Jehoon Jeon’s research while affiliated with Eastern Connecticut State University and other places

Despite significant efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates, a substantial number of people exhibit vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy is considered as one of the greatest threats to global health but also poses substantial risks to individuals. Moreover, vaccine hesitancy patterns may reflect and perpetuate existing health disparities. This study aims to investigate if specific patterns of vaccine hesitancy exist among older adults across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Our sample included 4,656 respondents aged 65+ who participated in the 2021 Health and Retirement Study Perspectives on the Pandemic that focuses on the first-year pandemic experiences. Latent class analysis and multinomial regression was used to identify vaccine hesitancy patterns and examine the associated factors, adjusting for age, gender, marital status, and self-rated health. Four vaccine hesitancy patterns were identified: no hesitancy (56.7%), mild hesitancy-uncertainty (19.4%), strong hesitancy-personal concerns (12.0%), and strong hesitancy-lack of trust/conspiracy (11.9%). White (RRR=1.659, p<.01), higher income (RRR=1.005, p<.05) and higher education (RRR=1.078, p<.001) were positively associated with no hesitancy. Respondents with higher education (RRR=0.573, p<.05) were less likely to be in the group of mild hesitancy with uncertainty. Hispanics (RRR=0.583, p<.05) and higher education (RRR=0.332, p<.001) were negatively associated with strong hesitancy with personal concerns. African Americans (RRR=2.426, p<.001) and those with lower education (RRR=1.324, p<.001) were more likely to be in the group of strong hesitancy with lack of trust/conspiracy. Our findings show that vaccine hesitancy is not random, which is closely related to social stratification impacting health disparities in this society.

When images of children in conflict situations are selected for a Western audience, what roles do the images fulfill for the audience? A content analysis of photographs provided by the Associated Press of children in Rwanda and Kosovo suggests that news agencies frame children of conflicts differently, as passive agents or success stories, in accordance with ideological and organizational guidelines. The findings of this study show that the Associated Press depicts children in Rwanda in racially stereotypical ways in comparison to their Kosovar counterparts. The current research examines the ways that news media depict children of color in the context of war and conflict.

This study investigates the association between older adults’ perception of usefulness and easiness (PUE) of Internet Communication and Technologies (ICTs) and volunteering, and if this association differs across their income status. Data were obtained from the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and the sample was restricted to respondents aged between 60 and 84 (N = 901) and who completed the 2012 HRS technology module. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to examine the independent and joint influence of PUE of ICTs and of low-income status on volunteering. The results show that only people with high PUE engaged in more than 100 hours of volunteering among older adults after controlling for covariates. The positive effect of high PUE was found to be more significant in the low-income group. This is the first known research to investigate the PUE of ICTs and volunteering among older adults. This study expands the knowledge of volunteering among older adults by exploring ICTs which can be considered as one of the most influential macrosocial changes in the current society. Moreover, our findings provide some insights and an empirical foundation in volunteering programs for older adults of different PUE levels.

Geographically dispersed family members utilize frequent and diverse modes of communication to maintain their relationships. In transnational families separated by national boarders, family members may face constraints on channel selection due to cultural and/or structural factors. We draw from media multiplexity theory (MMT) and the cultural dimensions model to examine how transnationalism, societal individualism-collectivism (I-C), family allocentrism, and relational closeness influence the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to maintain long-distance family relationships (LDFRs). Whereas results of the analysis provide cross-cultural support for MMT’s predictions regarding closeness and ICT frequency, the analysis reveals little support for MMT’s predictions regarding closeness and ICT variety. This study extends MMT by including culture in the study of relational closeness and ICT use, highlights the importance of family allocentrism when applying MMT to LDFRs, and demonstrates how transnational families can have frequent communication to maintain close, long-distance ties despite limited channel variety. Keywords: Culture, Immigrants, Information Communication Technologies, Long Distance Families, Relational ClosenessThis work was supported by the Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship program at Wayne State University.