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Online social connections as surrogates of face-to-face interactions: A longitudinal study under Covid-19 isolation
Abstract
Recent theoretical perspectives proposed that online social connections could benefit human well-being when face-to-face interactions are impeded. However, the literature lacks empirical tests of this proposition, especially those considering online and face-to-face interactions simultaneously. This longitudinal study (N = 1113) investigated how face-to-face and online connections interacted in protecting from psychological distress comparatively throughout three stages of isolation severity imposed during COVID-19 lockdown. Results showed that online social connections protected from psychological distress under the most restrictive isolation stages, particularly those with lower face-to-face interactions. However, during the last mild isolation stage, online relationships did not foster well-being. Thus, online social connections effectively substituted offline interactions and protected from the harm of social isolation. However, their benefits could be limited in time and to highly restrictive isolation conditions, extending our knowledge on the boundary conditions of online social connections as surrogates of face-to-face relationships.
... A key reason for such incongruences is that the effects of new media are contextdependent. For instance, Marinucci et al. (2022) found that the role of online connections in relation to loneliness depends on the availability of face-to-face interactions. When individuals do not have many available offline interactions, online connections play an important role in reducing loneliness; when individuals have adequate offline social connections, however, 'online interactions could not add further to psychological wellbeing, with this highlighting the limits of online interactions as subordinate surrogates of offline ones' (Marinucci et al., 2022: 6). ...
... (Jamie) Jamie thus describes using the robot to socialize when it is the only alternative for socializing in a certain context. As can be seen in previous research (Marinucci et al., 2022), this suggests that if face-to-face interactions are not available, robot-to-face interaction will suffice. Furthermore, the fact that Jamie has used the robot for socializing in school suggests something about the cultural and institutional legitimacy in this situation: Jamie knows their classmates and, like Frankie, this allows Jamie to extend their social activities. ...
... Still, as Jamie typically had ample opportunities for 'offline' interactions, they did not perceive these socializing affordances as particularly important. As similarly seen in previous research (Marinucci et al., 2022), it seems that when a student has adequate offline social connections, social interaction through the robot does not play such an important role in remedying social isolation and loneliness. 8 Adding to all of this, Jamie also seemed to downplay the robot's role as a social tool because of their frequent experiences with Internet problems. ...
Telepresence robots are increasingly used in schools as a way of including students who are unable to be physically present in the classroom with other students. The use of such robots is intended not just to help students follow their education but also to serve a social purpose. However, the extent to which the robots actually afford socializing needs to be explored further. This article analyzes how, to what extent, for whom, and under what circumstances the telepresence robot AV1 affords social contact for the heterogenous group of homebound Norwegian upper secondary school students. Building on Jenny Davis’ mechanisms and conditions framework of affordances, we focus on how AV1 affords for different students in specific circumstances. Our analysis draws on interviews with 11 upper secondary school students in Norway and finds that individual traits and circumstances such as health issues and social networks are important aspects when assessing whether a technology affords socializing. Based on our findings, we argue for expanding the mechanisms and conditions framework to include not just its current focus on perception, dexterity, and cultural and institutional legitimacy, but also the users’ emotions.
... It is important to address the implications for targeting social group memberships in vulnerable and psychiatric samples, as such populations, in comparison with the general population, can experience significant difficulties with forming and maintaining social groups and are at heightened risk of belonging to groups that can perpetuate a stigmatised identity. 38 As the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to increasingly rely on digital means to communicate and remain connected with social groups, 39 it is therefore also important to investigate the clinical application of the social cure approach within this unique social context. ...
... 53 For instance, during the pandemic, increased time connecting to friends virtually was associated with greater depression, 26 and online social connections only protected well-being under the most restrictive stay-at-home measures. 39 This follows evidence that although online contact may promote the formation of online groups and communities, it can also create a source of alienation and ostracism. 53 This is explained by the interpersonal-connection-behaviours framework. ...
Background:
There is growing evidence of a beneficial effect of social group processes on well-being and mental health.
Aims:
To investigate the role of group membership continuity in reducing mental ill-health among young people who were already vulnerable pre-pandemic, and to understand the social and psychological mechanisms of the benefits of group memberships for vulnerable young people.
Method:
This study takes a cross-sectional design, using survey data from a sample of 105 young people aged 16-35 years, collected approximately 1 year after the global COVID-19 outbreak (January to July 2021). Correlational and path analyses were used to test the associations between group membership continuity and mental health problems (depression, anxiety, psychotic-like experiences) and the mediation of these associations by hope and social connectedness (in-person and online). To correct for multiple testing, the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was implemented for all analyses. Indirect effects were assessed with coverage of 99% confidence intervals.
Results:
Multiple prior group memberships were associated with preservation of group memberships during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person social connectedness, online social connectedness and hope mediated the relationship between group membership continuity and mental health problem symptoms.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that clinical and public health practice should support vulnerable young people to foster and maintain their social group memberships, hopefulness and perceived sense of social connectedness as means of helping to prevent exacerbation of symptoms and promote recovery of mental health problems, particularly during significant life events.
... Kathirvel [3] of the World Bank predicts that the COVID-19 pandemic will cause a decades-long global economic recession that may largely affect mental health, including correlations with distress, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse disorders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition has been developed by 40.9% of US adult respondents, with 10.7% of respondents seriously considering suicide in the last 30 days [4]. Other researchers have also found a similar trend globally that children and adolescents are suffering from more serious depression and anxiety effects, with a 30-50% report rate during the COVID-19 pandemic [5]. ...
... Although many young people are used to the easy way of online social interactions, research shows in-person interactions are crucial for improving people's mental and physical well-being and sense of belonging [40]. Adolescence has a particular need for time for social interaction to build relationships outside the family, and the decreased in-person social interaction may impact social skills [41]. ...
The purpose of this perspective article is to identify problematic behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommend a school-based intervention (e.g., self-reflection, motivational interview, and workbook) to address post-COVID social anxiety among children and adolescents. The recommendations involve comparing students’ social interaction behaviors pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and post-pandemic, and evaluating any behavioral changes in social relationships six months later. We also discuss the evaluation criteria and surveys used to assess the impact of the intervention on behavioral changes. Our evaluation criteria are based on students’ beliefs and abilities and aim to demonstrate that the intervention improves in-person social interactions and helps students adapt to the transition back to school. The proposed perspectives and strategies of the intervention can be modified to meet the needs of the researchers and professionals. By working together, global policymakers from the fields of education and public health can create school-based interventions that enhance students’ physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. This program aims to mitigate the negative effects of school closures and social isolation and to broaden the role of schools in supporting students in the challenging post-pandemic world by addressing their holistic needs.
... This reliance on smartphones has become even more apparent during the COVID-19 Pandemic whereby people were required to social distance from one another. However, little research has examined the relationship between smartphone use, social distancing, and well-being (but see Marinucci et al., 2022). Did smartphone use benefit wellbeing during times of social distancing, acting as a lifeline to connect people and maintain productivity? ...
... But we found little evidence that these effects depended on how much people socially distanced. Other research during the pandemic, however, showed that the benefits of online social interactions for well-being were greater when social distancing measures were more extreme (Marinucci et al., 2022). Specifically, online social interactions predicted lower distress only during the severe isolation stage in Italy that included prohibiting people from leaving their homes except for work and urgent health reasons. ...
IntroductionAs smartphones have become increasingly integrated into people’s lives, researchers have attempted to answer whether they are beneficial or detrimental to well-being. Of particular interest to the current study is the role that smartphones played during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Methods
In an intensive longitudinal study, we explore how varying uses of smartphones relate to well-being using the Displacement-Interference-Complementarity framework.ResultsConsistent with pre-pandemic research, we show that people felt better, calmer, and more energetic when they used their phones more for complementary purposes (i.e., to access information, entertainment, and connection not otherwise available). In contrast to most pre-pandemic research, however, we find no evidence that any type of phone use predicted lower well-being during the pandemic.DiscussionOverall, this study lends support to the idea that smartphones can be beneficial for individuals, particularly during times when face-to-face interaction is limited.
... For instance, in the context of sustainable marketing, Mariani et al. (2022) revealed that socially connected people indulge in consumption patterns that are sustainable for society. Likewise, people who consider themselves as a reflection of their society and care for their family, peers, and friends are more conscious of the environment around them (Marinucci et al., 2022). Similarly, when employees feel more connected with each other in an organization, they display more knowledge-sharing behaviors (Mansoor & Wijaksana, 2021). ...
... Hence, the negative influence of human factors of power disruptions on the public sector performance decreases in terms of solid bonds between public sector employees with the people. Likewise, when people feel more friendly towards others and accepted by others, and there is a sense of belonging among them with others, they are less manipulative and less toxic based on the powers assigned to them in the form of responsible positions in the public sector (Marinucci et al., 2022). ...
Sustainable development has been given special attention worldwide regarding the environment and preservation of natural resources. However, sustainable community development remains a little-explored area, specifically concerning power-dominant economies and as an ethical representation of managing a country's law and order situations. Therefore, the current study aims to determine the influence of power disruptions, that is, human and governance factors, on sustainable community development directly and indirectly via an underlying mechanism of public sector performance. To achieve the study objectives, the study adopted a quantitative research methodology with a random sampling technique by surveying 720 citizens of Indonesia. A statistical data analysis using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS showed that power disruptions negatively impacted public sector performance, leading to underdeveloped communities. The results also showed that high levels of social connections between public sector employees and citizens mitigated the negative influence of power disruptions on public sector performance leading to the sustainable development of culture and community. The current study adds value to the government science literature by combining the critical issue of power disruptions and sustainable community development in a single consolidated framework that considers the ethics of governing a nation. The results will also help policymakers and project-executing agencies discourage power disruptions and find solutions to damages caused at the planning stages.
... The discrepancy in these findings can be driven by multiple reasons, chief among them is the fact that these are different samples, and the fact that one survey refers to April 2020 (during lockdown in Israel) while the other to September 2020 (no lockdown in the UK). Indeed, there is longitudinal evidence from Italy (between March 12, 2020 and June 7, 2020) that the online social connections can be a protective factor from psychological distress under highly restrictive isolation (strong lockdown) conditions but not under mild isolation conditions (Marinucci et al., 2022). Recent work by Altindag et al. (in press), provides causal evidence on the negative impact of lockdowns on mental health exploiting a natural experiment in Turkey (those born in December 1955 and before were under curfew, those born in January 1956 or after were exempt). ...
... not being able to be replaced by online communication (Marinucci et al., 2022). ...
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has become a key player in the daily lives of most people. We investigate the relationship between men- tal health and internet use frequency and purpose, six months after the first lockdown in the UK, in September 2020. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and the In- ternet use module, and controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and personality traits, we find that older individuals (aged 59 or above) have a lower internet use frequency (twice a day or less). Younger women use the Internet for social purposes more than men do, while younger men use the Internet for leisure-and-learning purposes more than women and older men do. Interestingly, high internet use is a protective factor for social dysfunc- tion among younger women, but a risk factor for psychological distress among younger men. While leisure-and-learning purpose is a protective factor for social dysfunction among younger women, it is a risk factor for social dys- function among younger men. Finally, loneliness seems to play a role: higher internet frequency use is a stronger protective factor for social dysfunction among younger women who feel lonelier, but a stronger risk factor for mental health among younger men who feel lonelier.
... On the other hand, in times of deprivation such as during a lockdown, digital or phone contact may still be better than having no social contact at all (Kushlev & Leitao, 2020, Waytz & Gray, 2018. In line with this assumption, a longitudinal study during the spring 2020 lockdown in Italy showed that online connections protected individuals from psychological distress during restrictive lockdown periods in which individuals were forced to isolate (Marinucci et al., 2022;Pancani et al., 2021). This was especially true for individuals with few face-to-face interactions, whereas individuals with more face-to-face interactions did not profit from additional online contact. ...
... Despite the positive association between relatedness and phone communication, we found no evidence that any kind of non-face-to-face communication could compensate for a lack of face-to-face communication. This differs from findings by Marinucci et al. (2022) who found a respective interaction during the strictest phase of the Italian lockdown. A potential explanation for these diverging findings might be that the German lockdown was less strict than the Italian lockdown (e.g. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic caused major societal changes worldwide, with the most notable being lockdowns and restrictions on social contact. We conducted a longitudinal study (total n = 1907) in Germany with two time points to (1) identify demographic risk factors of impaired social contact during the pandemic, as well as investigate potential consequences of (2) impaired social contact and (3) different modes of communication on individuals' well-being during the first lockdown in spring 2020. Results indicate that particularly individuals living alone and being unable to work reported a lower frequency of (face-to-face) contact in comparison with participants living with others or working. Impaired social contact was indirectly associated with a negative development in well-being (life satisfaction, anxiety and depression) over time, and this relation was mediated via relatedness. Moreover, the frequency of face-to-face and phone communication during lockdown was positively associated with relatedness and well-being; however, digital communication was not. The findings stress the importance of maintaining social contact in times of social distancing and of fostering reconnection between individuals once the pandemic is over.
... The discrepancy in these findings can be driven by multiple reasons, chief among them is the fact that these are different samples, and the fact that one survey refers to April 2020 (during lockdown in Israel) while the other to September 2020 (no lockdown in the UK). Indeed, there is longitudinal evidence from Italy (between March 12, 2020 and June 7, 2020) that the online social connections can be a protective factor from psychological distress under highly restrictive isolation (strong lockdown) conditions but not under mild isolation conditions (Marinucci et al., 2022). Recent work by Altindag et al. (in press), provides causal evidence on the negative impact of lockdowns on mental health exploiting a natural experiment in Turkey (those born in December 1955 and before were under curfew, those born in January 1956 or after were exempt). ...
... not being able to be replaced by online communication (Marinucci et al., 2022). ...
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has become a key player in the daily lives of most people. We investigate the relationship between mental health and internet use frequency and purpose six months after the first lockdown in the UK, September 2020. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and the Internet use module, and controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and personality traits, we find that older individuals (aged 59 or above) have a lower internet use frequency (twice a day or less). Younger women use the Internet for social purposes more than men do, while younger men use the Internet for leisure-and-learning purposes more than women and older men do. Both high frequency internet use and use for social purposes appear to be a protective factor for social dysfunction. Interestingly, high internet use is a protective factor for social dysfunction among younger women, but a risk factor for psychological distress among younger men. Finally, while leisure-and-learning purpose is a protective factor for social dysfunction among younger women, it is a risk factor for social dysfunction among younger men.
... In-person contact for social support was strongly preferred and participants occasionally disregarded COVID-19 preventive measures, such as social distancing, to receive in-person social support. However, social support was mostly provided via online contact (telephone or an online platform) during the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating online contact could be a temporary alternative (Marinucci et al. 2022). ...
Aim
Social networks, all social relationships that people have, may influence people’s health behavior and well-being, which was evaluated in this qualitative study in older adults. Furthermore, we evaluated people’s needs for strengthening social networks.
Subject and methods
For this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted between May and July 2021 among 24 adults aged 60 years and older.
Results
Respondents provided information on social network structure (number and types of relations) and function (social support). They received informational support from friends, emotional support from their partner/spouse, and all types of support (including practical support) from family. Respondents stated that their health behavior was mainly influenced by a partner/spouse. Family and friends were mostly for socializing. To strengthen networks, in-person bilateral or small group interactions were preferred.
Conclusion
Family and friends were important social supporters and positively influenced health behaviors. This study emphasizes the importance of social networks in health promotion.
... Because our study only focused on the early period of COVID-19, future research on prospective design is required to further improve the research in this field. Second, the complete isolation of some industries and the shift to online working due to outbreak control measures [53] increased the difficulty of selecting a sample, which may increase the need for future studies with larger samples of different industries from different countries. Third, many institutional and cultural determinants [54] should be taken into account in future research when it comes to policy choices for each country's policy makers. ...
This paper investigates the effectiveness of government measures implemented against COVID-19 and the factors influencing a country’s economic growth from a global perspective. With the help of the data of the Government Response Stringency Index (GRSI), Google mobility, and confirmed COVID-19 daily cases, we conducted a panel model for 105 countries and regions from 11 March 2020 to 31 June 2021 to explore the effects of response policies in different countries against the pandemic. First, the results showed that staying in residential places had the strongest correlation with confirmed cases. Second, in countries with higher government stringency, stay-at-home policies carried out in the early spread of the pandemic had the most effective the impact. In addition, the results have also been strictly robustly analyzed by applying the propensity score matching (PSM) method. Third, after reconstructing a panel data of 47 OECD countries, we further concluded that governments should take stricter restrictive measures in response to COVID-19. Even though it may also cause a shock to the market in the short term, this may not be sustainable. As long as the policy response is justified, it will moderate the negative effect on the economy over time, and finally have a positive effect.
... As a result, whereas for people living with others, it was still possible to have daily face-to-face interactions, people living alone were deprived of this possibility. Possibility for online connections remained; however, online connections were found to alleviate psychological distress during lockdowns only under certain circumstances, acting as "suboptimal surrogates of offline ones" (Marinucci et al., 2022). Importantly, a study across 115 countries has shown that only face-to-face contact, but not computermediated communication was associated with better well-being during the pandemic (Newson et al., 2021). ...
Based on data from a large‐scale social survey in the United Kingdom, the present work examines the influence of household situation and gender on individuals' psychological needs and subjective well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Asked to compare their current state to that before the pandemic, men but not women living alone report a subjective decline in their basic psychological needs for meaningfulness and self‐esteem, as well as lower subjective well‐being. A mediated moderation analysis indicates that the lower subjective well‐being for men living alone is mainly mediated by the decline in the satisfaction of their need for self‐esteem. The present findings suggest that social isolation during the pandemic may have affected men and women's psychological needs differently and highlight the special role of need for self‐esteem, offering insights for potential well‐being interventions in times of crisis.
... For example, veterans may have successfully used online social networking strategies that were previously relied upon to remain in contact with members of their military community before the pandemic. Previous work also reported that higher online connections were associated with lower psychological distress regardless of the levels of available face-to-face connections during the beginning of the lockdown [35]. Another possible explanation could be that veterans were able to rely on existing forms of social connection or membership with communities that buffered against feelings of isolation, despite COVID-19 mitigation strategies. ...
Social isolation is a relevant problem for veterans who are at risk for disengaging from others as a function of transition stress from military life to civilian life, and given high rates of exposure to trauma and psychological distress. Few researchers have examined social isolation in veterans over time, particularly during COVID-19 that led to significant barriers and restrictions on social interactions. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess veterans' experience of social isolation and its mental health and social functioning correlates during a 6-month period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 188 United States veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A total of four assessments were administered: one every two months for a total duration of six months. The average number of completed assessments across all participants was 3.70 (SD = 0.75) with 159 participants (84.13%) completing all four timepoints. Surveys included measures of global mental health and social functioning as indicated by perceived emotional support, quality of marriage, and couple satisfaction. Multilevel modeling was used to assess 1) growth models to determine whether social isolation changed over time and the trajectory of that change (i.e., linear or quadratic); and 2) whether social isolation was related to both concurrent and prospective indicators of mental health and social functioning. All analyses included person mean centered and grand mean centered isolation to assess for within-and between-person effects. Veterans reported a quadratic trajectory in social isolation that decreased slightly and stabilized over time. Findings indicate that higher social isolation, at both the within- and between-person level, was negatively associated with concurrent emotional support, mental health, quality of marriage, and couple satisfaction. However, all prospective effects were nonsignificant at the within-person level. Results suggest although isolation may decrease over time, veterans report worse mental health and social functioning during times when they report higher levels of social isolation compared to themselves and others. Future work is needed to determine if interventions can be applied during those times to prevent or target those negative associations.
... Mediation effects were tested using the bias-corrected bootstrap confidence interval method with 10,000 replications (Williams & Mackinnon, 2008). An interaction term between family activity disruption and compensatory virtual family contact was added to the outcome model with the expectation that impact of family activity disruption on depressive symptoms might be moderated by the compensatory virtual contacts, as was documented in other studies (Gabbiadini et al., 2020;Marinucci et al., 2022;Stuart et al., 2021). A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t higher level of psychological resilience than Whites. ...
Background and Objectives
Drawing on the counterbalancing framework, this study examined the counteracting roles of COVID-related stressors (i.e., infection threat, family activity disruption, economic impact) and psychological resilience in explaining racial-ethnic disparities in depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research Design and Methods
A competitive mediation model was fitted using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study COVID-19 Project, which were collected in June, 2020 (N=1,717). A competitive mediation model was specified within which the associations between race-ethnicity categories and depressive symptoms were mediated by infection threat, family activity disruption, economic impact, and psychological resilience. A list of pre-COVID covariates and pre-COVID depressive symptoms were adjusted for in this model.
Results
Infection threat, family activity disruption, economic impact, and psychological resilience were all higher among non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics than among non-Hispanic Whites. Economic impact had a positive while psychological resilience had a negative direct effect on depressive symptoms net of pre-COVID covariates and pre-COVID depressive symptoms. Mediation analyses revealed that, compared to non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics had higher depressive symptoms due to their higher family activity disruption and higher economic impact, but their higher levels of psychological resilience also reduced depressive symptoms. The counteracting indirect effects offset each other, resulting a null total effect of race-ethnicity on depressive symptoms.
Discussion and Implications
These findings suggest that interventions addressing the mental health impact of COVID should consider race/ethnicity-specific vulnerabilities and resilience. Future studies need to consider the complex and potentially counterbalancing mechanisms linking race-ethnicity and mental health.
... Social media have become ubiquitous and relevant for a number of domains in life, such as for well-being (e.g., Faelens et al., 2021;Marinucci et al., 2021), politics (e.g., Colliander et al., 2017, consumer behavior and advertising (e.g., Geng et al., 2021), but also for relationship formation and maintenance (e.g., Coundouris et al., 2021;Pennington, 2021). A plethora of research has investigated how much time people spend on social media and what consequences this may have (e.g., Song et al., 2014). ...
Despite a plethora of social media use research, surprisingly little is known about what social media users post about, and, more importantly, why. In three studies (N = 1,140), we present novel evidence for a disposition describing individual differences in the desire to display belonging on social media: the desire to belong publicly (DTBP). We validate an eight-item DTBP scale, encompassing the desire to display both a high quantity (e.g., having many friends) and a high quality of belonging (e.g., having close friends) on social media. The scale shows good internal consistency and test-retest reliability over two weeks. DTBP is related to, but conceptually distinct from neighboring constructs such as need to belong and need for popularity, as well as other personality dimensions known to drive social media behaviors such as extraversion, public self-consciousness, and social comparison propensity. DTBP is related to indicators of active and passive social media use, daily use of social media, frequency of posting about belonging, and social media addiction, above and beyond other constructs, and on different social media platforms (i.e., Instagram and Facebook). In sum, DTBP is a reliable and valid construct that aids the understanding of why and how individuals use social media.
... 2 Given current realities, there is interest in exploring virtual social connections as a strategy to mitigate the detrimental impacts of isolation. 2,3 However, electronic devices are rarely available to pediatric and adolescent patients on inpatient psychiatric units, 4 where isolation precautions for COVID-19 hit children and adolescents hard. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a mental health crisis for children and adolescents in America.1 Social isolation and loneliness during the pandemic present a significant challenge. A rapid systematic review published in this journal found that social isolation correlates with depression and anxiety and may heighten the risk of disorder onset.2 Specifically in an infectious disease context, research on the H1N1 influenza pandemic showed that children in North America required to quarantine were 5 to 30 times more likely to meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder than children not under these restrictions.2.
... In the spring of 2020, as data was collected, our Italian participants were in a state of lockdown where in-person social interactions were in many cases severely limited. In that situation online interactions may have provided the social support that is otherwise obtained in-person meetings (Pancani et al., 2021;Marinucci et al., 2022). This could have biased the results of the present study: perhaps participants were more open to engage in online interpersonal interactions than they would have been under conditions of less social isolation. ...
Moving together in time affects human social affiliation and cognition. However, it is unclear whether these effects hold for on-line video meetings and whether they extend to empathy (understanding or sharing others' emotions) and theory of mind (ToM; attribution of mental states to others). 126 young adult participants met through online video in unacquainted pairs. Participants either performed 3 min of synchronous arm movements paced by sounds ( n = 40), asynchronous movements ( n = 46) or a small talk condition ( n = 40). In a subsequent empathy task, participants engaged in a conversation. A video recording of this conversation was played back, and each participant rated, at predetermined time points, how they felt and how they thought their partner felt. From this we calculated empathic accuracy (accuracy of the estimation of the other's emotions) and emotional congruence (emotion sharing). ToM was measured by showing videos of geometrical shapes interacting and asking the participants to describe what happened, measuring the amount of intentionality. We found that participants in the synchrony condition rated feeling greater closeness and similarity to their partners relative to the asynchronous condition. Further, participants in the synchrony group tended to ascribe more intentionality to the abstract shapes than participants in asynchrony condition, suggesting greater ToM. Synchrony and asynchrony groups did not reliably differ in empathic accuracy nor emotional congruence. These results suggest that moving in synchrony has effects on social affiliation measures even in online encounters. These effects extend to ToM tendencies but not empathic accuracy or emotion sharing. These results highlight the potential of synchronous movement in online encounters to affect a subset of social cognition and affiliation measures.
... As a consequence of the social isolation measures imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic (Palacios Cruz et al., 2021), millions of people have had to replace physical communication with virtual interaction (Marinucci et al., 2022). Thus, the adoption of videoconferencing increased significantly, making the use of virtual media such as Zoom, Meet, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, among others, the best alternative to continue the work dynamics in different sectors (Mamani-Benito et al., 2021). ...
The objective of this research was to characterize the production of Latin American scientific literature on Zoom fatigue. A retrospective and descriptive study was conducted in which 41 manuscripts published in journals indexed in the Scopus database between January 2020 and December 2021 were analyzed. The variables studied were document frequency, scientific production by country, number of authors, institutional affiliation and scientific production by descriptor. It was found that 58.54% of the identified manuscripts are research articles. The country with the highest scientific production is the United States (46.34%); institutions in the Philippines and the United States stand out since they have the highest scientific production, and Journal of Loss and Trauma is the journal with the highest number of publications. Regarding affiliation, the authors belong to entities in the Philippines. It is necessary to continue researching on zoom fatigue, considering that it is currently widely used worldwide in organizations, but the effect or positive or negative impacts on the human being are not measured. Received: 8 March 2022 / Accepted: 20 June 2022 / Published: 5 July 2022
... They demonstrated that social media was especially helpful for isolated adults because it provided not only an opportunity for online workouts but also a space for interaction with family members and peers, thus facilitating daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, other studies have shown that online social connections effectively replaced offline interactions and were protective against social isolation's negative consequences during the pandemic (Marinucci et al., 2022). A large-scale survey of grassroots sports in England found that club members highly valued their clubs' communication efforts during the pandemic. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on all societal domains, including sports. Social distancing measures and the closure of sports facilities posed especially severe challenges for grassroots sports clubs, which thrive on joint activities and member social contact. Drawing on mediatization theory, the study examines the communication challenges faced by grassroots sports clubs and the perceived potential of digital media to overcome these obstacles during and beyond the pandemic. Based on in-depth interviews with 32 club officials of German grassroots sports clubs, the study identified ongoing uncertainty about COVID-19 regulations, preserving members’ sense of belonging during social distancing, and involving everyone in formal processes as the major communication challenges. While most of the interviewees valued the potential of digital media to address these challenges, they acknowledged that the benefits of digital media for individual members would depend on their skill, motivation, and concerns, as well as on the availability of digital infrastructure. For that reason, digital media were not considered a substitute for face-to-face social contact or sporting activity but were seen to extend opportunities for communication and training. More generally, these findings raise new questions about the relationship between mediatization and social cohesion.
... Section V-B). In turn, recent findings have challenged the assumption that videoconferencing may be preferred over text-based interaction, for the example in case of compensating for social distancing as required during the Covid-19 pandemic [134], [135]. ...
Telemeetings such as audiovisual conferences or virtual meetings play an increasingly important role in our professional and private lives. For that reason, system developers and service providers will strive for an optimal experience for the user, while at the same time optimizing technical and financial resources. This leads to the discipline of Quality of Experience (QoE), an active field originating from the telecommunication and multimedia engineering domains, that strives for understanding, measuring, and designing the quality experience with multimedia technology. This paper provides the reader with an entry point to the large and still growing field of QoE of telemeetings, by taking a holistic perspective, considering both technical and non-technical aspects, and by focusing on current and near-future services. Addressing both researchers and practitioners, the paper first provides a comprehensive survey of factors and processes that contribute to the QoE of telemeetings, followed by an overview of relevant state-of-the-art methods for QoE assessment. To embed this knowledge into recent technology developments, the paper continues with an overview of current trends, focusing on the field of eXtended Reality (XR) applications for communication purposes. Given the complexity of telemeeting QoE and the current trends, new challenges for a QoE assessment of telemeetings are identified. To overcome these challenges, the paper presents a novel Profile Template for characterizing telemeetings from the holistic perspective endorsed in this paper.
... Although various studies have converged in showing the negative repercussions of social isolation imposed by national governments to contain COVID-19 (e.g. Ellis et al. 2020, Clemente-Su arez et al. 2020, Marinucci et al. 2022, Zhu et al. 2021, to our knowledge, the research in the context of parenting is still limited, especially when considering a wide range of psychosocial variables, including perceptions of loneliness and the threat to basic psychological needs. As found by Lee et al. (2021), parents' perceived isolation resulted in some changes in disciplinary practices (i.e. more harsh discipline and spanking) during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
The parents of 413 children with typical development (TD) or special educational needs (SEN) filled in an online survey to investigate the associations between the restrictions introduced to face COVID-19 and parenting stress and parental disciplinary practices. The parents of children with SEN showed a significantly higher stress level than TD children's parents. However, they showed a lower inclination to overreact. In both groups, the parents who feel less supported, feel their needs threatened, and report having a child with more difficulties were more likely to exhibit parenting stress. Data on the associations between COVID-19 restrictions and the stress perceived by parents could help to focus the attention of the public health system on their parents' needs, leading to practices aimed to prevent parenting stress and burnout.
The COVID-19 pandemic experience had a major impact on adolescents’ relational lives. The abrupt change in habits led adolescents to revise their relationships with respect to family, friends, and school; they suffered greatly because of this but, at the same time, were able to discover new resources and possibilities. The present paper aims to give adolescents a voice by exploring their experiences of the change that the pandemic period brought about in their life and significant relationships as well as by examining whether quarantine and social isolation provided opportunities for personal growth and transformation. The participants were 66 adolescents (between 16 and 19 years old). A qualitative method was adopted with a semi-structured interview that investigated changes in the main relational areas. The results offer an insight into the lives of adolescents during the lockdown in Italy, allowing us to “hear their voice.” The results highlight the adolescents’ struggle to cope with the change, suffering from the many limitations but also experiencing increased self-awareness, reflectivity, and responsibility.
Despite the relevance of social exclusion and economic inequality for homelessness, empirical studies investigating how these issues relate to homeless people's psychological well-being are scarce. We aimed to fill this gap by conducting two quasi-experimental studies on homeless and non-homeless groups. The first study (N = 200) showed that homeless (vs. non-homeless) people presented higher levels of resignation, characterized by depression, alienation, helplessness , and unworthiness (Williams, 2009). The second study (N = 183) replicated the findings from Study 1 and showed that perceived economic inequality could increase homeless people's resignation by emphasizing perceptions of social exclusion. Additional analyses found that identification with the stigmatized homeless group could mediate the relationship between perceived inequality and social exclusion, increasing the resignation. Overall, the results showed that chronic social exclusion of homeless people is associated with higher levels of resignation. Moreover, they showed the role of perceived economic inequality and homeless group stigmatized identification as group-specific mechanisms favouring social exclusion and ultimately worsening psychological well-being. K E Y W O R D S economic inequality, homeless people, resignation stage, social exclusion, social identity
Online connections and virtual world have dominated the last few years of our social life. There has been a lack of each other’s physical presence. The aim of this paper is to create an experience to connect with people in a physical space. The project is named as Connect. Connect is a series of nostalgic games to be played in a spatially augmented environment. The experience aims to inculcate feel-good emotions and enhance socialization and collaboration. Connect involves the intersection of projection mapping, game design and experiential design. Two nostalgic games, Snake and Pacman, are developed for the experience. Several iterations are made and tested simultaneously. The games are made multiplayer and tested by projecting in different spaces. The final execution is done in Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) where people play both the games. The participants felt good after playing and were seen socializing and collaborating with each other. Verbal feedback along with post experience questionnaire confirmed the same, expanding the future scope of the project.KeywordsSpatial Augmented RealityGame designExperiential designSocializationCollaboration
Digital (video) calls have become a significant tool during the challenging times marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The article focuses on the perceived functionality of video calls for maintaining social contacts and overcoming loneliness in celebrating family festivities limited by physical distance policies. The qualitative study conducted at the end of 2021 in Latvia and Spain examines families’ cultural socialisation via digital tools and, based on data obtained from semi-structured in-depth interviews, assesses the users’ digital experiences in celebrating Christmas and the New Year from retrospective and prospective standpoints. The obtained data revealed that although digital interactions were acknowledged as an alternative means for ensuring togetherness, preserving and facilitating emotional connection, and experiencing a feeling of belonging and shared identity, they were perceived as the context of exception. The findings complement existing studies that the pandemic contributed to bridging the digital gap among generations with coordinated and negotiated conceptions of the functionality of digital tools. Video calls ensured a sense of social and emotional connectedness and inspired the appearance of virtual celebration ideas.
Recently, the World Health Organization noted the increasing signs of pandemic fatigue around the world and repeatedly warned the public to continue to stay cautious. The current study explores whether social media use plays a role in the formation and development of pandemic fatigue. Drawing on a survey of 849 social media users in China, the findings indicated that different social media behaviors play different roles in affecting pandemic fatigue. Specifically, social interaction use is negatively associated with pandemic fatigue, mediated by more social support and reduced hopelessness. Active content use contributes to pandemic fatigue development, an association explained by information overload and desensitization. Notably, passive content use is found to trigger reactance but is negatively associated with pandemic fatigue, which is fully mediated by reduced information overload. This study seeks to understand how pandemic fatigue is associated with social media use and to explicate the underlying mechanism. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Although face-to-face social contact decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, some people remained active in traveling and physically meeting as a group to gain benefits like sustaining intimacy and increasing productivity. These group-based activities indicate the necessity of some essential physical meetings despite high risks of virus infection from physical contact amid the pandemic. To balance the benefits of these meetings with the risks and consequences of infection, more should be done to understand the characteristics of physical social contacts and interactions before and amid the pandemic. Using multiday continuous smartcard data, we identify patterns of intentional group travel in the Hong Kong Metro system. These patterns serve as our proxies for physical (visible) interactions and social (invisible) contact networks among people who intentionally travel as a group (ITG). We measure the spatial centrality of ITGs and persistent group riders (PGRs), a subset of ITGs remaining active amid the pandemic, to infer social interactions among metro riders across different locales. By examining the social network formed by the ITG members across time, we found that its size and interconnections varied during the pandemic, and PGR members might be influential vertices in maintaining the networks’ topological properties. The findings could facilitate transit-usage-and-virus-spread modeling and the formulation of more effective pandemic countermeasures in transit-reliant cities.
Social and behavioral science research proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the substantial increase in influence of behavioral science in public health and public policy more broadly. This review presents a comprehensive assessment of 742 scientific articles on human behavior during COVID-19. Two independent teams evaluated 19 substantive policy recommendations (“claims”) on potentially critical aspects of behaviors during the pandemic drawn from the most widely cited behavioral science papers on COVID-19. Teams were made up of original authors and an independent team, all of whom were blinded to other team member reviews throughout. Both teams found evidence in support of 16 of the claims; for two claims, teams found only null evidence; and for no claims did the teams find evidence of effects in the opposite direction. One claim had no evidence available to assess. Seemingly due to the risks of the pandemic, most studies were limited to surveys, highlighting a need for more investment in field research and behavioral validation studies. The strongest findings indicate interventions that combat misinformation and polarization, and to utilize effective forms of messaging that engage trusted leaders and emphasize positive social norms.
Research has demonstrated that life transitions lead to heightened experiences of loneliness, in part because they engender isolation. We tested whether the degree of isolation during a transition influences loneliness, and if this is due to their effects on social identity processes. Employing an experimental paradigm, Study 1 ( N = 213) found that when the transition involved isolation from new networks, in this case studying at university online as opposed to in person, it led to more loneliness, and this was mediated through reduced social identification and continuity of group memberships. Study 2 ( N = 215) replicated these effects using a different experimental paradigm in which the transition involved isolation from old group memberships, namely moving to a new neighbourhood from interstate. Study 3 ( N = 2346) employed a quasi-experimental repeated-measures design to assess the impact of a highly isolating life transition on loneliness–COVID lockdown. Australians in prolonged lockdown experienced increases in loneliness and this was mediated through (lack of) continuity of group memberships. Overall, these results suggest that isolation needs to be considered when assessing the impact of life transitions on loneliness. Moreover, the mediation results indicate that isolating transitions may be responsible for loneliness because these make it difficult to maintain crucial group memberships and form a sense of identification with relevant new groups.
Most countries have been struggling with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic imposing social isolation on their citizens. However, this measure carried risks for people's mental health. This study evaluated the psychological repercussions of objective isolation in 1,006 Italians during the first, especially strict, lockdown in spring 2020. Although varying for the regional spread-rate of the contagion, results showed that the longer the isolation and the less adequate the physical space where people were isolated, the worse the mental health (e.g., depression). Offline social contacts buffered the association between social isolation and mental health. However, when offline contacts were limited, online contacts seemed crucial in protecting mental health. The findings inform about the potential downsides of the massive social isolation imposed by COVID-19 spread, highlighting possible risk factors and resources to account for implementing such isolation measures. Specifically, besides some known factors such as physical space availability, the local contagion rate is critical in moderating the link between social isolation and mental health issues, supporting national policies implementing regional tiers of restriction severity.
Background
Theoretical models in both clinical (Psychobiological Model of Social Rejection and Depression) as well as social psychology (Temporal Need Threat Model of Ostracism) have postulated that ostracism (i.e. being excluded and ignored by others) may foster the development of depressive symptomatology. However, stress generation models indicate that depression may also foster ostracism as depressed individuals might be considered as burdensome by others.
Methods
We investigated whether experienced ostracism predicted diagnosed clinical depression over time and vice versa within longitudinal panel data from a sample representative of the German adult population (the Socioeconomic panel) over a three years period.
Results
A cross-lagged panel analysis shows that experienced ostracism predicts self-reported diagnosed depression three years later. Vice versa, depression predicts ostracism three years later, too, although the results were less stable.
Limitations
While the results extend our understanding about the temporal order of ostracism and depression, temporal order is a precondition but not a proof of causation. Development of targeted interventions and treatments that aim to reduce social ostracism and research on their impact is needed to determine a causal effect of ostracism on depression.
Conclusions
We present empirical evidence from a representative adult sample showing that social ostracism as a potential risk factor. Findings advance knowledge about the development of depression and corroborate contemporary theorizing in the fields of clinical and social psychology.
Background The social distancing during COVID-19 is likely to cause a feeling of alienation, which may pose a threat to the public's mental health. Our research aims to examine the relationship between negative emotions and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), considering the mediation effect of alienation and how it is moderated by anxiety and depression.
Methods For this, the current study conducted a cross-sectional survey on 7145 participants during the outbreak of COVID-19, via online questionnaires comprised of a self-designed Negative emotions questionnaire, Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90), PTSD Checklist-civilian version (PCL-C), and Adolescent Students Alienation Scale (ASAS).
Results A total of 6666 pieces of data from the general population were included in the statistical analysis. The descriptive statistics showed a relatively mild level of mental disorders. Besides, results of Conditional Process Model analysis supported our hypotheses that negative emotions and alienation were both predictors for PTSD symptoms, and their direct and indirect effects were all moderated by the level of anxiety.
Limitations This study was limited by the generality and causality of the conclusion. The moderating effect of depression was left for further study due to the collinearity problem of variables.
Conclusions Social distancing may have an impact on individuals’ mental health by the feeling of alienation, which was moderated by affective disorders. Clinical psychologists should identify individuals’ particular cognition and mental disorders to provide a more accurate and adequate intervention for them.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, now a global health crisis, has surprised health authorities around the world. Recent studies suggest that the measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak have generated issues throughout the population. Thus, it is necessary to establish and identify the possible risk factors related to the psychosocial and psychophysiological strain during the COVID-19 outbreak. The present extensive literature review assesses the social, psychological, and physiological consequences of COVID-19, reviewing the impact of quarantine measures, isolation, vast human loss, social and financial consequences in the family's economies, and its impact on the psychological health of the population. We also discussed the effect of psychophysiological factors, considering the impact of physical inactivity and modifications in nutritional habits, at psychological and physiological levels. The present review includes an actualized to date bibliography, articles for which were methodologically analyzed to verify they met the standards of quality and scientific accuracy. Authors understand the pandemic as a multifactorial event for which only a profound and extensive analysis would lead to better compression and efficient intervention in the near future.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and attendant lockdown measures present serious threats to emotional well-being worldwide. Here, we examined the extent to which being outdoors (versus indoors), the experience of loneliness, and screen-time are associated with emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic using an experiencing sampling method. In April 2020, Austrian adults (N = 286, age M = 31.0 years) completed a 21-day experience sampling phase in which they reported their emotional well-being (i.e., happiness), whether they were indoors or outdoors, and loneliness at three random time-points each day, as well as their daily screen-time. Results indicated that being outdoors was associated with higher emotional well-being, whereas greater loneliness and greater daily screen-time were associated with poorer well-being. Additionally, the impact of loneliness on well-being was weaker when participants were outdoors than indoors. These results have health policy implications for the promotion of population well-being during pandemics.
Frequent social contact has been associated with better health and longer life. It remains unclear though whether there is an optimal contact frequency, beyond which contact is no longer positively associated with health and longevity. The present research explored this question by examining nonlinear associations of social contact frequency with health and longevity. Study 1 (N * 350,000) demonstrated that once the frequency of social contact reached a moderate level (monthly or weekly), its positive association with health flattened out. Study 2 (N * 50,000) extended these findings to longitudinal and mortality data: Although low contact frequency was associated with poor health and low survival rates, increasing the frequency of social interactions beyond a moderate level (monthly or weekly) was no longer associated with better health and longevity and, in some cases, was even related to worse health and increased mortality risks.
The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose a lockdown, and many people have suddenly found themselves having to reduce their social relations drastically. Given the exceptional nature of similar situations, only a few studies have investigated the negative psychological effects of forced social isolation and how they can be mitigated in a real context. In the present study, we investigated whether the amount of digital communication technology use for virtual meetings (i.e., voice and video calls, online board games and multiplayer video games, or watching movies in party mode) during the lockdown promoted the perception of social support, which in itself mitigated the psychological effects of the lockdown in Italy. Data were collected in March 2020 (N = 465), during the lockdown imposed to reduce the COVID-19 spread. The results indicated that the amount of digital technology use reduced feelings of loneliness, anger/irritability, and boredom and increased belongingness via the perception of social support. The present study supported the positive role of digital technologies in maintaining meaningful social relationships even during an extreme situation such as a lockdown. Implications such as the need to reduce the digital divide and possible consequences of the ongoing pandemic are discussed.
The COVID‐19 outbreak has caused unprecedented social disruption. This collective trauma has resulted in school closures, shuttered businesses, rising unemployment, and a spike in emotional distress from the pandemic and related secondary stressors. In this time of crisis, and due to sweeping stay‐at‐home orders across the United States and internationally, billions of individuals are engaging in work and school from home. This has resulted in an increasing reliance on technology to accomplish these tasks. Moreover, there has been a substantial rise in the use of technology as a way to stay connected to loved ones, for entertainment, for telehealth services, and to engage in at‐home‐fitness. This commentary reviews literature that discusses the potential harm of increased technology use as well as its benefits. If mindfully leveraged, technology can be harnessed to promote increased social connectedness, work productivity, and leisure time. Mental health services may be more widely distributed through telehealth and related services, improving access and reducing health disparities. Recommendations about how technology can promote effective coping and improve physical and mental health during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic are discussed.
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Social exclusion, especially when prolonged over time––has a strong impact on the individuals’ health and wellbeing. According to the Temporal Need‐Threat Model (Williams, 2009), the experience of chronic social exclusion inescapably leads to a condition of resignation, characterized by feelings of alienation, depression, helplessness, and unworthiness. However, few empirical studies have tested this prediction and its potential moderating factors. In this research, we identified the prison as a prototypical condition of chronic social exclusion, and aimed at (a) empirically testing the link between chronic exclusion and the resignation stage, (b) investigating whether situational factors—such as attending a support group in prison—can reduce the adverse outcomes of the resignation, and (c) exploring the role of individual differences (e.g., psychological flexibility) in mediating the effect of the support group on the resignation. The study involved 136 participants—68 detainees (31 of them participated in a support group) and 68 free citizens. Results showed that prisoners without the support group showed the highest levels of feelings of resignation. By contrast, prisoners in the support group were no different from nonprisoners in terms of resignation stage outcomes, and this beneficial effect of the support group was mediated by higher levels of perceived social support and psychological flexibility. Overall, this study suggests that the link between chronic exclusion and the resignation stage could be moderated by intervening social factors, highlighting the potential benefits of group‐based interventions to tackle the negative consequences of chronic exclusion in chronically excluded populations.
The current knowledge of the long‐term consequences of social exclusion mostly relies on theoretical assumptions. (Williams, 2009, Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol., 41, 275) hypothesized that chronic ostracism drives individuals into a stage of resignation (depression, alienation, unworthiness, helplessness). We focused on asylum seekers (N = 112) as a social group at risk of experiencing prolonged instances of exclusion. Applying a three‐wave longitudinal design with a three‐month interval between each wave, we sought to advance the knowledge of the temporal development of chronic social exclusion. Cross‐lagged panel analyses showed that social exclusion influenced the development of feelings of resignation in the long term, from baseline to six months and between three and six months. In the same time frame, the perception of social exclusion became stable and chronic. These findings provide empirical evidence that chronic exclusion predicts resignation and shed light on the temporal development of the detrimental impact that pervasive exclusion can have on people belonging to marginalized social groups.
We are facing an unprecedented time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures have been taken to reduce the spread of the virus, including school closures and widespread lockdowns. Physical isolation combined with economic instability, fear of infection, and uncertainty for the future has had a profound impact on global mental health. For adolescents, the effects of this stress may be heightened due to important developmental characteristics. Canadian adolescents (n = 1,054; Mage = 16.68, SD = 0.78) completed online surveys and responded to questions on stress surrounding the COVID-19 crisis, feelings of loneliness and depression, as well as time spent with family, virtually with friends, doing schoolwork, using social media, and engaging in physical activity. Results showed that adolescents are very concerned about the COVID-19 crisis and are particularly worried about schooling and peer relationships. COVID-19 stress was related to more loneliness and more depression, especially for adolescents who spend more time on social media. Beyond COVID-19 stress, more time connecting to friends virtually during the pandemic was related to greater depression, but family time and schoolwork was related to less depression. For adolescents with depressive symptoms, it may be important to monitor the supportiveness of online relationships. Results show promising avenues to stave off loneliness, as time with family, time connecting to friends, as well as physical activity were related to lower loneliness, beyond COVID-19 stress. These results shed light on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents and document possible pathways to ameliorate negative effects.
Background: Evidence from a range of major public health incidents shows that neighbour-based action can have a critical role in emergency response, assistance and recovery. However, there is little research to date on neighbour-based action during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. This article reports on a survey of people engaged in supporting their neighbours in weeks three and four of the UK COVID-19 lockdown.
Methods: Members of area-based and community of interest COVID-19 support groups in the Bristol conurbation were invited to complete an online survey. Of 1,255 people who clicked on the survey link, 862 responded; of these, 539 responses were eligible for analysis.
Results: Respondents reported providing a wide range of support that went beyond health information, food and medical prescription assistance, to include raising morale through humour, creativity and acts of kindness and solidarity. A substantial proportion felt that they had become more involved in neighbourhood life following the lockdown and had an interest in becoming more involved in future. Neighbour support spanned all adult age groups, including older people categorised as being at-risk to the virus. With respect to most measures, there were no differences in the characteristics of support between respondents in areas of higher and lower deprivation. However, respondents from more deprived areas were more likely to state that they were involved in supporting certain vulnerable groups.
Conclusions: As with previous research on major social upheavals, our findings suggest that responses to the viral pandemic and associated social restrictions may increase existing social and health inequalities, and further research should explore this issue in more depth.
As smartphones become ever more integrated in people’s lives, a burgeoning new area of research has emerged on their well-being effects. We propose that disparate strands of research and apparently contradictory findings can be integrated under three basic hypotheses, positing that smartphones influence well-being by (1) replacing other activities (displacement hypothesis), (2) interfering with concurrent activities (interference hypothesis), and (3) affording access to information and activities that would otherwise be unavailable (complementarity hypothesis). Using this framework, we highlight methodological issues and go beyond net effects to examine how and when phones boost versus hurt well-being. We examine both psychological and contextual mediators and moderators of the effects, thus outlining an agenda for future research.
K. D. Williams (2009) theorized that chronic social exclusion would inescapably lead to a detrimental stage of resignation, characterized by depression, alienation, unworthiness, and helplessness. However, few studies empirically addressed this assumption. Considering immigrants as a population at risk of persistent exclusion, we investigated how social connections with the native-born majority and other immigrant minorities moderate the exclusion–resignation link. In Study 1 ( N = 112 asylum seekers), participants mainly connected with other immigrants showed a significant association between chronic exclusion and resignation. Crucially, this link vanished for people with social connections mainly composed of native people. In Study 2, we replicated and extended these results running secondary analyses on a data set of 2,206 immigrants (CILS4EU). This work, suggesting that the exclusion–resignation link can be moderated by social factors, highlighted the relevance of immigrants’ connections with the native majority for counteracting the risk of segregation when tackling the social issue of immigrants’ everyday exclusion.
Smartphones provide people with a variety of benefits, but they may also impose subtle social costs. We propose that being constantly connected undercuts the emotional benefits of face-to-face social interactions in two ways. First, smartphone use may diminish the emotional benefits of ongoing social interactions by preventing us from giving our full attention to friends and family in our immediate social environment. Second, smartphones may lead people to miss out on the emotional benefits of casual social interactions by supplanting such interactions altogether. Across field experiments and experience-sampling studies, we find that smartphones consistently interfere with the emotional benefits people could otherwise reap from their broader social environment. We also find that the costs of smartphone use are fairly subtle, contrary to proclamations in the popular press that smartphones are ruining our social lives. By highlighting how smartphones affect the benefits we derive from our broader social environment, this work provides a foundation for building theory and research on the consequences of mobile technology for human well-being.
Adolescents spend a substantial and increasing amount of time using digital media (smartphones, computers, social media, gaming, Internet), but existing studies do not agree on whether time spent on digital media is associated with lower psychological well-being (including happiness, general well-being, and indicators of low well-being such as depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts). Across three large surveys of adolescents in two countries (n = 221,096), light users (<1 h a day) of digital media reported substantially higher psychological well-being than heavy users (5+ hours a day). Datasets initially presented as supporting opposite conclusions produced similar effect sizes when analyzed using the same strategy. Heavy users (vs. light) of digital media were 48% to 171% more likely to be unhappy, to be in low in well-being, or to have suicide risk factors such as depression, suicidal ideation, or past suicide attempts. Heavy users (vs. light) were twice as likely to report having attempted suicide. Light users (rather than non- or moderate users) were highest in well-being, and for most digital media use the largest drop in well-being occurred between moderate use and heavy use. The limitations of using percent variance explained as a gauge of practical impact are discussed.
The widespread use of digital technologies by young people has spurred speculation that their regular use negatively impacts psychological well-being. Current empirical evidence supporting this idea is largely based on secondary analyses of large-scale social datasets. Though these datasets provide a valuable resource for highly powered investigations, their many variables and observations are often explored with an analytical flexibility that marks small effects as statistically significant, thereby leading to potential false positives and conflicting results. Here we address these methodological challenges by applying specification curve analysis (SCA) across three large-scale social datasets (total n = 355,358) to rigorously examine correlational evidence for the effects of digital technology on adolescents. The association we find between digital technology use and adolescent well-being is negative but small, explaining at most 0.4% of the variation in well-being. Taking the broader context of the data into account suggests that these effects are too small to warrant policy change. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Objective:
Mobile phones are increasingly becoming a part of the social environment, and when an individual feels excluded during a socially stressful situation, they often retreat to the comfort of their phone to ameliorate the negativity. This study tests whether smartphone presence does, in fact, alter psychological and physiological responses to social stress.
Methods:
Participants (N=148, 84% female, mean age=20.4) were subjected to a peer, social-exclusion stressor. Prior to exclusion, participants were randomized to one of three conditions: (1) phone present with use encouraged, (2) phone present with use restricted, or (3) no phone access. Saliva samples and self-report data were collected throughout the study to assess salivary alpha amylase (sAA), cortisol, and feelings of exclusion.
Results:
Participants in both phone-present conditions reported lower feelings of exclusion compared to individuals who had no access to their phone, F(2,143)=5.49, p=.005. Multilevel modeling of sAA responses revealed that the individuals in the restricted phone condition had a significantly different quadratic trajectory following the stressor compared to the phone use, υ=-0.12,, z=-2.15 p=.032, and no phone conditions, υ=-.14, z=-2.64, p=.008. Specifically, those in the restricted phone condition showed a decrease in sAA following exclusion, those in the no phone condition showed a gradual increase, and phone users exhibited little change. Cortisol responses to the stressor did not vary by condition.
Conclusions:
Taken together, these results suggest that the mere presence of a phone (and not necessarily phone use) can buffer against the negative experience and effects of social exclusion.
This research experimentally investigated the social consequences of "phubbing"-the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by concentrating on one's mobile phone. Participants viewed a three-minute animation in which they imagined themselves as part of a dyadic conversation. Their communication partner either phubbed them extensively, partially, or not at all. Results revealed that increased phubbing significantly and negatively affected perceived communication quality and relationship satisfaction. These effects were mediated by reduced feelings of belongingness and both positive and negative affect. This research underlines the importance of phubbing as a modern social phenomenon to be further investigated.
How does online technology impact sociability? Emerging evidence—much of it inconclusive—suggests a nuanced relationship between online technology (the internet, social media, and virtual reality) and sociability (emotion recognition, empathy, perspective-taking, and emotional intelligence). While online technology can facilitate purely positive (e.g., charitable giving) or negative behavior (e.g., cyberbullying), it appears to impact sociability in three ways, depending on whether it allows a deeper understanding of people’s thoughts and feelings: (1) It benefits sociability when it complements already-deep offline engagement with others. (2) It impairs sociability when it supplants deeper offline engagement for superficial online engagement. (3) It enhances sociability when deep offline engagement is otherwise difficult. We suggest potential implications and moderators of technology’s effects on sociability, and call for additional causal research.
There has been a recent and dramatic surge in the popularity of text messaging as a means of connecting with our social networks. The current research represents the first randomized controlled studies to directly compare both the social and emotional impact of social support provided in-person versus through text messaging. In two lab-based experiments, emerging adults completed a stressful task and were randomly assigned to receive emotional support either in-person, via text messaging, or no support at all. Support was provided by a close friend in experiment 1 (n = 64), and by a similar-aged confederate in experiment 2 (n = 188). In both experiments, in-person support was associated with significantly higher positive affect compared to text messaging. In-person support also led to greater satisfaction with support, but only in experiment 2. Overall, this research suggests that there may be emotional costs to a reliance on digital forms of social communication during times of stress.
One of the frequent questions by users of the mixed model function lmer of the lme4 package has been: How can I get p values for the F and t tests for objects returned by lmer? The lmerTest package extends the 'lmerMod' class of the lme4 package, by overloading the anova and summary functions by providing p values for tests for fixed effects. We have implemented the Satterthwaite's method for approximating degrees of freedom for the t and F tests. We have also implemented the construction of Type I - III ANOVA tables. Furthermore, one may also obtain the summary as well as the anova table using the Kenward-Roger approximation for denominator degrees of freedom (based on the KRmodcomp function from the pbkrtest package). Some other convenient mixed model analysis tools such as a step method, that performs backward elimination of nonsignificant effects - both random and fixed, calculation of population means and multiple comparison tests together with plot facilities are provided by the package as well.
From ostracism on the playground to romantic rejection, bullying at work, and social disregard for the aged, individuals are at constant risk of experiencing instances of social exclusion, including ostracism, rejection, dehumanization, and discrimination. These phenomena have a powerful impact as testified by their immediate influence on people’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Social Exclusion: Psychological Approaches to Understanding and Reducing Its Impact investigates different psychological approaches, across multiple psychological subdisciplines, to understanding the causes and consequences of social exclusion and possible ways to reduce or buffer against its negative effects.
The purpose of this volume is threefold. First, it lays the groundwork for the understanding of social exclusion research; reviewing the different instances of social exclusion in everyday life and methods to experimentally investigate them. Second, this volume brings together different psychological approaches to the topic of social exclusion. Leading scholars from around the world contribute perspectives from social psychology, social neuroscience, developmental psychology, educational psychology, work and organizational psychology, clinical psychology, and social gerontology to provide a comprehensive overview of social exclusion research in different psychological subdisciplines. Taken together, these chapters are conducive to the important development of new and more integrative research models on social exclusion. Finally, this volume discusses psychological strategies such as emotion regulation, psychological resources, and brain mechanisms that can reduce or buffer against the negative consequences of social exclusion. From school shootings to domestic violence, from cognitive impairment to suicide attempts, the negative impact of social exclusion has been widely documented. Thus, from an applied perspective, knowing potential ways to mitigate the negative effects of social exclusion can have a significant positive influence on people’s—and society’s—well-being. Overall, this book provides the reader with the knowledge to understand the impact of social exclusion and with tools to address it across many different contexts. Importantly, Social Exclusion: Psychological Approaches to Understanding and Reducing Its Impact aims to bridge the gap between the approaches of different psychological subdisciplines to this topic, working towards a comprehensive, integrative model of social exclusion.
Smartphones allow people to connect with others from almost anywhere at any time. However, there is growing concern that smartphones may actually sometimes detract, rather than complement, social interactions. The term “phubbing” represents the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by concentrating on one’s phone instead of talking to the person directly. The current study was designed to examine some of the psychological antecedents and consequences of phubbing behavior. We examined the contributing roles of Internet addiction, fear of missing out, self-control, and smartphone addiction, and how the frequency of phubbing behavior and of being phubbed may both lead to the perception that phubbing is normative. The results revealed that Internet addiction, fear of missing out, and self-control predicted smartphone addiction, which in turn predicted the extent to which people phub. This path also predicted the extent to which people feel that phubbing is normative, both via (a) the extent to which people are phubbed themselves, and (b) independently. Further, gender moderated the relationship between the extent to which people are phubbed and their perception that phubbing is normative. The present findings suggest that phubbing is an important factor in modern communication that warrants further investigation.
America's older adult population is increasing at a dramatic rate due to better health care, technology, and improved living conditions. However, as individuals 65 years and older begin to live longer and experience multiple life changes, there is a larger incidence of social isolation leading to loneliness, depression, and a general decline in health. This mixed-method study aimed to explore whether information and communication technologies, specifically iPads, improved the lives of older adults. Our findings suggest that the use of technology increased knowledge, elicited closer family ties, and led to a greater overall connection to society.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality. In this meta-analytic review, our objective is to establish the overall and relative magnitude of social isolation and loneliness and to examine possible moderators. We conducted a literature search of studies (January 1980 to February 2014) using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, and Google Scholar. The included studies provided quantitative data on mortality as affected by loneliness, social isolation, or living alone. Across studies in which several possible confounds were statistically controlled for, the weighted average effect sizes were as follows: social isolation odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, loneliness OR = 1.26, and living alone OR = 1.32, corresponding to an average of 29%, 26%, and 32% increased likelihood of mortality, respectively. We found no differences between measures of objective and subjective social isolation. Results remain consistent across gender, length of follow-up, and world region, but initial health status has an influence on the findings. Results also differ across participant age, with social deficits being more predictive of death in samples with an average age younger than 65 years. Overall, the influence of both objective and subjective social isolation on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Maximum likelihood or restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates of the
parameters in linear mixed-effects models can be determined using the lmer
function in the lme4 package for R. As for most model-fitting functions in R,
the model is described in an lmer call by a formula, in this case including
both fixed- and random-effects terms. The formula and data together determine a
numerical representation of the model from which the profiled deviance or the
profiled REML criterion can be evaluated as a function of some of the model
parameters. The appropriate criterion is optimized, using one of the
constrained optimization functions in R, to provide the parameter estimates. We
describe the structure of the model, the steps in evaluating the profiled
deviance or REML criterion, and the structure of classes or types that
represents such a model. Sufficient detail is included to allow specialization
of these structures by users who wish to write functions to fit specialized
linear mixed models, such as models incorporating pedigrees or smoothing
splines, that are not easily expressible in the formula language used by lmer.
Although we interact with a wide network of people on a daily basis, the social psychology literature has primarily focused on interactions with close friends and family. The present research tested whether subjective well-being is related not only to interactions with these strong ties but also to interactions with weak social ties (i.e., acquaintances). In Study 1, students experienced greater happiness and greater feelings of belonging on days when they interacted with more classmates than usual. Broadening the scope in Studies 2A and 2B to include all daily interactions (with both strong and weak ties), we again found that weak ties are related to social and emotional well-being. The current results highlight the power of weak ties, suggesting that even social interactions with the more peripheral members of our social networks contribute to our well-being.
The relationship between parenthood and well-being has become a hot topic among scholars, media, and general public alike. The research, however, has been mixed-some studies indicate that parents are happier than nonparents, whereas others suggest the reverse. We suggest that the question of whether parents are more or less happy than their childless peers is not the most meaningful one. To reconcile the conflicting literature and expand understanding of the emotional experience of parenthood, we present a model of parents' well-being that describes why and how parents experience more or less happiness than nonparents (i.e., mediators of the link between parenthood and well-being). We then apply this model to explain when parents are more likely to experience more or less happiness (i.e., moderators of parents' well-being, such as parent age or child temperament). Supporting our model, we review 3 primary methodological approaches: studies comparing parents and nonparents, studies examining changes in well-being across the transition to parenthood, and studies comparing parents' experiences while with their children to their other daily activities. Our review suggests that the relationship between parenthood and well-being is highly complex. We propose that parents are unhappy to the extent that they encounter relatively greater negative emotions, magnified financial problems, more sleep disturbance, and troubled marriages. By contrast, when parents experience greater meaning in life, satisfaction of their basic needs, greater positive emotions, and enhanced social roles, they are met with happiness and joy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Internet addiction is a rapidly growing field of research, receiving attention from researchers, journalists and policy makers. Despite much empirical data being collected and analyzed clear results and conclusions are surprisingly absent. This paper argues that conceptual issues and methodological shortcomings surrounding internet addiction research have made theoretical development difficult. An alternative model termed compensatory internet use is presented in an attempt to properly theorize the frequent assumption that people go online to escape real life issues or alleviate dysphoric moods and that this sometimes leads to negative outcomes. An empirical approach to studying compensatory internet use is suggested by combining the psychological literature on internet addiction with research on motivations for internet use. The theoretical argument is that by understanding how motivations mediate the relationship between psychosocial well-being and internet addiction, we can draw conclusions about how online activities may compensate for psychosocial problems. This could help explain why some people keep spending so much time online despite experiencing negative outcomes. There is also a methodological argument suggesting that in order to accomplish this, research needs to move away from a focus on direct effects models and consider mediation and interaction effects between psychosocial well-being and motivations in the context of internet addiction. This is key to further exploring the notion of internet use as a coping strategy; a proposition often mentioned but rarely investigated.
Over 500 million people interact daily with Facebook. Yet, whether Facebook use influences subjective well-being over time is unknown. We addressed this issue using experience-sampling, the most reliable method for measuring in-vivo behavior and psychological experience. We text-messaged people five times per day for two-weeks to examine how Facebook use influences the two components of subjective well-being: how people feel moment-to-moment and how satisfied they are with their lives. Our results indicate that Facebook use predicts negative shifts on both of these variables over time. The more people used Facebook at one time point, the worse they felt the next time we text-messaged them; the more they used Facebook over two-weeks, the more their life satisfaction levels declined over time. Interacting with other people "directly" did not predict these negative outcomes. They were also not moderated by the size of people's Facebook networks, their perceived supportiveness, motivation for using Facebook, gender, loneliness, self-esteem, or depression. On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection. Rather than enhancing well-being, however, these findings suggest that Facebook may undermine it.
This study builds on previous survey research by the investigators (Benford, 2008), as well as anecdotal reports, which imply that, despite having social interaction and communication difficulties, internet communication (via email, chat rooms, newsgroups and bulletin boards) is welcomed by some people with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS). Qualitative data about individual experiences, perceptions, and motivations regarding internet-based communication was obtained from 23 adults with HFA or AS, mainly via email interviewing, but also by conventional mail. Analysis based on grounded theory revealed how the sample were able to use the internet to lessen the emotional, social and time pressures experienced in offline situations. Aspects that contributed to the perception of the internet as a potentially more comfortable communication medium included visual anonymity, a different and more flexible pace of communication, and the permanence of text. Overall, the complexity of communication was lessened, and a greater sense of control could be achieved.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing and lockdowns has caused unprecedented changes to social life. We consider the possible implications of these changes for mental health. Drawing from research on social ostracism emphasizing the importance of social connection for mental well-being, there is reason for concern regarding the mental health effects of the crisis. However, there are also reasons for optimism; people can be surprisingly resilient to stressful situations, the impact of ostracism tends to depend on social norms (which are rapidly changing), and mental health depends primarily on having at least one or two close social connections. Given the scale and unprecedented nature of the social disruption that occurred, we see strong reason for concern, but not despair.
Abstract COVID-19 has given rise to a myriad of social, psychological, and health-related complications. The specific mental health implications of COVID-19 are still being uncovered, but we know that there are likely to be negative outcomes for many people. This is particularly the case for vulnerable members of the community, such as those with high health anxiety, and under conditions where individuals feel isolated or disconnected from others. The objective of this study was to examine whether the level of socially motivated Internet use acts as a buffer of the relationship between health anxiety, isolation behaviors, and depression. Participants (N = 473; 67.3 percent female; Mage = 23.03, SD = 7.50) from Australia completed self-report measures during the height of the national pandemic restrictions (April-May 2020). A regression analysis revealed positive relationships between health anxiety and isolation behaviors on depression and highlighted a three-way interaction effect. Specifically, health anxiety was significantly negatively associated with depression when participants engaged in fewer isolation behaviors. However, at higher levels of isolation behaviors, the relationship between health anxiety and depression was attenuated for participants with greater levels of online social connection. The findings suggest that online social connection buffered the negative effects of health anxiety under conditions of isolation. These results offer promising avenues to mitigate against vulnerabilities during the pandemic and highlight the need to promote alternate social support mechanisms in the absence of face-to-face connection.
There is a public concern that smartphone communication undermines well-being by displacing face-to-face interactions. However, research on this “social displacement hypothesis” has provided mixed results. We examined when this hypothesis holds true (within-persons vs. between-persons) and tested an intervention to decrease smartphone communication. Participants (N = 109) reported daily on smartphone communication, face-to-face communication, and emotional well-being for fifteen days. At day six, participants were assigned to a mindfulness-treatment intervention group or a no-treatment control group. The social displacement hypothesis was confirmed at the within-person but not between-person level. Specifically, when someone communicates a lot using her smartphone during a particular day, that person engages in less face-to-face interactions during that same day. However, people who tend to spend a lot of time communicating on their smartphone do not engage in less face-to-face conversations than people who largely refrain from smartphone communication. The mindfulness-intervention reduced daily smartphone communication, which decreased negative emotions.
Keywords: Smartphone communication; Face-to-face interaction; Social displacement; Mindfulness
Social relationships are often touted as critical for well-being. However, the vast majority of studies on social relationships have relied on self-report measures of both social interactions and well-being, which makes it difficult to disentangle true associations from shared method variance. To address this gap, we assessed the quantity and quality of social interactions using both self-report and observer-based measures in everyday life. Participants (N = 256; 3,206 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience sampling method self-reports of their momentary social interactions, happiness, and feelings of social connectedness, 4 times each day for 1 week. Observers rated the quantity and quality of participants' social interactions based on the EAR recordings from the same time points. Quantity of social interactions was robustly associated with greater well-being in the moment and on average, whether they were measured with self-reports or observer reports. Conversational (conversational depth and self-disclosure) and relational (knowing and liking one's interaction partners) aspects of social interaction quality were also generally associated with greater well-being, but the effects were larger and more consistent for self-reported (vs. observer-reported) quality variables, within-person (vs. between-person) associations, and for predicting social connectedness (vs. happiness). Finally, although most associations were similar for introverts and extraverts, our exploratory results suggest that introverts may experience greater boosts in social connectedness, relative to extraverts, when engaging in deeper conversations. This study provides compelling multimethod evidence supporting the link between more frequent and deeper social interactions and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans only communicated in person, but in just the past fifty years they have started also communicating online. Today, people communicate more online than offline. What does this shift mean for human social life? We identify four structural differences between online (versus offline) interaction: (1) fewer nonverbal cues, (2) greater anonymity, (3) more opportunity to form new social ties and bolster weak ties, and (4) wider dissemination of information. Each of these differences underlies systematic psychological and behavioral consequences. Online and offline lives often intersect; we thus further review how online engagement can (1) disrupt or (2) enhance offline interaction. This work provides a useful framework for studying the influence of technology on social life (119/120).
We propose a broadened conceptualization of what it means to belong by reviewing evidence that there is more than one way to achieve a sense of belonging. We suggest four paths—a communal-relationship path, a general-approbation path, a group-membership path, and a minor-sociability path—and review some evidence for the existence of each. We call for researchers to recognize that multiple paths to belonging exist and to study whether and how the paths combine and interact to influence people’s sense of belonging. Choosing the communal-relationship path and the general-approbation path as an example, we highlight times when these paths may (a) mesh well and produce additive boosts to a person’s sense of belonging, (b) substitute for one another, and (c) conflict with one another and cause ambivalence. We further call for the development of refined measures of the need to belong and of having a sense of achieved belonging as well as new measures of striving to achieve belonging through specific paths. We suggest that broadening the conceptualization of belonging will help integrate existing literature and generate future research.
Social exclusion was manipulated by telling people that they would end up alone later in life or that other participants had rejected them. These manipulations caused participants to behave more aggressively. Excluded people issued a more negative job evaluation against someone who insulted them (Experiments 1 and 2). Excluded people also blasted a target with higher levels of aversive noise both when the target had insulted them (Experiment 4) and when the target was a neutral person and no interaction had occurred (Experiment 5). However, excluded people were not more aggressive toward someone who issued praise (Experiment 3). These responses were specific to social exclusion (as opposed to other misfortunes) and were not mediated by emotion.
It can be daunting to choose which paradigm to use to investigate a new research question. This chapter is designed to help researchers select paradigms they can use to investigate questions about social exclusion and to further explain the methods social exclusion researchers used to produce their findings. To achieve these goals, I categorize social exclusion research into three categories based on the methods used to deliver the social exclusion manipulations: interacting with computer avatars, interacting with other individuals, and written manipulations. Manipulations based on interacting with computer avatars involve computer controlled agents delivering the manipulation, such as not including participants in a ball-toss game (i.e., Cyberball), word association game (i.e., Atimia), or during a video conversation (i.e., O-cam). Computer agents may not “like” a participant’s profile (i.e., ostracism online) or may not share all available information (i.e., “being out of the loop”). Manipulations involving interacting with others include being rejected during get-acquainted interactions, getting left out of chat room and text message conversations, or being rejected by a partner following exchanging information via videotapes. Written manipulations include reliving or pre-living social exclusion experiences or getting feedback, based on a survey, that you will live a life alone. For each of these specific categories, I discuss the specific paradigms researchers used, provide some examples of how the paradigms work, and discuss the general benefits and drawbacks of each paradigm. To help guide you through the decision on which social exclusion paradigms might work best, I include a decision making tree.
The r package simr allows users to calculate power for generalized linear mixed models from the lme 4 package. The power calculations are based on Monte Carlo simulations.
It includes tools for (i) running a power analysis for a given model and design; and (ii) calculating power curves to assess trade‐offs between power and sample size.
This paper presents a tutorial using a simple example of count data with mixed effects (with structure representative of environmental monitoring data) to guide the user along a gentle learning curve, adding only a few commands or options at a time.
Five studies tested hypotheses derived from the sociometer model of self-esteem according to which the self-esteem system monitors others' reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion. Study 1 showed that the effects of events on participants' state self-esteem paralleled their assumptions about whether such events would lead others to accept or reject them. In Study 2, participants' ratings of how included they felt in a real social situation correlated highly with their self-esteem feelings. In Studies 3 and 4, social exclusion caused decreases in self-esteem when respondents were excluded from a group for personal reasons, but not when exclusion was random, but this effect was not mediated by self-presentation. Study 5 showed that trait self-esteem correlated highly with the degree to which respondents generally felt included versus excluded by other people. Overall, results provided converging evidence for the sociometer model.
Television's implications for reading performance and school achievement are examined within the framework of the displacement hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that watching television may affect students' reading achievement by displacing other activities crucial to the development of reading skills, such as leisure reading. A synthesis of eight statewide reading assessments and a secondary analysis of the 1984 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which included measures of scholastic achievement, out-of-school activities, and reported television viewing exposure, are used to analyze four theories of displacement: that television displaces activities with functional similarity, activities in physical and psychological proximity, marginal fringe activities, and activities that have become less appealing due to reorganization of the child's functional needs with age. Results indicate that the differences in reading scores for those students watching 2-4 hours per day are small, but that beyond 4 hours of viewing, the effects are negative and increasingly more deleterious. Analysis of outside activities suggests that television viewing is tied to a different set of needs and gratifications than leisure reading, sports, or spending time with friends. Small but negative relations are reported between television viewing and homework activities. For the vast majority of children, however, time spent television viewing is tempered by the increasing demands of schooling and the onset of social activities as children grow older. /// [French] L'auteur examine les implications de la télévision sur les performances en lecture et le rendement scolaire, en regardant principalement ses effets sur la place relative qu'occupe l'écoute de la télévision dans l'ensemble des activités para-scolaire. Pour ce faire elle rapporte une synthèse d'évaluations des rendements en lecture effectuées dans huit états américains et une analyse du rapport de 1984 de l'Evaluation Nationale du Progrès en Education (National Assessment of Educational Progress). Ce rapport portait sur les rendements académiques à l'échelle nationale, les activités para-scolaires, les habitudes d'écoute de télévision. Quatre théories sur l'impact de la télévision sur les choix d'activités sont examinées: similitude fonctionnelle, proximité physique et psychologique, activités connexes et réorganisation fonctionnelle. Les résultats sur les rendements en lecture montrent peu d'effets de la télévision pour les enfants qui la regardent entre 2 et 4 heures par jour mais des effets extrêmement négatifs pour ceux qui la regardent plus de 4 heures par jour. L'analyse des activités para-scolaires semblent indiquer que la télévision répond à des besoins différents et apporte des satisfactions différentes que les autres activités comme la lecture, les sports ou la fréquentation d'amis. Des corrélations faibles mais négatives sont également trouvées entre l'écoute de la télévision et les devoirs. Pour la majorité des enfants, cependant, le temps d'écoute de la télévision diminue avec l'importance que prennent les devoirs et les activités sociales au fur et à mesure que l'enfant vieillit. /// [Spanish] El autor explora las implicaciones de la televisión en la ejecución en la lectura y en el logro escolar, particularmente por medio de considerar la evidencia de cuáles son aquellas actividades que se ven desplazadas por la televisión. Una síntesis de ocho evaluaciones de lectura a nivel estatal y un análisis secundario de la Evaluación Nacional de Progreso Educacional (National Assessment of Educational Progress), las que incluyeron medidas de logro académico, actividades fuera de la escuela, y un autoreporte de exposición a la televisión, fueron utilizadas para analizar cuatro teorias de desplazamiento: similaridad funcional, proximidad física y psícologica, actividades marginales, y reorganización funcional. Las diferencias en calificaciones de lectura para aquellos estudiantes que vieron televisión de 2 a 4 horas al día fueron pequeñas, pero para aquellos que vieron televisión más de 4 horas, los efectos de la televisión fueron crecientemente dañinos. El análisis de las actividades fuera de la escuela sugiere que la televisión está ligada a un conjunto diferente de necesidades y gratificaciones que la lectura por placer, las actividades deportivas, y el pasar tiempo con los amigos. Correlaciones negativas aún cuando pequeñas fueron reportadas entre la televisión y las tareas escolares. Aún con todo, para la vasta mayoría de los niños, el tiempo invertido en ver televisión se ve nivelado por la demanda creciente de las actividades escolares y por el aumento de actividades sociales según los niños crecen. /// [German] Der autor untersucht die Auswirkungen des Fernsehens auf die Lesetest- und schulischen Leistungen, insbesondere durch Inbetrachtbeziehen der Aussagen darüber, welche Aktivitäten durch Fernsehen verdrängt wurden. Eine Synthese von acht landesweiten Lesebewertungen und einer zweiten Analyse der Nationale Bewertung des Bildungsfortschritts (National Assessment of Educational Progress) des Jahres 1984, zu der Ergebnisse der scholastischen Leistungen, Aktivitäten außerhalb der Schule und persönliche Angaben über die Gesamt-Fernsehzeit gehören, wurden benutzt, um vier Verdrängungstheorien zu analysieren: funktionelle Aehnlichkeit, physische und psychologische Nähe, marginale Nebenaktivitäten und funktionelle Reorganisation. Die Unterschiede bei den Lesetestergebnissen der Schüler, die zwei bis vier Stunden pro Tag fernsehen, waren klein, doch bei denen, die mehr als vier Stunden fernsehen, waren die Einflüsse des Fernsehens in zunehmendem Maße schädlich. Eine Analyse der Nebenaktivitäten läßt darauf schließen, daß das Fernsehen an eine andere Art von Bedürfnissen und Befriedigungen gebunden ist als Lesen in der Freizeit, Sportaktivitäten und Zusammensein mit Freunden. Geringe, aber negative Korrelationen wurden zwischen Fernsehen und Hausarbeiten festgestellt. Für den Großteil der Kinder wird die Zeit, die sie vor dem Fernsehen verbringen, jedoch durch die steigenden Anforderungen der Schule und den Beginn der sozialen Aktivitäten, die mit dem Heranwachsen der Kinder gekoppelt sind, eingeschränkt.