and volunteer activities. Within-person associations indicated that students consumed more alcohol and were more likely to drink heavily on weekends, on days they spent more time than usual socializing, and on days they spent less time than usual in spiritual activities and using media. Conclusions: Select activities and days were linked with less alcohol use at both the between- and within-person levels, suggesting that attention should be paid to both selection effects and social context to understand the mechanisms linking activity duration and student drinking. PMID:22333332

  10. How are people with dementia involved in care-planning and decision-making? An Irish social work perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donnelly, Sarah; Begley, Emer; O'Brien, Marita

    2018-01-01

    In recent years, there have been national and international policy advances around capacity and decision-making and an apparent burgeoning rights-based approach to the issue, all of which have the potential to impact on the experience for people with dementia in Ireland. There is little evidence however on whether these policies and principles are being translated into practice and whether traditional paternalistic approaches to decision-making are being challenged. To gain insight into current practice, research was undertaken with social workers working with older people in Ireland; reporting on the involvement of people living with dementia in care-planning processes. Data collection included a mixed method approach; an on-line survey of social workers from across the country who reported on their open caseload during the month of June 2015 (N = 38 social workers reporting on the experiences of 788 older people, of which 39% of older people had a formal diagnosis of dementia). In addition, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with social workers working in the nine Community Health Organisation areas (N = 21). Findings show that people with dementia were high users of social work services, accounting for 44.5% of the client group. Social workers reported that there were no standardised approaches to how Health and Social Care Professionals involved people with dementia in care planning and decision-making. Overall, people with dementia were more likely to be excluded from decision-making processes due to (i) assumptions that they lacked capacity, (ii) family members preferences that the person was not involved, (iii) communication difficulties, (iv) time constraints, (v) little or no opportunity given or (vi) the person delegated decision-making to others. Good practices were identified through multidisciplinary team approaches and formal care planning meetings. This research highlights variability in how people with dementia participate

  11. Reflection on the Judicial Activism or Constructivism: In Perspective of Being an Instrument of Cooperation in Judicial Facing Issues of Social Security and Labor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Gomes de Vasconcelos

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The article proposes a present thinking as the possibility of reaching solutions to some social security and labor issues in democratic rule of law using judicial cooperation in the search for effective social law of social security. The current legal constructivism, also called judicial activism in its manifestation of legal instrument to weigh yourself to get and verify the approach of social dialogue for more proactive attitude of the court, in which the actors involved in the conflict are called to have a more active participation on problem situations, requiring them more than mere legal interpretation in philosophical hermeneutics.

  12. Active patient involvement in the education of health professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Towle, Angela; Bainbridge, Lesley; Godolphin, William; Katz, Arlene; Kline, Cathy; Lown, Beth; Madularu, Ioana; Solomon, Patricia; Thistlethwaite, Jill

    2010-01-01

    Patients as educators (teaching intimate physical examination) first appeared in the 1960s. Since then, rationales for the active involvement of patients as educators have been well articulated. There is great potential to promote the learning of patient-centred practice, interprofessional collaboration, community involvement, shared decision making and how to support self-care. We reviewed and summarised the literature on active patient involvement in health professional education. A synthesis of the literature reveals increasing diversity in the ways in which patients are involved in education, but also the movement's weaknesses. Most initiatives are 'one-off' events and are reported as basic descriptions. There is little rigorous research or theory of practice or investigation of behavioural outcomes. The literature is scattered and uses terms (such as 'patient'!) that are contentious and confusing. We propose future directions for research and development, including a taxonomy to facilitate dialogue, an outline of a research strategy and reference to a comprehensive bibliography covering all health and human services.

  13. Social TV: How Social Media Activity Interacts With TV Advertising

    OpenAIRE

    Fossen Beth L.; Schweidel David A.

    2017-01-01

    Social TV is the simultaneous consumption of television alongside social media chatter about the programming. This topic is highly relevant for marketers. Usually it is considered as a bad thing for TV advertisers. While there can be distraction from the ads, marketers can also benefit from positive effects. Consumers’ multiscreen activities can be used to attract more viewers, to leverage TV campaigns and to increase sales. This chatter creates free exposure for the brand online, extends the...

  14. Social capital, social participation and life satisfaction among Chilean older adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Soledad Herrera Ponce

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To examine factors associated with social participation and their relationship with self-perceived well-being in older adults. METHODS This study was based on data obtained from the National Socioeconomic Characterization (CASEN Survey conducted in Chile, in 2011, on a probability sample of households. We examined information of 31,428 older adults living in these households. Descriptive and explanatory analyses were performed using linear and multivariate logistic regression models. We assessed the respondents’ participation in different types of associations: egotropic, sociotropic, and religious. RESULTS Social participation increased with advancing age and then declined after the age of 80. The main finding of this study was that family social capital is a major determinant of social participation of older adults. Their involvement was associated with high levels of self-perceived subjective well-being. We identified four settings as sources of social participation: home-based; rural community-based; social policy programs; and religious. Older adults were significantly more likely to participate when other members of the household were also involved in social activities evidencing an intergenerational transmission of social participation. Rural communities, especially territorial associations, were the most favorable setting for participation. There has been a steady increase in the rates of involvement of older adults in social groups in Chile, especially after retirement. Religiosity remains a major determinant of associativism. The proportion of participation was higher among older women than men but these proportions equaled after the age of 80. CONCLUSIONS Self-perceived subjective well-being is not only dependent upon objective factors such as health and income, but is also dependent upon active participation in social life, measured as participation in associations, though its effects are moderate.

  15. Motivation and involvement toward physical activity among ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study investigates intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence involvement of university students to participate in physical activity. 400 students comprising 200 men and 200 women were used as the main respondents were respond to the adapted Exercise Motivations Inventory questionnaire. It revealed that highest ...

  16. The embodiment of emotion: language use during the feeling of social emotions predicts cortical somatosensory activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxbe, Darby E; Yang, Xiao-Fei; Borofsky, Larissa A; Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen

    2013-10-01

    Complex social emotions involve both abstract cognitions and bodily sensations, and individuals may differ on their relative reliance on these. We hypothesized that individuals' descriptions of their feelings during a semi-structured emotion induction interview would reveal two distinct psychological styles-a more abstract, cognitive style and a more body-based, affective style-and that these would be associated with somatosensory neural activity. We examined 28 participants' open-ended verbal responses to admiration- and compassion-provoking narratives in an interview and BOLD activity to the same narratives during subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Consistent with hypotheses, individuals' affective and cognitive word use were stable across emotion conditions, negatively correlated and unrelated to reported emotion strength in the scanner. Greater use of affective relative to cognitive words predicted more activation in SI, SII, middle anterior cingulate cortex and insula during emotion trials. The results suggest that individuals' verbal descriptions of their feelings reflect differential recruitment of neural regions supporting physical body awareness. Although somatosensation has long been recognized as an important component of emotion processing, these results offer 'proof of concept' that individual differences in open-ended speech reflect different processing styles at the neurobiological level. This study also demonstrates SI involvement during social emotional experience.

  17. The Features of the Normative-Legal Provision of Socially Responsible Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlykivska Olha I.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at researching the features of the normative-legal provision of socially responsible activity and providing recommendations for its improvement. As a result of the analysis of the world tendencies of standardization of socially responsible activity the scientific classification of standards has been suggested, which will allow to structure more effectively and use their information in the process of economic activity. The opinion is expressed that for a comprehensive assessment of socially responsible activity it is necessary to use several standards in combination, taking into consideration specifics of the activity of a particular enterprise. The most applied among them are: standards of social reporting series AA 1000, standard of social responsibility SA 8000, standard for reporting in the field of sustainable development GRI; Standard ISO 26000 «Guide to Social Responsibility». The author’s own definition of social responsibility has been formulated as an activity in which enterprise adheres to the principles of the social doing business, takes account first of all of the needs of stakeholders, has a positive impact on society, facilitates growth of reputation capital, reduces non-financial risks, which, as a result, contributes to maximizing profits for shareholders.

  18. Why business unit controllers create budget slack: Involvement in management, social pressure, and Machiavellianism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartmann, F.G.H.; Maas, V.S.

    2010-01-01

    This paper investigates business unit (BU) controllers’ inclination to engage in the creation of budgetary slack. In particular, we explore whether controllers who are involved in BU decision making are more susceptible to social pressure to engage in slack creation than controllers who are not. We

  19. Portraiture of constructivist parental involvement: A model to develop a community of practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dignam, Christopher Anthony

    This qualitative research study addressed the problem of the lack of parental involvement in secondary school science. Increasing parental involvement is vital in supporting student academic achievement and social growth. The purpose of this emergent phenomenological study was to identify conditions required to successfully construct a supportive learning environment to form partnerships between students, parents, and educators. The overall research question in this study investigated the conditions necessary to successfully enlist parental participation with students during science inquiry investigations at the secondary school level. One hundred thirteen pairs of parents and students engaged in a 6-week scientific inquiry activity and recorded attitudinal data in dialogue journals, questionnaires, open-ended surveys, and during one-one-one interviews conducted by the researcher between individual parents and students. Comparisons and cross-interpretations of inter-rater, codified, triangulated data were utilized for identifying emergent themes. Data analysis revealed the active involvement of parents in researching with their child during inquiry investigations, engaging in journaling, and assessing student performance fostered partnerships among students, parents, and educators and supported students' social skills development. The resulting model, employing constructivist leadership and enlisting parent involvement, provides conditions and strategies required to develop a community of practice that can help effect social change. The active involvement of parents fostered improved efficacy and a holistic mindset to develop in parents, students, and teachers. Based on these findings, the interactive collaboration of parents in science learning activities can proactively facilitate a community of practice that will assist educators in facilitating social change.

  20. Consumer Activities and Reactions to Social Network Marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bistra Vassileva

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer behavioural models with respect to their reactions to social network marketing. Theoretical background is focused on online and social network usage, motivations and behaviour. The research goal is to explore consumer reactions to the exposure of social network marketing based on the following criteria: level of brand engagement, word-of-mouth (WOM referral behaviour, and purchase intentions. Consumers are investigated based on their attitudes toward social network marketing and basic socio-demographic covariates using data from a sample size of 700 Bulgarian respondents (age group 21–54 years, Internet users, urban inhabitants. Factor and cluster analyses are applied. It is found that consumers are willing to receive information about brands and companies through social networks. They like to talk in social networks about these brands and companies and to share information as well (factor 2, brand engagement. Internet users are willing to share information received through social network advertising (factor 1, wom referral behaviour but they would not buy a certain brand as a result of brand communication activities in social networks (factor 3, purchase intention. Several practical implications regarding marketing activities through social networks are drawn.

  1. Constrained Active Learning for Anchor Link Prediction Across Multiple Heterogeneous Social Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Junxing; Zhang, Jiawei; Wu, Quanyuan; Jia, Yan; Zhou, Bin; Wei, Xiaokai; Yu, Philip S

    2017-08-03

    Nowadays, people are usually involved in multiple heterogeneous social networks simultaneously. Discovering the anchor links between the accounts owned by the same users across different social networks is crucial for many important inter-network applications, e.g., cross-network link transfer and cross-network recommendation. Many different supervised models have been proposed to predict anchor links so far, but they are effective only when the labeled anchor links are abundant. However, in real scenarios, such a requirement can hardly be met and most anchor links are unlabeled, since manually labeling the inter-network anchor links is quite costly and tedious. To overcome such a problem and utilize the numerous unlabeled anchor links in model building, in this paper, we introduce the active learning based anchor link prediction problem. Different from the traditional active learning problems, due to the one-to-one constraint on anchor links, if an unlabeled anchor link a = ( u , v ) is identified as positive (i.e., existing), all the other unlabeled anchor links incident to account u or account v will be negative (i.e., non-existing) automatically. Viewed in such a perspective, asking for the labels of potential positive anchor links in the unlabeled set will be rewarding in the active anchor link prediction problem. Various novel anchor link information gain measures are defined in this paper, based on which several constraint active anchor link prediction methods are introduced. Extensive experiments have been done on real-world social network datasets to compare the performance of these methods with state-of-art anchor link prediction methods. The experimental results show that the proposed Mean-entropy-based Constrained Active Learning (MC) method can outperform other methods with significant advantages.

  2. Goffman's Dramaturgical Sociology: Developing a Meaningful Theoretical Context and Exercise Involving "Embarrassment and Social Organization."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, David K.

    2003-01-01

    Depicts a useful participatory exercise in teaching Erving Goffman's dramaturgical sociology by drawing upon his essay about embarrassment and social organization. Argues the need to devise new ways to involve students in sociological theorists' insights. (Author/KDR)

  3. A Desire for Social Media Is Associated With a Desire for Solitary but Not Social Activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Lauren; Zheng, Zane

    2017-01-01

    While social media is an aspect of life for many, it brings to light the lack of interpersonal connection when browsing activity occurs. The displacement theory suggests that the quality of one's offline interactions is affected by how much time an individual allots to those exchanges. Depending on the amount of time spent online, interpersonal connections may suffer and lead to negative psychological consequences. Our study aimed to explore the relationship between the desirability of social media and socialization preferences through a cue-based perceptual judgment task where participants ( N = 136) rated 40 gray-scale images in terms of their desirability. The image categories included social media icons, singular scenes depicting an isolated activity, social scenes representing an interactive activity, and traffic signs as the control. We also included questionnaires to assess depressiveness and aspects of social media usage. Our findings suggest that the immediate desire for social media is potentially linked to one's desire for social isolation as represented by the singular scene category, the intensity of participant's reported daily usage, and the extent to which social media is perceived to impact real social life. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the initial desirability judgment of social media and its association with other factors. Further research is needed to distinguish the variability in users' aim of using social media and if that is related to one's perceived feelings of social connectedness and solitude.

  4. When Daddy Comes to School: Father-School Involvement and Children's Academic and Social-Emotional Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Claire E.

    2018-01-01

    The present study used a large sample of mostly non-resident fathers (74%) to determine whether father-school involvement (e.g. attending parent-teacher conferences) predicted better academic and social emotional skills after controlling for the influence of mother-school involvement, the quality of children's home learning environment, and…

  5. A Social Identity Approach to Understanding and Promoting Physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Mark; Rees, Tim; Coffee, Pete; Steffens, Niklas K; Haslam, S Alexander; Polman, Remco

    2017-10-01

    Against the backdrop of a global physical inactivity crisis, attempts to both understand and positively influence physical activity behaviours are characterized by a focus on individual-level factors (e.g. cognitions, attitudes, motivation). We outline a new perspective, drawn from an emerging body of work exploring the applicability of social identity and self-categorization theories to domains of sport and health, from which to understand and address this pervasive problem. This social identity approach suggests that the groups to which people belong can be, and often are, incorporated into their sense of self and, through this, are powerful determinants of physical activity-related behaviour. We start by reviewing the current state of physical activity research and highlighting the potential for the social identity approach to help understand how social factors influence these behaviours. Next, we outline the theoretical underpinnings of the social identity approach and provide three key examples that speak to the analytical and practical value of the social identity approach in physical activity settings. Specifically, we argue that social identity (1) can be harnessed to promote engagement in physical activity, (2) underpins exercise group behaviour, and (3) underpins effective leadership in exercise settings. We conclude by identifying prospects for a range of theory-informed research developments.

  6. Comparative Analysis of the Factors Necessitating Commercial Banks and Manufacturing Firms’ Involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abiola Idowu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This research investigates the factors necessitating commercial banks and manufacturing firms’ involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR in Nigeria comparatively. The research took place in Lagos State in South-west geo-political zone in Nigeria. The survey research design was used in this research. Moreover, the purposive sampling was used in selecting five commercial banks and five manufacturing firms. Primary data were gathered with the aid of questionnaire from 216 respondents out of 250 selected respondents from bank and 205 respondents out of 250 selected respondents from manufacturing firms. Fifty copies of the questionnaires were distributed to each company. All respondents selected were involved in CSR activities of their companies. Factors necessitating companies’ involvement in CSR were examined with Analysis of Variance. The research reveals that t-test value is -0.39 and p-value is 0.8, which shows that there is no significant difference between factors necessitating of the commercial banks and manufacturing firms’ involvement in CSR. The research recommends that corporate organizations should give attention to CSR initiatives as these lead to improvement of customers loyalty, improvement of the positive image of the organization, improved relationship with local communities,   and enhances shareholders values as well as improved relations with public authorities amongst others.

  7. Amygdala activity associated with social choice in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihara, Takuma; Mensah-Brown, Kobina; Sobota, Rosanna; Lin, Robert; Featherstone, Robert; Siegel, Steven J

    2017-08-14

    Studies suggest that the amygdala is a key region for regulation of anxiety, fear and social function. Therefore, dysfunction of the amygdala has been proposed as a potential mechanism for negative symptoms in schizophrenia. This may be due to NMDA receptor-mediated hypofunction, which is thought to be related to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. In this study, electroencephalographic amygdala activity was assessed in mice during the three-chamber social test. This activity was also evaluated following exposure to the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine. Vehicle-treated mice spent significantly more time in the social than the non-social chamber. This social preference was eliminated by ketamine. However, ketamine-treated mice spent significantly less time in the social chamber and significantly more time in the nonsocial chamber than vehicle-treated mice. There were no significant differences in induced powers between social and non-social chamber entries in vehicle-treated mice, except for theta frequencies, which featured greater induced theta power during non-social chamber entry. Ketamine eliminated differences in induced theta power between social and non-social chamber entries. Moreover, ketamine increased the induced gamma power during social chamber entry compared to that of vehicle-treated mice. All other frequency ranges were not significantly influenced by zone or drug condition. All significant findings were upon entry to chambers not during interaction. Results suggest that impaired function of NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate transmission can induce social impairments and amygdala dysfunction, similar to the pattern in schizophrenia. Future studies will utilize this method to evaluate mechanisms of social dysfunction and development of treatments of social impairments in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  8. SOCIAL ACTION IN SOCIALLY RESPONSIBILE BUSINESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Roberto, Volpentesta

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The research proposed as general objective to increase knowledge about the characteristics of the actions that companies make in Corporate Social Responsibility programs with interested groups (stakeholders who are in the community or society, from an organizational perspective, trying to clarify what are the causes and / or circumstances that determine and explain the design of such diverse activities ranging from those characterized by a central dirigisme proper implementation of business logic and in which you work from a desk to the other, to those from its inception involve and engage the recipients of those actions generate real actions with others.Interest in this knowledge is based on more and more companies are taking action or intervention programs in the social field, but not always effective considering the social impact. To analyze the processes involved, the organizational circumstances, structural causes and procedural logic that prevail in the design of these actions can help appraise, a priori, their effectiveness and potential outcomes, facilitating the development of a possible model for guidance on the fundamentals needed to conduct successful social interventions.

  9. Socialization Values and Parenting Practices as Predictors of Parental Involvement in Their Children's Educational Process

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kikas, Eve; Tulviste, Tiia; Peets, Kätlin

    2014-01-01

    Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine associations between parental socialization values (including inconsistency in values), parenting practices, and parental involvement in their children's education. Altogether 242 Estonian mothers and fathers of first-grade children

  10. Social media: the what, the why and the worry. ASN activity on social media. Communications Lessons Learned from the 2014 Radiological Release Event at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Spanish stakeholder for the NEA workshop on stakeholder involvement in nuclear decision making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harrington, Holly; Bouchot, Emmanuel; Runyon, Timothy; Gonzalez Herrero, Eva

    2017-01-01

    Session 8 focused on the media and how it can be utilised to effectively garner stakeholder involvement. It highlighted the changes over the years in how decision makers interact with stakeholders in the nuclear community and the nuances of using the various social media platforms and traditional media outlets. The session had a heavier focus on social media as it is a new and quickly evolving means of engaging the public and other stakeholders. Cases provided insight on current usages, whether in continuing regulatory communication or in response to emergent events. The session included input from regulators, implementers and a media representative sharing the various perspectives on the public communication aspect of stakeholder involvement. They pointed out the various outlets and platforms that can be employed to involve and inform different stakeholders, acknowledging the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Speakers emphasised how important it is that the communication with stakeholders be two-way, allowing thoughts and opinions to be expressed even when they are in stark opposition to nuclear projects or when they are critical of regulatory practices. It is important to consider the stakeholders' perspective and how they may want to be involved in the decision-making process. As stated in the first presentation by Ms Harrington of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and echoed throughout the session, stakeholders in general want information that will update them as to current activities, how they could be affected and how they can possibly influence the process. During an emergency, there may be special risk communication needs. The strategic use of social media platforms can assist organisations in engaging stakeholders and provide the information and interaction they may want. Social media includes web sites and more specifically, applications that allow the user to create and share information. It was recognised during the presentations that the

  11. Involvement of the oxytocin system in the nucleus accumbens in the regulation of juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Caroline J W; Mogavero, Jazmin N; Tulimieri, Maxwell T; Veenema, Alexa H

    2017-07-01

    Exploration of novel environments, stimuli, and conspecifics is highly adaptive during the juvenile period, as individuals transition from immaturity to adulthood. We recently showed that juvenile rats prefer to interact with a novel individual over a familiar cage mate. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior remain largely unknown. One potential candidate is the oxytocin (OXT) system, given its involvement in various motivated social behaviors. Here, we show that administration of the specific oxytocin receptor antagonist desGly-NH 2 ,d(CH 2 ) 5 -[Tyr(Me) 2 ,Thr 4 ]OVT reduces social novelty seeking-behavior in juvenile male rats when injected into the nucleus accumbens (10ng/0.5μl/side). The same drug dose was ineffective at altering social novelty-seeking behavior when administered into the lateral septum or basolateral amygdala. These results are the first to suggest the involvement of the OXT system in the nucleus accumbens in the regulation of juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Effectiveness of Corporate Social Media Activities to Increase Relational Outcomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Risius, Marten; Beck, Roman

    2015-01-01

    This study applies social media analytics to investigate the impact of different corporate social media activities on user word of mouth and attitudinal loyalty. We conduct a multilevel analysis of approximately 5 million tweets regarding the main Twitter accounts of 28 large global companies. We...... empirically identify different social media activities in terms of social media management strategies (using social media management tools or the web-frontend client), account types (broadcasting or receiving information), and communicative approaches (conversational or disseminative). We find positive...... effects of social media management tools, broadcasting accounts, and conversational communication on public perception....

  13. Attention, Joint Attention, and Social Cognition

    OpenAIRE

    Mundy, Peter; Newell, Lisa

    2007-01-01

    Before social cognition there is joint processing of information about the attention of self and others. This joint attention requires the integrated activation of a distributed cortical network involving the anterior and posterior attention systems. In infancy, practice with the integrated activation of this distributed attention network is a major contributor to the development of social cognition. Thus, the functional neuroanatomies of social cognition and the anterior–posterior attention ...

  14. Comparison of Psychological and Social Characteristics among Traditional, Cyber, Combined Bullies, and Non-Involved

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwak, Misung; Oh, Insoo

    2017-01-01

    This study analysed the psychological and social characteristics of bullies involved in traditional and cyberbullying. The responses of 11,117 Korean elementary, middle, and high school students were analysed. Results indicate that the rate of traditional bullying was higher than the rate of cyberbullying. The four groups (traditional bullies,…

  15. Who Leads Advocacy through Social Media in Japan? Evidence from the “Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square” Facebook Page

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sae Okura

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Although the importance of advocacy activities by civil society organizations (CSOs in policy and decision-making procedures has been greatly emphasized in the literature of political science and social policy, we have relatively little understanding of the relevance and impact of the leading actors who structure the diverse networks and discourses through social media; further recognition is needed in both fields. The purpose of this study is to analyze civil society organizations at the local government level involved in advocacy activities through the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Our study focuses on a specific Japanese Facebook community page—the “Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square”—aimed at enhancing civil society activities in Japan. This page is operated by the municipal government of Tsukuba, in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba and Intel Corporation. Our findings indicate that social networking services such as Facebook can provide civil society organizations with: (1 more political opportunities to advocate; (2 more chances to connect with the local government; and (3 create opportunities to exert greater presence, despite their limited financial and political resources.

  16. Active-involvement principle in dental health education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schou, L

    1985-01-01

    A basic problem in dental health education (DHE) is that the effect usually disappears shortly after the termination of a program. The purpose of the present study was to obtain long-term effect of a DHE-program by emphasizing the active involvement of the participants. The sample comprised...... an experimental and a control group, each of 68 unskilled workers, aged 18-64. Active participation was obtained by various means: Teaching was carried out in pre-existing peer groups, the participants' own goals and needs were included, the traditional dentist-patient barriers were excluded, the traditional...

  17. Active Social Media Management: The Case of Health Care

    OpenAIRE

    Miller, Amalia R.; Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth

    2012-01-01

    Given the demand for authentic personal interactions over social media, it is unclear how much firms should actively manage their social media presence. We study this question empirically in a health care setting. We show that active social media management drives more user-generated content. However, we find that this is due to an incremental increase in user postings from an organization's employees rather than from its clients. This result holds when we explore exogenous variation in socia...

  18. The Potential for Development of Russian Youth Social Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savotina, Nataliya

    2016-01-01

    The article deals with scientific and applied topicality of studying the problem of children and youth social activity. Spheres of social activity display in European tradition, in particular, the European Charter, Great Britain, have been revealed. Comparative analysis of understanding the essence of such a phenomenon in Western theories and…

  19. Adopt a Bacterium - an active and collaborative learning experience in microbiology based on social media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piantola, Marco Aurélio Floriano; Moreno, Ana Carolina Ramos; Matielo, Heloísa Alonso; Taschner, Natalia Pasternak; Cavalcante, Rafael Ciro Marques; Khan, Samia; Ferreira, Rita de Cássia Café

    2018-04-24

    The "Adopt a Bacterium" project is based on the use of social network as a tool in Microbiology undergraduate education, improving student learning and encouraging students to participate in collaborative learning. The approach involves active participation of both students and teachers, emphasizing knowledge exchange, based on widely used social media. Students were organized in groups and asked to adopt a specific bacterial genus and, subsequently, submit posts about "adopted genus". The formative assessment is based on posting information on Facebook®, and the summative assessment involves presentation of seminars about the adopted theme. To evaluate the project, students filled out three anonymous and voluntary surveys. Most of the students enjoyed the activities and positively evaluated the experience. A large amount of students declared a change in their attitude towards the way they processed information, especially regarding the use of scientific sources. Finally, we evaluated knowledge retention six months after the end of the course and students were able to recall relevant Microbiology concepts. Our results suggest that the "Adopt a Bacterium" project represents a useful strategy in Microbiology learning and may be applied to other academic fields. Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  20. Relevant Factors in the Process of Socialization, Involvement and Belonging of Descendants in Family Businesses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melquicedec Lozano-Posso

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This research works toward the identification of the factors that comprise the process of socialization, involvement and initial belonging of descendants in family businesses and the key relationships between them. By means of a qualitative detailed study of four cases, complemented by a quantitative survey of 274 Colombian family businesses, the authors generate a new model that takes into account both factors explored in previous research as well as others identified in this study. Findings confirm the specific dependency of each stage on the subsequent ones; socialization influences involvement, which in turn influences the belonging of the descendants to the family business, with a strong presence of factors such as knowledge, leadership, mode, timing, and motivation. Those responsible for the orientation of potential successors may examine these findings in order to optimize their preparation efforts and support of family human resources for the continuity of the business.

  1. Physical and social activities mediate the associations between social network types and ventilatory function in Chinese older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Sheung-Tak; Leung, Edward M F; Chan, Trista Wai Sze

    2014-06-01

    This study examined the associations between social network types and peak expiratory flow (PEF), and whether these associations were mediated by social and physical activities and mood. Nine hundred twenty-four community-dwelling Chinese older adults, who were classified into five network types (diverse, friend-focused, family-focused, distant family, and restricted), provided data on demographics, social and physical activities, mood, smoking, chronic diseases, and instrumental activities of daily living. PEF and biological covariates, including blood lipids and glucose, blood pressure, and height and weight, were assessed. Two measures of PEF were analyzed: the raw reading in L/min and the reading expressed as percentage of predicted normal value on the basis of age, sex, and height. Diverse, friend-focused, and distant family networks were hypothesized to have better PEF values compared with restricted networks, through higher physical and/or social activities. No relative advantage was predicted for family-focused networks because such networks tend to be associated with lower physical activity. Older adults with diverse, friend-focused, and distant family networks had significantly better PEF measures than those with restricted networks. The associations between diverse network and PEF measures were partially mediated by physical exercise and socializing activity. The associations between friend-focused network and PEF measures were partially mediated by socializing activity. No significant PEF differences between family-focused and restricted networks were found. Findings suggest that social network types are associated with PEF in older adults, and that network-type differences in physical and socializing activity is partly responsible for this relationship. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  2. Social cognitive correlates of leisure time physical activity among Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marquez, David X; McAuley, Edward

    2006-06-01

    Despite the well-documented benefits of leisure time physical activity, Latinos are reported to be highest among all ethnic groups in leisure time inactivity. The present study examined the relationship between leisure time physical activity and exercise self-efficacy, exercise barriers self-efficacy, exercise social support, and perceived importance of physical activity. Data were obtained from 153 Latinos (n = 86 female, n = 67 male). Comparisons were made between Latinos with high and low levels of leisure time physical activity and between men and women. Results revealed that Latinos high in leisure time physical activity had significantly greater exercise and barriers self-efficacy, received more social support from friends to exercise, and placed greater importance on physical activity outcomes than did Latinos low in leisure time physical activity. No significant differences were revealed for social support from family, nor between men and women on the psychosocial variables. Physical activity interventions targeting sources of self-efficacy, increasing social support, and emphasizing the importance of regular physical activity should be helpful in increasing leisure time physical activity of Latinos. Future research should examine the influence of environmental and cultural variables on the leisure time physical activity of Latinos and how they interact with psychosocial factors.

  3. IMPACT OF PERSONAL ORIENTATIONS ON ATTITUDES TO DIVERSITY AND CIVIC SOCIAL-POLITICAL ACTIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yolanda Zografova

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The dynamically ongoing processes of integration are among the crucial premises for the development of contemporary interpersonal, intergroup and cross-cultural relations, attitudes, conflicts and more. The research problem here directs to an analysis, based on ESS data collected in 8 countries, rounds 2006 and 2008, on the extent to which Europeans' personal orientations significantly influence the attitudes towards ethno-national diversity, in this case, towards two social groups: immigrants coming from poorer countries outside Europe and people with different sexual orientation. Furthermore, the influence of the same factors on the civic activeness and involvement in the social-political processes has been followed. Through regressive analysis the important effect of the co-otherness orientation (a concept developed by Sicakkan, 2003, the orientation to success and traditionalism on all included dependent variables has been proved. The expectations for predicting effects of the three personal orientations have been confirmed regarding the civic involvement and tolerance to diversity. Simultaneously the necessity of working EU politics to deal with the risks of emerging negative attitudes has been pointed out in relation to the broad immigrant and refugee wave to European countries.

  4. Preventive social activities with teenages from incomplete families

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruslan Chubuk

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This article foregrounds the importance of social prevention activities with adolescents from single-parent families, which aim at overcoming external social pressures and psychological discomfort as well as creating a system of mutual support and self-help for adolescents. The aim of this article is to highlight the forms and methods of work that constitute the set of traditional methods of professional influence on adolescents from single-parent families and their parents. The author proposes a work process cycle of social prevention activities (which defines the selection of apparatus, content, forms and methods of work to  186 carry out in a logical sequence of certain stages that are characteristic of work with any singleparent family. First (pre-preparatory stage consisted of a primary formulation of goal guidelines for social preventive specialists with the aim of determination of the search criterion for the conditions and social environment of single-parent families, acquaintance with the problems of the family and the adolescent. Second (organization and information stage consisted of gathering of information, its organization and analysis. In the third (determination and diagnosis stage, the methods of detailed investigation of both adolescent and family members’ problems were chosen. In the fourth (procedure and analytics stage, the methods of detailed research of single-family problems, determined by the programme, were implemented. In the fifth (correction and results stage stipulated for the socio-educational (correctional work (if necessary with members of single-parent families to create new or to restore damaged positive relationships of the adolescent with their family and enhance social responsibility of all family members for the future of the adolescent, etc. In the sixth (control and prevention stage social workers make monitor visits to the single-parent families during a certain period. Key words: stage, incomplete

  5. Social TV: How Social Media Activity Interacts With TV Advertising

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fossen Beth L.

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Social TV is the simultaneous consumption of television alongside social media chatter about the programming. This topic is highly relevant for marketers. Usually it is considered as a bad thing for TV advertisers. While there can be distraction from the ads, marketers can also benefit from positive effects. Consumers’ multiscreen activities can be used to attract more viewers, to leverage TV campaigns and to increase sales. This chatter creates free exposure for the brand online, extends the reach of television ad campaigns to the online space, and offers real-time feedback to advertisers on how their ads are being received. To take advantage of social TV, marketers need to develop a social media and ad design strategy for TV shows. Not every “social show” is good for them. Many programs receive a high volume of program-related chatter at the expense of advertiser-related word-of-mouth, but some programs generate high levels of online conversations that can also benefit their advertisers. Marketers are well served to identify those programs that are conducive to advertiser-related chatter. Also, specific ad designs can further encourage buzz.

  6. Politically Active Home Economists: Their Socialization to Politics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ley, Connie J.

    1980-01-01

    A nationwide study identified a pattern of political socialization for home economists who were politically active. The most outstanding feature of the politically active subjects was their perception that political activity is a professional role. (SK)

  7. Reliability of a Novel Social Activity Questionnaire: Perceived Social Support and Verbal Interaction in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuelsdorff, Megan L; Koscik, Rebecca L; Okonkwo, Ozioma C; Peppard, Paul E; Hermann, Bruce P; Sager, Mark A; Johnson, Sterling C; Engelman, Corinne D

    2018-02-01

    Social activity is associated with healthy aging and preserved cognition. Such activity includes a confluence of social support and verbal interaction, each influencing cognition through rarely parsed, mechanistically distinct pathways. We created a novel verbal interaction measure for the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP) and assessed reliability of resultant data, a first step toward mechanism-driven examination of social activity as a modifiable predictor of cognitive health. Two WRAP subsamples completed a test-retest study to determine 8-week stability ( n = 107) and 2-year stability ( n = 136) of verbal interaction, and 2-year stability of perceived social support. Reliability was determined using quadratic-weighted kappa, percent agreement, or correlation coefficients. Reliability was fair to almost perfect. The association between social support and interaction quantity decreased with age. Social activity data demonstrate moderate to excellent temporal stability. Moreover, in older individuals, social support and verbal interaction represent two distinct dimensions of social activity.

  8. Digital Media Use and Social Engagement: How Social Media and Smartphone Use Influence Social Activities of College Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yonghwan; Wang, Yuan; Oh, Jeyoung

    2016-04-01

    Social media and mobile phones have emerged as important platforms for college students' communication activities. This study examined how college students' psychological need to belong is associated with their use of social media and smartphones. In addition, it further investigated the effects of college students' digital media use on their social engagement. Findings revealed that students' need to belong was positively related with their use of social media and smartphones, which could further facilitate their social engagement. Moreover, the relationship between the need to belong and social engagement was mediated by college students' digital media use. This study offers empirical evidence of the positive effects of digital media on social behaviors and contributed to further understanding about the mechanisms by which need to belong leads to social engagement through digital media use.

  9. Social and structural barriers to housing among street-involved youth who use illicit drugs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krüsi, Andrea; Fast, Danya; Small, Will; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas

    2010-05-01

    In Canada, approximately 150,000 youth live on the street. Street-involvement and homelessness have been associated with various health risks, including increased substance use, blood-borne infections and sexually transmitted diseases. We undertook a qualitative study to better understand the social and structural barriers street-involved youth who use illicit drugs encounter when seeking housing. We conducted 38 semi-structured interviews with street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada from May to October 2008. Interviewees were recruited from the At-risk Youth Study (ARYS) cohort, which follows youth aged 14 to 26 who have experience with illicit drug use. All interviews were thematically analyzed, with particular emphasis on participants' perspectives regarding their housing situation and their experiences seeking housing. Many street-involved youth reported feeling unsupported in their efforts to find housing. For the majority of youth, existing abstinence-focused shelters did not constitute a viable option and, as a result, many felt excluded from these facilities. Many youth identified inflexible shelter rules and a lack of privacy as outweighing the benefits of sleeping indoors. Single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) were reported to be the only affordable housing options, as many landlords would not rent to youth on welfare. Many youth reported resisting moving to SROs as they viewed them as unsafe and as giving up hope for a return to mainstream society. The findings of the present study shed light on the social and structural barriers street-involved youth face in attaining housing and challenge the popular view of youth homelessness constituting a lifestyle choice. Our findings point to the need for housing strategies that include safe, low threshold, harm reduction focused housing options for youth who engage in illicit substance use.

  10. Activation of protein kinase A in the amygdala modulates anxiety-like behaviors in social defeat exposed mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Liu; Shi, Li-Jun; Yu, Jin; Zhang, Yu-Qiu

    2016-01-08

    Social defeat (SD) stress induces social avoidance and anxiety-like phenotypes. Amygdala is recognized as an emotion-related brain region such as fear, aversion and anxiety. It is conceivable to hypothesize that activation of amygdala is involved in SD-dependent behavioral defects. SD model was established using C57BL/6J mice that were physically defeated by different CD-1 mice for 10 days. Stressed mice exhibited decreased social interaction level in social interaction test and significant anxiety-like behaviors in elevated plus maze and open field tests. Meanwhile, a higher phosphorylation of PKA and CREB with a mutually linear correlation, and increased Fos labeled cells in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) were observed. Activation of PKA in the BLA by 8-Br-cAMP, a PKA activitor, significantly upregulated pCREB and Fos expression. To address the role of PKA activation on SD stress-induced social avoidance and anxiety-like behaviors, 8-Br-cAMP or H-89, a PKA inhibitor, was continuously administered into the bilateral BLA by a micro-osmotic pump system during the 10-day SD period. Neither H-89 nor 8-Br-cAMP affected the social behavior. Differently, 8-Br-cAMP significantly relieved anxiety-like behaviors in both general and moderate SD protocols. H-89 per se did not have anxiogenic effect in naïve mice, but aggravated moderate SD stress-induced anxiety-like behaviors. The antidepressant clomipramine reduced SD-induced anxiety and up-regulated pPKA level in the BLA. These results suggest that SD-driven PKA activation in the basolateral amygdala is actually a compensatory rather than pathogenic response in the homeostasis, and modulating amygdaloid PKA may exhibit potency in the therapy of social derived disorders.

  11. Characteristics of the process of culture development project activities (culture of social engineering) at the future bachelors of social work

    OpenAIRE

    Natalya I. Nikitina; Elena Yu. Romanovaa; Tatyana V. Vasilyeva; Irina N. Nikishina; Veronica M. Grebennikova

    2017-01-01

    In modern Russia professional activity productivity of social work specialist depends largely on his abilities and skills in the field of social design. University graduate`s (social work bachelor`s) high level of professional-project activity culture can be regarded as one of the necessary conditions of successful labour market adaptation of young specialists in social sphere institutions. The article discusses various aspects of future social work bachelors` vocational project activity cult...

  12. Active social policies in the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berkel, Rik van; Møller, Iver Hornemann

    of work in modern societies and the implications this has or should have for scientific and sociopolitical thinking about inclusion, participation and activation; the "paradigm shift" that can be observed in present social policies, which increasingly become directed at participation rather than (income...... and training/education schemes; and the implications of these research findings for the issues outlined above, that is our thinking of work in relation to participation on the one hand, and social policies aiming at increasing participation on the other....

  13. Community-based physical activity intervention using principles of social marketing: a demonstration project in Southern India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subitha, L; Soudarssanane, M Bala; Murugesan, R

    2013-01-01

    We aimed to study the development and implementation of promotion of physical activity in a rural community by applying the principles of social marketing and to determine participation behaviour in a physical activity programme in a community setting. The intervention targeted 485 people, 20-49 years of age, residents of Periakattupalayam and Rangareddipalayam villages, Tamil Nadu. This community-based participatory research was based on the principles of 'social marketing'. Health education by one-to-one counselling, written materials and community events were used to popularize moderate intensity physical activity (brisk walking for 30 minutes on 4 days/week). We formed 30 walking groups under four coordinators, in a home-based setting with professional supervision and guidance. A log of physical activity sessions for the 10-week intervention period was maintained in the form of group attendance record. Village leaders, self-help groups and youth clubs were involved in promoting physical activity. Of the 485 subjects, 265 people (54.6%) engaged in brisk walking >4 days a week, while 156 subjects (32.2%) performed walking on 1-4 days per week during the intervention. The drop-out rate was 13.2% (64 subjects). Age, occupation and educational status were important determinants of participation and adherence to the physical activity programme. Application of social marketing techniques in an intervention to promote physical activity was successful in a rural Indian community. Studying the determinants of adoption of a physical activity programme and addressing the barriers to behaviour change are essential for designing relevant policies and effective programmes. Copyright 2012, NMJI.

  14. Social anxiety and cardiovascular responses to active coping conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARGIT GRAMER

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available This study assessed the influence of trait social anxiety on cardiovascular, emotional and behavioral responses to active performance situations representing social and cognitive demands. Thirty-six male and thirty-six female students categorized as either high or low in trait social anxiety performed a mental arithmetic task and two interpersonal tasks requiring persuasive behavior: Preparation and Performance of a Speech, Role-played Interpersonal Interactions. The cardiovascular effects of social anxiety varied over experimental stressors and appear to reflect differences in effort or task engagement rather than differential affective experiences. During Role-played Interactions high socially anxious subjects displayed lower increases in systolic blood pressure compared to low anxious participants. This effect was partially mediated by behavioral indicators of social competence and suggests a more inhibited coping approach of socially anxious participants. Findings for Mental Arithmetic were in the opposite direction, high socially anxious subjects displayed greater heart rate effects. In the absence of group differences in state anxiety this effect might result from stronger audience effects on effort or task motivation in socially anxious participants. These findings strengthen the view that active performance situations elicit cardiovascular effects that are largely attributable to differences in task engagement. The data also indicate the importance of considering situational factors in social anxiety research.

  15. Social activity-travel patterns : the role of personal networks and communication technology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berg, van den P.E.W.

    2012-01-01

    Social activities are responsible for an important portion of trips and they constitute the fastest growing segment of travel. Moreover, social activities and mobility are important aspects of people’s quality of life. Therefore, social activities are important for transport planners to take into

  16. Characterization of Carbohydrate Active Enzymes Involved in Arabinogalactan Protein Metabolism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knoch, Eva

    and tissues, their functions and synthesis are still poorly understood. The aim of the research presented in the thesis was to characterize carbohydrate active enzymes involved in AGP biosynthesis and modification to gain insights into the biosynthesis of the glycoproteins in plants. Candidate...... glycosyltransferases and glycoside hydrolases were selected based on co-expression profiles from a transcriptomics analysis. Reverse genetics approach on a novel glucuronosyltransferase involved in AGP biosynthesis has revealed that the enzyme activity is required for normal cell elongation in etiolated seedlings....... The enzymatic activity of a hydrolase from GH family 17 was investigated, without successful determination of the activity. Members of hydrolase family 43 appeared to be localized in the Golgi-apparatus, which is also the compartment for glycan biosynthesis. The localization of these glycoside hydrolases...

  17. Leisure-time Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Older People: The Influence of Sport Involvement on Behaviour Patterns in Later Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy M. Gayman

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Given the dramatic demographic change underway in most industrialized nations, the health of older adults is a major concern, particularly given the prevalence of sedentary behaviours and physical inactivity among ageing populations. Researchers have suggested sport participation in later life promotes other health-related behaviours, however, these relationships are poorly understood. It is possible for individuals to be classified as sufficiently active and still spend most of their day involved in sedentary pursuits. Moreover, there is little information on older sport participants’ use of time compared to leisurely active or inactive peers and whether type of physical activity involvement is associated with differences in older adults’ behaviour patterns. With this in mind, data from 1,723 respondents (65 years and older who completed the sport module of the 2010 Canadian General Social Survey–Time Use were used to investigate the influence of physical activity involvement (competitive sport vs. non-competitive sport vs. physically active leisure vs. inactivity on time spent in leisure-time physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Results indicated that competitive sport participants spent less time engaging in sedentary behaviours compared to the physically active leisure or inactive respondents; however, sport participants (both competitive and non-competitive also spent less time engaging in leisure-time physical activities than the physically active leisure group. Implications of these findings to assumptions related to the activity levels of older sport participants, suggestions for future research, and considerations for sport-related interventions aimed at enhancing health in older adulthood are discussed.

  18. Leisure-time Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Older People: The Influence of Sport Involvement on Behaviour Patterns in Later Life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gayman, Amy M; Fraser-Thomas, Jessica; Spinney, Jamie E L; Stone, Rachael C; Baker, Joseph

    2017-01-01

    Given the dramatic demographic change underway in most industrialized nations, the health of older adults is a major concern, particularly given the prevalence of sedentary behaviours and physical inactivity among ageing populations. Researchers have suggested sport participation in later life promotes other health-related behaviours, however, these relationships are poorly understood. It is possible for individuals to be classified as sufficiently active and still spend most of their day involved in sedentary pursuits. Moreover, there is little information on older sport participants' use of time compared to leisurely active or inactive peers and whether type of physical activity involvement is associated with differences in older adults' behaviour patterns. With this in mind, data from 1,723 respondents (65 years and older) who completed the sport module of the 2010 Canadian General Social Survey-Time Use were used to investigate the influence of physical activity involvement (competitive sport vs. non-competitive sport vs. physically active leisure vs. inactivity) on time spent in leisure-time physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Results indicated that competitive sport participants spent less time engaging in sedentary behaviours compared to the physically active leisure or inactive respondents; however, sport participants (both competitive and non-competitive) also spent less time engaging in leisure-time physical activities than the physically active leisure group. Implications of these findings to assumptions related to the activity levels of older sport participants, suggestions for future research, and considerations for sport-related interventions aimed at enhancing health in older adulthood are discussed.

  19. Social smerte i det moderne arbejdsliv ud fra et arbejdspsykologisk perspektiv

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baldursson, Einar Baldvin

    2012-01-01

    It is often argued, that modern work and living in globalized knowledge society involve new demands and social stressors. This paper argues that it is meaningful to assume the existence of a psychological immune system that has emerged through the evolution of social mammals and humans. Accord...... to the theory, this system is activated in the case of social threats, loss or damage. When activated it causes psychological pain and depressive reaction. Similar to the innate immune system, the psychological immune system involves (social) behavior with the goal to limit damage and improve the odds...... for recovery. In the paper it is argued that modern work involves increased focus on social relations and cooperation. The experience of permanent changes at work, increased pressure and emotional demands lead to increasing risk for social loss and defeat at work. According to this theory such experiences...

  20. Social network in patient safety: Social media visibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azucena Santillán García

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Internet social network (social media is a powerful communication tool, and its use is expanding significantly. This paper seeks to know the current state of visibility in online social networks of active citizen talking about patient safety. This is an observational cross-sectional study whose target population is the websites Facebook, Twitter and Tuenti in Spain. By three consecutive cuts social profiles were found using the searching terms “seguridad+paciente” and “safety+patient”. There were found 5 profiles on Facebook that met the search criteria, 6 on Twitter and none were found on Tuenti. It is concluded that although there is evidence of the rise of social networking, citizen network involved in patient safety appears not to be significantly represented within the social networks examined.

  1. A Correlational Study of Extracurricular Involvement and Homework Performance of Third Grade Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Rachel; Moulden, Ryan

    2011-01-01

    There are many opportunities for students to participate in nonacademic activities. These activities can include: sports, clubs, private lessons, and religious activities. Participation in these activities enriches students' lives by encouraging social skills. Yet, if students are involved in activities requiring many hours of participation, does…

  2. A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fawkner, Samantha

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT Purpose: Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. Methods: A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls’ perspectives of how significant others’ influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Results: Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. Conclusion: The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls’ perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity. PMID:29405881

  3. A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laird, Yvonne; Fawkner, Samantha; Niven, Ailsa

    2018-12-01

    Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls' perspectives of how significant others' influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls' perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity.

  4. Involvement in Childrearing and Mothers' and Fathers' Adjustment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riina, Elizabeth M.; Feinberg, Mark E.

    2012-01-01

    Combining social construction of gender and equity perspectives on parents' division of labor, this study extended research on associations between parents' childrearing involvement and adjustment by (a) differentiating between types of childrearing activities (task focused vs. relationship focused), (b) examining patterns of differences in these…

  5. A survey of social media data analysis for physical activity surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Sam; Young, Sean D

    2018-07-01

    Social media data can provide valuable information regarding people's behaviors and health outcomes. Previous studies have shown that social media data can be extracted to monitor and predict infectious disease outbreaks. These same approaches can be applied to other fields including physical activity research and forensic science. Social media data have the potential to provide real-time monitoring and prediction of physical activity level in a given region. This tool can be valuable to public health organizations as it can overcome the time lag in the reporting of physical activity epidemiology data faced by traditional research methods (e.g. surveys, observational studies). As a result, this tool could help public health organizations better mobilize and target physical activity interventions. The first part of this paper aims to describe current approaches (e.g. topic modeling, sentiment analysis and social network analysis) that could be used to analyze social media data to provide real-time monitoring of physical activity level. The second aim of this paper was to discuss ways to apply social media analysis to other fields such as forensic sciences and provide recommendations to further social media research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

  6. Longitudinal examination of social and environmental influences on motivation for physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Elizabeth A; McDonough, Meghan; Fu, Rong

    2017-10-01

    Physical activity behavior is influenced by numerous factors including motivation, social interactions, and the walkability of the environment. To examine how social contexts and environmental features affect physical activity motivational processes across time. Participants (N=104) completed 3 monthly online surveys assessing self-determination theory constructs, social partners in physical activity, neighborhood walkability, and weekly physical activity. Longitudinal path analysis examined the degree to which physical activity was predicted by individual goals, orientation, and autonomy support and whether these associations were meditated by motivation and moderated by the social and environmental contexts of physical activity. The effect of controlled exercise orientations on physical activity was mediated by autonomous motivation. This association was stronger among those who perceived less crime in their neighborhoods. To improve the ability to tailor physical activity counseling it is important to understand how each person views exercise situations and to understand his/her social and neighborhood environments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The Psychological and Social Benefits of Sport and Physical Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wankel, Leonard M.; Berger, Bonnie G.

    1990-01-01

    An overview is given of research evidence pertaining to the contribution of sport and physical activity to personal enjoyment, growth, social integration, and social change. It is important to identify the prerequisite activity, leadership, organizational, and environmental conditions for facilitating positive outcomes. (JD)

  8. Links between social information processing in middle childhood and involvement in bullying. [IF 0.95

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Camodeca, M.; Goossens, F.A.; Schuengel, C.; Meerum Terwogt, M.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the way in which bullies, victims, bully/victims, and those not involved process social information. A peer nomination measure of bullying and victimization was administered twice over an interval of one year. The sample consisted of 236 (126 girls and 110

  9. Consumers' evaluations of socially responsible activities in retailing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herpen, van E.; Pennings, J.M.E.; Meulenberg, M.T.G.

    2003-01-01

    The authors approached Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a process in which particular CSR activities impact on consumers’ store evaluation and trust. They hypothesized that consumers classify CSR activities along two dimensions: (1) the beneficiary of the activity and (2) the intrinsic

  10. How Social Media ChangesUser-Centred Design - Cumulative and Strategic User Involvement with Respect to Developer–User Social Distance

    OpenAIRE

    Johnson, Mikael

    2013-01-01

    The aim of user-centred, participatory, and lead-user design approaches is to raise the quality of products and services through methods that aid developers in user involvement. In the lite-rature, the design context is often assumed to be 'one-off projects', which limits the applicabi-lity of the guidelines for further service design after market launch. Other challenges concern-ing social media include ambiguities in the role of informal engagement, the abstraction pro-cesses between millio...

  11. Striding Toward Social Justice: The Ecologic Milieu of Physical Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Rebecca E.; Cubbin, Catherine

    2009-01-01

    Disparities in physical activity should be investigated in light of social justice principles. This manuscript critically evaluates evidence and trends in disparities research within an ecologic framework, focusing on multi-level factors such as neighborhood and racial discrimination that influence physical activity. Discussion focuses on strategies for integrating social justice into physical activity promotion and intervention programming within an ecologic framework. PMID:19098519

  12. Personalized Social Network Activity Feeds for Increased Interaction and Content Contribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shlomo eBerkovsky

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Online social networks were originally conceived as means of sharing information and activities with friends, and their success has been one of the primary contributors of the tremendous growth of the Web. Social network activity feeds were devised as a means to aggregate recent actions of friends into a convenient list. But the volume of actions and content generated by social network users is overwhelming, such that keeping users up-to-date with friend activities is an ongoing challenge for social network providers. Personalization has been proposed as a solution to combat social network information overload and help users to identify the nuggets of relevant information in the incoming flood of network activities. In this paper, we propose and thoroughly evaluate a personalized model for predicting the relevance of the activity feed items, which informs the ranking of the feeds and facilitates personalization. Results of a live study show that the proposed feed personalization approach successfully identifies and promotes relevant feed items and boosts the uptake of the feeds. In addition, it increases the contribution of user-generated content to the social network and spurs interaction between users.

  13. Associations between children's social functioning and physical activity participation are not mediated by social acceptance: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebire, Simon J; Jago, Russell; Fox, Kenneth R; Page, Angie S; Brockman, Rowan; Thompson, Janice L

    2011-09-30

    Physical activity (PA) during childhood often occurs in social contexts. As such, children's ability to develop and maintain friendship groups may be important in understanding their PA. This paper investigates the associations among children's social functioning, and physical activity and whether perceptions of social acceptance mediate any social functioning-PA association. A cross sectional survey in which 652 10-11 year olds self-reported their peer (e.g. difficulties with friends) and conduct (e.g. anger/aggression) problems, prosocial behaviours (e.g. being kind to others) and perceptions of social acceptance. Physical activity was objectively assessed by Actigraph GT1M accelerometers to estimate counts per minute, (CPM) and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations between social functioning and PA. Indirect effects were analysed to explore mediation by social acceptance. Among boys, peer problems were negatively associated with CPM and MVPA and conduct problems were positively associated with CPM and MVPA. Prosocial behaviour was unrelated to PA in boys. Social functioning was not associated with PA among girls. Social acceptance did not mediate the social functioning-PA relationship. Boys' conduct and peer problems were associated positively and negatively respectively with their PA but this relationship was not mediated by perceptions of social acceptance. Future research should study alternative mediators to understand the processes underpinning this relationship.

  14. Physical activity and social support in adolescents: analysis of different types and sources of social support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendonça, Gerfeson; Júnior, José Cazuza de Farias

    2015-01-01

    Little is known about the influence of different types and sources of social support on physical activity in adolescents. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between physical activity and different types and sources of social support in adolescents. The sample consisted of 2,859 adolescents between 14-19 years of age in the city of João Pessoa, in Northeastern Brazil. Physical activity was measured with a questionnaire and social support from parents and friends using a 10-item scale five for each group (type of support: encouragement, joint participation, watching, inviting, positive comments and transportation). Multivariable analysis showed that the types of support provided by parents associated with physical activity in adolescents were encouragement for females (P genders (males: P = 0.009; females: P physical activity varies according to its source, as well as the gender and age of the adolescents.

  15. Predicting Preschoolers' Attachment Security from Fathers' Involvement, Internal Working Models, and Use of Social Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newland, Lisa A.; Coyl, Diana D.; Freeman, Harry

    2008-01-01

    Associations between preschoolers' attachment security, fathers' involvement (i.e. parenting behaviors and consistency) and fathering context (i.e. fathers' internal working models (IWMs) and use of social support) were examined in a subsample of 102 fathers, taken from a larger sample of 235 culturally diverse US families. The authors predicted…

  16. Stigma's Effect on Social Interaction and Social Media Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudewyns, Vanessa; Himelboim, Itai; Hansen, Derek L; Southwell, Brian G

    2015-01-01

    Stigmatized topics, such as HIV/STD, likely constrain related information sharing in ways that should be apparent in social interactions both on and off the Internet. Specifically, the authors predicted that the more people perceive an issue as stigmatized, the less likely they are to talk about the issue both privately (with sexual partners and peers) and publicly (on Twitter). Study 1 tested the effect of stigma on conversations at the individual level: The authors asked a group of participants (N = 138) about perceived STD-testing stigma, interactions with a sexual partner, and conversations with peers about STD testing. Study 2 assessed whether health conditions, in the aggregate, were less likely to generate social media activity as a function of current stigmatization. Using 259,758 archived Twitter posts mentioning 13 medical conditions, the authors tested whether level of stigma predicted the volume of relevant social media conversation, controlling for each condition's amount of advocacy and Google search popularity from a user's perspective. Findings supported our hypotheses. Individuals who reported perceiving a given health conditions in more stigmatic ways also reported interacting less with others about that topic; Twitter results showed a similar pattern. Results also suggest a more complex story of influence, as funding from the National Institutes of Health (i.e., each conditions amount of advocacy) associated with the examined health conditions also predicted Twitter activity. Overall, these results indicated that stigma had a similar, dampening effect on face-to-face and Twitter interactions. Findings hold theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed.

  17. DOES FAMILY SOCIAL SUPPORT AFFECT STARTUP BUSINESS ACTIVITIES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurlaily F.

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, StartUp has shown a considerable progress in Indonesia. Although most of the StartUps are newly established companies in phase to find the right markets, the StartUps are expected to contribute to the economy and solve local problems. In Indonesia most of the StartUps are still in the idea stage. Therefore, they have no profit, loss, or even failure. It causes the StartUps to be difficult in gaining trust from investors. To overcome these problems, support from various parties is necessary for the development of StartUp activities. One of them is a support from family (Family Social Support. Previous studies have shown that family support contributes to the success of an entrepreneur. However, there has been no research on the relationship between family support with StartUp activities, especially in developing countries like Indonesia. This study examined the influence of family social support in the form of financial capital support, social capital, human capital, physical capital, and family cohesiveness on StartUp activities in Indonesia by using Poisson regression analysis. The results showed that family cohesiveness had a significant effect on the increase of StartUp activities.

  18. When Sharing Is a Bad Idea: The Effects of Online Social Network Engagement and Sharing Passwords with Friends on Cyberbullying Involvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meter, Diana J; Bauman, Sheri

    2015-08-01

    Every day, children and adolescents communicate online via social networking sites (SNSs). They also report sharing passwords with peers and friends, a potentially risky behavior in regard to cyber safety. This longitudinal study tested the hypotheses that social network engagement in multiple settings would predict more cyberbullying involvement over time, and that youth who reported sharing passwords would also experience an increase in cyberbullying involvement. Data were collected at two time points one year apart from 1,272 third through eighth grade students. In line with the first study hypothesis, participating in more online SNSs was associated with increased cyberbullying involvement over time, as well as sharing passwords over time. Cyberbullying involvement at T1 predicted decreases in sharing passwords over time, suggesting that youth become aware of the dangers of sharing passwords as a result of their experience. Sharing passwords at T1 was unrelated to cyberbullying involvement at T2. Although it seems that youth may be learning from their previous mistakes, due to the widespread use of social media and normality of sharing passwords among young people, it is important to continue to educate youth about cyber safety and risky online behavior.

  19. Behavioral correlates between daily activity and sociality in wild and captive origin African lions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunston, Emma J; Abell, Jackie; Freire, Rafael

    2016-01-01

    Study of behavioral correlations within and across populations has long been of interest to ethologists. An exploration of behavioral correlations between sociality and behavior of African lions ( Panthera leo ) was undertaken to examine if this approach is better able to reveal important aspects of lion behavior not easily discernible by looking at these behaviors separately. Resting behavior and received play interactions were correlated in 2 captive-origin prides and one wild pride, attributable to the involvement of cubs and sub-adults. Direct and exploratory movement was negatively correlated with groom centrality in 2 of the 3 prides, due to adults engaging in high levels of both of these activities. Exploration of these behavioral correlations highlighted the differences between age-groups in activity and sociality, facilitating the understanding of the complex behavior and interactions of lions. In addition, the finding of similar behavioral correlations between captive-origin and the wild prides provides confidence in the suitability if captive-origin candidates for ex-situ release. This is imperative to ensure the success of sub-groups and prides under an ex-situ reintroduction program.

  20. Promoting Election-Related Policy Practice among Social Work Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritzker, Suzanne; Burwell, Christianna

    2016-01-01

    Political involvement is an integral component of the social work profession, yet there is no explicit reference to social work participation in election-related activities in either the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics or the Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Social work…

  1. Associations between Dementia Outcomes and Depressive Symptoms, Leisure Activities, and Social Support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathrin Heser

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Social relations and depressive symptoms are intertwined. They both predict subsequent dementia, but only few studies on the association between social life aspects and subsequent dementia exist. Methods: The risk of subsequent dementia was estimated over 2 follow-up assessments, each 18 months apart, depending on leisure activity, social support (general scale and the 3 factors emotional support, practical support, and social integration, and depressive symptoms, using proportional hazard models in a cohort of elderly patients (n = 2,300, with a mean age of 82.45 years recruited for the study by their general practitioners. Results: Higher depressive symptoms and lower cognitive and physical activity were associated with an increased risk of subsequent all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's dementia (AD. While neither social engagement nor the general social support scale was associated with subsequent dementia, a higher level of social integration was associated with a lower dementia risk. In combined models, the results for activity variables remained similar, but the strength of the association between depressive symptoms and the subsequent risk of dementia decreased, and the association with social integration disappeared. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms increased and activity variables decreased the risk of subsequent dementia; however, activity variables, namely cognitive and physical activity, partly mediated the effect of depressive symptoms on the subsequent risk of all-cause dementia and AD. In many cases, social support was not associated with a risk of subsequent dementia.

  2. Activism or "Slacktivism?": Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn, Cerise L.

    2015-01-01

    The influence of social media and technological developments has changed how groups and organizations advocating for social change generate awareness and participation in their causes. In this single class activity students will (a) analyze notions of activism and "slacktivism" from scholarly and popular sources to apply these concepts…

  3. Actinomycete enzymes and activities involved in straw saccharification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCarthy, A J; Ball, A S [Liverpool Univ. (UK). Dept. of Genetics and Microbiology

    1990-01-01

    This research programme has been directed towards the analysis of actinomycete enzyme systems involved in the degradation of plant biomass (lignocellulose.) The programme was innovative in that a novel source of enzymes was systematically screened and wheat straw saccharifying activity was the test criterion. Over 200 actinomycete strains representing a broad taxonomic range were screened. A range of specific enzyme activities were involved and included cellulase, xylanase, arabinofuranosidase, acetylesterase, {beta}-xylosidase and {beta}-glucosidase. Since hemicellulose (arabinoxylan) was the primary source of sugar, xylanases were characterized. The xylan-degrading systems of actinomycetes were complex and nonuniform, with up to six separate endoxylanases identified in active strains. Except for microbispora bispora, actinomycetes were found to be a poor source of cellulase activity. Evidence for activity against the lignin fraction of straw was produced for a range of actinomycete strains. While modification reactions were common, cleavage of inter-monomer bonds, and utilization of complex polyphenolic compounds were restricted to two strains: Thermomonospora mesophila and Streptomyces badius. Crude enzyme preparations from actinomycetes can be used to generate sugar, particularly pentoses, directly from cereal straw. The potential for improvements in yield rests with the formulation to cooperative enzyme combinations from different strains. The stability properties of enzymes from thermophilic strains and the general neutral to alkali pH optima offer advantages in certain process situations. Actinomycetes are a particularly rich source of xylanases for commercial application and can rapidly solubilise a lignocarbohydrate fraction of straw which may have both product and pretreatment potential. 31 refs., 4 figs., 5 tabs.

  4. Beyond recidivism: changes in health and social service involvement following exposure to drug treatment court.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezansoff, Stefanie N; Moniruzzaman, Akm; Clark, Elenore; Somers, Julian M

    2015-10-31

    The majority of Drug Treatment Court (DTC) research has examined the impact of DTCs on criminal recidivism. Comparatively little research has addressed the association between DTC participation and engagement with community-based health and social services. The present study investigated changes in participant involvement with outpatient healthcare and income assistance within a DTC cohort. We hypothesized that involvement with community-based (outpatient) health and social services would increase post-DTC participation, and that service levels would be higher among program graduates and offenders with histories of co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. Participants were 631 offenders at the DTC in Vancouver, Canada (DTCV). Administrative data representing hospital, outpatient medical care, and income assistance were examined one-year pre/post program to assess differences over time. Generalized estimating equations were used to investigate the association between changes in service use and program involvement. We also examined the relationship between level of service use and offender characteristics. Members of the cohort were disproportionately Aboriginal (33 %), had been sentenced 2.7 times in the 2 years preceding their index offence, and 50 % had been diagnosed with a non substance-related mental disorder in the five years preceding the index offence. The mean number of outpatient services post DTCV was 51, and the mean amount of social assistance paid was $5,897. Outpatient service use increased following exposure to DTCV (Adjusted Rate Ratio (ARR) = 1.45) and was significantly higher among women (ARR = 1.47), program graduation (ARR = 1.23), and those previously diagnosed with concurrent substance use and mental disorders (ARR = 4.92). Overall, hospital admissions did not increase post-program, although rates were significantly higher among women (ARR = 1.76) and those with concurrent disorders (ARR = 2.71). Income

  5. A model of involvement in work-related learning and development activity: the effects of individual, situational, motivational, and age variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maurer, Todd J; Weiss, Elizabeth M; Barbeite, Francisco G

    2003-08-01

    Eight hundred employees from across the U.S. work force participated in a detailed 13-month longitudinal study of involvement in learning and development activities. A new model was posited and tested in which the hypothesized sequence was as follows: worker age --> individual and situational antecedents --> perceived benefits of participation and self-efficacy for development --> attitudes toward development --> intentions to participate --> participation. The results depict a person who is oriented toward employee development as having participated in development activities before, perceiving themselves as possessing qualities needed for learning, having social support for development at work and outside of work, being job involved, having insight into his or her career, and believing in the need for development, in his or her ability to develop skills and to receive intrinsic benefits from participating. Given the aging work force, a detailed treatment of age differences in development is presented. Implications for new ideas in practice and future research are discussed.

  6. Changes in photosynthesis and activities of enzymes involved in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    tolerance, respectively were used to investigate the oxygen consumption rate of photosystem I, the oxygen evolution rate of photosystem II, cab transcript levels, and activities of enzymes involved in photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle.

  7. Parenting influences on Latino children's social competence in the first grade: parental depression and parent involvement at home and school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Carmen R; Shewakramani, Vansa; Goldberg, Simon; Padilla, Brian

    2013-10-01

    Although it is widely accepted that parental depression is associated with problems with children's socioemotional adjustment, the pathways by which parental depression influences children's adjustment, particularly in low-income Latino children are not fully understood. In our investigation of 1,462 low-income Latino children in the first grade and their Spanish- and English-dominant parents, a factor analysis revealed three main pathways of possible influence of parent involvement in children's social development: emotional involvement and educational involvement at home and at school. The findings from multigroup structural equation modeling revealed that whereas the first two pathways mediated the effect of parental depression on child social competence for Spanish-dominant parents, only emotional involvement explained parental depression effects for English-dominant parents. Parent educational involvement at school did not mediate parental depression effects for either Spanish- or English-dominant Latino parents. Discussion and implications of findings with respect to research, practice, and policy with Latinos follow.

  8. Playing Goffman's Information Game: A Classroom Activity Involving Student Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCoy, Charles Allan

    2017-01-01

    Goffman's dramaturgical approach is frequently used to introduce undergraduate students to the sociological understanding of human interaction. While a number of scholars have designed engaging student activities that highlight Goffman's approach, most of these activities tend to involve atypical embarrassing interactions or norm-breaking…

  9. Rapid assessment of disaster damage using social media activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryvasheyeu, Yury; Chen, Haohui; Obradovich, Nick; Moro, Esteban; Van Hentenryck, Pascal; Fowler, James; Cebrian, Manuel

    2016-03-01

    Could social media data aid in disaster response and damage assessment? Countries face both an increasing frequency and an increasing intensity of natural disasters resulting from climate change. During such events, citizens turn to social media platforms for disaster-related communication and information. Social media improves situational awareness, facilitates dissemination of emergency information, enables early warning systems, and helps coordinate relief efforts. In addition, the spatiotemporal distribution of disaster-related messages helps with the real-time monitoring and assessment of the disaster itself. We present a multiscale analysis of Twitter activity before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy. We examine the online response of 50 metropolitan areas of the United States and find a strong relationship between proximity to Sandy's path and hurricane-related social media activity. We show that real and perceived threats, together with physical disaster effects, are directly observable through the intensity and composition of Twitter's message stream. We demonstrate that per-capita Twitter activity strongly correlates with the per-capita economic damage inflicted by the hurricane. We verify our findings for a wide range of disasters and suggest that massive online social networks can be used for rapid assessment of damage caused by a large-scale disaster.

  10. Outcomes of Social Movements and Protest Activities

    OpenAIRE

    Giugni, Marco; Bosi, Lorenzo; Uba, Katrin

    2013-01-01

    Scholarship has left the study of the consequences of social movements in the background for a long time, focusing instead on movement emergence, characteristics, and dynamics. Since the mid-1970s, however, scholars have paid an increasing interest in how social movements and protest activities may produce change at various levels. The existing literature can be ordered according to the kind of consequence addressed. In this regard, one can roughly distinguish between political, biographical,...

  11. Involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus in impaired social perception in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Jung Eun; Choi, Soo-Hee; Lee, Hyeongrae; Shin, Young Seok; Jang, Dong-Pyo; Kim, Jae-Jin

    2015-04-03

    Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by impairments in diverse thinking and emotional responses, which are related to social perception dysfunction. This fMRI study was designed to investigate a neurobiological basis of social perception deficits of patients with schizophrenia in various social situations of daily life and their relationship with clinical symptoms and social dysfunction. Seventeen patients and 19 controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which participants performed a virtual social perception task, containing an avatar's speech with positive, negative or neutral emotion in a virtual reality space. Participants were asked to determine whether or not the avatar's speech was appropriate to each situation. The significant group×appropriateness interaction was seen in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), resulting from lower activity in patients in the inappropriate condition, and left DLPFC activity was negatively correlated with the severity of negative symptoms and positively correlated with the level of social functioning. The significant appropriateness×emotion interaction observed in the left superior temporal sulcus (STS) was present in controls, but absent in patients, resulting from the existence and absence of a difference between the inappropriate positive and negative conditions, respectively. These findings indicate that dysfunction of the DLPFC-STS network may underlie patients' abnormal social perception in various social situations of daily life. Abnormal functioning of this network may contribute to increases of negative symptoms and decreases of social functioning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Looking at the Social Activity for Adolescents with Orthopedic Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biastro, Leslie; Frank, Heather; Larwin, Karen H.

    2015-01-01

    Adolescents with identified orthopedic impairments are often less likely to participate in social activities outside of the school setting. However, the adolescents who are able to participate in activities have higher social skills, more academic successes, and show more satisfaction in their roles as family member or friend. The aim of this…

  13. Social Activity and Cognitive Functioning Over Time: A Coordinated Analysis of Four Longitudinal Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cassandra L. Brown

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Social activity is typically viewed as part of an engaged lifestyle that may help mitigate the deleterious effects of advanced age on cognitive function. As such, social activity has been examined in relation to cognitive abilities later in life. However, longitudinal evidence for this hypothesis thus far remains inconclusive. The current study sought to clarify the relationship between social activity and cognitive function over time using a coordinated data analysis approach across four longitudinal studies. A series of multilevel growth models with social activity included as a covariate is presented. Four domains of cognitive function were assessed: reasoning, memory, fluency, and semantic knowledge. Results suggest that baseline social activity is related to some, but not all, cognitive functions. Baseline social activity levels failed to predict rate of decline in most cognitive abilities. Changes in social activity were not consistently associated with cognitive functioning. Our findings do not provide consistent evidence that changes in social activity correspond to immediate benefits in cognitive functioning, except perhaps for verbal fluency.

  14. O envolvimento paterno e o desenvolvimento social de crianças iniciando as atividades escolares La participación paterna y el desarrollo social de niños iniciando las actividades escolares Father involvement and the social development of children in the school-entry transition stage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabiana Cia

    2009-03-01

    relationships between indicators of parental involvement and their children’s social and included 97 father-mother pairs (parents of children in the first or second grade, and 20 teachers. To evaluate father involvement, fathers and mothers completed an Evaluation of personal and family wellbeing and the parent-child relationship - Fathering Version, and to evaluate the children’s social development, the mothers, fathers and teachers completed the Social Skills Rating System-SSRS. The results indicate that more frequent: communication between father and child, paternal participation in child caregiving and in the child’s school, cultural and leisure activities are each associated with indicators of lower hyperactivity, fewer behavior problems and a wider repertoire of appropriate social skills. These results point to the importance of the constructive involvement of fathers for their children’s social development and the likely benefits of programs to promote father involvement.

  15. Active Social Policy meets Welfare Professions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Marie Østergaard

    2013-01-01

    Active social policy is an example of New Public Management, which contains a set of policy tools directly affecting the various professions working in the welfare sector (Harrits & Møller 2011). The legitimization of the policy is based in a need to strengthen control with public expenditures...... capacities and the doctor’s specialized focus on physical deviations. As such, the paper is an empirically informed contribution to understanding what happens when new forms of New Public Management meet front-line workers such as social workers and doctors who use both rules and professional norms...... and to restore public support for redistributive social benefits such as early retirement pension. Yet, New Public Management and professional norms are typically seen as two distinct rationalities, as reflected in the conflicting aims of the political system (retrenchment) and the ‘street-level bureaucrats...

  16. Social touch modulates endogenous μ-opioid system activity in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nummenmaa, Lauri; Tuominen, Lauri; Dunbar, Robin; Hirvonen, Jussi; Manninen, Sandra; Arponen, Eveliina; Machin, Anna; Hari, Riitta; Jääskeläinen, Iiro P; Sams, Mikko

    2016-09-01

    In non-human primates, opioid-receptor blockade increases social grooming, and the endogenous opioid system has therefore been hypothesized to support maintenance of long-term relationships in humans as well. Here we tested whether social touch modulates opioidergic activation in humans using in vivo positron emission tomography (PET). Eighteen male participants underwent two PET scans with [11C]carfentanil, a ligand specific to μ-opioid receptors (MOR). During the social touch scan, the participants lay in the scanner while their partners caressed their bodies in a non-sexual fashion. In the baseline scan, participants lay alone in the scanner. Social touch triggered pleasurable sensations and increased MOR availability in the thalamus, striatum, and frontal, cingulate, and insular cortices. Modulation of activity of the opioid system by social touching might provide a neurochemical mechanism reinforcing social bonds between humans. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Youth Involvement In Rural Development Activities In Ogba District ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    . This is because they are major stakeholders in the development process. This study investigates youth involvement in rural development activities in Ogba district of Rivers state, Nigeria. Data was collected from 120 randomly selected youths ...

  18. An Examination of Reciprocal Influences in Sport Socialization

    OpenAIRE

    海老原, 修; 横山, 文人; 宮下, 充正

    1989-01-01

    This study was designed to clarify reciprocal influences in sport socialization. Parent-effects were assessed by their sport involvement before their child participated in organized sport, whereas child-effects were measured by a parent's attitudinal and behavioral changes of sport involvement caused by a child's participation. Eight indicators of sport involvement were selected as follows: 3 types of interest in sport involvement such as activities, sport consumption, and sport activity in o...

  19. Vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing among college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vankim, Nicole A; Nelson, Toben F

    2013-01-01

    To examine cross-sectional associations between vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing among 4-year college students. A national cross-sectional sample of 4-year colleges in the United States. Ninety-four 4-year colleges in the United States. A total of 14,804 undergraduate students. Self-report vigorous physical activity, perceived stress (measured using the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale), mental health (measured using the SF-36), and socializing (assessed using self-report number of friends and hours spent socializing). Logistic regression models accounting for clustering within schools were estimated to examine the association between vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing. Adjusted models included high school vigorous physical activity and sociodemographic characteristics. Students who met vigorous physical activity recommendations were less likely to report poor mental health (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: .79; 95% confidence interval [CI]: .69, .90) and perceived stress (adjusted OR: .75; 95% CI: .67, .83) than students who did not meet recommendations. In addition, socializing partially mediated the relationship between vigorous physical activity, mental health, and perceived stress; however, race and sex did not moderate the relationship. Interventions aiming to improve mental well-being of college students should also consider promoting physical activity. At least some of the positive benefits of physical activity may arise from social interactions.

  20. Vigorous Physical Activity, Mental Health, Perceived Stress, and Socializing Among College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanKim, Nicole A.; Nelson, Toben F.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose To examine cross-sectional associations between vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing among 4-year college students. Design A national cross-sectional sample of 4-year colleges in the United States. Setting Ninety-four 4-year colleges in the United States. Subjects A total of 14,804 undergraduate students. Measures Self-report vigorous physical activity, perceived stress (measured using the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale), mental health (measured using the SF-36), and socializing (assessed using self-report number of friends and hours spent socializing). Analysis Logistic regression models accounting for clustering within schools were estimated to examine the association between vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing. Adjusted models included high school vigorous physical activity and sociodemographic characteristics. Results Students who met vigorous physical activity recommendations were less likely to report poor mental health (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: .79; 95% confidence interval [CI]: .69, .90) and perceived stress (adjusted OR: .75; 95% CI: .67, .83) than students who did not meet recommendations. In addition, socializing partially mediated the relationship between vigorous physical activity, mental health, and perceived stress; however, race and sex did not moderate the relationship. Conclusion Interventions aiming to improve mental well-being of college students should also consider promoting physical activity. At least some of the positive benefits of physical activity may arise from social interactions. PMID:23470187

  1. Empirical Evidence or Intuition? An Activity Involving the Scientific Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overway, Ken

    2007-01-01

    Students need to have basic understanding of scientific method during their introductory science classes and for this purpose an activity was devised which involved a game based on famous Monty Hall game problem. This particular activity allowed students to banish or confirm their intuition based on empirical evidence.

  2. Participation in social activities among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul T Shattuck

    Full Text Available Little is known about patterns of participation in social activities among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD. The objectives were to report nationally representative (U.S. estimates of participation in social activities among adolescents with an ASD, to compare these estimates to other groups of adolescents with disabilities, and examine correlates of limited social participation.We analyzed data from wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2, a large cohort study of adolescents enrolled in special education. Three comparison groups included adolescents with learning disabilities, mental retardation, and speech/language impairments. Adolescents with an ASD were significantly more likely never to see friends out of school (43.3%, never to get called by friends (54.4%, and never to be invited to social activities (50.4% when compared with adolescents from all the other groups. Correlates of limited social participation included low family income and having impairments in conversational ability, social communication, and functional cognitive skills.Compared with prior research, our study significantly expands inquiry in this area by broadening the range of social participation indicators examined, increasing the external validity of findings, focusing on the under-studied developmental stage of adolescence, and taking an ecological approach that included many potential correlates of social participation. There were notable differences in social participation by income, a dimension of social context seldom examined in research on ASDs.

  3. Differences in neighborhood social cohesion and aerobic physical activity by Latino subgroup

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosenda Murillo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Previous research has examined the role of neighborhood social cohesion in physical activity outcomes; however, less is known about this relationship across Latino subgroups. The purpose of our study was to examine the association between neighborhood social cohesion and aerobic leisure-time physical activity (LTPA among Latino adults and to determine whether these associations differ by Latino subgroup. We used cross-sectional 2013–2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS data on Latinos originating from 5 countries/regions (i.e., Latinos of Puerto Rican, Mexican/Mexican-American, Cuban/Cuban-American, Dominican and Central or South American origin aged ≥18 years (n=11,126. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between self-reported neighborhood social cohesion and meeting aerobic LTPA guidelines. Models were adjusted for age, sex, education, and acculturation. We also investigated whether associations varied by Latino subgroup. In adjusted models for all Latino adults, compared with those reporting low social cohesion, individuals who reported high social cohesion (Odds Ratio [OR]: 1.33; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.17–1.52 were significantly more likely to meet the aerobic physical activity guideline. When stratified by Latino subgroups, among Mexican/Mexicans-Americans (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.66 and Cuban/Cuban Americans (OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.97 high social cohesion was associated with meeting the aerobic activity guideline. Among Dominicans, those who reported medium social cohesion (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.29, 0.93 were less likely to meet the aerobic activity guideline. When examining aerobic physical activity outcomes in the Latino population, the role of neighborhood social cohesion and the variability among Latino subgroups should be considered. Keywords: Neighborhood social cohesion, Physical activity, Latinos, subgroups

  4. Are Adolescents Engaged in the Problematic Use of Social Networking Sites More Involved in Peer Aggression and Victimization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Ferrer, Belén; Moreno, David; Musitu, Gonzalo

    2018-01-01

    The problematic use of social networking sites is becoming a major public health concern. Previous research has found that adolescents who engage in a problematic use of social networking sites are likely to show maladjustment problems. However, little is known about its links with peer aggression and victimization. The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression -overt vs. relational and reactive vs. instrumental-, and peer victimization -overt physical and verbal, and relational-, taking into account gender and age (in early and mid-adolescence). Participants were selected using randomized cluster sampling considering school and class as clusters. A battery of instruments was applied to 1,952 adolescents' secondary students from Spain (Andalusia) (50.4% boys), aged 11 to 16 ( M = 14.07, SD = 1.39). Results showed that girls and 14-16 adolescents were more involved in a problematic use of online social networking sites. Furthermore, adolescents with high problematic use of online social networking sites were more involved in overt-reactive and instrumental-and relational-reactive and instrumental-aggressive behaviors, and self-reported higher levels of overt-physical and verbal-and relational victimization. Even though boys indicated higher levels of all types of victimization, girls with high problematic use of online social networking sites scored the highest on relational victimization. Relating to age, early adolescents (aged 11-14) with higher problematic use of online social networking sites reported the highest levels of overt verbal and relational victimization. Overall, results suggested the co-occurrence of problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression and victimization. In addition, results showed the influence that gender and age had on peer victimization. This study highlights the continuity between offline and online domains with regard to

  5. Are Adolescents Engaged in the Problematic Use of Social Networking Sites More Involved in Peer Aggression and Victimization?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belén Martínez-Ferrer

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The problematic use of social networking sites is becoming a major public health concern. Previous research has found that adolescents who engage in a problematic use of social networking sites are likely to show maladjustment problems. However, little is known about its links with peer aggression and victimization. The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression –overt vs. relational and reactive vs. instrumental–, and peer victimization –overt physical and verbal, and relational–, taking into account gender and age (in early and mid-adolescence. Participants were selected using randomized cluster sampling considering school and class as clusters. A battery of instruments was applied to 1,952 adolescents' secondary students from Spain (Andalusia (50.4% boys, aged 11 to 16 (M = 14.07, SD = 1.39. Results showed that girls and 14–16 adolescents were more involved in a problematic use of online social networking sites. Furthermore, adolescents with high problematic use of online social networking sites were more involved in overt—reactive and instrumental—and relational—reactive and instrumental—aggressive behaviors, and self-reported higher levels of overt—physical and verbal—and relational victimization. Even though boys indicated higher levels of all types of victimization, girls with high problematic use of online social networking sites scored the highest on relational victimization. Relating to age, early adolescents (aged 11–14 with higher problematic use of online social networking sites reported the highest levels of overt verbal and relational victimization. Overall, results suggested the co-occurrence of problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression and victimization. In addition, results showed the influence that gender and age had on peer victimization. This study highlights the continuity between offline

  6. Social responsibility of public accountant in carrying out his work in mining activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Rocío Acevedo-Pérez

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The accounting professional in recent times, as a major player, has been questioned in the performance of his work and even frequently involved with corporate financial scandals, putting into question the social responsibility of his profession. However, here, the analysis of the accounting profession is directed specifically to watch the behavior of the accountant in a particular sector such as mining, mainly in relation to the advise in the exploitation of coal. This paper presents the results of the investigation on public accountants who provide advisory services to entrepreneurs in the mining sector. It inquires also on issues related to the level and quality of the advice that they provide in different topics such as economic, administrative , tax, labor , social and environmental issues in relation to the development of the activity.  Similarly the accountant has an ethical commitment to both organizations and the different groups that are linked directly or indirectly to maintain balance in organizations through the provision of information to related parties on their rights that correspond to them in the development of the activity, and as an administrator and manager of information in decision-making contributes to the generation of the common welfare.  Finally, the social responsibility of the public accountant goes beyond the commitment to the State and the organizations in which they work, because there is a commitment to other stakeholders including the environment and society.

  7. Determine small and medium enterprise social media activities: A community engagement project in the Tshwane community

    OpenAIRE

    Louise van Scheers; Jacques van Scheers

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to determine small and medium enterprise (SME) social media activities and promote CE scholarship engagement. It is a community engagement project conducted in the Tshwane community. Community engagement (CE) as a planned process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people in the community to address issues affecting their well-being. The CE project SME skills transfer workshops are aimed at expanding involvement with the community. The benef...

  8. Is healthy behavior contagious: associations of social norms with physical activity and healthy eating

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McNaughton Sarah A

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Social norms are theoretically hypothesized to influence health-related behaviors such as physical activity and eating behaviors. However, empirical evidence relating social norms to these behaviors, independently of other more commonly-investigated social constructs such as social support, is scarce and findings equivocal, perhaps due to limitations in the ways in which social norms have been conceptualized and assessed. This study investigated associations between clearly-defined social norms and a range of physical activity and eating behaviors amongst women, adjusting for the effects of social support. Methods Self-report survey data about particular physical activity (leisure-time moderate-vigorous activity; volitional walking; cycling for transport and eating behaviors (fast food, soft drink and fruit and vegetable consumption, and social norms and support for these, were provided by 3,610 women aged 18-46 years living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Victoria, Australia. Results Results of regression analyses showed that social norms for physical activity and eating behaviors predicted these respective behaviors relatively consistently; these associations generally remained significant after adjustment for social support. Conclusions Acknowledging the cross-sectional study design, these data confirm theoretical accounts of the importance of social norms for physical activity and eating behaviors, and suggest that this is independent from social support. Intervention strategies aimed at promoting physical activity and healthy eating could incorporate strategies aimed at modifying social norms relating to these behaviors.

  9. Community Involvement of Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: Their Experiences and Perspectives on Inclusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Sarah A

    2017-09-01

    Inclusion in the community is essential to enhancing a person's quality of life. Although people with intellectual disabilities have a desire to be more involved in activities, they experience barriers that limit their inclusion. The purpose of this study was to describe the community involvement of young adults with intellectual disability. I interviewed fourteen young adults with intellectual disability to explore their involvement in work, recreation and leisure activities. Four themes emerged from the data: vocational endeavours, leisure pursuits, social inclusion and supports. The contexts of their experiences either facilitated or hindered their community involvement. The community involvement of young adults with intellectual disability varies depending on the opportunities and supports available to them. Their inclusion in the community may be enhanced by additional transportation options, continuing education in vocational and social skills, personalized guidance from group members and environments that are welcoming to people with disabilities. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Gender-specific associations between involvement in team sport culture and canadian adolescents' substance-use behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyes, Randy; O'Sullivan, Dylan E; Linden, Brooke; McIsaac, Michael; Pickett, William

    2017-12-01

    Canadian adolescents have some of the highest rates of substance use in the world. The etiology of this phenomenon has not been fully explored, and one possible contextual determinant is involvement in sport activities that foster risk-taking behaviors through physical and social mechanisms. Using the 2013-14 Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) study we therefore examined this hypothesis in a contemporary national sample of Canadian adolescents. The strength and direction of the relationship between sport and substance use varied by gender and substance, with team sport participation associated with increased binge drinking (RR 1.33 [95% CI 1.13-1.56] for boys, RR 1.21 [1.06-1.38] for girls) and use of smokeless tobacco (RR 1.68 [1.34-2.10] for boys, RR 1.32 [1.01-1.72] for girls), but with lower prevalence levels of cannabis use (RR 0.73 [95% CI 0.61-0.88]) and cigarette smoking (RR 0.79 [95% CI 0.70-0.89]) in girls alone. We also compared team sport athletes with high social involvement (sports team as primary peer group) and physical involvement (higher number of days/week physically active) to those with low involvement. For boys, the combination of high physical and high social involvement was associated with the highest risk, while high social involvement alone was associated with the greatest risk for girls. While team sport participation confers only a small increased risk for substance use, the prevalence of sport participation results in a large population impact. Given this fact, interventions such as education for parents and coaches and policies encouraging engagement in a variety of extracurricular activities should be explored.

  11. Social cognitive mediators of the effect of the MobileMums intervention on physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fjeldsoe, Brianna S; Miller, Yvette D; Marshall, Alison L

    2013-07-01

    To explore whether improvements in physical activity following the MobileMums intervention were mediated by changes in Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs targeted in the intervention (barrier self efficacy, goal setting skills, outcome expectancy, social support, and perceived environmental opportunity for exercise). This paper also examined if the mediating constructs differed between initial (baseline to 6 weeks) and overall (baseline to 13 weeks) changes in physical activity. Secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial involving 88 postnatal women (Exercise frequency was assessed using the Australian Women's Activity Survey and frequency of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using a single-item question. Initial improvements in goal-setting skills mediated the relationship between experimental condition and initial changes in MVPA, αβ (95% CI) = 0.23(0.01, 0.59), and Walking for Exercise, αβ (95% CI) = 0.34(0.06, 0.73). Initial improvements in barrier self efficacy mediated the relationship between experimental condition and initial change in MVPA, αβ (95% CI) = 0.36(0.12, 0.65), but not Walking for Exercise. None of the SCT outcomes significantly mediated the relationship between experimental condition and overall (baseline to 13 weeks) change in frequency of MVPA or Walking for Exercise. Future interventions with postnatal women using SCT should target barrier self-efficacy and goal setting skills in order to increase physical activity. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. How youths' profiles of extracurricular and leisure activity affect their social development

    OpenAIRE

    Sauerwein, Markus; Theis, Desiree; Fischer, Natalie

    2016-01-01

    Research has shown that participation in extracurricular activities has a positive effect on adolescents' social behaviour and academic performance; however, the reciprocal influence of extracurricular activities and leisure on the development of adolescents' academic performance and social behaviour is unclear. In our study, we investigate the effect of school based and out-of-school leisure activities on adolescent's social and scholastic development. We also explore how students' gender, s...

  13. Cognitive performance and engagement in physical, social and intellectual activities in older adults: The FIBRA study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovana Sposito

    Full Text Available Cognitive decline in aging can negatively impact quality of life in the elderly. However, studies have shown that elderly engaged in advanced activities of daily living (AADLs can maintain or enhance global cognitive function or specific domains.Objective:To investigate the relationship between engagement in AADLs and domains of cognition in elderly from seven different locations in Brazil.Methods:A cross-sectional study involving 2,549 elderly without cognitive deficits suggestive of dementia was conducted. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, health status, the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE by subdomain (orientation, memory, attention/calculus, language and constructional praxis, and engagement in AADL grouped under physical, social and intellectual activities.Results:Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed an association, albeit modest, between intellectual AADLs and the domains orientation, attention/calculus, language and constructional praxis (R2=0.005, 0.008, 0.021, and 0.021 respectively. Social AADLs were correlated with memory (R2=0.002 and language (R2=0.004 domains. No association was found between physical AADLs and MMSE domains. Schooling and family income were the sociodemographic variables exhibiting the strongest relationship with cognitive domains.Conclusion:The study found associations between intellectual and social AADLs with higher cognitive performance, suggesting that active aging can provide opportunities to attenuate cognitive decline in aging.

  14. Older Adults Co-Creating Meaningful Individualized Social Activities Online for Healthy Ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blusi, Madeleine; Nilsson, Ingeborg; Lindgren, Helena

    2018-01-01

    Social isolation and loneliness among older people is a growing problem with negative effects on physical and mental health. In co-creation with older adults individualized social activities were designed where older adults through computer mediated communication were able to participate in social activities without leaving their homes. Four types of activities were designed; outdoor activity, music event, visiting a friend and leisure activity. A participatory action research design was applied, where end users together with scientists from two research fields developed, tested and evaluated online participation in the activities. Usability and safety of the systems were major concerns among older adults. The evaluation pointed out that level of simplicity, usability and audio-video quality determined the level of satisfaction with the human interaction during the activity, thereby affecting the meaningfulness of the activity. The research presented in this paper constitutes the first step in a long-term research process aiming at developing a digital coaching system that gives older adults personalized support for increasing participation in meaningful social activities.

  15. [Activity involvement and extraversion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in older people].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubio, Laura; Dumitrache, Cristina G; Rubio-Herrera, Ramona

    2016-01-01

    The relationship between extraversion and wellbeing has been discussed in the literature, however, the impact that this trait has on the wellbeing of older people has been studied to a lesser extent. The relationship between extraversion, participation in activities and psychological wellbeing in older people is analysed in this study. The sample comprised 139 individuals over 55 years from rural and urban areas of the province of Granada who completed the extraversion subscale of the NEO-FFI and the Ryff Scales of the Psychological Wellbeing, as well as responding to questions that evaluated their social participation. A greater social participation was found in rural areas and among women. The activities more frequently performed by the participants were educational and religious activities, walking, everyday chores, crafts, and home improvements. A low positive correlation between extraversion and wellbeing was observed. The multiple regression analysis revealed that extraversion explained 19.9% of the variance in psychological wellbeing, which increased to 25.3% when social participation, gender, and the origin of the sample were considered. Psychological wellbeing appears to be associated with personality traits, such as extraversion. In addition this personality trait is linked to the number and type of activities the elderly perform which also contributes to wellbeing in old age. Copyright © 2015 SEGG. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  16. Why social science matters in river management: involvement of local stakeholders in monitoring the effects of room for the river measures in the Netherlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verbrugge, Laura; van den Born, Riyan

    2015-04-01

    The Netherlands is a densely populated delta region with a long tradition in flood protection and river management. In response to climate change, adaptive measures are implemented to create more room for the river (and thus increasing water discharge capacity) while at the same time maintaining the multifunctional use of the river system. These functions include for example navigation, water supply, housing and spatial quality, nature development and recreation. The incorporation of social aspects in water management is vital for the development and implementation of sustainable solutions in environmental planning. Active stakeholder involvement has major benefits in terms of trust, public support, social learning and creative decision making. In practice, however, stakeholder involvement is often confined to one-way communication (e.g. information on websites and public hearings) instead of establishing a dialogue with the relevant local stakeholders. Moreover, stakeholders are often involved too late. Our study focusses on stakeholder perceptions and the opportunities for stakeholder participation and collaboration in river management. One way to actively involve stakeholders and invest in a dialogue is through participatory monitoring, i.e. to involve local stakeholders in collecting, analyzing and evaluating monitoring data. Currently, a pilot engineering intervention (2013-2015) is carried out in the Waal river, i.e. the main Rhine branch in The Netherlands. This intervention comprises the substitution of traditional groynes by a 10 km longitudinal dam and will change the appearance of the fluvial landscape dramatically. An interdisciplinary team of scientists, government representatives and other public and private parties is involved in monitoring the hydrological, ecological and socio-economic effects of the longitudinal dam with the aim to develop and improve models, guidelines and tools for integrative river management. This also provides unique

  17. The association between physical activity and social isolation in community-dwelling older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robins, Lauren M; Hill, Keith D; Finch, Caroline F; Clemson, Lindy; Haines, Terry

    2018-02-01

    Social isolation is an increasing concern in older community-dwelling adults. There is growing need to determine effective interventions addressing social isolation. This study aimed to determine whether a relationship exists between physical activity (recreational and/or household-based) and social isolation. An examination was conducted for whether group- or home-based falls prevention exercise was associated with social isolation. Cross-sectional analysis of telephone survey data was used to investigate relationships between physical activity, health, age, gender, living arrangements, ethnicity and participation in group- or home-based falls prevention exercise on social isolation. Univariable and multivariable ordered logistic regression analyses were conducted. Factors found to be significantly associated with reduced social isolation in multivariable analysis included living with a partner/spouse, reporting better general health, higher levels of household-based physical activity (OR = 1.03, CI = 1.01-1.05) and feeling less downhearted/depressed. Being more socially isolated was associated with symptoms of depression and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure (pseudo R 2 = 0.104). Findings suggest that household-based physical activity is related to social isolation in community-dwelling older adults. Further research is required to determine the nature of this relationship and to investigate the impact of group physical activity interventions on social isolation.

  18. Influence Determination of Social Responsibility to the Productivity Enterprise Activity Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergii Kavun

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to develop a scientific and methodical approach for determination of the comprehensive social responsibility indicator in this paper based on estimation of influence degree for the economical, ecological, social and labour, standard and legal components. There is allowance for determining of some level of enterprise social responsibility. In addition, there is a basis for development some ways of their increasing. The essence of the used approach is clotting of the individual indicators set to four intermediate indicators of the economic, ecological, social and labor, standard and legal components, which can be boiled down to the generalizing activity productivity indicator based on the matrix and range approach. An economical and mathematical model of the social responsibility influence level to the enterprise activity productivity level, which is based on enterprise propose harmonization with the participants’ interests, was being built. The paper proposes the mathematical model, which allows detecting a necessary time period for enterprise activity productivity ensuring due to social responsibility implementation.

  19. Social Participation, a guide for counsellors in social activation, reintegration in the labour market and active assistance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Henk Spies; drs. Johny Vanschoren

    2005-01-01

    This book contains a practical description of a successful method to guide people that have been standing in the sideline for long periods of time, to them a fitting form of social participation. This can be done through paid or voluntary work, activities aimed at physical or psychological and

  20. Characteristics of the Process of Culture Development Project Activities (Culture of Social Engineering) at the Future Bachelors of Social Work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikitina, Natalya I.; Romanova, Elena Yu.; Vasilyeva, Tatyana V.; Nikishina, Irina N.; Grebennikova, Veronica M.

    2017-01-01

    In modern Russia professional activity productivity of social work specialist depends largely on his abilities and skills in the field of social design. University graduate's (social work bachelor`s) high level of professional-project activity culture can be regarded as one of the necessary conditions of successful labour market adaptation of…

  1. An Examination of Involvement and Socially Responsible Leadership Development of Black Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCurtis, Bridget R.

    2012-01-01

    There has been an identifiable decline in moral decision making and socially responsible behaviors in society based on recent national events such as Enron and the Bernie Madoff scandal (Arvedlund, 2009; Doran, 2004). This study attempts to address this leadership crisis by examining college student involvement and leadership experiences that may…

  2. [The role of religion in the promotion of health, in the prevention of violence and in the rehabilitation of individuals involved in criminal activity: literature review].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro, Fernanda Mendes Lages; Minayo, Maria Cecília de Souza

    2014-06-01

    This is a review of the literature on the role of religion in the promotion of health, the prevention of violence and the rehabilitation of individuals involved in criminal activities. Research was conducted in the Medline through PubMed, Lilacs, Scopus, Social Index with full text, Sociological abstracts and Social services abstracts databases. Twenty-nine essays in Portuguese, English and Spanish were selected and analyzed between 1990 and 2011. The results indicate the function of the religious group and the role of religion in the rehabilitation of individuals, the prevention of criminal involvement, corrective orientations and in social iniquity environments. A debate is presented on the main themes revealed, highlighting the multiplicity of religious roles, their influence over prisoners, as a social control and support base and its influence on mental health promotion and quality of life. The relation between religion and the public sphere is discussed, emphasizing the role of religious groups and the fragility of the State in providing basic public policies. Despite revealing the successful role of religion in violence prevention and in rehabilitation, some studies question this relation and highlight the conflicts between the concepts employed and the final results.

  3. SOCIAL CAPITAL FRAMEWORK AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Badea Mihaela-Raluca

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to understand the theoretical framework of the social capital concept, based on different approaches identified in the literature and highlight the direct influence social capital has on the entrepreneurial personality characteristics of individuals and organizations. The objectives of the paper focus first on conceptualizing the notion of social capital, by acknowledging the social capital structure and components in the acceptation of the most popular scholars in the research field, the sources of social capital and its role in building social economy; further on, the article explores the influence of social capital in the creation of innovation and economic growth, its dimensions in the entrepreneurial process and the definition of the instruments of measurement, including indicators of trust-generalized and institutional, number of social networks, associational activities-passive and active membership and civic norms. The paper gathers some of the outcomes of different researches conducted in the literature with respect to the positive relationship between social capital dimensions and entrepreneurship, through attracting the right potential of human capital and the required level of financial capital, reducing the transaction costs, identifying new market opportunities and leveraging the social networks, transfer and knowledge overflow and information channels, enabling the launch and the survival of business venture and help gain competitive advantage that would ensure sustainability and success. The case studies referenced in this article use various approaches of highlighting the social capital as a key enabler and not necessarily a generator of entrepreneurial activity, by analyzing the likelihood to launch new ventures based on the interactions with key partners and exchange of information, the sustainability and success of a start up or push/pull factors that determine an entrepreneur to enter the new

  4. Analysis of Altered Baseline Brain Activity in Drug-Naive Adult Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder Using Resting-State Functional MRI

    OpenAIRE

    Qiu, Changjian; Feng, Yuan; Meng, Yajing; Liao, Wei; Huang, Xiaoqi; Lui, Su; Zhu, Chunyan; Chen, Huafu; Gong, Qiyong; Zhang, Wei

    2015-01-01

    Objective We hypothesize that the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) is involved in the altered regional baseline brain function in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The aim of the study was to analyze the altered baseline brain activity in drug-naive adult patients with SAD. Methods We investigated spontaneous and baseline brain activities by obtaining the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 20 drug-na?ve adult SAD patients and 19 healthy controls. Voxels wer...

  5. Perceived influence and college students' diet and physical activity behaviors: an examination of ego-centric social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harmon, Brook E; Forthofer, Melinda; Bantum, Erin O; Nigg, Claudio R

    2016-06-06

    school friends were perceived as least influential, especially among students who moved a long distance for college. Intervention strategies addressing perceived norms and using peer leaders may help promote physical activity among college students, while diet interventions may need to involve significant others in order to be successful. Testing of these types of intervention strategies and continued examination of social networks and their influences on diet and physical activity behaviors are needed.

  6. Perceived influence and college students’ diet and physical activity behaviors: an examination of ego-centric social networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brook E. Harmon

    2016-06-01

    recommendations. Conclusions Among the groups nominated, high school friends were perceived as least influential, especially among students who moved a long distance for college. Intervention strategies addressing perceived norms and using peer leaders may help promote physical activity among college students, while diet interventions may need to involve significant others in order to be successful. Testing of these types of intervention strategies and continued examination of social networks and their influences on diet and physical activity behaviors are needed.

  7. A Cross-Sectional Survey Study About the Most Common Solitary and Social Flow Activities to Extend the Concept of Optimal Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tímea Magyaródi

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Previous assumptions note that the most powerful experiences of engagement are shared with others. Therefore, in the framework of positive psychology, to expand the dynamic interactionism-related flow theory, we have attempted to conduct an exploratory study about flow to reveal the most common activities that can trigger this experience during solitary or social situations. The study involved 1,709 adult participants from Hungary (Age: M = 26.95, SD = 11.23. They read descriptions about optimal experience in solitary and social situations and were asked to identify the activity from their life that is most typically followed by the described experiences. The social context was supplemented by other flow-related questions for a deeper understanding and to contribute to the research. According to the results the most typical solitary flow activities are found to be work, sports, creative activities and reading. The most common flow-inducing social activities are work and sports. The choice of the most frequent flow-inducing activities in both solitary and interpersonal situations is dependent on the gender of the respondent, and various demographical factors can influence the frequency of flow experiences in different contexts. Analysis reveal that optimal experience during a social interaction is determined by the perceived level of challenges, the perceived level of cooperation, the immediateness and clarity of the feedback, and the level of the skill. Our study may contribute to the broadening purpose of positive psychology as it focuses on the interpersonal level in relation to flow experience, which, in turn, may also support a higher level of well-being.

  8. Modality effects in Second Life: the mediating role of social presence and the moderating role of product involvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Seung-A Annie

    2009-12-01

    The rapid growth of virtual worlds is one of the most recent Internet trends. Some distinguishing features of virtual environments include the employment of avatars and multimodal communication among avatars. This study examined the effects of the modality (text vs. audio) of message presentation on people's evaluation of spokes-avatar credibility and the informational value of promotional messages in avatar-based advertising inside 3D virtual environments. An experiment was conducted in the virtual Apple retail store inside Second Life, the most popular and fastest growing virtual world. The author designed a two-group (textual advertisement vs. auditory advertisement) comparison experiment by manipulating the modality of conveying advertisement messages. The author also created a spokes-avatar that represents a real-life organization (Apple) and presents promotional messages about its innovative product, the iPhone. Data analyses showed that (a) textual modality (vs. auditory modality) resulted in greater source expertise, informational value of the advertisement message, and social presence; and that (b) high product involvement (vs. low product involvement) resulted in a more positive attitude toward the product, higher buying intention, and a higher level of perceived interactivity. In addition to the main effects of product involvement and modality, results showed significant interaction between involvement and modality. Modality effects were stronger for people with low product involvement than for those with high product involvement, thus confirming the moderating effects of product involvement. Results of a path analysis also showed that social presence mediated the effects of modality on the perceived informational value of the advertisement message.

  9. Social Interaction and Stock Market Participation: Evidence from China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhifeng Liu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Current research on the impact of social interaction on the stock market participation only involves the traditional way of social interaction, and this paper further investigates the modern social interaction effects on the stock market participation and its activeness. The sample containing 150 Chinese counties is selected, and we apply grouping analysis and linear regression to conclude that social interaction has positive influence on the stock market participation and its activeness. Both traditional and modern social interaction ways affect the stock market participation and its activeness to the similar extent, so modern social interaction is of the same importance. Controlling for the respondents’ age, wealth, and education level, the above conclusion still holds.

  10. The power of social networks and social support in promotion of physical activity and body mass index among African American adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flórez, Karen R; Richardson, Andrea S; Ghosh-Dastidar, Madhumita Bonnie; Troxel, Wendy; DeSantis, Amy; Colabianchi, Natalie; Dubowitz, Tamara

    2018-04-01

    Social support and social networks can elucidate important structural and functional aspects of social relationships that are associated with health-promoting behaviors, including Physical Activity (PA) and weight. A growing number of studies have investigated the relationship between social support, social networks, PA and obesity specifically among African Americans; however, the evidence is mixed and many studies focus exclusively on African American women. Most studies have also focused on either functional or structural aspects of social relationships (but not both) and few have objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and body mass index (BMI). Cross-sectional surveys of adult African American men and women living in two low-income predominantly African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA (N = 799) measured numerous structural features as well as functional aspects of social relationships. Specifically, structural features included social isolation, and social network size and diversity. Functional aspects included perceptions of social support for physical activity from the social network in general as well as from family and friends specifically. Height, weight, and PA were objectively measured. From these, we derived Body Mass Index (BMI) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). All regression models were stratified by gender, and included age, income, education, employment, marital status, physical limitations, and a neighborhood indicator. Greater social isolation was a significant predictor of lower BMI among men only. Among women only, social isolation was significantly associated with increased MVPA whereas, network diversity was significantly associated with reduced MVPA. Future research would benefit from in-depth qualitative investigations to understand how social networks may act to influence different types of physical activity among African Americans, as well as understand how they can be possible levers

  11. Parenting Influences on Latino Children’s Social Competence in the First Grade: Parental Depression and Parent Involvement at Home and School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Carmen R.; Shewakramani, Vansa; Goldberg, Simon; Padilla, Brian

    2013-01-01

    Although it is widely accepted that parental depression is associated with problems with children’s socioemotional adjustment, the pathways by which parental depression influences children’s adjustment, particularly in low-income Latino children are not fully understood. In our investigation of 1,462 low-income Latino children in the first grade and their Spanish- and English-dominant parents, a factor analysis revealed three main pathways of possible influence of parent involvement in children’s social development: emotional involvement and educational involvement at home and at school. The findings from multigroup structural equation modeling revealed that whereas the first two pathways mediated the effect of parental depression on child social competence for Spanish-dominant parents, only emotional involvement explained parental depression effects for English-dominant parents. Parent educational involvement at school did not mediate parental depression effects for either Spanish- or English-dominant Latino parents. Discussion and implications of findings with respect to research, practice, and policy with Latinos follow. PMID:23325021

  12. Abnormal Social Reward Responses in Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Via, Esther; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Sánchez, Isabel; Forcano, Laura; Harrison, Ben J; Davey, Christopher G; Pujol, Jesús; Martínez-Zalacaín, Ignacio; Menchón, José M; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Cardoner, Narcís

    2015-01-01

    Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) display impaired social interactions, implicated in the development and prognosis of the disorder. Importantly, social behavior is modulated by reward-based processes, and dysfunctional at-brain-level reward responses have been involved in AN neurobiological models. However, no prior evidence exists of whether these neural alterations would be equally present in social contexts. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional social-judgment functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of 20 restrictive-subtype AN patients and 20 matched healthy controls. Brain activity during acceptance and rejection was investigated and correlated with severity measures (Eating Disorder Inventory -EDI-2) and with personality traits of interest known to modulate social behavior (The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire). Patients showed hypoactivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during social acceptance and hyperactivation of visual areas during social rejection. Ventral striatum activation during rejection was positively correlated in patients with clinical severity scores. During acceptance, activation of the frontal opercula-anterior insula and dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was differentially associated with reward sensitivity between groups. These results suggest an abnormal motivational drive for social stimuli, and involve overlapping social cognition and reward systems leading to a disruption of adaptive responses in the processing of social reward. The specific association of reward-related regions with clinical and psychometric measures suggests the putative involvement of reward structures in the maintenance of pathological behaviors in AN.

  13. Abnormal Social Reward Responses in Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther Via

    Full Text Available Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN display impaired social interactions, implicated in the development and prognosis of the disorder. Importantly, social behavior is modulated by reward-based processes, and dysfunctional at-brain-level reward responses have been involved in AN neurobiological models. However, no prior evidence exists of whether these neural alterations would be equally present in social contexts. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional social-judgment functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study of 20 restrictive-subtype AN patients and 20 matched healthy controls. Brain activity during acceptance and rejection was investigated and correlated with severity measures (Eating Disorder Inventory -EDI-2 and with personality traits of interest known to modulate social behavior (The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire. Patients showed hypoactivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC during social acceptance and hyperactivation of visual areas during social rejection. Ventral striatum activation during rejection was positively correlated in patients with clinical severity scores. During acceptance, activation of the frontal opercula-anterior insula and dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was differentially associated with reward sensitivity between groups. These results suggest an abnormal motivational drive for social stimuli, and involve overlapping social cognition and reward systems leading to a disruption of adaptive responses in the processing of social reward. The specific association of reward-related regions with clinical and psychometric measures suggests the putative involvement of reward structures in the maintenance of pathological behaviors in AN.

  14. Are autobiographical memories inherently social? Evidence from an fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Wilbers

    Full Text Available The story of our lifetime - our narrative self - is constructed from our autobiographical memories. A central claim of social psychology is that this narrative self is inherently social: When we construct our lives, we do so in a real or imagined interaction. This predicts that self-referential processes which are involved in recall of autobiographical memories overlap with processes involved in social interactions. Indeed, previous functional MRI studies indicate that regions in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC are activated during autobiographical memory recall and virtual communication. However, no fMRI study has investigated recall of autobiographical memories in a real-life interaction. We developed a novel paradigm in which participants overtly reported self-related and other-related memories to an experimenter, whose non-verbal reactions were being filmed and online displayed to the participants in the scanner. We found that recall of autobiographical vs. non-autobiographical memories was associated with activation of the mPFC, as was recall in the social as compared to a non-social control condition; however, both contrasts involved different non-overlapping regions within the mPFC. These results indicate that self-referential processes involved in autobiographical memory recall are different from processes supporting social interactions, and argue against the hypothesis that autobiographical memories are inherently social.

  15. Social Activity, School-Related Activity, and Anti-Substance Use Media Messages on Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Sung Seek; Rao, Uma

    2011-01-01

    In this article, we present the effects of three hypothesized protective factors: social activities, school-related activities, and anti-substance use media messages on adolescent tobacco and alcohol use. Data were drawn from the "Monitoring the Future" (MTF) research project, which was conducted by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The sample included 2,551 twelfth-grade students. The results of the structural equation model showed that exposure to media anti-drug messages had an indirect negative effect on tobacco and alcohol use through school-related activity and social activity. The results suggest that comprehensive ecological interventions encompassing media, family, and school can increase on the preventive effects of adolescent's substance use.

  16. Children as Agents of Social and Community Change: Enhancing Youth Empowerment through Participation in a School-Based Social Activism Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Harding, Susan; Baber, Ashley; Hilvers, Julie; Hobbs, Nakisha; Maly, Michael

    2018-01-01

    School-based social activism projects have much potential to foster civic engagement, self-efficacy, and positive youth development. Social activism projects may also be a means by which children, a group that is disempowered due to their age and dependence on adults, might seek to positively impact social and community problems. The current study…

  17. Age identity, social influence and socialization through physical activity in elderly people living in a nursing home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevc, Petra; Doupona Topic, Mojca

    2009-12-01

    Elderly people perceive their own ageing in very different ways and the aim of the present study was to explore age identity, the perception of "old age", the role of physical activity in the socialization of elderly people and social influences on physical activity in elderly people living in a nursing home. Questionnaires were answered by 75 nursing home residents (79 +/- 8 years old; 19 males, 56 females), coming from two different Slovenian regions. Subjective age ("felt age") was on average 5.5 years less than chronological age. Neither increasing chronological age nor subjective age was significantly correlated with a negative perception of health. Subjective age was neither correlated with any of the statements related to well-being and satisfaction with life. The importance of health in old age was confirmed by significant correlation of health status with perception of one's well-being and satisfaction with life. Interestingly, the age at which one perceives a person as having become old was not significantly related to one's own age. Nursing home residents in general associate old age with physical impairment and poor health. Slight differences between genders were noted; men grade retirement and communication difficulties with younger people as more prominent in old age. Interaction with other residents seems to be an important component of physical activity, as participants grade the importance of socializing during exercise quite highly; no significant differences between regions nor between men and women were noted. The social influence on physical activity did not differ significantly between genders and observed regions; the presence of negative social influence was relatively low. Furthermore, in the third period of life, physical activity plays an important socialization role and is, at the same time, influenced by the beliefs and ideas of the environment.

  18. Relationship between hospital pharmacists' job satisfaction and involvement in clinical activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, D S; Lawson, K A

    1996-02-01

    Job satisfaction among hospital pharmacists employed by a national hospital pharmacy management company was measured by using a mail questionnaire. A previously validated survey that measured pharmacists' job satisfaction was adapted for use in this study. Additional questions determined the pharmacist's clinical pharmacy training and participation in clinical pharmacy services. Questionnaires were mailed to all full-time hospital pharmacists employed by the pharmacy management company. Of the 606 mailed, deliverable questionnaires, 354 usable responses were returned, for a response rate of 58.4%. The respondent hospital pharmacists' level of job satisfaction showed a positive association with clinical pharmacy involvement. Of the nine items in the questionnaire that measured the pharmacists' involvement in clinical pharmacy services, seven items showed a positive relationship between involvement in that clinical activity and job satisfaction. Mean job satisfaction increased as the percentage of time spent performing clinical pharmacy activities increased. Job satisfaction decreased as time spent performing distributive functions increased. The percentage of time hospital pharmacists were engaged in clinical activities was significantly associated with job satisfaction.

  19. SPONSORING, BRAND VALUE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Zauner

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The increasing involvement of individuals in social media over the past decade has enabled firms to pursue new avenues in communication and sponsoring activities. Besides general research on either social media or sponsoring, questions regarding the consequences of a joint activity (sponsoring activities in social media remain unexplored. Hence, the present study analyses whether the perceived image of the brand and the celebrity endorser credibility of a top sports team influence the perceived brand value of the sponsoring firm in a social media setting. Moreover, these effects are compared between existing customers and non-customers of the sponsoring firm. Interestingly, perceived celebrity endorser credibility plays no role in forming brand value perceptions in the case of the existing customers. Implications for marketing theory and practice are derived.

  20. Involvement in clubs or voluntary associations, social networks and activity generation : a path analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berg, van den P.E.W.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2012-01-01

    Leisure activities have received increasing attention from travel behavior researchers over the past decade. However, these activities are often treated as a single category, neglecting their differences. Whereas most leisure activities are flexible, club activities are usually scheduled longer in

  1. CURRENT CONCERNS REGARDING THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

    OpenAIRE

    IONELA CARMEN PIRNEA; NICOLETA BELU; EMILIA IORDACHE

    2012-01-01

    The propose of this paper is to identify current concerns regarding the corporate social responsibility in Romania. First the paper present a short introduction about the concept of corporate social responsibility. Next the paper highlights the importance of corporate social responsibility in Romania and some results about the involvement of small and medium enterprises in social responsibility activities.

  2. Physical activity in adolescents: analysis of the social influence of parents and friends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luanna Alexandra Cheng

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between physical activity and social support from parents and friends on the physical activity level among adolescents. METHODS: Data from 2,361 adolescents (56.6% females; mean age 16.4; SD = 1.2, from public and private high schools were analyzed. The physical activity level of the adolescents, parents, and friends were measured through a questionnaire. Parents' and friends' support and self-efficacy were measured using two previously tested scales. Data analysis was performed usingthe structural equation modeling in IBM(r SPSS(r AmosTM 20.0. RESULTS: Physical activity of friends was directly associated with physical activity level of adolescents. Physical activity of the father was associated with their sons, and the physical activity of mother was associated with their daughters. An indirect association was identified between the physical activity of parents and friends with physical activity level of the adolescents, mediated by social support. Social support was directly associated with physical activity in adolescents of both genders and indirectly mediated by self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Parents and friends have a social influence on adolescents' level of physical activity through the mechanism of behavior modeling or through social support, mediated by self-efficacy.

  3. Physical activity in adolescents: analysis of the social influence of parents and friends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Luanna Alexandra; Mendonça, Gerfeson; Farias Júnior, José Cazuza de

    2014-01-01

    To analyze the association between physical activity and social support from parents and friends on the physical activity level among adolescents. Data from 2,361 adolescents (56.6% females; mean age 16.4; SD = 1.2), from public and private high schools were analyzed. The physical activity level of the adolescents, parents, and friends were measured through a questionnaire. Parents' and friends' support and self-efficacy were measured using two previously tested scales. Data analysis was performed using the structural equation modeling in IBM® SPSS® Amos™ 20.0. Physical activity of friends was directly associated with physical activity level of adolescents. Physical activity of the father was associated with that of their sons, and the physical activity of mother was associated with that of their daughters. An indirect association was identified between the physical activity of parents and friends with physical activity level of the adolescents, mediated by social support. Social support was directly associated with physical activity in adolescents of both genders and indirectly mediated by self-efficacy. Parents and friends have a social influence on adolescents' level of physical activity through the mechanism of behavior modeling or through social support, mediated by self-efficacy. Copyright © 2013 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  4. Factors associated with the successful aging of the socially-active elderly in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Moraes, João Feliz Duarte; de Azevedo e Souza, Valdemarina Bidone

    2005-12-01

    To identify the factors associated with aging of the socially-active elderly in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving a sample of 400 elderly subjects. Through a conglomerate analysis using the combined results of the Flanagan Scale and the quality of life assessment instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHOQOL-100), the subjects classified as presenting a higher quality of life were considered to have aged successfully. After having been adjusted for the variables gender, age, level of depression, despair, perceived health status, meaning that personal beliefs give to life, satisfaction with social activities and relations, the following factors maintained their independent and meaningful effect on successful aging: family relations and friendships (OR = 4.93; 95% CI: 2.83-8.60), health and perceived well being (OR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.07-2.59), functional capacity (OR = 23.70; 95% CI: 10.98-51.06) and psychosocial support (OR = 7.36; 95% CI: 4.00-13.54). Independence in performing daily life activities and autonomy, as well as satisfaction with family relations and friendships, were independent predictive factors of successful aging for both men and women. For women in particular, there were various predictive factors: material comfort; feeling physically well; body image and appearance; self-esteem; positive feelings; interpersonal relationships; social support; participation in recreational activities; sexuality; spirituality; and beliefs. The elderly maintain a relationship with themselves, with others and with their beliefs. Family is the main social support system.

  5. Does social desirability compromise self-reports of physical activity in web-based research?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Göritz Anja S

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This study investigated the relation between social desirability and self-reported physical activity in web-based research. Findings A longitudinal study (N = 5,495, 54% women was conducted on a representative sample of the Dutch population using the Marlowe-Crowne Scale as social desirability measure and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Social desirability was not associated with self-reported physical activity (in MET-minutes/week, nor with its sub-behaviors (i.e., walking, moderate-intensity activity, vigorous-intensity activity, and sedentary behavior. Socio-demographics (i.e., age, sex, income, and education did not moderate the effect of social desirability on self-reported physical activity and its sub-behaviors. Conclusions This study does not throw doubt on the usefulness of the Internet as a medium to collect self-reports on physical activity.

  6. Differences in leisure-time activities according to level of physical activity in adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mota, Jorge; Santos, Maria Paula; Ribeiro, Jose Carlos

    2008-03-01

    The main goals of this study were: (1) to examine the relationship between physical activity (PA) involvement and other leisure activities in a sample of Portuguese youth and (2) to analyze gender differences in PA and leisure-time activity structure. The sample comprised 1123 adolescents that were classified according to PA levels as active (n = 589) and nonactive (n = 534). A questionnaire assessing leisure-time activities was used. Girls were significantly more engaged in social leisure, dutiful, and individual artistic activities during leisure time, whereas boys were more involved in sports and computer and TV viewing activities. Significant associations between PA and social leisure were found in girls (r = .18, P leisure (girls: r = .56, P importance of organized and nonorganized sports/PA during leisure time for overall levels of PA in adolescents.

  7. Clinical and psychological aspects of adolescent involvement in extremist and terrorist activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oshevsky D.S.

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the clinical and psychological aspects of including minors in terrorist and extremist activities. In the historical perspective, it was traced how the views on the role of mental disorders in the genesis of such crimes changed. It is shown that terrorist and extremist activity must be viewed as a complex multi-factor phenomenon, in which socio-psychological components play a leading role. It is noted that the psychopathological process can act as a prerequisite for inclusion in such radical groups. Psychoanalytic, sociological, cognitive approaches, theories of social learning and the concept of diffuse ego-identity making attempts to explain the mechanisms of terrorist and extremist activity in minors are analyzed. The problem of insufficient study of the influence of the Internet and social networks on the formation of readiness for admission to adolescents in radical organizations is posed.

  8. Engineering Online and In-person Social Networks for Physical Activity: A Randomized Trial

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rovniak, Liza S.; Kong, Lan; Hovell, Melbourne F.; Ding, Ding; Sallis, James F.; Ray, Chester A.; Kraschnewski, Jennifer L.; Matthews, Stephen A.; Kiser, Elizabeth; Chinchilli, Vernon M.; George, Daniel R.; Sciamanna, Christopher N.

    2016-01-01

    Background Social networks can influence physical activity, but little is known about how best to engineer online and in-person social networks to increase activity. Purpose To conduct a randomized trial based on the Social Networks for Activity Promotion model to assess the incremental contributions of different procedures for building social networks on objectively-measured outcomes. Methods Physically inactive adults (n = 308, age, 50.3 (SD = 8.3) years, 38.3% male, 83.4% overweight/obese) were randomized to 1 of 3 groups. The Promotion group evaluated the effects of weekly emailed tips emphasizing social network interactions for walking (e.g., encouragement, informational support); the Activity group evaluated the incremental effect of adding an evidence-based online fitness walking intervention to the weekly tips; and the Social Networks group evaluated the additional incremental effect of providing access to an online networking site for walking, and prompting walking/activity across diverse settings. The primary outcome was mean change in accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), assessed at 3 and 9 months from baseline. Results Participants increased their MVPA by 21.0 mins/week, 95% CI [5.9, 36.1], p = .005, at 3 months, and this change was sustained at 9 months, with no between-group differences. Conclusions Although the structure of procedures for targeting social networks varied across intervention groups, the functional effect of these procedures on physical activity was similar. Future research should evaluate if more powerful reinforcers improve the effects of social network interventions. Trial Registration Number NCT01142804 PMID:27405724

  9. Humor Appreciation Involves Parametric and Synchronized Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iidaka, Tetsuya

    2017-12-01

    Humor perception is a ubiquitous phenomenon in human societies. In theories of humor perception, three factors, non-seriousness, social context, and incongruity, have been implicated in humor. In another theory, however, elaboration and reinterpretation of contexts are considered to play a role in eliciting humor. Although the neural correlates of humor appreciation have been investigated using neuroimaging methods, only a few studies have conducted such experiments under natural conditions. In the present study, two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, using a comedy movie as a stimulus, were conducted to investigate the neural correlates of humor under natural conditions. The subjects' brain activity was measured while watching and enjoying a movie. In experiment 1, a parametric analysis showed that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and hippocampus/amygdala had a positive relationship with the subjective rating of funniness. In experiment 2, intersubject correlation was analyzed to investigate synchronized activity across all participants. Signal synchronization that paralleled increased funniness ratings was observed in the MPFC and hippocampus. Thus, it appears that both parametric and synchronized activity in the MPFC and hippocampus are important during humor appreciation. The present study has revealed the brain regions that are predominantly involved in humor sensation under natural condition. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Social support for physical activity-role of Facebook with and without structured intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavallo, David N; Tate, Deborah F; Ward, Dianne S; DeVellis, Robert F; Thayer, Linden M; Ammerman, Alice S

    2014-12-01

    Despite their widespread use and extensive technical features, little is known about how to use online social networking sites to increase physical activity. This study aims to examine Facebook engagement among participants in the online social networking arm of a randomized controlled physical activity promotion trial (n = 67). Facebook communications were double coded and analyzed using ATLAS.ti. Regression procedures were used to determine predictors of Facebook use and associations between types of use and changes in perceived social support and physical activity. Changes in perceived social support and physical activity were more strongly associated with participants' individual Facebook use than use of the Facebook intervention group. The way social media sites are used in intervention design could have an impact on their effects. Including existing friends in interventions and using applications that incorporate intervention activities into a more naturalistic use of Facebook may improve the efficacy of future interventions.

  11. Voluntary sport clubs and the social policy agenda

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boven, Magda; Slender, Hans; Wiggers, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Local governments, traditionally an important partner of voluntary sport clubs in the Netherlands, are increasingly influencing clubs into involvement in social projects and activities. Although it is not clear what contribution sports clubs can play in this social policy agenda, or whether this

  12. Does serotonin influence aggression? Comparing regional activity before and during social interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Summers, C.H.; Korzan, W.J.; Lukkes, J.L.

    2005-01-01

    Serotonin is widely believed to exert inhibitory control over aggressive behavior and intent. In addition, a number of studies of fish, reptiles, and mammals, including the lizard Anolis carolinensis, have demonstrated that serotonergic activity is stimulated by aggressive social interaction...... in both dominant and subordinate males. As serotonergic activity does not appear to inhibit agonistic behavior during combative social interaction, we investigated the possibility that the negative correlation between serotonergic activity and aggression exists before aggressive behavior begins. To do......, where low serotonergic activity may help promote aggression, agonistic behavior also stimulates the greatest rise in serotonergic activity among the most aggressive males, most likely as a result of the stress associated with social interaction....

  13. School Children's Use of Digital Devices, Social Media and Parental Knowledge and Involvement--The Case of Abu Dhabi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badri, Masood; Alnuaimi, Ali; Al Rashedi, Asma; Yang, Guang; Temsah, Khaled

    2017-01-01

    This paper looks at the usage of social media devices and applications, and parental knowledge and involvement among Abu Dhabi children in Grade 6 or higher. It examines the young children's usage of personal computers, mobile phones and tablet PCs, and social media related apps. The paper tries to understand the reasons for joining or not joining…

  14. Research use and support needs, and research activity in social care: a cross-sectional survey in two councils with social services responsibilities in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Jo; Bacigalupo, Ruth; Halladay, Linsay; Norwood, Hayley

    2008-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of research activity, research use, research interests and research skills in the social care workforce in two UK councils with social service responsibilities (CSSRs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted of the social care workforce in two CSSRs (n = 1512) in 2005. The sample was identified in partnership with the councils, and included employees with professional qualifications (social workers and occupational therapists); staff who have a role to assess, plan and monitor care; service managers; commissioners of services; and those involved with social care policy, information management and training. The survey achieved a response rate of 24% (n = 368). The Internet was reported as an effective source of research information; conversely, research-based guidelines were reported to have a low impact on practice. Significant differences were found in research use, by work location, and postgraduate training. Most respondents saw research as useful for practice (69%), and wanted to collaborate in research (68%), but only 11% were planning to do research within the next 12 months. Having a master's degree was associated with a greater desire to lead or collaborate in research. A range of research training needs, and the preferred modes of delivery were identified. Support to increase research activity includes protected time and mentorship. The study concludes that a range of mechanisms to make research available for the social care workforce needs to be in place to support evidence-informed practice. Continual professional development to a postgraduate level supports the use and production of evidence in the social care workforce, and promotes the development of a research culture. The term research is used to include service user consultations, needs assessment and service evaluation. The findings highlight a relatively large body of the social care workforce willing to collaborate and conduct research

  15. How much are researchers aware of the ethical and social implications of their activities? The example of the European Project ENVRI Plus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peppoloni, Silvia; Di Capua, Giuseppe; Haslinger, Florian

    2017-04-01

    Over the last years the attention to ethical and social aspects of scientific research has grown remarkably. Large scientific projects that refer to environment, resources, or natural hazards, assign great importance to the topics of big data and data management, environmental impact, science dissemination and education. These topics are also analyzed from an ethical and social perspective, recognizing the close relation to and evident repercussions on the life and activity of the human communities touched by those projects. ENVRIplus is a Horizon2020 project in which ethics applied to geosciences features as a fundamental issue, at the base of scientific activities. It brings together Environmental and Earth System Research Infrastructures (RIs), projects, and networks, with technical specialist partners to create a more coherent, interdisciplinary and interoperable cluster of Environmental Research Infrastructures across Europe (http://www.envriplus.eu/). In ENVRIplus, ethics applied to geosciences features as a fundamental issue at the base of scientific activities. Within the theme "Societal relevance and understanding", an entire work package aims at developing an ethical framework for RIs. Its objectives are: • increase the awareness of both the scientists and the public on the importance of ethical aspects in Earth and Environmental sciences; • establish a shared ethical reference framework, to be adopted by RIs governing bodies; • increase the awareness of RIs management and operational levels and of the individual involved scientists on their social role in conducting research activities and research work environment; • assess the ethical and social aspects related to the results achieved and deliverables released within the project. As one element of this work we created a questionnaire to investigate how each RI participating in ENVRI Plus faces ethical issues in relation to its activities, and so to understand the level of perception that

  16. Analyzing the Social Knowledge Construction Behavioral Patterns of an Online Synchronous Collaborative Discussion Instructional Activity Using an Instant Messaging Tool: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Huei-Tse; Wu, Sheng-Yi

    2011-01-01

    Online discussions have been widely utilized as an educational activity, and much research has been conducted on the process and behaviors involved in asynchronous discussions. However, research on behavioral patterns in learners' synchronous discussions, including the process of social knowledge construction and project coordination is limited.…

  17. Social power and approach-related neural activity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.A.S. Boksem (Maarten); R. Smolders (Ruud); D. de Cremer (David)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractIt has been argued that power activates a general tendency to approach whereas powerlessness activates a tendency to inhibit. The assumption is that elevated power involves reward-rich environments, freedom and, as a consequence, triggers an approach-related motivational orientation and

  18. Promotion of active ageing combining sensor and social network data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilbao, Aritz; Almeida, Aitor; López-de-Ipiña, Diego

    2016-12-01

    The increase of life expectancy in modern society has caused an increase in elderly population. Elderly people want to live independently in their home environment for as long as possible. However, as we age, our physical skills tend to worsen and our social circle tends to become smaller, something that often leads to a considerable decrease of both our physical and social activities. In this paper, we present an AAL framework developed within the SONOPA project, whose objective is to promote active ageing by combining a social network with information inferred using in-home sensors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. The Evolving Politics of Race and Social Work Activism: A Call across Borders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeyapal, Daphne

    2017-01-01

    Social work has engaged with and led the revolutionary social movements of the past century. Yet today, as activism by and for racial others unfolds across the United States and Canada, our discipline remains largely silent. This article considers new ways for social workers to conceptualize social work activism, challenge the existing erasures within the profession, and construct innovative strategies to locate social work within the critical social movements of our time. Recognizing the continuity of histories of colonialism, slavery, and genocide, the author argues that social workers must engage with racialized communities' resistance through their legacy of exclusion and displacement. The author demonstrates the significance of an evolving politics of race and social justice for social work practice. © 2016 National Association of Social Workers.

  20. Activism or Slacktivism? The Potential and Pitfalls of Social Media in Contemporary Student Activism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrera, Nolan L.; Matias, Cheryl E.; Montoya, Roberto

    2017-01-01

    The emergence of social media has greatly influenced 21st-century student activism. It has also given rise to the birth of "slacktivism," an online form of self-aggrandizing, politically ineffective activism. This theoretical article delves into the conceptualizations of what constitutes student activism versus slacktivism in a digital…

  1. Adolescent Involvement in Extracurricular Activities: Influences on Leadership Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hancock, Donna; Dyk, Patricia Hyjer; Jones, Kenneth

    2012-01-01

    Study examined adolescents' participation in sports, school, and community extracurricular activities to assess the influence of different involvement roles and adult support on leadership skills. The study found that males and females who perceived their adult support more positively had more positive perceptions of their leadership skills.…

  2. How Possibly Do Leisure and Social Activities Impact Mental Health of Middle-Aged Adults in Japan?: An Evidence from a National Longitudinal Survey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fumi Takeda

    Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate longitudinal relations between leisure and social activities and mental health status, considering the presence or absence of other persons in the activity as an additional variable, among middle-aged adults in Japan. This study used nationally representative data in Japan with a five-year follow-up period.This study focused on 16,642 middle-aged adults, age 50-59 at baseline, from a population-based, six-year panel survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. To investigate the relations between two leisure activities ('hobbies or cultural activities' and 'exercise or sports' and four social activities ('community events', 'support for children', 'support for elderly individuals' and 'other social activities' at baseline and mental health status at follow-up, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. We also used multiple logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between ways of participating in these activities ('by oneself', 'with others', or 'both' (both 'by oneself' and 'with others' at baseline and mental health status at follow-up.Involvement in both leisure activity categories, but not in social activities, was significantly and positively related to mental health status in both men and women. Furthermore, in men, both 'hobbies or cultural activities' and 'exercise or sports' were significantly related to mental health status only when conducted 'with others'. In women, the effects of 'hobbies or cultural activities' on mental health status were no differences regardless of the ways of participating, while the result of 'exercise or sports' was same as that in men.Leisure activities appear to benefit mental health status among this age group, whereas specific social activities do not. Moreover, participation in leisure activities would be effective especially if others are present. These findings should be useful for preventing the deterioration of mental

  3. How Possibly Do Leisure and Social Activities Impact Mental Health of Middle-Aged Adults in Japan?: An Evidence from a National Longitudinal Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Fumi; Noguchi, Haruko; Monma, Takafumi; Tamiya, Nanako

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate longitudinal relations between leisure and social activities and mental health status, considering the presence or absence of other persons in the activity as an additional variable, among middle-aged adults in Japan. This study used nationally representative data in Japan with a five-year follow-up period. This study focused on 16,642 middle-aged adults, age 50-59 at baseline, from a population-based, six-year panel survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. To investigate the relations between two leisure activities ('hobbies or cultural activities' and 'exercise or sports') and four social activities ('community events', 'support for children', 'support for elderly individuals' and 'other social activities') at baseline and mental health status at follow-up, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. We also used multiple logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between ways of participating in these activities ('by oneself', 'with others', or 'both' (both 'by oneself' and 'with others')) at baseline and mental health status at follow-up. Involvement in both leisure activity categories, but not in social activities, was significantly and positively related to mental health status in both men and women. Furthermore, in men, both 'hobbies or cultural activities' and 'exercise or sports' were significantly related to mental health status only when conducted 'with others'. In women, the effects of 'hobbies or cultural activities' on mental health status were no differences regardless of the ways of participating, while the result of 'exercise or sports' was same as that in men. Leisure activities appear to benefit mental health status among this age group, whereas specific social activities do not. Moreover, participation in leisure activities would be effective especially if others are present. These findings should be useful for preventing the deterioration of mental health

  4. ICEBREAKER: A STRATEGY TO ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT FOR YOUNG ADOLESCENT LEARNERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iin Indrayanti

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Motivating students to participate in classroom discussions is a big matter to overcome. There are some students who seem to assume that as long as the assigned work is completed on time, test scores are good, and attendance is satisfactory, they shouldn‘t be forced to participate. Educational research has shown that students who are actively involved in the learning activity will learn more than students who are passive recipients of knowledge. Young adolescents who are 10 to 15 years old experience stages of life and more growth than any other time in their life. They have intelectual capacity and learn best through interaction and activity rather than just listening. Obviously, increased attention and motivation are the essential ingredients for learning, and are more important than intelligence. In other words, to increasing student involvement, attention and motivation, teachers can use a very beginning action that held the first time before core teaching activity with a hope that engaging the senses and emotions will increase students‘ attention span. Accordingly, as start-up activities, icebreakers can be a useful way of creating a sense of relaxed and informal atmosphere which motivate and activate an interaction. Icebreakers allow for a student to become emotionally connected with classroom situation and increases motivation to engage with the following discussion. Therefore, this paper presents icebreaker as a strategy to active involevement for young adolescent learners.

  5. Gender, social support, and depression in criminal justice-involved adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Jennifer E; Esposito-Smythers, Christianne; Miranda, Robert; Rizzo, Christie J; Justus, Alicia N; Clum, George

    2011-10-01

    Knowing where criminal justice-involved teens look for support and whether those supports reduce depression has important and possibly gender-specific treatment implications for this vulnerable population. This study examines the relationships between social support and depression in a mixed-gender sample of 198 incarcerated adolescents. Greater support from families and overall and greater satisfaction with supports predicted lower depression for boys and girls. Support from siblings and extended family strongly predicted lower depression; support from parents and from friends was either not related or only weakly related to depression. Girls reported higher levels of depression, more support from friends and extended family, and less support from parents than did boys. Family, sibling, and overall support were stronger predictors of depression for girls than for boys. Results suggest that nonparent family members, especially siblings and extended family, provide important emotional resources for teens in the criminal justice system. © 2011 SAGE Publications

  6. Adolescent-specific patterns of behavior and neural activity during social reinforcement learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Rebecca M; Somerville, Leah H; Li, Jian; Ruberry, Erika J; Powers, Alisa; Mehta, Natasha; Dyke, Jonathan; Casey, B J

    2014-06-01

    Humans are sophisticated social beings. Social cues from others are exceptionally salient, particularly during adolescence. Understanding how adolescents interpret and learn from variable social signals can provide insight into the observed shift in social sensitivity during this period. The present study tested 120 participants between the ages of 8 and 25 years on a social reinforcement learning task where the probability of receiving positive social feedback was parametrically manipulated. Seventy-eight of these participants completed the task during fMRI scanning. Modeling trial-by-trial learning, children and adults showed higher positive learning rates than did adolescents, suggesting that adolescents demonstrated less differentiation in their reaction times for peers who provided more positive feedback. Forming expectations about receiving positive social reinforcement correlated with neural activity within the medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum across age. Adolescents, unlike children and adults, showed greater insular activity during positive prediction error learning and increased activity in the supplementary motor cortex and the putamen when receiving positive social feedback regardless of the expected outcome, suggesting that peer approval may motivate adolescents toward action. While different amounts of positive social reinforcement enhanced learning in children and adults, all positive social reinforcement equally motivated adolescents. Together, these findings indicate that sensitivity to peer approval during adolescence goes beyond simple reinforcement theory accounts and suggest possible explanations for how peers may motivate adolescent behavior.

  7. Participant and Public Involvement in Refining a Peer-Volunteering Active Aging Intervention: Project ACE (Active, Connected, Engaged).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Withall, Janet; Thompson, Janice L; Fox, Kenneth R; Davis, Mark; Gray, Selena; de Koning, Jolanthe; Lloyd, Liz; Parkhurst, Graham; Stathi, Afroditi

    2018-03-19

    Evidence for the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle among older adults is strong, yet only a small proportion of older people meet physical activity recommendations. A synthesis of evidence identified "best bet" approaches, and this study sought guidance from end-user representatives and stakeholders to refine one of these, a peer-volunteering active aging intervention. Focus groups with 28 older adults and four professional volunteer managers were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 older volunteers. Framework analysis was used to gauge participants' views on the ACE intervention. Motives for engaging in community groups and activities were almost entirely social. Barriers to participation were lack of someone to attend with, lack of confidence, fear of exclusion or "cliquiness" in established groups, bad weather, transport issues, inaccessibility of activities, ambivalence, and older adults being "set in their ways". Motives for volunteering included "something to do," avoiding loneliness, the need to feel needed, enjoyment, and altruism. Challenges included negative events between volunteer and recipient of volunteering support, childcare commitments, and high volunteering workload. Peer-volunteering approaches have great potential for promotion of active aging. The systematic multistakeholder approach adopted in this study led to important refinements of the original ACE intervention. The findings provide guidance for active aging community initiatives highlighting the importance of effective recruitment strategies and of tackling major barriers including lack of motivation, confidence, and readiness to change; transport issues; security concerns and cost; activity availability; and lack of social support.

  8. Engineering Online and In-Person Social Networks for Physical Activity: A Randomized Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rovniak, Liza S; Kong, Lan; Hovell, Melbourne F; Ding, Ding; Sallis, James F; Ray, Chester A; Kraschnewski, Jennifer L; Matthews, Stephen A; Kiser, Elizabeth; Chinchilli, Vernon M; George, Daniel R; Sciamanna, Christopher N

    2016-12-01

    Social networks can influence physical activity, but little is known about how best to engineer online and in-person social networks to increase activity. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized trial based on the Social Networks for Activity Promotion model to assess the incremental contributions of different procedures for building social networks on objectively measured outcomes. Physically inactive adults (n = 308, age, 50.3 (SD = 8.3) years, 38.3 % male, 83.4 % overweight/obese) were randomized to one of three groups. The Promotion group evaluated the effects of weekly emailed tips emphasizing social network interactions for walking (e.g., encouragement, informational support); the Activity group evaluated the incremental effect of adding an evidence-based online fitness walking intervention to the weekly tips; and the Social Networks group evaluated the additional incremental effect of providing access to an online networking site for walking as well as prompting walking/activity across diverse settings. The primary outcome was mean change in accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), assessed at 3 and 9 months from baseline. Participants increased their MVPA by 21.0 min/week, 95 % CI [5.9, 36.1], p = .005, at 3 months, and this change was sustained at 9 months, with no between-group differences. Although the structure of procedures for targeting social networks varied across intervention groups, the functional effect of these procedures on physical activity was similar. Future research should evaluate if more powerful reinforcers improve the effects of social network interventions. The trial was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01142804).

  9. Consumer Health-Related Activities on Social Media: Exploratory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benetoli, Arcelio; Chen, Timothy F; Aslani, Parisa

    2017-10-13

    Although a number of studies have investigated how consumers use social media for health-related purposes, there is a paucity of studies in the Australian context. This study aimed to explore how Australian consumers used social media for health-related purposes, specifically how they identified social media platforms, which were used, and which health-related activities commonly took place. A total of 5 focus groups (n=36 participants), each lasting 60 to 90 minutes, were conducted in the Sydney metropolitan area. The group discussions were audiorecorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded line-by-line and thematically analyzed. Participants used general search engines to locate health-related social media platforms. They accessed a wide range of social media on a daily basis, using several electronic devices (in particular, mobile phones). Although privacy was a concern, it did not prevent consumers from fully engaging in social media for health-related purposes. Blogs were used to learn from other people's experiences with the same condition. Facebook allowed consumers to follow health-related pages and to participate in disease-specific group discussions. Wikipedia was used for factual information about diseases and treatments. YouTube was accessed to learn about medical procedures such as surgery. No participant reported editing or contributing to Wikipedia or posting YouTube videos related to health topics. Twitter was rarely used for health-related purposes. Social media allowed consumers to obtain and provide disease and treatment-related information and social and emotional support for those living with the same condition. Most considered their participation as observational, but some also contributed (eg, responded to people's questions). Participants used a wide range of social media for health-related purposes. Medical information exchange (eg, disease and treatment) and social and emotional support were the cornerstones of their online

  10. Obesity-induced vascular inflammation involves elevated arginase activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Lin; Bhatta, Anil; Xu, Zhimin; Chen, Jijun; Toque, Haroldo A; Chen, Yongjun; Xu, Yimin; Bagi, Zsolt; Lucas, Rudolf; Huo, Yuqing; Caldwell, Ruth B; Caldwell, R William

    2017-11-01

    Obesity-induced vascular dysfunction involves pathological remodeling of the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and increased inflammation. Our previous studies showed that arginase 1 (A1) in endothelial cells (ECs) is critically involved in obesity-induced vascular dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that EC-A1 activity also drives obesity-related VAT remodeling and inflammation. Our studies utilized wild-type and EC-A1 knockout (KO) mice made obese by high-fat/high-sucrose (HFHS) diet. HFHS diet induced increases in body weight, fasting blood glucose, and VAT expansion. This was accompanied by increased arginase activity and A1 expression in vascular ECs and increased expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin-10 (IL-10), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) mRNA and protein in both VAT and ECs. HFHS also markedly increased circulating inflammatory monocytes and VAT infiltration by inflammatory macrophages, while reducing reparative macrophages. Additionally, adipocyte size and fibrosis increased and capillary density decreased in VAT. These effects of HFHS, except for weight gain and hyperglycemia, were prevented or reduced in mice lacking EC-A1 or treated with the arginase inhibitor 2-( S )-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH). In mouse aortic ECs, exposure to high glucose (25 mM) and Na palmitate (200 μM) reduced nitric oxide production and increased A1, TNF-α, VCAM-1, ICAM-1, and MCP-1 mRNA, and monocyte adhesion. Knockout of EC-A1 or ABH prevented these effects. HFHS diet-induced VAT inflammation is mediated by EC-A1 expression/activity. Limiting arginase activity is a possible therapeutic means of controlling obesity-induced vascular and VAT inflammation.

  11. Non-verbal behavioral interactions of depressed patients with partners and strangers : The role of behavioral social support and involvement in depression persistence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hale, WW; Jansen, JHC; Bouhuys, AL; Jenner, JA; vandenHoofdakker, RH

    Excessive support seeking and lack of receiving social support have been associated with depression onset and unfavorable course of depression. It has been assumed that social support is effected by observable behaviors that express involvement. Twenty-five patients with major depression were

  12. Predictors of social leisure activities in older Europeans with and without multimorbidity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galenkamp, Henrike; Gagliardi, Cristina; Principi, Andrea; Golinowska, Stanislawa; Moreira, Amilcar; Schmidt, Andrea E; Winkelmann, Juliane; Sowa, Agnieszka; van der Pas, Suzan; Deeg, Dorly J H

    Older people spend much time participating in leisure activities, such as taking part in organized activities and going out, but the extent of participation may differ according to both individual and environmental resources available. Chronic health problems become more prevalent at higher ages and likely necessitate tapping different resources to maintain social participation. This paper compares predictors of participation in social leisure activities between older people with and those without multimorbidity. The European Project on Osteoarthritis (EPOSA) was conducted in Germany, UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden ( N  = 2942, mean age 74.2 (5.2)). Multivariate regression was used to predict social leisure participation and degree of participation in people with and without multimorbidity. Fewer older people with multimorbidity participated in social leisure activities (90.6 %), compared to those without multimorbidity (93.9 %). The frequency of participation was also lower compared to people without multimorbidity. Higher socioeconomic status, widowhood, a larger network of friends, volunteering, transportation possibilities and having fewer depressive symptoms were important for (the degree of) social leisure participation. Statistically significant differences between the multimorbidity groups were observed for volunteering and driving a car, which were more important predictors of participation in those with multimorbidity. In contrast, self-reported income appeared more important for those without multimorbidity, compared to those who had multimorbidity. Policies focusing on social (network of friends), physical (physical performance) and psychological factors (depressive symptoms) and on transportation possibilities are recommended to enable all older people to participate in social leisure activities.

  13. [Effects of social activities on life satisfaction among the elderly: four aspects in men and women].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okamoto, Hideaki

    2008-06-01

    The current study was performed to examine relationships between different aspects of social activities and life satisfaction among the elderly. This issue was investigated in men and women separately. Data for 612 older adults aged 65 to 84 years were obtained from a mail survey in an urban area. Life satisfaction was measured using the LSIK and social activities were assessed by asking respondents their degree of participation in each type of interaction. The focus was on four aspects: personal activities, socially-related activities, learning activities, and job activity. In order to examine relationships between different aspects of social activities and life satisfaction, the author used multiple regression analyses with the four types of social activity level as independent variables. All except job activity were categorized as lower, middle and higher levels, and work was categorized as low and high. Two models of multiple regression were employed. First, each of the four aspects of social activity was entered as an independent variable (Model 1); second, four aspects of social activity were entered as independent variables simultaneously (Model 2). The analyses were conducted separately for men and women, controlling for age, marital status, subjective economic status and IADL (instrumental activities of daily living). (1) The results of the multiple regression analyses (Model 1) were as follows: for both men and women, personal activities were positively associated with life satisfaction. For women, socially-related activities were also positively related to life satisfaction. For both men and women, learning activities and job activity exhibited statistically nonsignificant relationships with life satisfaction. (2) With Model 2, the results were as follows: among men, none of the aspects of social activity was significantly associated with life satisfaction. Among women, only personal activities were positively associated with life satisfaction. When all

  14. An Advanced Private Social Activity Invitation Framework with Friendship Protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weitian Tong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the popularity of social networks and human-carried/human-affiliated devices with sensing abilities, like smartphones and smart wearable devices, a novel application was necessitated recently to organize group activities by learning historical data gathered from smart devices and choosing invitees carefully based on their personal interests. We proposed a private and efficient social activity invitation framework. Our main contributions are (1 defining a novel friendship to reduce the communication/update cost within the social network and enhance the privacy guarantee at the same time; (2 designing a strong privacy-preserving algorithm for graph publication, which addresses an open concern proposed recently; (3 presenting an efficient invitee-selection algorithm, which outperforms the existing ones. Our simulation results show that the proposed framework has good performance. In our framework, the server is assumed to be untrustworthy but can nonetheless help users organize group activities intelligently and efficiently. Moreover, the new definition of the friendship allows the social network to be described by a directed graph. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first work to publish a directed graph in a differentially private manner with an untrustworthy server.

  15. Forecasting Social Unrest Using Activity Cascades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadena, Jose; Korkmaz, Gizem; Kuhlman, Chris J; Marathe, Achla; Ramakrishnan, Naren; Vullikanti, Anil

    2015-01-01

    Social unrest is endemic in many societies, and recent news has drawn attention to happenings in Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Civilian populations mobilize, sometimes spontaneously and sometimes in an organized manner, to raise awareness of key issues or to demand changes in governing or other organizational structures. It is of key interest to social scientists and policy makers to forecast civil unrest using indicators observed on media such as Twitter, news, and blogs. We present an event forecasting model using a notion of activity cascades in Twitter (proposed by Gonzalez-Bailon et al., 2011) to predict the occurrence of protests in three countries of Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela. The basic assumption is that the emergence of a suitably detected activity cascade is a precursor or a surrogate to a real protest event that will happen "on the ground." Our model supports the theoretical characterization of large cascades using spectral properties and uses properties of detected cascades to forecast events. Experimental results on many datasets, including the recent June 2013 protests in Brazil, demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

  16. Forecasting Social Unrest Using Activity Cascades.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Cadena

    Full Text Available Social unrest is endemic in many societies, and recent news has drawn attention to happenings in Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Civilian populations mobilize, sometimes spontaneously and sometimes in an organized manner, to raise awareness of key issues or to demand changes in governing or other organizational structures. It is of key interest to social scientists and policy makers to forecast civil unrest using indicators observed on media such as Twitter, news, and blogs. We present an event forecasting model using a notion of activity cascades in Twitter (proposed by Gonzalez-Bailon et al., 2011 to predict the occurrence of protests in three countries of Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela. The basic assumption is that the emergence of a suitably detected activity cascade is a precursor or a surrogate to a real protest event that will happen "on the ground." Our model supports the theoretical characterization of large cascades using spectral properties and uses properties of detected cascades to forecast events. Experimental results on many datasets, including the recent June 2013 protests in Brazil, demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

  17. A Grounded Theory of Sexual Minority Women and Transgender Individuals' Social Justice Activism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagen, Whitney B; Hoover, Stephanie M; Morrow, Susan L

    2018-01-01

    Psychosocial benefits of activism include increased empowerment, social connectedness, and resilience. Yet sexual minority women (SMW) and transgender individuals with multiple oppressed statuses and identities are especially prone to oppression-based experiences, even within minority activist communities. This study sought to develop an empirical model to explain the diverse meanings of social justice activism situated in SMW and transgender individuals' social identities, values, and experiences of oppression and privilege. Using a grounded theory design, 20 SMW and transgender individuals participated in initial, follow-up, and feedback interviews. The most frequent demographic identities were queer or bisexual, White, middle-class women with advanced degrees. The results indicated that social justice activism was intensely relational, replete with multiple benefits, yet rife with experiences of oppression from within and outside of activist communities. The empirically derived model shows the complexity of SMW and transgender individuals' experiences, meanings, and benefits of social justice activism.

  18. DOES FATHER INVOLVEMENT INFLUENCE THE AFFECT, LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND BEHAVIOR IN YOUNG AUTISTIC CHILDREN? AN EARLY INTERVENTION STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Preeti Tabitha LOUIS

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The present study adopts a randomized experimental design to evaluate the impact of a father-mediated therapy to improve the play skills, affect, language, social skills and behavior among 30 clinically diagnosed autistic children at the age of 3-5 years. Standardized inventories such as, The Play Based Observation (PBO, The Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS, The Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS and the Rendel Shorts Questionnaire were administered pre and post intervention. A special program that involved fathers in the caregiving and nurturing processes of these children was designed and implemented for 6 months after which the children were reassessed. Prior to the intervention, deficits in play skills and developmental delays across expressive and receptive language were observed Scores on the Vineland Social Maturity Scale and the Rendel Shorts revealed behavioral markers. Post intervention, we noticed significant differences in the play, language acquisition, social engagement and behavior in the treatment group in comparison to the control group. The results suggested that father-mediated therapeutic involvement significantly has proven to positively foster development in young autistic children and this is an important implication for practitioners in developing early intervention programs.

  19. Motives for using Facebook, patterns of Facebook activities, and late adolescents' social adjustment to college.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chia-chen; Brown, B Bradford

    2013-03-01

    Previous studies have confirmed that Facebook, the leading social networking site among young people, facilitates social connections among college students, but the specific activities and motives that foster social adjustment remain unclear. This study examined associations between patterns of Facebook activity, motives for using Facebook, and late adolescents' social adjustment to the college environment. Anonymous self-report survey data from 193 mostly European American students (M age = 20.32; 54 % female) attending a major Midwestern university indicated that motives and activity patterns were associated directly with social adjustment, but the association between one activity, status updating, and social adjustment also was moderated by the motive of relationship maintenance. Findings provide a more comprehensive portrait of how Facebook use may foster or inhibit social adjustment in college.

  20. The Association Between Physical Activity and Cognitive Function With Considerations by Social Risk Status

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Frith

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available We evaluated the association between physical activity and cognitive function among a national sample of the broader U.S. adult population, with consideration by social risk. Data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES were used to identify 2031 older adults, ages 60-85. Social risk was classified by measuring four NHANES variables, namely poverty level, education, minority status, and social living status, which were graded on a scale of 0-4, with higher scores corresponding with higher social risk. The Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST was used to assess cognitive function. Physical activity was assessed via a validated self-report questionnaire. After adjustments, meeting physical activity guidelines (vs not was associated with greater cognitive function (β = 3.0, 95% CI [1.5, 4.4], p < 0.001. In this same model, social risk status was also independently associated with cognitive function. Meeting physical activity guidelines (vs. not was not associated with higher cognitive function among those with a social risk score of of 3 (β = -0.01; 95% CI [-6.3, 6.4], p = 0.99 or a social risk score of 4 (β = -6.8, 95% CI [-15.7, 2.0], p = 0.12. In this national sample of older adults, meeting physical activity guidelines, and degree of social risk were independently associated with cognitive function. However, physical activity was not associated with cognitive function among older adults with the highest degree of social risk.

  1. What Happens outside of the College Class(ed)room? Examining College Students' Social Class and Social Integration in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soria, Krista M.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the relationships between undergraduate students' social class background and variables theorized to affect students' social integration in higher education, including students' perception of campus climate, frequency of faculty interactions, frequency of involvement in campus activities, and sense of belonging.…

  2. A treatment comparison study of a photo activity schedule and Social Stories for teaching social skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: brief report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daneshvar, Sabrina D; Charlop, Marjorie H; Berry Malmberg, Debra

    2018-05-21

    To compare the efficacy of two procedures, a photo activity schedule intervention and Social Stories, to teach social skills to four children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An adapted alternating treatments design with an additional multiple baseline control was used, and two social skills were targeted for each of the four participants, one under each intervention condition. Results indicated that all four participants learned the target social behaviours with the photo activity schedule intervention, but did not learn target social behaviours with Social Stories. Findings support the use of a photo activity intervention for teaching social skillsto children with ASD; we discuss the implications of inconsistent findings of effectiveness of Social Stories.

  3. Program Corporate Social Responsibility di Industri Hotel: Sebuah Keuntungan atau Kerugian untuk Hotel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Pia Adiati

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available A word of CSR which stands for Corporate Social Responsibility is now becoming popular and more often many companies insert the CSR activities into its company profile. CSR has another different names such as Social Activity or Sustainability Development. CSR program according to wikipedia ia an organization or company has a responsibility to its customer, employees, share holders, community and environment in every aspect involved in company operasional. In the management science, there is a level whereas it is called social responsibility or it is just social obligation. Many opinions argues that CSR program will reduce the profit of the respected company. But many opinions denies the previous argue by saying the CSR program is a long term program profit gain since the short term result is good public image. The good public image will lead the loyalti of customer to keep using the product or service from the hotel. The customer loyalti also affected by the customer’s opinion, if they involves in the social activities held by the hotel, they also participate in a social activity.

  4. The Parkinson's experience of group physical activity: Understanding social support, social comparison, physical self-perceptions, and posttraumatic growth

    OpenAIRE

    Sheehy, Tammy L

    2014-01-01

    Group physical activity programs for clinical populations can provide opportunities for adaptive social interactions, improving perceptions of competence, and may facilitate posttraumatic growth (positive psychological changes resulting from traumatic life experiences). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how people with Parkinson's experience social interactions and physical challenges in a group physical activity program, and to investigate what role they think those experie...

  5. Developing preschool children social aptitudes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Teresa Brás

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The kindergarten teachers must be aware of the importance of the acquisition of social skills for children, with a view to appropriate adaptation and overcoming the various challenges that will have those throughout existence. This article is the presentation of a research work within the pre-school educational context, in the field of ʻSocial and Personal Educationʼ which may lead to improved social skills within the group of children. In order to accomplish this, after the teaching training with the pre-school class which focussed on the acquisition of social competence, an assessment of the modified social skills within the class was carried out. These activities were included in the preschool lesson planning during the ʻSupervised Teaching Practiceʼ. They were developed based on childrenʼs daily life situations, focussing mainly on using games in the learning contexts. The aim of these games was to motivate and involve the children in order to enhance their balanced social development. The results obtained suggest that the introduction of this type of learning activities may be an asset in Pre-school Education because they develop both childrenʼs social skills and social competence. Moreover, this type of learning activities may also lead to changes in childrenʼs social interaction with both adults and their peers which may favour pro social behaviour.

  6. The Association Between Physical Activity and Cognitive Function With Considerations by Social Risk Status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frith, Emily; Loprinzi, Paul D

    2017-11-01

    We evaluated the association between physical activity and cognitive function among a national sample of the broader U.S. adult population, with consideration by social risk. Data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to identify 2031 older adults, ages 60-85. Social risk was classified by measuring four NHANES variables, namely poverty level, education, minority status, and social living status, which were graded on a scale of 0-4, with higher scores corresponding with higher social risk. The Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) was used to assess cognitive function. Physical activity was assessed via a validated self-report questionnaire. After adjustments, meeting physical activity guidelines (vs not) was associated with greater cognitive function (β = 3.0, 95% CI [1.5, 4.4], p cognitive function. Meeting physical activity guidelines (vs. not) was not associated with higher cognitive function among those with a social risk score of of 3 (β = -0.01; 95% CI [-6.3, 6.4], p = 0.99) or a social risk score of 4 (β = -6.8, 95% CI [-15.7, 2.0], p = 0.12). In this national sample of older adults, meeting physical activity guidelines, and degree of social risk were independently associated with cognitive function. However, physical activity was not associated with cognitive function among older adults with the highest degree of social risk.

  7. The role of community centre-based arts, leisure and social activities in promoting adult well-being and healthy lifestyles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Mat; Kimberlee, Richard; Deave, Toity; Evans, Simon

    2013-05-10

    Developed countries are experiencing high levels of mental and physical illness associated with long term health conditions, unhealthy lifestyles and an ageing population. Given the limited capacity of the formal health care sector to address these public health issues, attention is turning to the role of agencies active in civil society. This paper sought to evaluate the associations between participation in community centre activities, the psycho-social wellbeing and health related behaviours. This was based on an evaluation of the South West Well-being programme involving ten organisations delivering leisure, exercise, cooking, befriending, arts and crafts activities. The evaluation consisted of a before-and-after study with 687 adults. The results showed positive changes in self-reported general health, mental health, personal and social well-being. Positive changes were associated with diet and physical activity. Some activities were different in their outcomes-especially in cases where group activities were combined with one-to-one support. The results suggest that community centre activities of this nature offer benefits that are generically supportive of health behaviour changes. Such initiatives can perform an important role in supporting the health improvement objectives of formal health care services. For commissioners and partner agencies, accessibility and participation are attractive features that are particularly pertinent to the current public health context.

  8. Activating social strategies: Face-to-face interaction in technology-mediated citizen science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappa, Francesco; Laut, Jeffrey; Nov, Oded; Giustiniano, Luca; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2016-11-01

    The use of crowds in research activities by public and private organizations is growing under different forms. Citizen science is a popular means of engaging the general public in research activities led by professional scientists. By involving a large number of amateur scientists, citizen science enables distributed data collection and analysis on a scale that would be otherwise difficult and costly to achieve. While advancements in information technology in the past few decades have fostered the growth of citizen science through online participation, several projects continue to fail due to limited participation. Such web-based projects may isolate the citizen scientists from the researchers. By adopting the perspective of social strategy, we investigate within a measure-manipulate-measure experiment if motivations to participate in a citizen science project can be positively influenced by a face-to-face interaction with the scientists leading the project. Such an interaction provides the participants with the possibility of asking questions on the spot and obtaining a detailed explanation of the citizen science project, its scientific merit, and environmental relevance. Social and cultural factors that moderate the effect brought about by face-to-face interactions on the motivations are also dissected and analyzed. Our findings provide an exploratory insight into a means for motivating crowds to participate in online environmental monitoring projects, also offering possible selection criteria of target audience. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. BRAND COMMUNICATION ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otilia-Elena PLATON

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The communication represents a basic element for the marketing activity that helps companies to achieve their objectives. Building long-term relationships between brands and consumers is one of the most important objectives pursued by marketers. This involves brand communication and creating multiple connections with consumers, even in the online environment. From this point of view, social networks proved to be an effective way of linking brands and consumers online. This paper aims to present some aspects involved by the usage of social networks in brand communication by analyzing several examples of online marketing campaigns implemented on Facebook on the occasion of Valentine's Day by six different brands.

  10. Mapping social behavior-induced brain activation at cellular resolution in the mouse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yongsoo; Venkataraju, Kannan Umadevi; Pradhan, Kith; Mende, Carolin; Taranda, Julian; Turaga, Srinivas C.; Arganda-Carreras, Ignacio; Ng, Lydia; Hawrylycz, Michael J.; Rockland, Kathleen; Seung, H. Sebastian; Osten, Pavel

    2014-01-01

    Understanding how brain activation mediates behaviors is a central goal of systems neuroscience. Here we apply an automated method for mapping brain activation in the mouse in order to probe how sex-specific social behaviors are represented in the male brain. Our method uses the immediate early gene c-fos, a marker of neuronal activation, visualized by serial two-photon tomography: the c-fos-GFP-positive neurons are computationally detected, their distribution is registered to a reference brain and a brain atlas, and their numbers are analyzed by statistical tests. Our results reveal distinct and shared female and male interaction-evoked patterns of male brain activation representing sex discrimination and social recognition. We also identify brain regions whose degree of activity correlates to specific features of social behaviors and estimate the total numbers and the densities of activated neurons per brain areas. Our study opens the door to automated screening of behavior-evoked brain activation in the mouse. PMID:25558063

  11. Civic Virtue, Social Justice and Catholic Schools: Part II.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ognibene, Richard; Paulli, Kenneth

    2002-01-01

    Details the history of the Catholic Church's involvement in social justice issues from the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) on. Describes social justice programs in schools in the diocese of Albany, New York, as well as other programs. Stresses that social justice activity rises out gratitude for the gift of life and should be seen in the context…

  12. Effects of Familial Attachment, Social Support, Involvement, and Self-Esteem on Youth Substance Use and Sexual Risk Taking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Christina Hamme; Buser, Trevor J.; Westburg, Nancy G.

    2010-01-01

    A study of protective factors against substance use and sexual risk taking was conducted among 610 high-poverty urban youth. Higher levels of family attachment, social support, involvement, and self-esteem were associated with lower levels of risk behaviors. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

  13. Economic and social activities on ancient Cypriot terraced landscapes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ridder, Elizabeth; Galletti, Christopher S; Fall, Patricia L; Falconer, Steven E

    2017-11-01

    We investigate ancient agricultural terraces and their associated social and economic activities across the site complex consisting of the village at Politiko-Troullia and its more extensive associated taskscape. Surface artifact distributions mapped over 12 ha are integrated with evidence excavated from this Bronze Age settlement in central Cyprus. Contrary to expectations, artifact densities do not diminish with distance from the village architecture. In particular, concentrations of Prehistoric Bronze Age ceramics and ground stone artifacts are most pronounced on nearby terraced hillsides. These terraces were not utilized for domestic structures, but for extensive processing of agricultural crops and copper ore. Bronze Age excavated plant remains indicate cultivation of olives, grapes and figs, with wood resources dominated by olive and pine. Larger, non-portable ground stones and gaming stones are associated with communal social and economic activities in open courtyard settings in Politiko-Troullia. This category of ground stone also is particularly common on the terraced hillsides around Troullia, suggesting that similar behaviors occurred beyond village structures. The terraced landscape of Politiko-Troullia exemplifies a multi-faceted taskscape with a range of agricultural, metallurgical and social activities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Stakeholder involvement in Swedish nuclear waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elam, Mark; Sundqvist, Goeran

    2006-09-01

    This report concerning Swedish nuclear waste management has been produced as part of a cross national research project: CARL - A Social Science Research Project into the Effects of Stakeholder involvement on Decision-Making in Radioactive Waste Management. Besides Sweden, the participating countries are Belgium, Canada, Finland, Slovenia and United Kingdom. A social science research team, working for three years, is in the first phase conducting research in their own countries in order to produce 6 country reports. During the next years the focus will shift to comparisons of stakeholder involvement practices in the participating countries. The report addresses current practices of Swedish nuclear waste management and their historical development. The main focus is on past, current and emerging patterns of stakeholder involvement in the siting of a deep repository for the final disposal of Sweden's spent nuclear fuel. The general questions attended to in the report are: Who are the main stakeholders, and how have they emerged and gained recognition as such? What are the issues currently subject to stakeholder involvement and how have these been decided upon? How is stakeholder involvement organized locally and nationally and how has this changed over time? How has stakeholder involvement gained acceptance as an activity of value in the siting of major waste facilities? The report have attempted to show the development of stakeholder involvement in the siting of a final repository for Sweden's spent nuclear fuel as resembling something other than a straightforward linear process of improvement and refinement. Stakeholder involvement has developed, over the past 15 years or so, into something more like a patchwork of different shapes and forms. Some of the forces that may well contribute to the further elaboration of the patchwork of stakeholder involvement have been pointed out, contingently modifying once more its overall colour and orientation. Questions have been

  15. Stakeholder involvement in Swedish nuclear waste management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elam, Mark; Sundqvist, Goeran [Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden). Section for Science and Technology Studies

    2006-09-15

    This report concerning Swedish nuclear waste management has been produced as part of a cross national research project: CARL - A Social Science Research Project into the Effects of Stakeholder involvement on Decision-Making in Radioactive Waste Management. Besides Sweden, the participating countries are Belgium, Canada, Finland, Slovenia and United Kingdom. A social science research team, working for three years, is in the first phase conducting research in their own countries in order to produce 6 country reports. During the next years the focus will shift to comparisons of stakeholder involvement practices in the participating countries. The report addresses current practices of Swedish nuclear waste management and their historical development. The main focus is on past, current and emerging patterns of stakeholder involvement in the siting of a deep repository for the final disposal of Sweden's spent nuclear fuel. The general questions attended to in the report are: Who are the main stakeholders, and how have they emerged and gained recognition as such? What are the issues currently subject to stakeholder involvement and how have these been decided upon? How is stakeholder involvement organized locally and nationally and how has this changed over time? How has stakeholder involvement gained acceptance as an activity of value in the siting of major waste facilities? The report have attempted to show the development of stakeholder involvement in the siting of a final repository for Sweden's spent nuclear fuel as resembling something other than a straightforward linear process of improvement and refinement. Stakeholder involvement has developed, over the past 15 years or so, into something more like a patchwork of different shapes and forms. Some of the forces that may well contribute to the further elaboration of the patchwork of stakeholder involvement have been pointed out, contingently modifying once more its overall colour and orientation. Questions

  16. Increased dopaminergic activity in socially isolated rats: an electrophysiological study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fabricius, Katrine; Helboe, Lone; Fink-Jensen, Anders

    2010-01-01

    The development of animal models mimicking symptoms associated with schizophrenia has been a critical step in understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the disease. Long-term social isolation from weaning in rodents, a model based on the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia......, has been suggested to mimic some of the deficits seen in schizophrenic patients. We confirm in the present study that socially isolated rats display an increase in both spontaneous and d-amphetamine-induced locomotor activity, as well as deficits in sensorimotor gating as assessed in a pre......, and a change of firing activity towards a more irregular and bursting firing pattern. Taken together, our findings suggest that the behavioral phenotype induced by social isolation may be driven by an overactive dopamine system....

  17. The Effects of Argument Quality and Involvement Type on Attitude Formation and Attitude Change: A Test of Dual-Process and Social Judgment Predictions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hee Sun; Levine, Timothy R.; Kingsley Westerman, Catherine Y.; Orfgen, Tierney; Foregger, Sarah

    2007-01-01

    Involvement has long been theoretically specified as a crucial factor determining the persuasive impact of messages. In social judgment theory, ego-involvement makes people more resistant to persuasion, whereas in dual-process models, high-involvement people are susceptible to persuasion when argument quality is high. It is argued that these…

  18. Civic Engagement and Social Media

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The recent wave of protests, from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement and austerity protests, have reinvigorated hopes for the democratic potential of the Internet, and particularly social media. With their popular appeal and multimodal affordances social media such as YouTube, Twitter...... and Facebook have generated both media and scholarly interest in their possibilities for granting visibility to and facilitating the organization of activism. However, the role of social media in sustaining civic engagement beyond protest and fatalism remains under-explored. How can social media contribute...... to sustaining longer-term involvement of civil society? What is the potential of social media for making available alternative social imaginaries? And what role may social media play in facilitating social change through cooperation with business? This volume offers answers to these questions by providing...

  19. Brain networks of social comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kedia, Gayannée; Lindner, Michael; Mussweiler, Thomas; Ihssen, Niklas; Linden, David E J

    2013-03-27

    Social comparison, that is, the process of comparing oneself to other people, is a ubiquitous social cognitive mechanism; however, so far its neural correlates have remained unknown. The present study tested the hypothesis that social comparisons are supported by partly dissociated networks, depending on whether the dimension under comparison concerns a physical or a psychological attribute. We measured brain activity with functional MRI, whereas participants were comparing their own height or intelligence to that of individuals they personally know. Height comparisons were associated with higher activity in a frontoparietal network involved in spatial and numerical cognition. Conversely, intelligence comparisons recruited a network of midline areas that have been previously implicated in the attribution of mental states to oneself and others (Theory of mind). These findings suggest that social comparisons rely on diverse domain-specific mechanisms rather than on one unitary process.

  20. Social and Health Factors Associated with Physical Activity among Kuwaiti College Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Isa, Abdulwahab Naser; Campbell, Jennifer; Desapriya, Ediriweera; Wijesinghe, Namal

    2011-01-01

    Our aim was to explore the social and health factors that are associated with the level of physical activity among Kuwaiti college students. A random sample of 787 students (48% males and 52% females) was chosen and weight and height were measured to obtain body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)). Associated social and health factors were obtained using a questionnaire. Those reporting being physically inactive numbered 354 and the remaining 433 were active. Obesity among males was 13% and was 10.5% among females. The social and health factors that were found to be significantly associated with physical activity among the students were gender (P degree (P benefits of being physically active should be instituted to increase the practice of sports and other physical activities in order to control and decrease obesity-related morbidity and mortality.

  1. Prediction-error in the context of real social relationships modulates reward system activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poore, Joshua C; Pfeifer, Jennifer H; Berkman, Elliot T; Inagaki, Tristen K; Welborn, Benjamin L; Lieberman, Matthew D

    2012-01-01

    The human reward system is sensitive to both social (e.g., validation) and non-social rewards (e.g., money) and is likely integral for relationship development and reputation building. However, data is sparse on the question of whether implicit social reward processing meaningfully contributes to explicit social representations such as trust and attachment security in pre-existing relationships. This event-related fMRI experiment examined reward system prediction-error activity in response to a potent social reward-social validation-and this activity's relation to both attachment security and trust in the context of real romantic relationships. During the experiment, participants' expectations for their romantic partners' positive regard of them were confirmed (validated) or violated, in either positive or negative directions. Primary analyses were conducted using predefined regions of interest, the locations of which were taken from previously published research. Results indicate that activity for mid-brain and striatal reward system regions of interest was modulated by social reward expectation violation in ways consistent with prior research on reward prediction-error. Additionally, activity in the striatum during viewing of disconfirmatory information was associated with both increases in post-scan reports of attachment anxiety and decreases in post-scan trust, a finding that follows directly from representational models of attachment and trust.

  2. Reducing health disparities: the social role of medical schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dopelt, Keren; Davidovitch, Nadav; Yahav, Zehava; Urkin, Jacob; Bachner, Yaacov G

    2014-06-01

    Medical education based on the principles of social medicine can contribute toward reducing health disparities through the "creation" of doctors who are more involved in community programs. This study compared the social medicine orientation of graduates from various medical schools in Israel. The authors conducted an online cross-sectional survey in May 2011 among physicians who are graduates of Israeli medical schools. The study included 1050 physicians practicing medicine in Israel: 36% who are graduates from the Hebrew University, 26% from Tel Aviv University, 22% from the Technion and 16% from Ben-Gurion University. A greater percentage of physicians who studied either at the Technion or Ben-Gurion are working or have worked in the periphery (∼50% vs. ∼30% at the Hebrew and Tel Aviv Universities). Among Ben-Gurion graduates, 47% are active in social medicine programs vs. 34-38% from other schools. Among physicians active in social medicine programs, 32% of Ben-Gurion alumni estimated that their medical education greatly influenced their social medicine involvement vs. 8-15% from other schools. Hebrew University alumni described their studies as more research-oriented. In contrast, Ben-Gurion graduates described their studies as more social medicine-oriented and they exhibited more positive attitudes about the role of physicians in reducing health disparities. Social medicine-oriented medical education induces a socialization process reinforcing human values regarding doctor-patient relationships and produces positive attitudes among future doctors about social involvement. Findings emphasize the need to develop educational programs with this orientation and to strengthen medical schools in the periphery.

  3. Stakeholder involvement in international conventions governing civil nuclear activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emmerechts, Sam

    2017-01-01

    Mr Emmerechts explained that international conventions have varying positions on stakeholders and their involvement depending upon the intent of the legislator and the field they cover, ranging from a narrow to a broad interpretation. He addressed stakeholder involvement in two other international conventions governing civil nuclear activities, namely the Convention on Nuclear Safety, and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the Joint Convention), both concluded under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He noted that the Convention on Nuclear Safety remains a 'traditional' international legal instrument, focusing on governments and governmental bodies as the main stakeholders and limiting obligations regarding the involvement of the public and intergovernmental organisations to their receiving information and observing. Likewise, the Joint Convention limits obligations regarding public involvement to access to information, notably as to the siting of proposed facilities. However, he noted that in the European Union, the Directive on Nuclear Safety (2014/87/Euratom) and the Directive for the Safe Management of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste (2011/70/Euratom) have more advanced public participation requirements in nuclear decision making. Mr Emmerechts explained that the substantial differences between nuclear legislation and the Aarhus and Espoo Conventions with regards to public involvement requirements could partly be explained by the technicality of nuclear information and by issues related to nuclear security

  4. Education Technologies in Addressing the Problem of Forming the Socially Active Individual

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popova, Irina N.

    2016-01-01

    The article is devoted to the analysis of technological support of the educational process in solving the problem of forming the socially active individual. The authors studied the value of the category "social activity" and analyzed educational technologies that have an impact on its formation. The obtained results gave the possibility…

  5. Attitude and practice of physical activity and social problem-solving ability among university students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sone, Toshimasa; Kawachi, Yousuke; Abe, Chihiro; Otomo, Yuki; Sung, Yul-Wan; Ogawa, Seiji

    2017-04-04

    Effective social problem-solving abilities can contribute to decreased risk of poor mental health. In addition, physical activity has a favorable effect on mental health. These previous studies suggest that physical activity and social problem-solving ability can interact by helping to sustain mental health. The present study aimed to determine the association between attitude and practice of physical activity and social problem-solving ability among university students. Information on physical activity and social problem-solving was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. We analyzed data from 185 students who participated in the questionnaire surveys and psychological tests. Social problem-solving as measured by the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R) (median score 10.85) was the dependent variable. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for higher SPSI-R according to physical activity categories. The multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that the ORs (95% CI) in reference to participants who said they never considered exercising were 2.08 (0.69-6.93), 1.62 (0.55-5.26), 2.78 (0.86-9.77), and 6.23 (1.81-23.97) for participants who did not exercise but intended to start, tried to exercise but did not, exercised but not regularly, and exercised regularly, respectively. This finding suggested that positive linear association between physical activity and social problem-solving ability (p value for linear trend social problem-solving ability.

  6. Different impressions of other agents obtained through social interaction uniquely modulate dorsal and ventral pathway activities in the social human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Hideyuki; Terada, Kazunori; Morita, Tomoyo; Suzuki, Shinsuke; Haji, Tomoki; Kozima, Hideki; Yoshikawa, Masahiro; Matsumoto, Yoshio; Omori, Takashi; Asada, Minoru; Naito, Eiichi

    2014-09-01

    Internal (neuronal) representations in the brain are modified by our experiences, and this phenomenon is not unique to sensory and motor systems. Here, we show that different impressions obtained through social interaction with a variety of agents uniquely modulate activity of dorsal and ventral pathways of the brain network that mediates human social behavior. We scanned brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 16 healthy volunteers when they performed a simple matching-pennies game with a human, human-like android, mechanical robot, interactive robot, and a computer. Before playing this game in the scanner, participants experienced social interactions with each opponent separately and scored their initial impressions using two questionnaires. We found that the participants perceived opponents in two mental dimensions: one represented "mind-holderness" in which participants attributed anthropomorphic impressions to some of the opponents that had mental functions, while the other dimension represented "mind-readerness" in which participants characterized opponents as intelligent. Interestingly, this "mind-readerness" dimension correlated to participants frequently changing their game tactic to prevent opponents from envisioning their strategy, and this was corroborated by increased entropy during the game. We also found that the two factors separately modulated activity in distinct social brain regions. Specifically, mind-holderness modulated activity in the dorsal aspect of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal and posterior paracingulate cortices, while mind-readerness modulated activity in the ventral aspect of TPJ and the temporal pole. These results clearly demonstrate that activity in social brain networks is modulated through pre-scanning experiences of social interaction with a variety of agents. Furthermore, our findings elucidated the existence of two distinct functional networks in the social human brain

  7. Ethical Investigation of Social Responsibility Activities towards the Environment

    OpenAIRE

    ELCİL, Şifa

    2018-01-01

    Inaddition to the quality product and service provision, strategic management andstrategic communication approach, it has become a necessity for theinstitutions to form social reputation of the institutions with socialresponsibility approach and to maintain them in accordance with a certainunderstanding. The purpose of social responsibility activities in relation tothe public is to create a responsibility awareness and positive attitude in thesociety and to direct attitude and behavior change...

  8. Complex active travel bout motivations: Gender, place, and social context associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Barbara B; Smith, Ken R

    2017-09-01

    Active travel bouts are healthy, but bout-specific motives, social, and physical contexts have been poorly characterized. Adults (n= 421 in 2012, 436 in 2013) described their moderate activity bouts over the past week, aided by accelerometry/GPS data integration. Participants viewed maps indicating date, time, and starting and ending locations of their past week moderate-to-vigorous active travel bouts of 3 or more minutes. These prompts helped participants recall their social and physical contexts and motives for the bouts. Three bout motivations were modeled: leisure, transportation, and their "T-L" difference scores (transportation minus leisure scores). Blends of leisure and transportation motives characterized most bouts, even though most studies do not allow participants to endorse multiple motives for their active travel. Bouts were often neighborhood-based. Leisure motives were related to pleasant place perceptions, homes, and exercise places; workplaces were associated with stronger transportation and T-L bout motives. Women's bout motives were more closely associated with place than men's. Our novel method of individual bout assessment can illuminate the social-ecological contexts and experiences of everyday healthy bouts of activity.

  9. Dynamic Social Networks in High Performance Football Coaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Occhino, Joseph; Mallett, Cliff; Rynne, Steven

    2013-01-01

    Background: Sports coaching is largely a social activity where engagement with athletes and support staff can enhance the experiences for all involved. This paper examines how high performance football coaches develop knowledge through their interactions with others within a social learning theory framework. Purpose: The key purpose of this study…

  10. Pembentukan Sikap Konsumen Pada Cause Related Marketing Produk Utilitarian Dan High Involvement

    OpenAIRE

    Singgih Santoso

    2016-01-01

    With popularity growing of social marketing concepts and consciousness of the environmental issues in recent days, cause related marketing activities oriented in environmental conservation issues is also growing. Research aims is to examine the formation of consumer attitudes on cause related marketing activities, a marketing activities which undertaken a commercial brand with a nonprofit organization; in this research product is utilitarian product and also high involvement product, namely A...

  11. Security of material: Preventing criminal activities involving nuclear and other radioactive materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nilsson, A.

    2001-01-01

    The report emphasizes the need for national regulatory authorities to include in the regulatory systems, measures to control and protect nuclear materials from being used in illegal activities, as well as aspects of relevance for detecting and responding to illegal activities involving nuclear and other radioactive materials. The report will give an overview of the international treaties and agreements that underpin the establishment of a regulatory structure necessary for States to meet their non-proliferation policy and undertakings. Ongoing work to strengthen the protection of nuclear material and to detect and respond to illegal activities involving nuclear and other radioactive material will be included. The focus of the paper is on the need for standards and national regulation in the nuclear security area. (author)

  12. The Influence of Different Social Roles Activation on Women's Financial and Consumer Choices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sekścińska, Katarzyna; Trzcińska, Agata; Maison, Dominika A

    2016-01-01

    In recent times, the changes occurring in the social role of women and men have been observed. Traditionally, the dominating social role of the woman was as housewife, and that of the man was focused on work and family maintenance. Nowadays, the social role of women is evolving in the direction of taking a profession, while increasingly men are taking care of the household. The main goal of the studies presented here was to verify how the activation of different social roles (traditional or non-traditional) may be reflected in women's financial and consumer choices. Three experimental studies were conducted. In the first study (n = 195 females), three different social roles of women - professional (non-traditional), housewife (traditional) and neutral (control) - were activated. The results showed that activating women's non-traditional social role increased their tendency to invest and decreased their propensity to save money compared to the activation of the traditional or neutral social role. The goal of the second study (n = 196 females) was to check whether, despite there being no differences in the level of consumption in the first study, can any differences be observed in the preference for the type of products chosen for consumption. The results showed that activating the non-traditional social role raised the propensity to spend funds on products and services for individual use and reduced the willingness to buy goods for collective use (shared with other members of the household). The purpose of the third study (n = 90 females) was to examine how different images of women appearing in advertisements may affect women's judgments of the advertised product. Women who watched the ad with woman in the non-traditional social role estimated the product quality, look, color and price higher that participants exposed to the advertisement presenting the woman in traditional or neutral social role. The present studies give some evidence that the new, non

  13. Why Social Pain Can Live on: Different Neural Mechanisms Are Associated with Reliving Social and Physical Pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Meghan L; Williams, Kipling D; Eisenberger, Naomi I

    2015-01-01

    Although social and physical pain recruit overlapping neural activity in regions associated with the affective component of pain, the two pains can diverge in their phenomenology. Most notably, feelings of social pain can be re-experienced or "relived," even when the painful episode has long passed, whereas feelings of physical pain cannot be easily relived once the painful episode subsides. Here, we observed that reliving social (vs. physical) pain led to greater self-reported re-experienced pain and greater activity in affective pain regions (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula). Moreover, the degree of relived pain correlated positively with affective pain system activity. In contrast, reliving physical (vs. social) pain led to greater activity in the sensory-discriminative pain system (primary and secondary somatosensory cortex and posterior insula), which did not correlate with relived pain. Preferential engagement of these different pain mechanisms may reflect the use of different top-down neurocognitive pathways to elicit the pain. Social pain reliving recruited dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, often associated with mental state processing, which functionally correlated with affective pain system responses. In contrast, physical pain reliving recruited inferior frontal gyrus, known to be involved in body state processing, which functionally correlated with activation in the sensory pain system. These results update the physical-social pain overlap hypothesis: while overlapping mechanisms support live social and physical pain, distinct mechanisms guide internally-generated pain.

  14. Becoming the Physical Activity Champion: Empowerment through Social Marketing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colquitt, Gavin; Alfonso, Moya L.; Walker, Ashley

    2014-01-01

    Physical education teachers can champion their profession through marketing the importance of physical activity to children and families in the communities they serve. Social marketing, a consumer-based approach to behavior change, is an excellent choice for physical education teachers who want to "sell" physical activity to their…

  15. Family social support, community "social capital" and adolescents' mental health and educational outcomes: a longitudinal study in England.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothon, Catherine; Goodwin, Laura; Stansfeld, Stephen

    2012-05-01

    To examine the associations between family social support, community "social capital" and mental health and educational outcomes. The data come from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, a multi-stage stratified nationally representative random sample. Family social support (parental relationships, evening meal with family, parental surveillance) and community social capital (parental involvement at school, sociability, involvement in activities outside the home) were measured at baseline (age 13-14), using a variety of instruments. Mental health was measured at age 14-15 (GHQ-12). Educational achievement was measured at age 15-16 by achievement at the General Certificate of Secondary Education. After adjustments, good paternal (OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.56-0.86) and maternal (OR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.53-0.81) relationships, high parental surveillance (OR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.69-0.94) and frequency of evening meal with family (6 or 7 times a week: OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.61-0.96) were associated with lower odds of poor mental health. A good paternal relationship (OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.06-1.51), high parental surveillance (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.20-1.58), high frequency of evening meal with family (OR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.33-2.03) high involvement in extra-curricular activities (OR = 2.57, 95% CI 2.11-3.13) and parental involvement at school (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.37-1.87) were associated with higher odds of reaching the educational benchmark. Participating in non-directed activities was associated with lower odds of reaching the benchmark (OR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.70-0.89). Building social capital in deprived communities may be one way in which both mental health and educational outcomes could be improved. In particular, there is a need to focus on the family as a provider of support.

  16. Social networks and social support for healthy eating among Latina breast cancer survivors: implications for social and behavioral interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crookes, Danielle M; Shelton, Rachel C; Tehranifar, Parisa; Aycinena, Corina; Gaffney, Ann Ogden; Koch, Pam; Contento, Isobel R; Greenlee, Heather

    2016-04-01

    Little is known about Latina breast cancer survivors' social networks or their perceived social support to achieve and maintain a healthy diet. This paper describes the social networks and perceived support for healthy eating in a sample of breast cancer survivors of predominantly Dominican descent living in New York City. Spanish-speaking Latina breast cancer survivors enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a culturally tailored dietary intervention. Social networks were assessed using Cohen's Social Network Index and a modified General Social Survey Social Networks Module that included assessments of shared health promoting behaviors. Perceived social support from family and friends for healthy, food-related behaviors was assessed. Participants' networks consisted predominantly of family and friends. Family members were more likely than other individuals to be identified as close network members. Participants were more likely to share food-related activities than exercise activities with close network members. Perceived social support for healthy eating was high, although perceived support from spouses and children was higher than support from friends. Despite high levels of perceived support, family was also identified as a barrier to eating healthy foods by nearly half of women. Although friends are part of Latina breast cancer survivors' social networks, spouses and children may provide greater support for healthy eating than friends. Involving family members in dietary interventions for Latina breast cancer survivors may tap into positive sources of support for women, which could facilitate uptake and maintenance of healthy eating behaviors.

  17. Making social media work: finding a library voice

    OpenAIRE

    Chatten, Zelda

    2017-01-01

    The social media team at the University of Liverpool Library runs a popular verified Twitter account with over 9,000 followers and is enthusiastically involved in a variety of social media platforms. Since starting a period of sustained improvement, our use of social media has progressed from being a passive channel used to broadcast news and service changes to being an active method of communication in a digital space our users already inhabit. Working collaboratively, the social media team ...

  18. INCORPORATING ROUTINE ACTIVITIES, ACTIVITY SPACES, AND SITUATIONAL DEFINITIONS INTO THE SOCIAL SCHEMATIC THEORY OF CRIME*

    Science.gov (United States)

    BARR, ASHLEY B.; LEI, MAN-KIT; STEWART, ERIC

    2014-01-01

    Simons and Burt’s (2011) social schematic theory (SST) of crime posits that adverse social factors are associated with offending because they promote a set of social schemas (i.e., a criminogenic knowledge structure) that elevates the probability of situational definitions favorable to crime. This study extends the SST model by incorporating the role of contexts for action. Furthermore, the study advances tests of the SST by incorporating a measure of criminogenic situational definitions to assess whether such definitions mediate the effects of schemas and contexts on crime. Structural equation models using 10 years of panel data from 582 African American youth provided strong support for the expanded theory. The results suggest that childhood and adolescent social adversity fosters a criminogenic knowledge structure as well as selection into criminogenic activity spaces and risky activities, all of which increase the likelihood of offending largely through situational definitions. Additionally, evidence shows that the criminogenic knowledge structure interacts with settings to amplify the likelihood of situational definitions favorable to crime. PMID:26392633

  19. The Development of Organizational Sustainability in Social Enterprises

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernandez Chea, Roberto Roderico

    , support disadvantaged groups of people to tackle their social problems such as, for example, poverty or lack of employment opportunities and, on the other hand, generate revenue from commercial activities to sustain their operations. Social enterprises may involve public and private members as founders...... with different demands and interests that translate into different management challenges. Such challenges may sometimes threaten the development of organizational sustainability and therefore the ability of social enterprises to continue operating in the long-term. This thesis aims to investigate this issue......, leveraging on a behavior perspective to study the development of organizational sustainability in social enterprises that involve public and private members as collaborating founders. In particular, the four scientific articles that consolidate the thesis provide insights into the management dimensions...

  20. Social support, physical activity and sedentary behavior among 6th-grade girls: a cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hoelscher Deanna M

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite the importance of social support in promoting physical activity, little is known about the relative influence of the type or source of social support on adolescent girls' physical activity and sedentary behaviors. This study examined the associations of two types of social support (social participation in and social encouragement for physical activity and two social support sources (family and friends with self-reported daily minutes of physical activity and sedentary behavior among sixth-grade girls in Texas. Methods A secondary analysis of 718 sixth-grade girls between the ages of 10 to 14 was performed using cross-sectional baseline data from an osteoporosis prevention intervention study. Physical activity and sedentary behaviors (television-video viewing and computer-video game playing were assessed using 3 administrations of the Self-Administered Physical Activity Checklist; social support indicators were assessed with Likert-type items from a psychosocial questionnaire. Results In multiple linear regression analyses, friend physical activity participation (partial correlation coefficient (r = 0.10, p = .009 and friend (r = 0.12 and family encouragement (r = 0.11 (p Conclusion Findings lend support to the importance of social support for physical activity among adolescent girls but suggest that the source and type of social support may differ for physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Further research is needed to assess the causal or reciprocal relation between the roles of friends and family in promoting physical activity and of family physical activity in decreasing sedentary behaviors among early adolescent girls.

  1. Transfer students in STEM majors at a Midwestern University: Academic and social involvement factors that influence student success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Carlos

    There is soon-to-be a shortage of qualified U.S. workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As a result, many science-related jobs are being filled by technically-skilled foreign workers. If the U.S wants to maintain its global economic leadership, then it must ensure a continuous growth of highly-trained individuals in STEM disciplines. Therefore, American institutions of higher education, including community colleges, must identify potential factors that contribute to the lack of interest in STEM majors, as well as the low rate of success of students who enter STEM majors but struggle to finish their degrees. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of community college transfer students who are pursuing bachelor degrees in STEM majors at Iowa State University (ISU). What were their transfer experiences and what influenced their academic success in STEM. Participants were encouraged to share their transfer experiences while at the community college as well as their experiences on the ISU campus. They were also asked about their level of academic involvement, their relationships with faculty, and their participation in peer group activities prior to and after transferring. The research design included both quantitative and qualitative components, which provided an in-depth look at the experiences of STEM non-engineering and engineering students. Quantitative data include students' background characteristics, demographic information, and college activities at the community college and ISU. Qualitative data were used to illuminate students' overall transfer experience and their successful journey in STEM fields. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods allowed a better understanding of the strategies students put into practice once they transfer from a community college to a four-year institution in pursuit of a STEM bachelor's degree. The results of this study suggest that there is an association among the

  2. Is a visual worth more than a thousand words? An investigation into brand engagement and social shopping on visual social media

    OpenAIRE

    Bennett, DR; Kunze, C

    2016-01-01

    Social media networking is now the most popular online activity worldwide and a large part of social media interaction involves sharing visual content on platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. The phenomenal growth in numbers of users makes visual platforms enticing for marketers who spend ever-increasing time, effort and money on social media in the hope of generating consumer engagement for their brands. This research investigates customer behaviour for the largest visual social media p...

  3. Everyday activities and social contacts among older deaf sign language users

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Werngren-Elgström, Monica; Brandt, Ase; Iwarsson, Susanne

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the everyday activities and social contacts among older deaf sign language users, and to investigate relationships between these phenomena and the health and well-being within this group. The study population comprised deaf sign language users, 65 years...... or older, in Sweden. Data collection was based on interviews in sign language, including open-ended questions covering everyday activities and social contacts as well as self-rated instruments measuring aspects of health and subjective well-being. The results demonstrated that the group of participants...... aspects of health and subjective well-being and the frequency of social contacts with family/relatives or visiting the deaf club and meeting friends. It is concluded that the variety of activities at the deaf clubs are important for the subjective well-being of older deaf sign language users. Further...

  4. Environmental, psychological, and social influences on physical activity among Japanese adults: structural equation modeling analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishii, Kaori; Shibata, Ai; Oka, Koichiro

    2010-08-05

    An understanding of the contributing factors to be considered when examining how individuals engage in physical activity is important for promoting population-based physical activity. The environment influences long-term effects on population-based health behaviors. Personal variables, such as self-efficacy and social support, can act as mediators of the predictive relationship between the environment and physical activity. The present study examines the direct and indirect effects of environmental, psychological, and social factors on walking, moderate-intensity activity excluding walking, and vigorous-intensity activity among Japanese adults. The participants included 1,928 Japanese adults aged 20-79 years. Seven sociodemographic attributes (e.g., gender, age, education level, employment status), psychological variables (self-efficacy, pros, and cons), social variables (social support), environmental variables (home fitness equipment, access to facilities, neighborhood safety, aesthetic sensibilities, and frequency of observing others exercising), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were assessed via an Internet-based survey. Structural equation modeling was conducted to determine associations between environmental, psychological, and social factors with physical activity. Environmental factors could be seen to have indirect effects on physical activity through their influence on psychological and social variables such as self-efficacy, pros and cons, and social support. The strongest indirect effects could be observed by examining the consequences of environmental factors on physical activity through cons to self-efficacy. The total effects of environmental factors on physical activity were 0.02 on walking, 0.02 on moderate-intensity activity excluding walking, and 0.05 on vigorous-intensity activity. The present study indicates that environmental factors had indirect effects on walking, moderate-intensity activity excluding walking and

  5. Environmental, psychological, and social influences on physical activity among Japanese adults: structural equation modeling analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ishii Kaori

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An understanding of the contributing factors to be considered when examining how individuals engage in physical activity is important for promoting population-based physical activity. The environment influences long-term effects on population-based health behaviors. Personal variables, such as self-efficacy and social support, can act as mediators of the predictive relationship between the environment and physical activity. The present study examines the direct and indirect effects of environmental, psychological, and social factors on walking, moderate-intensity activity excluding walking, and vigorous-intensity activity among Japanese adults. Methods The participants included 1,928 Japanese adults aged 20-79 years. Seven sociodemographic attributes (e.g., gender, age, education level, employment status, psychological variables (self-efficacy, pros, and cons, social variables (social support, environmental variables (home fitness equipment, access to facilities, neighborhood safety, aesthetic sensibilities, and frequency of observing others exercising, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were assessed via an Internet-based survey. Structural equation modeling was conducted to determine associations between environmental, psychological, and social factors with physical activity. Results Environmental factors could be seen to have indirect effects on physical activity through their influence on psychological and social variables such as self-efficacy, pros and cons, and social support. The strongest indirect effects could be observed by examining the consequences of environmental factors on physical activity through cons to self-efficacy. The total effects of environmental factors on physical activity were 0.02 on walking, 0.02 on moderate-intensity activity excluding walking, and 0.05 on vigorous-intensity activity. Conclusions The present study indicates that environmental factors had indirect effects on

  6. Computer-Mediated Social Support for Physical Activity: A Content Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stragier, Jeroen; Mechant, Peter; De Marez, Lieven; Cardon, Greet

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: Online fitness communities are a recent phenomenon experiencing growing user bases. They can be considered as online social networks in which recording, monitoring, and sharing of physical activity (PA) are the most prevalent practices. They have added a new dimension to the social experience of PA in which online peers function as…

  7. Religion and Social Entrepreneurship

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spear, Roger

    2010-01-01

    This chapter is concerned with the role of religion in social entrepreneurship. It takes an institutional perspective and examines the way religious institutions and actors have supported social entrepreneurship. Weber has argued for the role of (protestant) religion in motivating people to take....../organisations) and local religious leaders to catalyse entrepreneurial activity. Thus these three dimensions of religious institutions (ideological discourse, networks, and leadership) will be examined in relation to social entrepreneurship. For the sake of simplifying the empirical base of this study, the field of social...... entrepreneurship will be limited to social enterprise which are co-operatives, mutuals and trading voluntary organisations (or non-profits), since there is a good evidence base of religious involvement in entrepreneurship in this sector, from which a number of cases will be drawn using secondary sources. However...

  8. Active and passive social support in families of greylag geese (Anser anser)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scheiber, IBR; Weiss, BM; Frigerio, D; Kotrschal, K

    2005-01-01

    In general, support by social allies may reduce stress, increase success in agonistic encounters and ease access to resources. Social support was mainly known from mammals, particularly primates, and has been studied in birds only recently. Basically two types are known: (i) 'active social support',

  9. Dopamine-dependent social information processing in non-human primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Young-A; Lionnet, Sarah; Kato, Akemi; Goto, Yukiori

    2018-04-01

    Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter whose roles have been suggested in various aspects of brain functions. Recent studies in rodents have reported its roles in social function. However, how DA is involved in social information processing in primates has largely remained unclear. We investigated prefrontal cortical (PFC) activities associated with social vs. nonsocial visual stimulus processing. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was applied to Japanese macaques, along with pharmacological manipulations of DA transmission, while they were gazing at social and nonsocial visual stimuli. Oxygenated (oxy-Hb) and deoxygenated (deoxy-Hb) hemoglobin changes as well as functional connectivity based on such Hb changes within the PFC network which were distinct between social and nonsocial stimuli were observed. Administration of both D1 and D2 receptor antagonists affected the Hb changes associated with social stimuli, whereas D1, but not D2, receptor antagonist affected the Hb changes associated with nonsocial stimuli. These results suggest that mesocortical DA transmission in the PFC plays significant roles in social information processing, which involves both D1 and D2 receptor activation, in nonhuman primates. However, D1 and D2 receptor signaling in the PFC mediates different aspects of social vs. nonsocial information processing.

  10. Ethanol and Caffeine effects on social interaction and recognition in mice: Involvement of adenosine A2A and A1 receptors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura López-Cruz

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Ethanol and caffeine are frequently consumed in combination and have opposite effects on the adenosine system: ethanol metabolism leads to an increase in adenosine levels, while caffeine is a non-selective adenosine A1/A2A receptor antagonist. These receptors are highly expressed in striatum and olfactory tubercle, brain areas involved in exploration and social interaction in rodents. Ethanol modulates social interaction processes, but the role of adenosine in social behavior is still poorly understood. The present work was undertaken to study the impact of ethanol, caffeine and their combination on social behavior, and to explore the involvement of A1 and A2A receptors on those actions. Male CD1 mice were evaluated in a social interaction three-chamber paradigm, for preference of conspecific vs. object, and also for long-term recognition memory of familiar vs. novel conspecific. Ethanol showed a biphasic effect, with low doses (0.25 g/kg increasing social contact and higher doses (1.0-1.5 g/kg reducing social interaction. However, no dose changed social preference; mice always spent more time sniffing the conspecific than the object, independently of the ethanol dose. Ethanol, even at doses that did not change social exploration, produced amnestic effects on social recognition the following day. Caffeine reduced social contact (15.0-60.0 mg/kg, and even blocked social preference at higher doses (30.0-60.0 mg/kg. The A1 antagonist CPT (3-9 mg/kg did not modify social contact or preference on its own, and the A2A antagonist MSX-3 (1.5-6 mg/kg increased social interaction at all doses. Ethanol at intermediate doses (0.5-1.0 g/kg was able to reverse the reduction in social exploration induced by caffeine (15.0-30.0 mg/kg. Although there was no interaction between ethanol and CPT or MSX-3 on social exploration in the first day, MSX-3 blocked the amnestic effects of ethanol observed on the following day. Thus, ethanol impairs the formation of social

  11. Social Media Analyses for Social Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schober, Michael F.; Pasek, Josh; Guggenheim, Lauren; Lampe, Cliff; Conrad, Frederick G.

    2016-01-01

    Demonstrations that analyses of social media content can align with measurement from sample surveys have raised the question of whether survey research can be supplemented or even replaced with less costly and burdensome data mining of already-existing or “found” social media content. But just how trustworthy such measurement can be—say, to replace official statistics—is unknown. Survey researchers and data scientists approach key questions from starting assumptions and analytic traditions that differ on, for example, the need for representative samples drawn from frames that fully cover the population. New conversations between these scholarly communities are needed to understand the potential points of alignment and non-alignment. Across these approaches, there are major differences in (a) how participants (survey respondents and social media posters) understand the activity they are engaged in; (b) the nature of the data produced by survey responses and social media posts, and the inferences that are legitimate given the data; and (c) practical and ethical considerations surrounding the use of the data. Estimates are likely to align to differing degrees depending on the research topic and the populations under consideration, the particular features of the surveys and social media sites involved, and the analytic techniques for extracting opinions and experiences from social media. Traditional population coverage may not be required for social media content to effectively predict social phenomena to the extent that social media content distills or summarizes broader conversations that are also measured by surveys. PMID:27257310

  12. Social Media Analyses for Social Measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schober, Michael F; Pasek, Josh; Guggenheim, Lauren; Lampe, Cliff; Conrad, Frederick G

    2016-01-01

    Demonstrations that analyses of social media content can align with measurement from sample surveys have raised the question of whether survey research can be supplemented or even replaced with less costly and burdensome data mining of already-existing or "found" social media content. But just how trustworthy such measurement can be-say, to replace official statistics-is unknown. Survey researchers and data scientists approach key questions from starting assumptions and analytic traditions that differ on, for example, the need for representative samples drawn from frames that fully cover the population. New conversations between these scholarly communities are needed to understand the potential points of alignment and non-alignment. Across these approaches, there are major differences in (a) how participants (survey respondents and social media posters) understand the activity they are engaged in; (b) the nature of the data produced by survey responses and social media posts, and the inferences that are legitimate given the data; and (c) practical and ethical considerations surrounding the use of the data. Estimates are likely to align to differing degrees depending on the research topic and the populations under consideration, the particular features of the surveys and social media sites involved, and the analytic techniques for extracting opinions and experiences from social media. Traditional population coverage may not be required for social media content to effectively predict social phenomena to the extent that social media content distills or summarizes broader conversations that are also measured by surveys.

  13. Collaborative Researchers or Cold Warriors? The Origins, Activities, and Legacy of the Smithsonian’s Institute of Social Anthropology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Peter Castro

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available International research collaboration is increasingly popular, providing many scholarly and practical benefits. These collaborative endeavors also encounter obstacles and costs, including ones involving issues of power and professional ethics. My study seeks to widen our understanding of international collaborative social science research by examining the complex origins, diverse activities, and clouded legacy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Institute of Social Anthropology (ISA. The ISA was an innovative collaborative teaching and research program founded by Julian Steward during World War II to meet many goals, including increasing social science capacity in Latin America, expanding knowledge about contemporary cultural change, strengthening area expertise among U.S. scholars, and promoting closer relations among the peoples of the Americas. The ISA provided career-enhancing opportunities for U.S. and Latin American scholars, while helping to pioneer applied medical anthropology. I take issue with recent analysts who portray the ISA as promoting, including through covert research, U.S. hegemonic interests seeking to control rural Latin America.

  14. Psychiatric morbidity and people's experience of and response to social problems involving rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balmer, Nigel J; Pleasence, Pascoe; Buck, Alexy

    2010-11-01

    Psychiatric morbidity has been shown to be associated with the increased reporting of a range of social problems involving legal rights ('rights problems'). Using a validated measure of psychiatric morbidity, this paper explores the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and rights problems and discusses the implications for the delivery of health and legal services. New representative national survey data from the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey (CSJS) surveyed 3040 adults in 2007 to explore the relationship between GHQ-12 scores and the self reported incidence of and behaviour surrounding, rights problems. It was found that the prevalence of rights problems increased with psychiatric morbidity, as did the experience of multiple problems. It was also found the likelihood of inaction in the face of problems increased with psychiatric morbidity, while the likelihood of choosing to resolve problems without help decreased. Where advice was obtained, psychiatric morbidity was associated with a greater tendency to obtain a combination of 'legal' and 'general' support, rather than 'legal' advice alone. The results suggest that integrated and 'outreach' services are of particular importance to the effective support of those facing mental illness. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  15. What propels sexual murderers: a proposed integrated theory of social learning and routine activities theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Heng Choon Oliver; Heide, Kathleen M; Beauregard, Eric

    2011-04-01

    Despite the great interest in the study of sexual homicide, little is known about the processes involved in an individual's becoming motivated to sexually kill, deciding to sexually kill, and acting on that desire, intention, and opportunity. To date, no comprehensive model of sexual murdering from the offending perspective has been proposed in the criminological literature. This article incorporates the works of Akers and Cohen and Felson regarding their social learning theory and routine activities theory, respectively, to construct an integrated conceptual offending framework in sexual homicide. This integrated model produces a stronger and more comprehensive explanation of sexual murder than any single theory currently available.

  16. Social worker involvement in identifying problems and needs of families with mentally ill members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kovalčíková N.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of schizophrenia on the life of the patient and his family, in particular, which problems people with schizophrenia and their families face. We applied a qualitative research strategy and method of semi-structured interview. Qualitative analysis of the data demonstrated barriers in the working and financial areas of life of people with schizophrenia. In addition, schizophrenia negatively affects social interactions of patients which lead to their social isolation which is also derived from barriers at work. Families with this kind of patient suffer mainly in the economic sphere of life with the necessity to leave the job and take care of an ill member. These families also suffer from isolation, restriction of social contacts, reduction of free-time activities, and many other problems included within the barriers in social interactions. Family members suffer psychological stress and they badly cope with the situation if the ill member is hospitalized. In addition, the family meets with the structural discrimination in the form of lack of information about the disease, lack of day care centres network and similar barriers in communication with physicians and the other professionals.

  17. A new data-mining method to search for behavioral properties that induce alignment and their involvement in social learning in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takashi Ochiai

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Coordinated movement in social animal groups via social learning facilitates foraging activity. Few studies have examined the behavioral cause-and-effect between group members that mediates this social learning. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first established a behavioral paradigm for visual food learning using medaka fish and demonstrated that a single fish can learn to associate a visual cue with a food reward. Grouped medaka fish (6 fish learn to respond to the visual cue more rapidly than a single fish, indicating that medaka fish undergo social learning. We then established a data-mining method based on Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD to search for candidate behaviors that induce alignment and found that high-speed movement of a focal fish tended to induce alignment of the other members locally and transiently under free-swimming conditions without presentation of a visual cue. The high-speed movement of the informed and trained fish during visual cue presentation appeared to facilitate the alignment of naïve fish in response to some visual cues, thereby mediating social learning. Compared with naïve fish, the informed fish had a higher tendency to induce alignment of other naïve fish under free-swimming conditions without visual cue presentation, suggesting the involvement of individual recognition in social learning. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Behavioral cause-and-effect studies of the high-speed movement between fish group members will contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of social behaviors. The data-mining method used in the present study is a powerful method to search for candidates factors associated with inter-individual interactions using a dataset for time-series coordinate data of individuals.

  18. Association between Social Activities and Cognitive Function among the Elderly in China: A Cross-Sectional Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Chang; Li, Zhen; Mao, Zongfu

    2018-01-30

    Participation in social activities is one of important factors for older adults' health. The present study aims to examine the cross-sectional association between social activities and cognitive function among Chinese elderly. A total of 8966 individuals aged 60 and older from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were obtained for this study. Telephone interviews of cognitive status, episodic memory, and visuospatial abilities were assessed by questionnaire. We used the sum of all three of the above measures to represent the respondent's cognitive status as a whole. Types and frequencies of participation in social groups were used to measure social activities. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between social activities and cognitive function. After adjustment for demographics, smoking, drinking, depression, hypertension, diabetes, basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and self-rated health, multiple linear regression analysis revealed that interaction with friends, participating in hobby groups, and sports groups were associated with better cognitive function among both men and women ( p social activities and cognitive function among Chinese elderly. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine the effects of social activities on cognitive function.

  19. Social shaping of technology in TA and HTA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clausen, Christian; Yoshinaka, Yutaka

    2004-01-01

    The paper discusses how the social shaping of technology (SST) approach may be useful in understanding the role played by technology assessment within the context of technological development and change. It is proposed that an SST perspective on TA (or HTA) yields particular insight, regardless...... of whether or not the TA activity bases itself on a social shaping understanding of technology. This is because SST addresses the socially negotiated character of technological development, where TA itself may be construed as an element influencing the process of such negotiation. At the same time, TA...... is a construction, that is, itself a product of negotiations involving social actors. Thus, an understanding that TA is socially shaped, and is involved in the shaping of technology, opens up for a perspective on TA as both entailing constraints and enablements within the context of the particular agenda...

  20. The relevance and implications of organizational involvement for serious mental illness populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treichler, Emily B H; Evans, Eric A; Johnson, J Rock; O'Hare, Mary; Spaulding, William D

    2015-07-01

    Consumer involvement has gained greater prominence in serious mental illness (SMI) because of the harmonious forces of new research findings, psychiatric rehabilitation, and the recovery movement. Previously conceived subdomains of consumer involvement include physical involvement, social involvement, and psychological involvement. We posit a fourth subdomain, organizational involvement. We have operationally defined organizational involvement as the involvement of mental health consumers in activities and organizations that are relevant to the mental health aspect of their identities from an individual to a systemic level across arenas relevant to mental health. This study surveyed adults with SMI regarding their current level of organizational involvement along with their preferences and beliefs about organizational involvement. Additionally, a path model was conducted to understand the relationships between domains of consumer involvement. Although participants reported wanting to be involved in identified organizational involvement activities and believing it was important to be involved in these kinds of activities, organizational involvement was low overall. The path model indicated that psychological involvement among other factors influence organizational involvement, which informed our suggestions to improve organizational involvement among people with SMI. Successful implementation must be a thoroughly consumer-centered approach creating meaningful and accessible involvement opportunities. Our study and prior studies indicate that organizational involvement and other subdomains of consumer involvement are key to the health and wellbeing of consumers, and therefore greater priority should be given to interventions aimed at increasing these essential domains. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  1. Predictors of activity involvement in dementia care homes: a cross-sectional study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D. Smit; Dr. J. de Lange; B. Willemse; A.M. Pot

    2017-01-01

    Despite the finding that involvement in activities is one of the most important needs of residents with dementia living in care homes, care facilities struggle to fulfill this need. Over the years, various factors are suggested which may contribute to or disable activity provision in dementia care

  2. Predictors of activity involvement in dementia care homes : A cross-sectional study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smit, Dieneke; De Lange, Jacomine; Willemse, Bernadette; Pot, Anne Margriet

    2017-01-01

    Background: Despite the finding that involvement in activities is one of the most important needs of residents with dementia living in care homes, care facilities struggle to fulfill this need. Over the years, various factors are suggested which may contribute to or disable activity provision in

  3. Frequency of Maternal Touch Predicts Resting Activity and Connectivity of the Developing Social Brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brauer, Jens; Xiao, Yaqiong; Poulain, Tanja; Friederici, Angela D; Schirmer, Annett

    2016-08-01

    Previous behavioral research points to a positive relationship between maternal touch and early social development. Here, we explored the brain correlates of this relationship. The frequency of maternal touch was recorded for 43 five-year-old children during a 10 min standardized play session. Additionally, all children completed a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging session. Investigating the default mode network revealed a positive relation between the frequency of maternal touch and activity in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) extending into the temporo-parietal junction. Using this effect as a seed in a functional connectivity analysis identified a network including extended bilateral regions along the temporal lobe, bilateral frontal cortex, and left insula. Compared with children with low maternal touch, children with high maternal touch showed additional connectivity with the right dorso-medial prefrontal cortex. Together these results support the notion that childhood tactile experiences shape the developing "social brain" with a particular emphasis on a network involved in mentalizing. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  4. Investigating temporary acyclicity in a captive group of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus): Relationship between management, adrenal activity and social factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Katie L; Trotter, Jessica; Jones, Martin; Brown, Janine L; Steinmetz, Hanspeter W; Walker, Susan L

    2016-01-01

    Routine faecal steroid monitoring has been used to aid the management of five captive Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) females at Chester Zoo, UK, since 2007. Progestagen analysis initially revealed synchronised oestrous cycles among all females. However, a 14- to 20-week period of temporary acyclicity subsequently occurred in three females, following several management changes (increased training, foot-care and intermittent matriarch removal for health reasons) and the initiation of pregnancy in another female. The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate whether these management changes were related to increased adrenal activity and disruption of ovarian activity, or whether social factors may have been involved in the temporary cessation of cyclicity. Faecal samples collected every other day were analysed to investigate whether glucocorticoid metabolites were related to reproductive status (pregnant, cycling, acyclic) or management (training, foot-care, matriarch presence). Routine training and foot-care were not associated with adrenal activity; however, intensive foot-care to treat an abscess in one female was associated with increased glucocorticoid concentration. Matriarch presence influenced adrenal activity in three females, being lower when the matriarch was separated from the group at night compared to being always present. However, in the females that exhibited temporary acyclicity, there was no consistent relationship between glucocorticoids and cyclicity state. Although the results of this study do not fully explain this occurrence, the highly synchronised nature of oestrous cycles within this group, and the concurrent acyclicity in three females, raises the question of whether social factors could have been involved in the temporary disruption of ovarian activity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Physical activity in adolescents: analysis of social influence of parents and friends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luanna Alexandra Cheng

    2014-01-01

    Conclusions: Parents and friends have a social influence on adolescents’ level of physical activity through the mechanism of behavior modeling or through social support, mediated by self‐efficacy.

  6. Opinion formation in a social network: The role of human activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabowski, Andrzej

    2009-03-01

    The model of opinion formation in human population based on social impact theory is investigated numerically. On the basis of a database received from the on-line game server, we examine the structure of social network and human dynamics. We calculate the activity of individuals, i.e. the relative time devoted daily to interactions with others in the artificial society. We study the influence of correlation between the activity of an individual and its connectivity on the process of opinion formation. We find that such correlations have a significant influence on the temperature of the phase transition and the effect of the mass media, modeled as an external stimulation acting on the social network.

  7. An Activity Theoretical Approach to Social Interaction during Study Abroad

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shively, Rachel L.

    2016-01-01

    This case study examines how one study abroad student oriented to social interaction during a semester in Spain. Using an activity theoretical approach, the findings indicate that the student not only viewed social interaction with his Spanish host family and an expert-Spanish-speaking age peer as an opportunity for second language (L2) learning,…

  8. The situation of social welfare and child protection for vulnerable street-involved children in Tanzania : where is the gap?

    OpenAIRE

    Hassan, Daddy Omari

    2013-01-01

    Master in International Social Welfare and Health Policy The main objective of this study is to give a holistic analysis of the current situation experiences of street involved children in Tanzania whereas its population today is about 44.9 million inhabitants and children account for over 50 per cent of the population (NBS 2012; Mkombozi 2012. NBS: The Nation Bureau of Statistics (2012). http://www.nbs.go.tz/). The study is less focused on getting the actual numbers of street involved chi...

  9. Forum: Communication Activism Pedagogy. Communication Activism Pedagogy and Research: Communication Education Scholarship to Promote Social Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey, Lawrence R.; Palmer, David L.

    2017-01-01

    The recent formation of the National Communication Association's Activism and Social Justice Division puts a spotlight on the extent to which instructional communication and instructional communication research have advanced--or even should advance--the goals of social justice. To examine this issue, two of the leading scholars on this topic,…

  10. A Web-Based, Social Networking Physical Activity Intervention for Insufficiently Active Adults Delivered via Facebook App: Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maher, Carol; Ferguson, Monika; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Plotnikoff, Ron; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Thomas, Samantha; Nelson-Field, Karen; Olds, Tim

    2015-07-13

    Online social networks offer considerable potential for delivery of socially influential health behavior change interventions. To determine the efficacy, engagement, and feasibility of an online social networking physical activity intervention with pedometers delivered via Facebook app. A total of 110 adults with a mean age of 35.6 years (SD 12.4) were recruited online in teams of 3 to 8 friends. Teams were randomly allocated to receive access to a 50-day online social networking physical activity intervention which included self-monitoring, social elements, and pedometers ("Active Team" Facebook app; n=51 individuals, 12 teams) or a wait-listed control condition (n=59 individuals, 13 teams). Assessments were undertaken online at baseline, 8 weeks, and 20 weeks. The primary outcome measure was self-reported weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Secondary outcomes were weekly walking, vigorous physical activity time, moderate physical activity time, overall quality of life, and mental health quality of life. Analyses were undertaken using random-effects mixed modeling, accounting for potential clustering at the team level. Usage statistics were reported descriptively to determine engagement and feasibility. At the 8-week follow-up, the intervention participants had significantly increased their total weekly MVPA by 135 minutes relative to the control group (P=.03), due primarily to increases in walking time (155 min/week increase relative to controls, Plife or mental health quality of life at either time point. High levels of engagement with the intervention, and particularly the self-monitoring features, were observed. An online, social networking physical activity intervention with pedometers can produce sizable short-term physical activity changes. Future work is needed to determine how to maintain behavior change in the longer term, how to reach at-need populations, and how to disseminate such interventions on a mass scale. Australian New Zealand

  11. Memory for Pro-Social Intentions: When Competing Motives Collide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandimonte, Maria A.; Ferrante, Donatella; Bianco, Carmela; Villani, Maria Grazia

    2010-01-01

    Memory for future actions, or "prospective memory" (PM), often involves remembering to do things "for others". The present article explores the motivational mechanisms underlying memory for pro-social intentions through the manipulation of the social relevance of goals and presence of material rewards during an activity-based PM task. Results…

  12. Extracurricular Sport Activities and their Importance in Children Socialization and Integration Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pomohaci Marcel

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The importance of sports activities nowadays is showing their effects on the future development of children, extracurricular activities come in the help of the physical education teacher with benefits on children's development. Our study focuses on revealing the importance of extracurricular sports activities in the process of children's socialization and integration. The research sample was formed from two different groups, the experimental group was formed by 25 students (age 10 ± 2.1 years, 13 boys, and 12 girls, that practiced 2 hours a week physical education and other 2 hours a week extracurricular activities like basketball and volleyball; and the sample group formed by 24 students (age 10 ± 1.8 years, 12 boys and 12 girls, that practiced 2 hours a week classic physical education. The results showed us that extracurricular activities have a good impact on children's socialization and integration, the experimental group improved their coefficient of group cohesion from 0.04 at the initial testing to 0.06 at the final test, and the index of cohesion from 0.02 at the initial test to 0.05 at the final testing. Significant differences were found within the experimental group both in the initial and in the final tests (p < 0.05, also significant differences were discovered between the experimental and the sample group in the final measurement (p < 0.05. Conclusions of this research presented that the experimental group had good improvements of cohesion and social integration of children, showing that extracurricular sport activities have a positive impact on improving socialization, developing cohesion and integrate the marginalized children in the social group.

  13. From Entrepreneurship to Activism: Teacher Autobiography, Peace and Social Justice in Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharra, Steve

    2005-01-01

    This article argues that while social entrepreneurship shares concerns similar to those of social justice activism, the corporate and business ethos in the idea of entrepreneurship is not suited to the social concerns that teachers and other educators deal with in their everyday lives. The article points out characteristics of social…

  14. Social Activity, School-Related Activity, and Anti-Substance Use Media Messages on Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use

    OpenAIRE

    Moon, Sung Seek; Rao, Uma

    2011-01-01

    In this article, we present the effects of three hypothesized protective factors: social activities, school-related activities, and anti-substance use media messages on adolescent tobacco and alcohol use. Data were drawn from the “Monitoring the Future” (MTF) research project, which was conducted by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The sample included 2,551 twelfth-grade students. The results of the structural equation model showed that exposure to media anti-d...

  15. "Active Team" a social and gamified app-based physical activity intervention: randomised controlled trial study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edney, Sarah; Plotnikoff, Ronald; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Olds, Tim; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Ryan, Jillian; Maher, Carol

    2017-11-02

    Physical inactivity is a leading preventable cause of chronic disease and premature death globally, yet over half of the adult Australian population is inactive. To address this, web-based physical activity interventions, which have the potential to reach large numbers of users at low costs, have received considerable attention. To fully realise the potential of such interventions, there is a need to further increase their appeal to boost engagement and retention, and sustain intervention effects over longer periods of time. This randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of a gamified physical activity intervention that connects users to each other via Facebook and is delivered via a mobile app. The study is a three-group, cluster-RCT. Four hundred and forty (440) inactive Australian adults who use Facebook at least weekly will be recruited in clusters of three to eight existing Facebook friends. Participant clusters will be randomly allocated to one of three conditions: (1) waitlist control condition, (2) basic experimental condition (pedometer plus basic app with no social and gamification features), or (3) socially-enhanced experimental condition (pedometer plus app with social and gamification features). Participants will undertake assessments at baseline, three and nine months. The primary outcome is change in total daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at three months measured objectively using GENEActive accelerometers [Activeinsights Ltd., UK]. Secondary outcomes include self-reported physical activity, depression and anxiety, wellbeing, quality of life, social-cognitive theory constructs and app usage and engagement. The current study will incorporate novel social and gamification elements in order to examine whether the inclusion of these components increases the efficacy of app-based physical activity interventions. The findings will be used to guide the development and increase the effectiveness of future health

  16. Disruption of social cognition in the sub-chronic PCP rat model of schizophrenia: Possible involvement of the endocannabinoid system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seillier, Alexandre; Giuffrida, Andrea

    2016-02-01

    Previous studies have shown that social withdrawal in the phencyclidine (PCP) rat model of schizophrenia results from deficient endocannabinoid-induced activation of CB1 receptors. To understand the underlying cognitive mechanisms of the social deficit in PCP-treated rats, we examined the impact of pharmacological manipulation of the endocannabinoid system on sociability (i.e. social approach) and social novelty preference (which relies on social recognition). Control rats showed a clear preference for a "social" cage (i.e. unfamiliar stimulus rat placed under a wire mesh cage) versus an "empty" cage, and spent more time exploring a "novel" cage (i.e. new stimulus rat) versus a "familiar" cage. In contrast, rats receiving PCP (5 mg/kg, b.i.d. for 7 days, followed by a 7 day-washout period) showed intact sociability, but lacked social novelty preference. This PCP-induced deficit was due to increased activity at CB1 receptors as it was reversed by systemic administration of the CB1 antagonist AM251 (1 mg/kg). In agreement with this hypothesis, the cannabinoid agonist CP55,940 (0.003-0.03 mg/kg) dose-dependently suppressed social novelty preference in control animals without affecting sociability. Taken together, these data suggest that PCP-treated rats have a deficit in social cognition, possibly induced by increased stimulation of CB1 receptors. This deficit, however, is distinct from the social withdrawal previously observed in these animals, as the latter is due to deficient, rather than increased, CB1 stimulation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

  17. Association between participation in social activity and physical fitness in community-dwelling older Japanese adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haeuchi, Yuka; Honda, Takanori; Chen, Tao; Narazaki, Kenji; Chen, Sanmei; Kumagai, Shuzo

    2016-01-01

    Purpose This study aimed to examine the relationship between participation in social activity and both, composite and individual measures of physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults.Methods This study was conducted using baseline data from the Sasaguri Genkimon Study (SGS), a longitudinal cohort study conducted in 2011. Participants were 1,365 community-dwelling men and women aged 65 years or above, who did not require certified nursing care and who resided in Sasaguri, a town located east of the Fukuoka metropolitan area. Participation in social activity was assessed by asking participants whether they engaged in any of eight social activities. Physical fitness tests assessed participants' handgrip strength and knee extension strength as measures of muscle strength, and their one-leg standing time, 5-m maximum gait speed, and 5-repetition sit-to-stand rate as measures of their physical performance. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between participation in social activity and each measure of physical fitness, adjusting for sex; age; body mass index; socioeconomic status; solitary living; exercise, habitual drinking and smoking; accelerometer-measured, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; cognitive function; instrumental activities of daily living; distress; social network; and comorbidities.Results A total of 83.6% of the participants were engaged in at least one social activity. After adjusting for potential confounders, engagement in social activity was positively associated with a higher composite physical fitness score, faster gait speed and 5-repetition sit-to-stand rate, and longer one-leg standing time (P=0.008, P=0.030, P=0.034, and P=0.009, respectively).Conclusion Participation in social activity was significantly associated with physical fitness, specifically those related to locomotive function. These associations were independent of various confounders including

  18. Social Media as Public Sphere: A Stakeholder Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Johannessen, Marius Rohde; Sæbø, Øystein; Flak, Leif Skiftenes

    2016-01-01

    Purpose Despite the potential of social media, it has proven difficult to get people actively involved in the decision-making processes. There is a need for more research on how stakeholders manage and use social media to communicate. Thus, we examine major stakeholders’ communication preferences in eParticipation initiatives and discuss how this affects the public sphere. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. Data sources include interviews, social ...

  19. Social Marketing Interventions Aiming to Increase Physical Activity among Adults: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubacki, Krzysztof; Ronti, Rimante; Lahtinen, Ville; Pang, Bo; Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: A significant proportion of the world's adult population is insufficiently active. One approach used to overcome barriers and facilitate participation in physical activity is social marketing. The purpose of this paper are twofold: first, this review seeks to provide a contemporary review of social marketing's effectiveness in changing…

  20. Efficiency improvement of the investment and innovation activities in the transport facility construction field with public-private partnership involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shibayeva, Marina; Serebryakova, Yelena; Shalnev, Oleg

    2017-10-01

    Growing demand to increase the investment volume in modernization and development projects for transport infrastructure define the urgency of the current study. The amount of private sector investments in the field is insufficient to implement the projects for road construction due to their significant capital intensity and long payoff period. The implementation of social significant infrastructure projects on the principles of public-private partnership is one of the key strategic directions of growth for transport facilities. The authors come up with a concept and methodology for modeling the investment and innovation activity in the transport facility construction. Furthermore, there is developed a model to find the balance between public and private sector investments in implementing construction projects for transport infrastructure with involvement of PPP (further - public-private partnership). The suggested concepts aim to improve the efficiency rate of the investment and innovation activity in the field of transport facility construction on the basis of public and private sectors collaboration.

  1. Associations between physical activity and the neighbourhood social environment: baseline results from the HABITAT multilevel study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachele, Jerome N; Ghani, Fatima; Loh, Venurs H Y; Brown, Wendy J; Turrell, Gavin

    2016-12-01

    Limitations have arisen when measuring associations between the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity, including same-source bias, and the reliability of aggregated neighbourhood-level social environment measures. This study examines cross-sectional associations between the neighbourhood social environment (perceptions of incivilities, crime, and social cohesion) and self-reported physical activity, while accounting for same-source bias and reliability of neighbourhood-level exposure measures, using data from a large population-based clustered sample. This investigation included 11,035 residents aged 40-65years from 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, in 2007. Respondents self-reported their physical activity and perceptions of the social environment (neighbourhood incivilities, crime and safety, and social cohesion). Models were adjusted for individual-level education, occupation, and household income, and neighbourhood disadvantage. Exposure measures were generated via split clusters and an empirical Bayes estimation procedure. Data were analysed in 2016 using multilevel multinomial logistic regression. Residents of neighbourhoods with the highest incivilities and crime, and lowest social cohesion were reference categories. Individuals were more likely to be in the higher physical activity categories if they were in neighbourhoods with the lowest incivilities and the lowest crime. No associations were found between social cohesion and physical activity. This study provides a basis from which to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between the neighbourhood social environment and individual physical activity. Further work is required to explore the pathways between perceptions of the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Determinants of physical activity among people with spinal cord injury: a test of social cognitive theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginis, Kathleen A Martin; Latimer, Amy E; Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Kelly P; Bassett, Rebecca L; Wolfe, Dalton L; Hanna, Steven E

    2011-08-01

    Little theory-based research has focused on understanding and increasing physical activity among people with physical disabilities. Testing a social cognitive theory-based model of determinants is important for identifying variables to target in physical activity-enhancing interventions. The aim of this study is to examine Social Cognitive Theory variables as predictors of physical activity among people living with spinal cord injury. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of Social Cognitive Theory predictors of physical activity (n=160). The model explained 39% of the variance in physical activity. Self-regulation was the only significant, direct predictor. Self-regulatory efficacy and outcome expectations had indirect effects, mediated by self-regulation. Social Cognitive Theory is useful for predicting physical activity in people with spinal cord injury. Self-regulation is the most potent Social Cognitive Theory predictor of physical activity in people with spinal cord injury. Self-regulation and its determinants should be targeted in physical activity-enhancing interventions.

  3. A general enhancement of autonomic and cortisol responses during social evaluative threat

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Bosch, J.A.; de Geus, E.J.C.; Carroll, D.; Goedhart, A.D.; Anane, L.A.; van Zanten, J.J.; Helmerhorst, E.J.; Edwards, K.M.

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To examine the Social Self Preservation Theory, which predicts that stressors involving social evaluative threat (SET) characteristically activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The idea that distinct psychosocial factors may underlie specific patterns of neuroendocrine

  4. Dyadic social interaction inhibits cocaine-conditioned place preference and the associated activation of the accumbens corridor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zernig, Gerald; Pinheiro, Barbara S

    2015-09-01

    Impaired social interaction is a hallmark symptom of many psychiatric disorders. In substance use disorders, impaired social interaction is triply harmful (a) because addicts increasingly prefer the drug of abuse to the natural reward of drug-free social interaction, thus worsening the progression of the disease by increasing their drug consumption, (b) because treatment adherence and, consequently, treatment success itself depends on the ability of the recovering addict to maintain social interaction and adhere to treatment, and (c) because socially interacting with an individual suffering from a substance use disorder may be harmful for others. Helping the addict reorient his/her behavior away from the drug of abuse toward social interaction would therefore be of considerable therapeutic benefit. This article reviews our work on the neural basis of such a reorientation from cocaine, as a prototypical drug of abuse, toward dyadic (i.e. one-to-one) social interaction and compares our findings with the effects of other potentially beneficial interventions, that is, environmental enrichment or paired housing, on the activation of the accumbens and other brain regions involved in behavior motivated by drugs of abuse or nondrug stimuli. Our experimental models are based on the conditioned place preference paradigm. As the therapeutically most promising finding, only four 15 min episodes of dyadic social interaction were able to inhibit both the subsequent reacquisition/re-expression of preference for cocaine and the neural activation associated with this behavior, that is, an increase in the expression of the immediate early gene Early Growth Response protein 1 (EGR1, Zif268) in the nucleus accumbens, basolateral and central amygdala, and the ventral tegmental area. The time spent in the cocaine-associated conditioning compartment was correlated with the density of EGR1-activated neurons not only in the medial core (AcbCm) and medial shell (AcbShm) of the nucleus

  5. Activation of social norms in social dilemmas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Biel, Anders; Thøgersen, John

    Taking rational choice theory for granted, cooperation in social dilemmas may be seen as mysterious. In one-shot dilemmas where subjects unknown to one another interact and make their decisions anonymously, cooperation could even be regarded as lunacy. Several authors have challenged this view......, though. Research has also identified various factors that imply why people cooperate or defect in social dilemmas and what motivations that might guide the decision in one way or the other. Here, a closer look will be taken at social norms as a reason for departure from rational choice, a factor...

  6. The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orsolya Selymes, PhD Candidate

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The Theory of Social Control (TSC is grounded in satisfaction and happiness research. The study investigated the reasons behind relatively low levels of civil and personal satisfaction, subjective social well-being and experienced happiness in the post-communist Hungarian social context. The basic social process uncovered in the research is self-situating, which involves a continuous assessment of social control, which occurs on three psychological dimensions: activity, fairness and connectedness, operated via social flow. The culturally salient outcome of self-situating in Hungary is self-victimizing, meaning a subjective loss of control on all three dimensions. Some of the most important emotional-motivational consequences of self-victimizing are inhibition, regression and isolation, which contribute to various socio-cultural phenomenon such as distrust, bystander strategies, pessimism or anomie across a number of social situations. Based on the emerging theory, the concept of subjective social control is introduced and an expanded three-dimensional model of civil satisfaction, comfort and contribution, along with psychological and cultural implications, are discussed.Key words: social control, self-situating, self-victimizing, activity, fairness, connectedness, inhibition, fury, isolation

  7. Prediction-error in the context of real social relationships modulates reward system activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshua ePoore

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The human reward system is sensitive to both social (e.g., validation and non-social rewards (e.g., money and is likely integral for relationship development and reputation building. However, data is sparse on the question of whether implicit social reward processing meaningfully contributes to explicit social representations such as trust and attachment security in pre-existing relationships. This event-related fMRI experiment examined reward system prediction-error activity in response to a potent social reward—social validation—and this activity’s relation to both attachment security and trust in the context of real romantic relationships. During the experiment, participants’ expectations for their romantic partners’ positive regard of them were confirmed (validated or violated, in either positive or negative directions. Primary analyses were conducted using predefined regions of interest, the locations of which were taken from previously published research. Results indicate that activity for mid-brain and striatal reward system regions of interest was modulated by social reward expectation violation in ways consistent with prior research on reward prediction-error. Additionally, activity in the striatum during viewing of disconfirmatory information was associated with both increases in post-scan reports of attachment anxiety and decreases in post-scan trust, a finding that follows directly from representational models of attachment and trust.

  8. Neural sensitivity to social reward and punishment anticipation in Social Anxiety Disorder.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henk eCremers

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available An imbalance in the neural motivational system may underlie Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD. This study examines social reward and punishment anticipation in SAD, predicting a valence-specific effect: increased striatal activity for punishment avoidance compared to obtaining a reward. Individuals with SAD (n=20 and age, gender, and education case-matched controls (n=20 participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study. During fMRI scanning, participants performed a Social Incentive Delay task to measure the anticipation of social reward and punishment. The left putamen (part of the striatum showed a valence-specific interaction with group after correcting for medication use and comorbidity. The control group showed a relatively stronger activation for reward vs. punishment trials, compared to the social anxiety group. However, post-hoc pairwise comparisons were not significant, indicating that the effect is driven by a relative difference. A connectivity analysis (Psychophysiological interaction further revealed a general salience effect: SAD patients showed decreased putamen-ACC connectivity compared to controls for both reward and punishment trials. Together these results suggest that the usual motivational preference for social reward is absent in SAD. In addition, cortical control processes during social incentive anticipation may be disrupted in SAD. These results provide initial evidence for altered striatal involvement in both valence-specific and valence nonspecific processing of social incentives, and stress the relevance of taking motivational processes into account when studying social anxiety.

  9. CPL - a way to increase student's commitment, involvement and collaboration?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Velling, Louise Ærthøj; Larsen, Mette Yde

    students and lecturers indicated that CPL as didactics is difficult directly to adapt in teaching in higher educational level. However, the evaluation indicated that some elements from CPL contributed in a positive way by increasing student’s involvement and commitment. Also a better collaboration between...... the students was indicated as well as a strengthened social environment in the class. Based on the experiment, our hypothesis is that the chosen 3 CPL activities will increase the students commitment and involvement in the lectures as well as provide the students with better collaborative competencies....

  10. Altered time course of amygdala activation during speech anticipation in social anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Carolyn D; Young, Katherine; Torre, Jared B; Burklund, Lisa J; Goldin, Philippe R; Brown, Lily A; Niles, Andrea N; Lieberman, Matthew D; Craske, Michelle G

    2017-02-01

    Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Participants (SAD n=58; HC n=16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task. Repeated measures multi-level modeling analyses were used to examine group differences in time course activity during speech vs. control anticipation for regions of interest, including bilateral amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The time course of amygdala activity was more prolonged and less variable throughout speech anticipation in SAD participants compared to HCs, whereas the overall magnitude of amygdala response did not differ between groups. Magnitude and time course of activity was largely similar between groups across other regions of interest. Analyses were restricted to regions of interest and task order was the same across participants due to the nature of deception instructions. Sustained amygdala time course during anticipation may uniquely reflect heightened detection of threat or deficits in emotion regulation in socially anxious individuals. Findings highlight the importance of examining temporal dynamics of amygdala responding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Mindfulness meditation regulates anterior insula activity during empathy for social pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laneri, Davide; Krach, Sören; Paulus, Frieder M; Kanske, Philipp; Schuster, Verena; Sommer, Jens; Müller-Pinzler, Laura

    2017-08-01

    Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress, promote health, and well-being, as well as to increase compassionate behavior toward others. It reduces distress to one's own painful experiences, going along with altered neural responses, by enhancing self-regulatory processes and decreasing emotional reactivity. In order to investigate if mindfulness similarly reduces distress and neural activations associated with empathy for others' socially painful experiences, which might in the following more strongly motivate prosocial behavior, the present study compared trait, and state effects of long-term mindfulness meditation (LTM) practice. To do so we acquired behavioral data and neural activity measures using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an empathy for social pain task while manipulating the meditation state between two groups of LTM practitioners that were matched with a control group. The results show increased activations of the anterior insula (AI) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as well as the medial prefrontal cortex and temporal pole when sharing others' social suffering, both in LTM practitioners and controls. However, in LTM practitioners, who practiced mindfulness meditation just prior to observing others' social pain, left AI activation was lower and the strength of AI activation following the mindfulness meditation was negatively associated with trait compassion in LTM practitioners. The findings suggest that current mindfulness meditation could provide an adaptive mechanism in coping with distress due to the empathic sharing of others' suffering, thereby possibly enabling compassionate behavior. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4034-4046, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Ethanol and Caffeine Effects on Social Interaction and Recognition in Mice: Involvement of Adenosine A2A and A1 Receptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Cruz, Laura; San-Miguel, Noemí; Bayarri, Pilar; Baqi, Younis; Müller, Christa E; Salamone, John D; Correa, Mercé

    2016-01-01

    Ethanol and caffeine are frequently consumed in combination and have opposite effects on the adenosine system: ethanol metabolism leads to an increase in adenosine levels, while caffeine is a non-selective adenosine A 1 /A 2A receptor antagonist. These receptors are highly expressed in striatum and olfactory tubercle, brain areas involved in exploration and social interaction in rodents. Ethanol modulates social interaction processes, but the role of adenosine in social behavior is still poorly understood. The present work was undertaken to study the impact of ethanol, caffeine and their combination on social behavior, and to explore the involvement of A 1 and A 2A receptors on those actions. Male CD1 mice were evaluated in a social interaction three-chamber paradigm, for preference of conspecific vs. object, and also for long-term recognition memory of familiar vs. novel conspecific. Ethanol showed a biphasic effect, with low doses (0.25 g/kg) increasing social contact and higher doses (1.0-1.5 g/kg) reducing social interaction. However, no dose changed social preference; mice always spent more time sniffing the conspecific than the object, independently of the ethanol dose. Ethanol, even at doses that did not change social exploration, produced amnestic effects on social recognition the following day. Caffeine reduced social contact (15.0-60.0 mg/kg), and even blocked social preference at higher doses (30.0-60.0 mg/kg). The A 1 antagonist Cyclopentyltheophylline (CPT; 3-9 mg/kg) did not modify social contact or preference on its own, and the A 2A antagonist MSX-3 (1.5-6 mg/kg) increased social interaction at all doses. Ethanol at intermediate doses (0.5-1.0 g/kg) was able to reverse the reduction in social exploration induced by caffeine (15.0-30.0 mg/kg). Although there was no interaction between ethanol and CPT or MSX-3 on social exploration in the first day, MSX-3 blocked the amnestic effects of ethanol observed on the following day. Thus, ethanol impairs the

  13. Social Class and Social Capital in China and Britain: A Comparative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaojun Li

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available We use the China General Social Survey (2005 and the Home Office Citizenship Survey (2005 to study civic engagement and neighbourhood trust in China and Britain in this paper. We focus on class differences in participation in sports/recreation, religion, children's/adult education and public-welfare activities, and trust in the neighbours. We find higher levels of civic involvement in Britain but greater neighbourhood trust in China. This is mainly due to structural differences. China has a large proportion of peasants who have very low levels of civic involvement but very high levels of neighbourhood trust. Among the non-peasant population, the two countries have similar levels of class differences in civic (except religious involvement. There are small class differences in China on neighbourhood trust, but marked effects in Britain. Overall, there is a greater similarity than difference in class effects in both civic engagement and social trust in the two countries. While differences in demographic attributes (and China's specific institutional arrangement, the household registration system, or hukou account for some of the observed patterns, we also find more pronounced class than demographic effects in the two countries. Class plays a major role in the development of social capital.

  14. User involvement in care work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dybbroe, Betina; Kamp, Annette

    In recent years user involvement has become a paradigm for transforming the health and social care sector. This development–also labelled empowerment, co-creation, partnership, patient-centeredness - is seen as a means to reform organizations in ways that enhance quality, economic cost effectiven...... forms of professionalism, and imply tensions in health and social care work.......In recent years user involvement has become a paradigm for transforming the health and social care sector. This development–also labelled empowerment, co-creation, partnership, patient-centeredness - is seen as a means to reform organizations in ways that enhance quality, economic cost...... addressed the way this paradigm affects the users, in specific sectors. However user involvement also affects working life. It may imply change and redistribution of tasks and identities between users and professionals, and may also transform the relations of care. In this paper we explore the possible...

  15. Constructing Public Space: Global Perspectives on Social Media and Popular Contestation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poell, T.; van Dijck, J.

    2016-01-01

    This introduction to the special section on the construction of public space in social media activism discusses (1) the types of social media practices involved in the construction of publicness during contemporary episodes of popular contention, (2) the particular political institutional contexts

  16. Extracurricular Activity Participation of Hispanic Students: Implications for Social Capital Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villarreal, Victor; Gonzalez, Jorge E.

    2016-01-01

    The authors investigated whether participation in school-based extracurricular activities would predict social and behavioral outcomes (school membership, peer prosocial orientation, and prosocial behavior) associated with school social capital in a group of Hispanic middle school students from the United States of America. Results of hierarchical…

  17. The main but not the accessory olfactory system is involved in the processing of socially relevant chemosignals in ungulates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthieu eKELLER

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Ungulates like sheep and goats have, like many other mammalian species, two complementary olfactory systems. The relative role played by these two systems has long been of interest regarding the sensory control of social behavior. The study of ungulate social behavior could represent a complimentary alternative to rodent studies because they live in a more natural environment and their social behaviors depend heavily on olfaction. In addition, the relative size of the main olfactory bulb (in comparison to the accessory olfactory bulb is more developped than in many other lissencephalic species like rodents. In this review, we present data showing a clear involvement of the main olfactory system in two well-characterized social situations under olfactory control in ungulates, namely maternal behavior and offspring recognition at birth and the reactivation of the gonadotropic axis of females exposed to males during the anestrous season. In conclusion, we discuss the apparent discrepancy between the absence of evidence for a role of the vomeronasal system in ungulate social behavior and the existence of a developed accessory olfactory system in these species.

  18. Social Adversity and Antisocial Behavior: Mediating Effects of Autonomic Nervous System Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Shawn E; Zhang, Wei; Gao, Yu

    2017-11-01

    The display of antisocial behaviors in children and adolescents has been of interest to criminologists and developmental psychologists for years. Exposure to social adversity is a well-documented predictor of antisocial behavior. Additionally, measures of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, including heart rate variability (HRV), pre-ejection period (PEP), and heart rate, have been associated with antisocial behaviors including rule-breaking and aggression. Social neuroscience research has begun to investigate how neurobiological underpinnings affect the relationship between social adversity and antisocial/psychopathic behavior in children and adolescents. This study investigated the potential mediating effects of ANS activity on the relationship between social adversity and antisocial behavior in a group of 7- to 10-year-old children from the community (N = 339; 48.2% male). Moderated multiple mediation analyses revealed that low resting heart rate, but not PEP or HRV, mediated the relationship between social adversity and antisocial behavior in males only. Social adversity but not ANS measures were associated with antisocial behavior in females. Findings have implications for understanding the neural influences that underlie antisocial behavior, illustrate the importance of the social environment regarding the expression of these behaviors, and highlight essential gender differences.

  19. The Influence of Different Social Roles Activation on Women’s Financial and Consumer Choices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna eSekścińska

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent times, the changes occurring in the social role of women and men have been observed. Traditionally, the dominating social role of the woman was as housewife, and that of the man was focused on work and family maintenance. Nowadays, the social role of women is evolving in the direction of taking a profession, while increasingly men are taking care of the household. The main goal of the studies presented here was to verify how the activation of different social roles (traditional or nontraditional may be reflected in women’s financial and consumer choices. Three experimental studies were conducted. In the first study (n= 195 females, three different social roles of women – professional (nontraditional, housewife (traditional and neutral (control – were activated. The results showed that activating women’s nontraditional social role increased their tendency to invest and decreased their propensity to save money compared to the activation of the traditional or neutral social role. The goal of the second study (n=196 females was to check whether, despite there being no differences in the level of consumption in the first study, can any differences be observed in the preference for the type of products chosen for consumption. The results showed that activating the nontraditional social role raised the propensity to spend funds on products and services for individual use and reduced the willingness to buy goods for collective use (shared with other members of the household. The purpose of the third study (n=90 females was to examine how different images of women appearing in advertisements may affect women’s judgments of the advertised product. Women who watched the ad with woman in the nontraditional social role estimated the product quality, look, color and price higher that participants exposed to the advertisement presenting the woman in traditional or neutral social role. The present studies give some evidence that the new

  20. Physical activity, social network type, and depressive symptoms in late life: an analysis of data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litwin, Howard

    2012-01-01

    To clarify whether physical activity among older Americans is associated with depressive symptoms, beyond the effects of social network type, physical health, and sociodemographic characteristics. The analysis used data from a sub-sample, aged 65–85, from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (N=1349). Hierarchical regressions examined the respective effects of selected network types and extent of engagement in physical activity on depressive symptoms, controlling for physical health and sociodemographic background. The findings showed that physical activity was correlated inversely with late life depressive symptoms. However, when interaction terms for the selected social network types and the extent of physical activity were also considered, the main effect of social network on depressive symptoms increased, while that of physical activity was eliminated. The results show that older American adults embedded in family network types are at risk of limited physical activity. However, interventions aimed to increase their engagement in physical activity might help to reduce depressive symptoms within this group.

  1. Peripheral innate immune challenge exaggerated microglia activation, increased the number of inflammatory CNS macrophages, and prolonged social withdrawal in socially defeated mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wohleb, Eric S; Fenn, Ashley M; Pacenta, Ann M; Powell, Nicole D; Sheridan, John F; Godbout, Jonathan P

    2012-09-01

    Repeated social defeat (RSD) activates neuroendocrine pathways that have a significant influence on immunity and behavior. Previous studies from our lab indicate that RSD enhances the inflammatory capacity of CD11b⁺ cells in the brain and promotes anxiety-like behavior in an interleukin (IL)-1 and β-adrenergic receptor-dependent manner. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which mice subjected to RSD were more responsive to a secondary immune challenge. Therefore, RSD or control (HCC) mice were injected with saline or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and activation of brain CD11b⁺ cells and behavioral responses were determined. Peripheral LPS (0.5 mg/kg) injection caused an extended sickness response with exaggerated weight loss and prolonged social withdrawal in socially defeated mice. LPS injection also amplified mRNA expression of IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and CD14 in enriched CD11b⁺ cells isolated from socially defeated mice. In addition, IL-1β mRNA levels in enriched CD11b⁺ cells remained elevated in socially defeated mice 24 h and 72 h after LPS. Moreover, microglia and CNS macrophages isolated from socially defeated mice had the highest CD14 expression after LPS injection. Both social defeat and LPS injection increased the percentage of CD11b⁺/CD45(high) macrophages in the brain and the number of inflammatory macrophages (CD11b⁺/CD45(high)/CCR2⁺) was highest in RSD-LPS mice. Anxiety-like behavior was increased by social defeat, but was not exacerbated by the LPS challenge. Nonetheless, reduced locomotor activity and increased social withdrawal were still present in socially defeated mice 72 h after LPS. Last, LPS-induced microglia activation was most evident in the hippocampus of socially defeated mice. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that repeated social defeat enhanced the neuroinflammatory response and caused prolonged sickness following innate immune challenge

  2. A Comparison of Active and Passive Virtual Reality Exposure Scenarios to Elicit Social Anxiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoones A. Sekhavat

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Social phobia is an anxiety disorder that results in an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. As a safe and controlled tool, Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET has been used to treat anxiety disorders and phobias. This paper aims to study whether VRET with active scenarios can challenge a person more than passive scenarios. By comparing participants who were exposed to active and passive scenarios in VRET, we show that active scenarios are more effective than passive scenarios to elicit social anxiety in healthy participants. We focus on eliciting social anxiety and creating the sense of presence as two parameters enhancing the efficacy of VRET scenarios.

  3. Online social networks that connect users to physical activity partners: a review and descriptive analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakhasi, Atul; Shen, Album Xiaotian; Passarella, Ralph Joseph; Appel, Lawrence J; Anderson, Cheryl Am

    2014-06-16

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified a lack of encouragement, support, or companionship from family and friends as a major barrier to physical activity. To overcome this barrier, online social networks are now actively leveraging principles of companion social support in novel ways. The aim was to evaluate the functionality, features, and usability of existing online social networks which seek to increase physical activity and fitness among users by connecting them to physical activity partners, not just online, but also face-to-face. In September 2012, we used 3 major databases to identify the website addresses for relevant online social networks. We conducted a Google search using 8 unique keyword combinations: the common keyword "find" coupled with 1 of 4 prefix terms "health," "fitness," "workout," or "physical" coupled with 1 of 2 stem terms "activity partners" or "activity buddies." We also searched 2 prominent technology start-up news sites, TechCrunch and Y Combinator, using 2 unique keyword combinations: the common keyword "find" coupled with 1 of 2 stem terms "activity partners" and "activity buddies." Sites were defined as online social health activity networks if they had the ability to (1) actively find physical activity partners or activities for the user, (2) offer dynamic, real-time tracking or sharing of social activities, and (3) provide virtual profiles to users. We excluded from our analysis sites that were not Web-based, publicly available, in English, or free. Of the 360 initial search results, we identified 13 websites that met our complete criteria of an online social health activity network. Features such as physical activity creation (13/13, 100%) and private messaging (12/13, 92%) appeared almost universally among these websites. However, integration with Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook and Twitter (9/13, 69%) and the option of direct event joining (8/13, 62%) were not as universally present. Largely

  4. Increased frequency of social interaction is associated with enjoyment enhancement and reward system activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawamichi, Hiroaki; Sugawara, Sho K; Hamano, Yuki H; Makita, Kai; Kochiyama, Takanori; Sadato, Norihiro

    2016-04-19

    Positive social interactions contribute to the sense that one's life has meaning. Enjoyment of feelings associated through social interaction motivates humans to build social connections according to their personal preferences. Therefore, we hypothesized that social interaction itself activates the reward system in a manner that depends upon individual interaction preferences. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which 38 participants played a virtual ball-toss game in which the number of ball tosses to the participant was either similar to (normal-frequency condition) or higher than (high-frequency condition) the number of tosses to the other players. Participants reported greater-than-anticipated enjoyment during the high-frequency condition, suggesting that receiving a social reward led to unexpected positive feelings. Consistent with this, the high-frequency condition produced stronger activation in the ventral striatum, which is part of the reward system, and the precuneus, representing positive self-image, which might be translated to social reward. Furthermore, ventral striatal activation covaried with individual participants' preference for interactions with others. These findings suggest that an elevated frequency of social interaction is represented as a social reward, which might motivate individuals to promote social interaction in a manner that is modulated by personal preference.

  5. Social Cognitive Correlates of Physical Activity in Black Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinnett-Hopkins, Dominique; Motl, Robert W

    2016-04-01

    To examine variables from social cognitive theory as correlates of physical activity in black and white individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Cross-sectional. National survey. Black (n=151) and white (n=185) individuals with MS were recruited through the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis Registry. Not applicable. The battery of questionnaires included information on demographic and clinical characteristics, physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, function, social support, exercise outcome expectations, and exercise goal setting and planning. Black individuals with MS reported significantly lower levels of physical activity compared with white individuals with MS. Physical activity levels were significantly correlated with self-efficacy, outcome expectations, functional limitations as impediments, and goal setting in black participants with MS. The pattern and magnitude of correlations were comparable with those observed in white participants based on Fisher z tests. Researchers should consider applying behavioral interventions that target social cognitive theory variables for increasing physical activity levels among black individuals with MS. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Mothers' and fathers' involvement with school-age children's care and academic activities in Navajo Indian families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hossain, Ziarat; Anziano, Michael C

    2008-04-01

    This exploratory study examined mothers' and fathers' reports of time involvement in their school-age children's care and academic activities. The study also explored the relationship between parents' socioeconomic status (SES) variables (age, education, income, work hours, and length of marriage) and their relative involvement with children. Mother and father dyads from 34 two-parent Navajo (Diné) Indian families with a second- or third-grade child participated in the study. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that mothers invested significantly more time in children's care on demand and academic activities than fathers, but the differences in maternal and paternal perceptions of time involvement in routine care were not significant. The gender of the child did not influence the amount of time parents invested in children's care and academic activities. Mothers' involvement with children was not related to any of the SES variables. Fathers' involvement was significantly associated with work hours and length of marriage, and work hours produced significant interaction with fathers' involvement with children. Findings are discussed in light of gender role differences in parental involvement with children within Navajo families.

  7. SOCIAL ACTIVITY OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1990-2000S: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF REALIZATION

    OpenAIRE

    Мария Александровна Симонова

    2014-01-01

    This article deals with the essential characteristics of the social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990-2000s. There are characterized priorities, shape, effective practice of social work and examined the conceptual foundations of the social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. The analysis enables to establish the conceptual framework and the specifics of the social activities implementation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Particular attention is paid to the study of ...

  8. Social Trust and Types of Classroom Activities: Predictors of Language Learning Motivation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossein Khodabakhshzadeh

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study examined the role of social trust and types of classroom activities as some probable significant predictors of language learning motivation on a sample of 200 Iranian EFL upper-intermediate learners who have been selected randomly. Consequently, the participants completed three questionnaires, Language Learning Motivation Inventory, Classroom and school Community Inventory, and Classroom Activities Inventory, the reliability and validity of each have been checked previously. After running Multiple Regression through SPSS Software, the results revealed that social trust and types of classroom activities accounted for 16.7% of the variance in language learning motivation. Although each of them had a unique impact on language learning motivation, "Deep Language Use" as one of the types of classroom activities had a greater contribution to English as a foreign language learning motivation (002< .05, outweighing social trust as a more important predictor, (.005 < .05. Finally, pedagogical implications along with suggestions for further studies are discussed.

  9. Active Involvement of End Users When Developing Web-Based Mental Health Interventions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derek de Beurs

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundAlthough many web-based mental health interventions are being released, the actual uptake by end users is limited. The marginal level of engagement of end users when developing these interventions is recognized as an important cause for uptake problems. In this paper, we offer our perceptive on how to improve user engagement. By doing so, we aim to stimulate a discourse on user involvement within the field of online mental health interventions.MethodsWe shortly describe three different methods (the expert-driven method, intervention mapping, and scrum that were currently used to develop web-based health interventions. We will focus to what extent the end user was involved in the developmental phase, and what the additional challenges were. In the final paragraph, lessons learned are summarized, and recommendations provided.ResultsEvery method seems to have its trade-off: if end users are highly involved, availability of end users and means become problematic. If end users are less actively involved, the product may be less appropriate for the end user. Other challenges to consider are the funding of the more active role of technological companies, and the time it takes to process the results of shorter development cycles.ConclusionThinking about user-centered design and carefully planning, the involvement of end users should become standard in the field of web-based (mental health. When deciding on the level of user involvement, one should balance the need for input from users with the availability of resources such as time and funding.

  10. Process, Goal and Social Interaction Differences in Recreation: What Makes an Activity Substitutable.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumgartner, Robert; Heberlein, Thomas A.

    Two recreational activities, deer hunting and goose hunting, both similar in form, are compared. It was hypothesized that the activity for which participants rated the process, the goal, and the social interaction as most important to the experience and for which participants showed the strongest family ties and social support for participation…

  11. How social cognition can inform social decision making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Victoria K.; Harris, Lasana T.

    2013-01-01

    Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others' mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision-making involving social and non-social stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social vs. non-social contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g., mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences) that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures—while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context—and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory. PMID:24399928

  12. How social cognition can inform social decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Victoria K; Harris, Lasana T

    2013-12-25

    Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others' mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision-making involving social and non-social stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social vs. non-social contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g., mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences) that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures-while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context-and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory.

  13. SOCIAL ACTIVITY OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1990-2000S: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF REALIZATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Мария Александровна Симонова

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the essential characteristics of the social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990-2000s. There are characterized priorities, shape, effective practice of social work and examined the conceptual foundations of the social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. The analysis enables to establish the conceptual framework and the specifics of the social activities implementation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Particular attention is paid to the study of the status of the Russian Orthodox Church in the state and society. The specificity of the Social Concept of the church was active development, determined by social practices. In this regard, special attention is paid to the activities of the spiritual and educational centers, which are formed into a single system connected to various forms of ecclesiastical education and social service. In the analyzed period the Church clarified its position towards the state and civil society institutions and identified the principles and promising areas of cooperation. The Russian Orthodox Church has become one of the key social institutions that implement the function of the spiritual care of the moral state of society.

  14. Activation of social norms in social dilemmas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Biel, Anders; Thøgersen, John

    2007-01-01

    Taking rational choice theory for granted, cooperation in social dilemmas may be seen as mysterious. In one-shot dilemmas where subjects unknown to one another interact and make their decisions anonymously, cooperation could even be regarded as lunacy. Several authors have challenged this view......, though. Research has also identiWed various factors that imply why people cooperate or defect in social dilemmas and what motivations that might guide the decision in one way or the other. Here, a closer look will be taken at social norms as a reason for departure from rational choice, a factor...

  15. Social and Health Factors Associated with Physical Activity among Kuwaiti College Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulwahab Naser Al-Isa

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Our aim was to explore the social and health factors that are associated with the level of physical activity among Kuwaiti college students. A random sample of 787 students (48% males and 52% females was chosen and weight and height were measured to obtain body mass index (BMI, kg/m2. Associated social and health factors were obtained using a questionnaire. Those reporting being physically inactive numbered 354 and the remaining 433 were active. Obesity among males was 13% and was 10.5% among females. The social and health factors that were found to be significantly associated with physical activity among the students were gender (P<.001, marital status (P<.05, BMI category (obese or nonobese (P<.05, last dental and health checkup (P<.01, desiring a higher degree (P<.001, and countries preferred for visiting (P<.01. Males significantly exceeded females in the practice of physical activity. In conclusion, behavioural modifications, intervention studies, and health education touting the benefits of being physically active should be instituted to increase the practice of sports and other physical activities in order to control and decrease obesity-related morbidity and mortality.

  16. Classification of group behaviors in social media via social behavior grammars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levchuk, Georgiy; Getoor, Lise; Smith, Marc

    2014-06-01

    The increasing use of online collaboration and information sharing in the last decade has resulted in explosion of criminal and anti-social activities in online communities. Detection of such behaviors are of interest to commercial enterprises who want to guard themselves from cyber criminals, and the military intelligence analysts who desire to detect and counteract cyberwars waged by adversarial states and organizations. The most challenging behaviors to detect are those involving multiple individuals who share actions and roles in the hostile activities and individually appear benign. To detect these behaviors, the theories of group behaviors and interactions must be developed. In this paper we describe our exploration of the data from collaborative social platform to categorize the behaviors of multiple individuals. We applied graph matching algorithms to explore consistent social interactions. Our research led us to a conclusion that complex collaborative behaviors can be modeled and detected using a concept of group behavior grammars, in a manner analogous to natural language processing. These grammars capture constraints on how people take on roles in virtual environments, form groups, and interact over time, providing the building blocks for scalable and accurate multi-entity interaction analysis and social behavior hypothesis testing.

  17. Introducing CARL - Studying Stakeholder Involvement in Decision-Making on RWM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergmans, Anne

    2006-01-01

    This paper provides some background on the four following papers, drawing on the research conducted within the CARL research project. CARL is a cross-national 'social sciences research project into the effects of stakeholder involvement on decision-making in radioactive waste management'. The paper introduces the project, its aims, activities and describes the common framework used to look at each individual country

  18. Individual differences in social anxiety affect the salience of errors in social contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Tyson V; Troller-Renfree, Sonya; Pine, Daniel S; Fox, Nathan A

    2015-12-01

    The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential that occurs approximately 50 ms after an erroneous response. The magnitude of the ERN is influenced by contextual factors, such as when errors are made during social evaluation. The ERN is also influenced by individual differences in anxiety, and it is elevated among anxious individuals. However, little research has examined how individual differences in anxiety interact with contextual factors to impact the ERN. Social anxiety involves fear and apprehension of social evaluation. In the present study, we explored how individual differences in social anxiety interact with social contexts to modulate the ERN. The ERN was measured in 43 young adults characterized as being either high or low in social anxiety, while they completed a flanker task in two contexts: alone and during social evaluation. The results revealed a significant interaction between social anxiety and context, such that the ERN was enhanced in a social relative to a nonsocial context only among highly socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, the degree of such enhancement significantly correlated with individual differences in social anxiety. These findings demonstrate that social anxiety is characterized by enhanced neural activity to errors in social-evaluative contexts.

  19. THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL-MEDIA PERFORMANCE ON SALES OF RETAIL-FOOD BRANDS

    OpenAIRE

    Qingqing Chang; Yuqi Peng; Paul D. Berger

    2018-01-01

    This paper considers the relationship between various social-media activities of a company/brand and its sales. We use quarterly revenue data of 13 retail-food brands, over 4 quarters, as our dependent variable. We use 6 independent variables involving the social-media activity of these companies on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. We use descriptive statistics to describe our data, and use simple, multiple, and stepwise regression to perform our analyses. We find that certain social-media ac...

  20. Media Activism in XXIst Century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tutu Pisleag

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The new instruments and means in social media practically reinvented the social activism and the “activists” are better defined through these means than by the causes they manifest for. The easy auto organization through social media opens the possibility that the one involved to manifest in real time, more efficiently, in national, regional or global sized spaces.

  1. Memory effects induce structure in social networks with activity-driven agents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Medus, A D; Dorso, C O

    2014-01-01

    Activity-driven modelling has recently been proposed as an alternative growth mechanism for time varying networks,displaying power-law degree distribution in time-aggregated representation. This approach assumes memoryless agents developing random connections with total disregard of their previous contacts. Thus, such an assumption leads to time-aggregated random networks that do not reproduce the positive degree-degree correlation and high clustering coefficient widely observed in real social networks. In this paper, we aim to study the incidence of the agents' long-term memory on the emergence of new social ties. To this end, we propose a dynamical network model assuming heterogeneous activity for agents, together with a triadic-closure step as main connectivity mechanism. We show that this simple mechanism provides some of the fundamental topological features expected for real social networks in their time-aggregated picture. We derive analytical results and perform extensive numerical simulations in regimes with and without population growth. Finally, we present an illustrative comparison with two case studies, one comprising face-to-face encounters in a closed gathering, while the other one corresponding to social friendship ties from an online social network. (paper)

  2. Abnormal neural responses to social exclusion in schizophrenia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria B Gradin

    Full Text Available Social exclusion is an influential concept in politics, mental health and social psychology. Studies on healthy subjects have implicated the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC, a region involved in emotional and social information processing, in neural responses to social exclusion. Impairments in social interactions are common in schizophrenia and are associated with reduced quality of life. Core symptoms such as delusions usually have a social content. However little is known about the neural underpinnings of social abnormalities. The aim of this study was to investigate the neural substrates of social exclusion in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls underwent fMRI while participating in a popular social exclusion paradigm. This task involves passing a 'ball' between the participant and two cartoon representations of other subjects. The extent of social exclusion (ball not being passed to the participant was parametrically varied throughout the task. Replicating previous findings, increasing social exclusion activated the mPFC in controls. In contrast, patients with schizophrenia failed to modulate mPFC responses with increasing exclusion. Furthermore, the blunted response to exclusion correlated with increased severity of positive symptoms. These data support the hypothesis that the neural response to social exclusion differs in schizophrenia, highlighting the mPFC as a potential substrate of impaired social interactions.

  3. Corporate social responsibility and the significance of its promotion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veljković Dobrinka

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Corporate Social Responsibility is today frequently used concept, as companies to a larger extent are held accountable for what is happening in the society. In their effort to make a contribution on the solution of various societal problems, the companies engage in different corporative social initiatives. To enjoy multiple benefits arising from implementation of CSR practices companies should reaffirm their commitment to issues of wide public interests as well as promote all the activities pursued in diminishing and solving different social and environmental problems. It is very important to make company's social involvement as transparent as possible, which can be, aparat from other ways, enhanced by proper and up-to-date use of the web site. Through the web site company can inform wide public (all relevant stakeholders about its CSR activities - programs, undertaken initiatives, partners involved, results achieved and future plans and goals in CSR domain. Placing these informating represents an efficient way of promoting company's CSR profile. Aparat from that, company can regulary place announcements on its web site about all other ways of promoting its CSR engagement.

  4. Who wants to be involved in health care decisions? Comparing preferences for individual and collective involvement in England and Sweden

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mio Fredriksson

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Patient and public involvement (PPI is framed as positive for individuals, the health system, public health, as well as for communities and society as a whole. We investigated whether preferences for PPI differed between two countries with Beveridge type health systems–Sweden and England. We measured willingness to be involved in individual treatment decisions and in decisions about the organization and provision of local health and social care services. Methods This was a comparative cross-sectional study of the general population’s preferences. Together, the two samples included 3125 respondents; 1625 in England and 1500 in Sweden. Country differences were analysed in a multinomial regression model controlling for gender, age and educational attainment. Results Overall, 68% of respondents wanted a passive patient role and 44% wanted to be involved in local decisions about organization and provision of services. In comparison with in Sweden, they were in England less likely to want a health professional such as a GP or consultant to make decisions about their treatment and also more likely to want to make their own decisions. They were also less likely to want to be involved in local service development decisions. An increased likelihood of wanting to be involved in organizational decision-making was associated with individuals wanting to make their own treatment decisions. Women were less likely to want health professionals to make decisions and more likely to want to be involved in organizational decisions. Conclusions An effective health system that ensures public health must integrate an effective approach to PPI both in individual treatment decisions and shaping local health and social care priorities. To be effective, involvement activities must take in to account the variation in the desire for involvement and the implications that this has for equity. More work is needed to understand the relationship between the

  5. Teacher Activism: Enacting a Vision for Social Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picower, Bree

    2012-01-01

    This qualitative study focused on educators who participated in grassroots social justice groups to explore the role teacher activism can play in the struggle for educational justice. Findings show teacher activists made three overarching commitments: to reconcile their vision for justice with the realities of injustice around them; to work within…

  6. CEO risk-taking incentives and socially irresponsible activities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouslah, Kais; Linares-Zegarra, José; M'Zali, Bouchra; Scholtens, Bert

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between CEO risk-taking incentives, measured by the sensitivity of CEO wealth held in options to a change in stock return volatility or Vega, and socially irresponsible activities using a large sample of U.S. firms during the period 1992–2012. Our results for the

  7. How Social Cognition Can Inform Social Decision Making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria eLee

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make inferences of others’ mental states in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes like valuation and reward processing. A growing body of research in neuroeconomics has examined decision- making involving social and nonsocial stimuli to explore activity in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex, largely ignoring the power of the social context. Perhaps more complex processes may influence decision-making in social versus nonsocial contexts. Years of social psychology and social neuroscience research have documented a multitude of processes (e.g. mental state inferences, impression formation, spontaneous trait inferences that occur upon viewing another person. These processes rely on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, temporal parietal junction, and precuneus among others. Undoubtedly, these social cognition processes affect social decision-making since mental state inferences occur spontaneously and automatically. Few studies have looked at how these social inference processes affect decision-making in a social context despite the capability of these inferences to serve as predictions that can guide future decision-making. Here we review and integrate the person perception and decision-making literatures to understand how social cognition can inform the study of social decision-making in a way that is consistent with both literatures. We identify gaps in both literatures—while behavioral economics largely ignores social processes that spontaneously occur upon viewing another person, social psychology has largely failed to talk about the implications of social cognition processes in an economic decision-making context—and examine the benefits of integrating social psychological theory with behavioral economic theory.

  8. Psychological, social, and environmental factors to meeting physical activity recommendations among Japanese adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harada Kazuhiro

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Although the benefits of the recommended level of physical activity on reducing chronic diseases are well-established, most of the Japanese population is not sufficiently active. Thus, examining correlates is an important prerequisite for designing relevant polices and effective programs. The present study investigated psychological, social, and environmental factors associated with meeting physical activity recommendations among Japanese adults. Methods Data were analyzed for 1,932 men and women (43.6 ± 13.0 years, who responded to an Internet-based cross-sectional survey. Self-reported measure of physical activity, psychological (self-efficacy, pros, and cons, social (social support, health professional advice, environmental (home fitness equipment, access to facilities, neighborhood safety, enjoyable scenery, frequently observing others exercising, residential area, and demographic (gender, age, marital status, educational level, household income level, employment status variables were obtained. Based on the current national guidelines for exercise in Japan (23 METs·hour per week, respondents were divided into two categories–recommended and not recommended (insufficient and inactive–according to their estimated weekly physical activity level. An adjusted logistic regression model was utilized. Results When adjusting for all other variables, self-efficacy (men: OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.55–2.94, women: OR = 2.72; 95% CI: 1.82–4.08 and possessing home fitness equipment (men: OR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.14–2.10, women: OR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.01–1.99 for both genders, social support (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.06–1.97 for men, and enjoyable scenery (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.09–2.36 for women were positively associated with attaining the recommended level of physical activity. In women, cons (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.33–0.67 and living in rural areas (OR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.25–0.97 were negatively associated with meeting the physical

  9. Psychological, social, and environmental factors to meeting physical activity recommendations among Japanese adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shibata, Ai; Oka, Koichiro; Harada, Kazuhiro; Nakamura, Yoshio; Muraoka, Isao

    2009-08-28

    Although the benefits of the recommended level of physical activity on reducing chronic diseases are well-established, most of the Japanese population is not sufficiently active. Thus, examining correlates is an important prerequisite for designing relevant polices and effective programs. The present study investigated psychological, social, and environmental factors associated with meeting physical activity recommendations among Japanese adults. Data were analyzed for 1,932 men and women (43.6 +/- 13.0 years), who responded to an Internet-based cross-sectional survey. Self-reported measure of physical activity, psychological (self-efficacy, pros, and cons), social (social support, health professional advice), environmental (home fitness equipment, access to facilities, neighborhood safety, enjoyable scenery, frequently observing others exercising, residential area), and demographic (gender, age, marital status, educational level, household income level, employment status) variables were obtained. Based on the current national guidelines for exercise in Japan (23 METs.hour per week), respondents were divided into two categories-recommended and not recommended (insufficient and inactive)-according to their estimated weekly physical activity level. An adjusted logistic regression model was utilized. When adjusting for all other variables, self-efficacy (men: OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.55-2.94, women: OR = 2.72; 95% CI: 1.82-4.08) and possessing home fitness equipment (men: OR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.14-2.10, women: OR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.01-1.99) for both genders, social support (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.06-1.97) for men, and enjoyable scenery (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.09-2.36) for women were positively associated with attaining the recommended level of physical activity. In women, cons (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.33-0.67) and living in rural areas (OR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.25-0.97) were negatively associated with meeting the physical activity recommendations. In the psychological, social, and

  10. Competition as an Effective Tool in Developing Social Marketing Programs: Driving Behavior Change through Online Activities

    OpenAIRE

    Corina SERBAN

    2011-01-01

    Nowadays, social marketing practices represent an important part of people’s lives. Consumers’ understanding of the need for change has become the top priority for social organizations worldwide. As a result, the number of social marketing programs has increased, making people reflect more on their behaviors and on the need to take action. Competition in social marketing can bring many benefits. The more programs initiated, the more people will start to involve in society’s problems, hereby c...

  11. School Social Worker's Perceptions of the Frequency of Actual and Preferred Engagement in Role Related Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthur, Elizabeth

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was (1) to determine the frequency in which school social workers in Virginia engage in and prefer to engage in social work related activities and (2) to determine if the frequency in which the social work related activities the school social workers engage in is related to select variables. After a comprehensive review…

  12. A Service Delivery Model for Addressing Activity and Social Participation Needs of People Living with HIV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gayle Restall

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Occupational therapy can contribute to the health and well-being of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV who are experiencing health consequences of living long term with this disease. However, there are no comprehensive rehabilitation service delivery models to guide this emerging area of practice. The purpose of this study was to obtain critical feedback about a service delivery model to address the activity and social participation needs of people living with HIV. Method: We developed a service delivery model from a synthesis of the literature. Using a qualitative research design, we conducted individual and focus group interviews with 35 informants from diverse backgrounds and involvement in HIV-related research, service provision, and policymaking to provide critical feedback about the model. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using inductive qualitative methods. Results: The informants identified the strengths and limitations of the model and supports and barriers to its implementation. They highlighted the importance of principle-based services, increasing resources for service navigation, building capacity of rehabilitation services to address the needs of people with HIV, and increasing research and program evaluation targeted to achieving activity and social participation outcomes. Conclusions: The model provides a framework for occupational therapists to design and evaluate services for this population.

  13. Differing Relationship of Psycho-Social Variables with Active Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarid, Orly; Slonim-Nevo, Vered; Schwartz, Doron; Friger, Michael; Sergienko, Ruslan; Pereg, Avihu; Vardi, Hillel; Chernin, Elena; Singer, Terri; Greenberg, Dan; Odes, Shmuel

    2018-03-09

    How psycho-social variables affect the degree of disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) is incompletely understood. Therefore, we measured and compared the impact of psycho-social variables on the active disease state in UC and CD. One hundred and twenty-two UC and 305 CD patients with active disease completed questionnaires detailing their psychological symptoms, threatening experiences, disease-coping strategies, satisfaction with life, quality of life, and demographics. UC and CD patients were aged (mean, SD) 38.6 ± 14.0 and 45.2 ± 15.1 years, respectively. The psychological symptom index (median, IQR) was greater in UC 1.24 (0.8) than CD 0.9 (0.8), p psycho-social variables on the active disease state differs between UC and CD, thus indicating a need for specifically tailored psychotherapies.

  14. Google Home: Experience, Support and Re-Experience of Social Home Activities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus

    2008-01-01

    Ambient Intelligence research is about ubiquitous computing and about social and intelligent properties of computer-supported environments. These properties aim at providing inhabitants or visitors of ambient intelligence environments with support in their activities. Activities include interactions

  15. Google Home: Experience, Support and Re-Experience of Social Home Activities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus

    2006-01-01

    Ambient Intelligence research is about ubiquitous computing and about social and intelligent properties of computer-supported environments. These properties aim at providing inhabitants or visitors of ambient intelligence environments with support in their activities. Activities include interactions

  16. Social phobia and self-concept: a correlational study with physical activity practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christi Noriko Sonoo

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to analyze social phobia in teenagers aged 14 to 20 years and its possiblerelationship with regular practice of physical activity and their self-concept. This study enrolled 191 students from privateand public schools and the measurement instruments used were a test of social phobia, a test of self-concept and a physicalactivity questionnaire. The results indicate that students from private schools are shyer than students from public schools. Inrelation to self-concept, there were significant differences in security factor for boys and moral factor for girls. This indicatesthat boys are more stable, brave and secure, while girls are more influenced by moral and ethical rules. These resultsdemonstrate that no relationship was detected between social phobia and physical activity, but it was possible to observea relationship between social phobia and some of the self-concept factors, and a relationship between physical activityand some of the self-concept factors. It is therefore concluded that the negative influence of high levels of social phobia onthe receptivity and security factors of men and women suggests a need for further studies in the area, which could help inthe prevention and treatment of social phobia, which could worsen over the years and compromise these young people’sability to socialize.

  17. Social interaction reward decreases p38 activation in the nucleus accumbens shell of rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salti, Ahmad; Kummer, Kai K; Sadangi, Chinmaya; Dechant, Georg; Saria, Alois; El Rawas, Rana

    2015-12-01

    We have previously shown that animals acquired robust conditioned place preference (CPP) to either social interaction alone or cocaine alone. Recently it has been reported that drugs of abuse abnormally activated p38, a member of mitogen-activated protein kinase family, in the nucleus accumbens. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression of the activated form of p38 (pp38) in the nucleus accumbens shell and core of rats expressing either cocaine CPP or social interaction CPP 1 h, 2 h and 24 h after the CPP test. We hypothesized that cocaine CPP will increase pp38 in the nucleus accumbens shell/core as compared to social interaction CPP. Surprisingly, we found that 24 h after social interaction CPP, pp38 neuronal levels were decreased in the nucleus accumbens shell to the level of naïve rats. Control saline rats that received saline in both compartments of the CPP apparatus and cocaine CPP rats showed similar enhanced p38 activation as compared to naïve and social interaction CPP rats. We also found that the percentage of neurons expressing dopaminergic receptor D2R and pp38 was also decreased in the shell of the nucleus accumbens of social interaction CPP rats as compared to controls. Given the emerging role of p38 in stress/anxiety behaviors, these results suggest that (1) social interaction reward has anti-stress effects; (2) cocaine conditioning per se does not affect p38 activation and that (3) marginal stress is sufficient to induce p38 activation in the shell of the nucleus accumbens. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. Subjective Word-Finding Difficulty Reduces Engagement in Social Leisure Activities in Alzheimer’s Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Meagan T.; Zahodne, Laura B.; Stern, Yaakov; Dorrejo, Jhedy; Yeung, Philip; Cosentino, Stephanie

    2014-01-01

    Objectives To assess the influence of subjective word-finding difficulty on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients’ likelihood of engaging in social leisure activities. Design Analysis of data collected from the second cohort of the Multicenter Study of Predictors of Disease Course in Alzheimer’s disease. Setting Four study sites in the U.S. and France. Participants Individuals diagnosed with mild to moderate AD (N = 236) Measurements On separate questionnaires, patients were asked to 1) report whether had trouble finding the right word when speaking (subjective word-finding difficulty), and 2) rate their frequency and enjoyment of both social and nonsocial leisure activities. Objective language measures included object naming and verbal fluency. Measures of dependence, depression, cognitive status, age, sex, and education were also included as covariates in regression analyses. Results Over half (52%) of the sample reported word-finding difficulty, and subjective complaints were correlated with poorer verbal fluency scores. Subjective word-finding difficulty was uniquely related to social activity measures. Endorsers of word-finding difficulty reported reduced frequency and enjoyment of social leisure activities, controlling for covariates. In contrast, engagement in nonsocial activities was associated with higher age and depression scores, but was not related to word-finding complaints. These results were corroborated by the caregivers’ reports, and occurred above and beyond the effect of objective word-finding ability. Conclusion AD patients who are aware of increasing word-finding failures are less likely to participate in and enjoy socially-oriented leisure activities. This finding may have significant implications for clinical and health outcomes in AD. A failure to evaluate subjective language complaints could result in social withdrawal symptoms, thereby threatening the patient’s quality of life as well as increasing caregiver burden. Importantly

  19. Social Justice Activism: Feminism and Strategies for Action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernflores, Rachel

    2016-01-01

    Success in social justice activism often hinges on judging when to employ the most effective strategy for action. Strategies for action include militancy, peaceful protest, and sometimes, engaging in a longer term program of "marginal gains." The militant feminism of many 19th century suffragettes, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, is a good…

  20. Thalamic involvement in the regulation of alpha EEG activity in psychiatric patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirazi, S.P.; Pakula, J.; Young, I.J.; Crayton, J.W.; Konopka, L.M.; Rybak, M.

    2002-01-01

    Aim: The thalamus is considered to be an important sub-cortical system involved in modulation of cortical activities. A relationship between thalamic activity and surface EEG was recently reported. In this study we evaluated a group of patients with psychiatric disorders who presented with asymmetric perfusion of the thalamus based on brain SPECT HMPAO studies. We predicted that asymmetrical activity of the thalamus would have asymmetrically distributed surface qEEG activity patterns. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three male psychiatric patients (age 54±14) with a primary diagnosis of depression and co-morbid substance abuse (83%) were studied with qEEG and HMPAO brain SPECT. The HMPAO ligand was administered while the EEG activity was being recorded. The SPECT analysis was conducted by means of ROI and SPM. ROI regions were determined based on the Talairach atlas coordinate system. ROI locations were verified by the automated utility, Talairach Demon. QEEG data was analyzed by a standardized protocol involving the NxLink database. Correlations between SPECT findings and qEEG absolute power were calculated. Results: Patients were divided into two groups based on thalamic perfusion patterns. Group 1 (Gr 1) had decreased perfusion to the right thalamus whereas Group 2 (Gr 2) had decreased perfusion to the left thalamus. SPM comparison of the patient groups to normal control subjects indicated significant findings. Comparison of Gr 1 to controls showed increased activity in the left temporal lobe and vermis. Decreased activity was observed in the left and right medial frontal lobes (right Brodmann 9;left Brodmann 6) as well as the left (Brodmann 30) and right (Brodmann 24) cingulate. Gr 2 comparison showed increased activity in the right middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann 10) and left inferior parietal lobe. Decreased activity was found in the left inferior frontal lobe (Brodmann 47). A positive correlation between alpha power and thalamic perfusion was identified in Gr

  1. Active Team” a social and gamified app-based physical activity intervention: randomised controlled trial study protocol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Edney

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Physical inactivity is a leading preventable cause of chronic disease and premature death globally, yet over half of the adult Australian population is inactive. To address this, web-based physical activity interventions, which have the potential to reach large numbers of users at low costs, have received considerable attention. To fully realise the potential of such interventions, there is a need to further increase their appeal to boost engagement and retention, and sustain intervention effects over longer periods of time. This randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of a gamified physical activity intervention that connects users to each other via Facebook and is delivered via a mobile app. Methods The study is a three-group, cluster-RCT. Four hundred and forty (440 inactive Australian adults who use Facebook at least weekly will be recruited in clusters of three to eight existing Facebook friends. Participant clusters will be randomly allocated to one of three conditions: (1 waitlist control condition, (2 basic experimental condition (pedometer plus basic app with no social and gamification features, or (3 socially-enhanced experimental condition (pedometer plus app with social and gamification features. Participants will undertake assessments at baseline, three and nine months. The primary outcome is change in total daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at three months measured objectively using GENEActive accelerometers [Activeinsights Ltd., UK]. Secondary outcomes include self-reported physical activity, depression and anxiety, wellbeing, quality of life, social-cognitive theory constructs and app usage and engagement. Discussion The current study will incorporate novel social and gamification elements in order to examine whether the inclusion of these components increases the efficacy of app-based physical activity interventions. The findings will be used to guide the development

  2. Developing Science Communication in Africa: Undergraduate and Graduate Students should be Trained and Actively Involved in Outreach Activity Development and Implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karikari, Thomas K; Yawson, Nat Ato; Quansah, Emmanuel

    2016-01-01

    Despite recent improvements in scientific research output from Africa, public understanding of science in many parts of the continent remains low. Science communication there is faced with challenges such as (i) lack of interest among some scientists, (ii) low availability of training programs for scientists, (iii) low literacy rates among the public, and (iv) multiplicity of languages. To address these challenges, new ways of training and motivating scientists to dialogue with non-scientists are essential. Developing communication skills early in researchers' scientific career would be a good way to enhance their public engagement abilities. Therefore, a potentially effective means to develop science communication in Africa would be to actively involve trainee scientists (i.e., undergraduate and graduate students) in outreach activity development and delivery. These students are often enthusiastic about science, eager to develop their teaching and communication skills, and can be good mentors to younger students. Involving them in all aspects of outreach activity is, therefore, likely to be a productive implementation strategy. However, science communication training specifically for students and the involvement of these students in outreach activity design and delivery are lacking in Africa. Here, we argue that improving the training and involvement of budding scientists in science communication activities would be a good way to bridge the wide gap between scientists and the African public.

  3. The Influence of Different Social Roles Activation on Women’s Financial and Consumer Choices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sekścińska, Katarzyna; Trzcińska, Agata; Maison, Dominika A.

    2016-01-01

    In recent times, the changes occurring in the social role of women and men have been observed. Traditionally, the dominating social role of the woman was as housewife, and that of the man was focused on work and family maintenance. Nowadays, the social role of women is evolving in the direction of taking a profession, while increasingly men are taking care of the household. The main goal of the studies presented here was to verify how the activation of different social roles (traditional or non-traditional) may be reflected in women’s financial and consumer choices. Three experimental studies were conducted. In the first study (n = 195 females), three different social roles of women – professional (non-traditional), housewife (traditional) and neutral (control) – were activated. The results showed that activating women’s non-traditional social role increased their tendency to invest and decreased their propensity to save money compared to the activation of the traditional or neutral social role. The goal of the second study (n = 196 females) was to check whether, despite there being no differences in the level of consumption in the first study, can any differences be observed in the preference for the type of products chosen for consumption. The results showed that activating the non-traditional social role raised the propensity to spend funds on products and services for individual use and reduced the willingness to buy goods for collective use (shared with other members of the household). The purpose of the third study (n = 90 females) was to examine how different images of women appearing in advertisements may affect women’s judgments of the advertised product. Women who watched the ad with woman in the non-traditional social role estimated the product quality, look, color and price higher that participants exposed to the advertisement presenting the woman in traditional or neutral social role. The present studies give some evidence that the new, non

  4. Abandoning evolution. The forgotten history of antievolution activism and the transformation of American social science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lienesch, Michael

    2012-12-01

    From its inception, antievolution activism has been aimed not only at the natural sciences but also, and almost as often, at the social sciences. Although almost entirely overlooked by scholars, this activism played a significant part in the development of American social science in the early twentieth century. Analyzing public writings and private papers of antievolution activists, academic social scientists, and university officials from the 1920s, this essay recalls this forgotten history, showing how antievolution activism contributed to the abandonment of evolutionary theory and the adoption of a set of secular, scientific, and professional characteristics that have come to define much of modern social science.

  5. [Development of a staging classification for leisure activities and social communication in dependent elderly persons].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okochi, Jiro; Takamuku, Kiyoshi; Higashi, Kentaro; Orimo, Kenichiro; Honma, Tatsuya; Nishiwaki, Keiko; Ando, Shigeru

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to develop a simple staging classification to measure leisure activity and social communication among the elderly at geriatric health care facilities. In order to construct a staging scale for measuring the participation of the elderly subjects, we developed a list of 28 items for three domains: leisure activities, social participation and communication. Data were obtained from users of institutional and day care services at geriatric health service facilities. The Rasch model was applied to test the degree of item fit and difficulty. Simple staging scales were constructed based on 12 leisure activity and nine social communication items. The validity and reliability were tested using these newly developed scales according to the Rasch model and assessments of the test-retest reliability. The participants were 3,458 elderly persons, of whom 1,560 were currently using institutional services and 1,898 were using day care services. Among the 28 items, "traveling" was identified as the most difficult and "watching television" was identified as the easiest. Because items related to "social participation," such as volunteer activities, exhibited a low frequency, they were not used in the further analyses. Simple staging scales were constructed by analyzing the remaining items of leisure activities and social communication according to the Rasch model. The thresholds within the scales were determined in order of item difficulty. Cohen's kappa, as assessed by two different evaluators, was 0.75 for leisure activities and 0.77 for social communication. In this study, we developed staging scales for leisure activity and social communication. The construct validity and test-retest reliability were adequate for both scales. Service providers can improve service quality by using these scales for individual case management of elderly persons in conjunction with existing scales of activities of daily living.

  6. A framework for public involvement at the design stage of NHS health and social care research: time to develop ethically conscious standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandya-Wood, Raksha; Barron, Duncan S; Elliott, Jim

    2017-01-01

    Researchers who conduct studies in health and social care are encouraged to involve the public as early as possible in the process of designing their studies. Before their studies are allowed to start researchers must seek approval from a Research Ethics Committee, which will assess whether the study is going to be safe and ethical for patients or healthy volunteers to take part in. The process of ethical review does not consider how researchers work with patients and the public early on to design their studies. Furthermore, there is no requirement for researchers to seek ethical approval for public involvement. However, in our work advising researchers about public involvement we have found that the ways in which researchers involve the public in the design of their studies are sometimes unintentionally unethical, and this is the focus of our paper. We have observed ten areas where ethical issues may arise because of the actions researchers may or may not take and which might consequently have a negative impact. Therefore, we have used these observations to develop a "framework" to help researchers and the public work together at the early design stage in ways that are ethical. Our intention for the framework is to help researchers be mindful of these ten areas and how easily ethical issues can arise. The framework suggests some ways to overcome the potential issues in each of the ten areas. The ten areas are: 1) Allocating sufficient time for public involvement; 2) Avoiding tokenism; 3) Registering research design stage public involvement work with NHS Research & Development Trust Office at earliest opportunity; 4) Communicating clearly from the outset; 5) Entitling public contributors to stop their involvement for any unstated reasons; 6) Operating fairness of opportunity; 7) Differentiating qualitative research methods and public involvement activities; 8) Working sensitively; 9) Being conscious of confidentiality and 10) Valuing, acknowledging and rewarding

  7. Increase in Social Activity of Citizens on the Basis of Grant Support of Rural Initiatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogatchev Alexander I.

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problems of development of social activity of population. The low activity of local population is now characterized by the following social trends: aloofness from public life, individualism, leading-strings mentality, consumer attitude, legal nihilism. The characteristic of the main reasons for the current situation is given in the article. It is noted that one of the effective tools to attract social investment and development is a grant support for local initiatives, which plays an important role in increasing the social activity of population. This article focuses on the development of grant support in the rural areas at the modern stage. The author analyzed the current status of grant support of rural initiatives in Russia and the Orel region. It is noted that the grant support has great potential, although it is at an early stage of its development. In the conclusion, actions for the development of social activity at the local level are planned.

  8. Evaluation of Analgesic Activity of Papaver libanoticum Extract in Mice: Involvement of Opioids Receptors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamad Ali Hijazi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Papaver libanoticum is an endemic plant to Lebanese region (family Papaveraceae that has not been investigated before. The present study aimed to explore the analgesic activity of dried ethanolic extract of Papaver libanoticum (PLE using tail flick, hot plate, and acetic acid induced writhing models in mice. The involvement of opioid receptors in the analgesic mechanism was investigated using naloxone antagonism. Results demonstrated that PLE exhibited a potent dose dependent analgesic activity in all tested models for analgesia. The analgesic effect involved activation of opioid receptors in the central nervous system, where both spinal and supraspinal components might be involved. The time course for analgesia revealed maximum activity after three hours in both tail flick and hot plate methods, which was prolonged to 24 hours. Metabolites of PLE could be responsible for activation of opioid receptors. The EC50 of PLE was 79 and 50 mg/kg in tail flick and hot plate tests, respectively. The total coverage of analgesia by PLE was double that of morphine in both tests. In conclusion, PLE proved to have opioid agonistic activity with a novel feature of slow and prolonged effect. The present study could add a potential tool in the armaments of opioid drugs as a natural potent analgesic and for treatment of opioid withdrawal syndrome.

  9. Social media management and media environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Šiđanin Iva

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the system of services that social media management can offer to a variety of users. As social media systems are emerging, social media management can strengthen teams in social media and help to manage numerous social channels and distribution of social information from one place. Social media management is a system of procedures that are used to manage the flow of information in the environment of social media. This involves connecting with social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ecademy, YouTube and many others, then the aggregation and management of social data. Social media management services are analysed through various fields, such as managing multiple social media profiles, mail scheduling and filtering, reporting and analytics. Social media management enables managing personal business through social media, which contributes to a significant reduction in expenditures. The paper also discusses the importance of social media management in marketing activities and various forms of social promotion, which allow companies to easily reach their customers.

  10. Involving postgraduate's students in undergraduate small group teaching promotes active learning in both

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalra, Ruchi; Modi, Jyoti Nath; Vyas, Rashmi

    2015-01-01

    Background: Lecture is a common traditional method for teaching, but it may not stimulate higher order thinking and students may also be hesitant to express and interact. The postgraduate (PG) students are less involved with undergraduate (UG) teaching. Team based small group active learning method can contribute to better learning experience. Aim: To-promote active learning skills among the UG students using small group teaching methods involving PG students as facilitators to impart hands-on supervised training in teaching and managerial skills. Methodology: After Institutional approval under faculty supervision 92 UGs and 8 PGs participated in 6 small group sessions utilizing the jigsaw technique. Feedback was collected from both. Observations: Undergraduate Feedback (Percentage of Students Agreed): Learning in small groups was a good experience as it helped in better understanding of the subject (72%), students explored multiple reading resources (79%), they were actively involved in self-learning (88%), students reported initial apprehension of performance (71%), identified their learning gaps (86%), team enhanced their learning process (71%), informal learning in place of lecture was a welcome change (86%), it improved their communication skills (82%), small group learning can be useful for future self-learning (75%). Postgraduate Feedback: Majority performed facilitation for first time, perceived their performance as good (75%), it was helpful in self-learning (100%), felt confident of managing students in small groups (100%), as facilitator they improved their teaching skills, found it more useful and better identified own learning gaps (87.5%). Conclusions: Learning in small groups adopting team based approach involving both UGs and PGs promoted active learning in both and enhanced the teaching skills of the PGs. PMID:26380201

  11. A firm's activity in social media and its relationship with corporate reputation, firm size and firm performance

    OpenAIRE

    Mäkinen, Hanna

    2015-01-01

    The significance of social media has increased greatly in the past few years, leading companies to increase their social media activity and also increase their interest in knowing whether it is genuinely worth being active on social media, including knowing the potential advantages. This study aims to examine the relationship between social media activity and three variables: reputation, firm size and firm performance. The study analyzes the relationships between the constru...

  12. Social network activation: the role of health discussion partners in recovery from mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Brea L; Pescosolido, Bernice A

    2015-01-01

    In response to health problems, individuals may strategically activate their social network ties to help manage crisis and uncertainty. While it is well-established that social relationships provide a crucial safety net, little is known about who is chosen to help during an episode of illness. Guided by the Network Episode Model, two aspects of consulting others in the face of mental illness are considered. First, we ask who activates ties, and what kinds of ties and networks they attempt to leverage for discussing health matters. Second, we ask about the utility of activating health-focused network ties. Specifically, we examine the consequences of network activation at time of entry into treatment for individuals' quality of life, social satisfaction, ability to perform social roles, and mental health functioning nearly one year later. Using interview data from the longitudinal Indianapolis Network Mental Health Study (INMHS, N = 171), we focus on a sample of new patients with serious mental illness and a group with less severe disorders who are experiencing their first contact with the mental health treatment system. Three findings stand out. First, our results reveal the nature of agency in illness response. Whether under a rational choice or habitus logic, individuals appear to evaluate support needs, identifying the best possible matches among a larger group of potential health discussants. These include members of the core network and those with prior mental health experiences. Second, selective activation processes have implications for recovery. Those who secure adequate network resources report better outcomes than those who injudiciously activate network ties. Individuals who activate weaker relationships and those who are unsupportive of medical care experience poorer functioning, limited success in fulfilling social roles, and lower social satisfaction and quality of life later on. Third, the evidence suggests that social networks matter above and

  13. Social Justice Teacher Activism and Social Movement Unionism: Tensions, Synergies, and Space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lois Weiner

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Though the titles and acronyms of policies differ from one country to another, throughout the world a political project has taken root with the assumption that to reduce poverty and inequality, governments should privatize school systems, alter teaching from a career to contract labor, use standardized tests to make students and teachers accountable, and curtail the power and legal rights of teachers unions. This article explores how teacher activists might help reverse neoliberal educational politics by developing mutually-respectful collaborations among teachers, parents and youth in poor communities, in school-based and system-wide partnerships that involve teachers unions. Analyzing events as they were experienced and influenced by a New York City-based NGO of teachers committed to educational justice, the author examines the landscape of educational reform politics and the creation of new spaces and organizational forms not confined by collective bargaining jurisdictions and traditional bargaining demands. The study suggests that development of a social movement of teachers that might edge teachers unions in the direction of social movement teacher unionism may not occur in a linear fashion. Rather, a complex push-pull dynamic occurs with each change, opening and retracting space, remaking networks and influencing longstanding personal ties among activists.

  14. What's Physical Activity Got to Do With It? Social Trends in Less Active Students at Recess.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Amelia Mays; McLoughlin, Gabriella M; Kern, Ben D; Graber, Kim C

    2018-07-01

    Public health concerns regarding childhood obesity and sedentary behavior make investigations of children's physical activity (PA) promotion crucial. School recess, a highly discretional time, plays a central role in shaping children's activity preferences. Participants included 40 children (30 girls, 10 boys) from fourth and fifth grades, categorized as low active during recess (<26% moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA]). PA was measured via accelerometer (Actigraph wGT3X+) and activity choice gauged through a self-report measure over a 3-day period. To assess attitudes and perceptions of recess, individual interviews were conducted. Accelerometer data were analyzed into minutes and percentage of MVPA; interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed utilizing open and axial coding. Participants were active for 18% of recess, choosing activities that were primarily individual-based. Interview data showed low active children attribute recess enjoyment to social interaction and time away from schoolwork as well as an intention to avoid other children who were unkind and/or caused social conflict. This study supports the importance of gaining a child's perspective of their own behavior, particularly those children classified as less active. Findings add a unique contribution to school health research through an innovative, child-centered approach to explore perceptions of PA. © 2018, American School Health Association.

  15. THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES ON BRAND AWARENESS, BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND LOYALTY

    OpenAIRE

    Yusuf BİLGİN

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this research is to examine the effect of social media marketing activities on brand awareness, brand image and brand loyalty. In addition, it has been aimed to analyze the effect of brand awareness and brand image on brand loyalty in this research. The population of the research consists of the consumers who actively follow five brands with the highest social score according to the Marketing Turkey social media brand performance data on social media communication channels such as ...

  16. Psychological distress of older Chinese: exploring the roles of activities, social support, and subjective social status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; Chen, Min

    2014-03-01

    The goal of this research is to examine if the long neglected correlates such as social and leisure activities, social support, and subjective social status contribute to variations in psychological distress among older Chinese. Using data collected in one of the most developed areas in China-Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, the authors find that engaging in various exercises, living with both spouse and adult children, perceived availability of social support from others as well as believing in the importance of caring for other family members are particularly beneficial for mental health whereas the perception of relative deprivation and low life quality is detrimental to mental health for older Chinese. This work is among the first studies that comprehensively examined various important correlates of psychological distress and indicate the unique patterns of distress among the elderly in the most developed area in the contemporary China.

  17. Physical Activity Participation: Social Cognitive Theory versus the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dzewaltowski, David A; Noble, John M; Shaw, Jeff M

    1990-12-01

    Social cognitive theory and the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior were examined in the prediction of 4 weeks of physical activity participation. The theories of reasoned action and planned behavior were supported. Attitude and perceived control predicted intention, and intention predicted physical activity participation. The social cognitive theory variables significantly predicted physical activity participation, with self-efficacy and self-evaluation of the behavior significantly contributing to the prediction. The greater the confidence in participating in physical activity and the greater the satisfaction with present physical activity, the more physical activity performed. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived control and intentions did not account for any unique variation in physical activity participation over self-efficacy. Therefore the social cognitive theory constructs were better predictors of physical activity than those from the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior.

  18. Activation of Supraoptic Oxytocin Neurons by Secretin Facilitates Social Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takayanagi, Yuki; Yoshida, Masahide; Takashima, Akihide; Takanami, Keiko; Yoshida, Shoma; Nishimori, Katsuhiko; Nishijima, Ichiko; Sakamoto, Hirotaka; Yamagata, Takanori; Onaka, Tatsushi

    2017-02-01

    Social recognition underlies social behavior in animals, and patients with psychiatric disorders associated with social deficits show abnormalities in social recognition. Oxytocin is implicated in social behavior and has received attention as an effective treatment for sociobehavioral deficits. Secretin receptor-deficient mice show deficits in social behavior. The relationship between oxytocin and secretin concerning social behavior remains to be determined. Expression of c-Fos in oxytocin neurons and release of oxytocin from their dendrites after secretin application were investigated. Social recognition was examined after intracerebroventricular or local injection of secretin, oxytocin, or an oxytocin receptor antagonist in rats, oxytocin receptor-deficient mice, and secretin receptor-deficient mice. Electron and light microscopic immunohistochemical analysis was also performed to determine whether oxytocin neurons extend their dendrites into the medial amygdala. Supraoptic oxytocin neurons expressed the secretin receptor. Secretin activated supraoptic oxytocin neurons and facilitated oxytocin release from dendrites. Secretin increased acquisition of social recognition in an oxytocin receptor-dependent manner. Local application of secretin into the supraoptic nucleus facilitated social recognition, and this facilitation was blocked by an oxytocin receptor antagonist injected into, but not outside of, the medial amygdala. In the medial amygdala, dendrite-like thick oxytocin processes were found to extend from the supraoptic nucleus. Furthermore, oxytocin treatment restored deficits of social recognition in secretin receptor-deficient mice. The results of our study demonstrate that secretin-induced dendritic oxytocin release from supraoptic neurons enhances social recognition. The newly defined secretin-oxytocin system may lead to a possible treatment for social deficits. Copyright © 2016 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights

  19. The Refund of Social Insurance Contributions of Disabled Persons Conducting Non-agricultural Economic Activity

    OpenAIRE

    Marzena Szabłowska-Juckiewicz

    2014-01-01

    Disabled persons conducting non-agricultural economic activity may apply for the refund of social insurance contributions from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of the Disabled Persons. The exception to the general rule of financing social insurance contributions of persons conducting non-agricultural economic activity by the insured persons themselves, entirely from their own funds, constitutes one of the instruments introduced by the law-maker to enhance vocational activation of disabled pe...

  20. High social desirability and prefrontal cortical activity in cancer patients: a preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tashiro, Manabu; Juengling, Freimut D; Moser, Ernst; Reinhardt, Michael J; Kubota, Kazuo; Yanai, Kazuhiko; Sasaki, Hidetada; Nitzsche, Egbert U; Kumano, Hiroaki; Itoh, Masatoshi

    2003-04-01

    Social desirability is sometimes associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients. Psycho-neuro-immune interaction has been hypothesized as an underlying mechanism of the negative clinical outcome. Purpose of this study was to examine possible effects of high social desirability on the regional brain activity in patients with malignant diseases. Brain metabolism of 16 patients with various malignant diseases was measured by PET with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Patients were divided into 2 groups using median split on Marlowe & Crown's Social Desirability Scale (MC), controlling for age, gender, and for severity of depression and anxiety, the possible two major influential factors. A group comparison of the regional cerebral activity was calculated on a voxel-by-voxel basis using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The subgroup comparison showed that the high social desirability was associated with relatively increased metabolism in the cortical regions in the prefrontal, temporal and occipital lobes as well as in the anterior cingulate gyrus. High social desirability seems to be associated with increased activity in the prefrontal and other cortical areas. The finding is in an accordance with previous studies that demonstrated an association between prefrontal damage and anti-social behavior. Functional neuroimaging seems to be useful not only for psychiatric evaluation of major factors such as depression and anxiety but also for further psychosocial factors in cancer patients.