Kumar Yogeeswaran’s research while affiliated with Girne American University Canterbury and other places

Short-form scales are often necessary for large omnibus surveys. This study compared the reliability of 108 short-form scales and single-item indicators included in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) with their full-form parent counterparts. Scale psychometrics were evaluated using an omnibus dataset pooling multiple samples with a foundation sample that employed a planned missing design presenting a random selection of 66% of the 1,012-item pool to n=2,947 undergraduates. Comparative reliability estimates for all short and full-form scales are reported. The majority of short-form scales displayedadequate reliability, indexed by coefficient omega. Fit statistics for all 108 full-form scales are also reported, and factor loadings are provided in an online supplement. These results calibrate conclusions for studies that necessarily employ short-form scales, and indicate that the majority of short-form scales employed by the NZAVS display adequate internal reliability relative to their original full-form (parent) versions.

Ethnic identity is a major area of study across many disciplines including psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science. Yet, little is known about changes in ethnic identity across the adult lifespan, and whether such changes are driven by normal aging processes (aging effects), unique societal influences linked with one’s formative years (cohort effects), or social changes during a specific time frame (period effects). We address these key oversights by utilizing 13 annual waves of longitudinal panel data from a nationwide random sample of both ethnic majority (N = 49,660) and Indigenous ethnic minority (N = 8,325) group members in New Zealand to examine changes in ethnic identity centrality using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling. This approach helps to identify changes in mean levels of ethnic identity centrality over time and whether such changes are driven by aging, cohort, and/or period effects. Our data reveal that, among both ethnic majority and ethnic minority individuals, changes in ethnic identity centrality were informed by a combination of normative aging processes, societal circumstances that reflected the unique historical context in which people grew to maturity, and societal changes during the 13 annual assessments of our study. Collectively, these results demonstrate for the first time that ethnic identity centrality in adulthood is subject to lifelong changes.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a spike in the reporting of hate crimes (Human Rights Watch, 2020). However, the extent to which the pandemic affected prejudice across a general population—not merely among those disposed to hate crimes—remains unclear. Also unclear is the extent to which prejudice was restricted to specific minority groups associated with the virus, or whether prejudice spilled over to other minority groups. To address these questions, we use panel data collected from participants in a large national longitudinal (panel) study of New Zealanders before and during the early COVID-19 pandemic and systematically quantified social warmth ratings across a broad range of minority-groups (The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, N = 30,327, years 2018–2020). We discover reduced warmth toward Chinese, Asians (broadly defined), immigrants, Muslims, refugees, Indians, and the mentally ill. In absolute terms, warmth towards Chinese decreased the most (0.11 SD). Notably, changes in warmth were not detected toward NZ Europeans, Māori, Pacific Islanders, the overweight, or the elderly. Overall, these findings suggest that in New Zealand, pandemic prejudice may spread beyond minority groups associated with the virus to other groups perceived as non-prototypical of national identity.

Understanding the relationship between personality and income is a topic of interest across multiple disciplines. Correlations between people’s personalities and their incomes may arise because differences in stable personalities relate to income differences (between-person effects) or because changes in personality or income are later reflected in the other variable (within-person effects). The current research uses random-intercept cross-lagged panel models to disentangle the two sorts of effects to better understand the relationship between the six factors of personality and income. Using data from 6824 working-age adults in New Zealand across 4 years, we found between-person effects showing higher incomes were obtained by both men and women who were more extraverted, agreeable and open, and less neurotic. Within-person effects showed that earning a higher income was associated with higher neuroticism and lower extraversion over time, while higher extraversion was associated with a lower income over time.

Despite numerous studies examining the impact of moral vs. nonmoral political content on social media engagement, the specifics of how distinct moral messaging captivates public attention remain unexplored. Scrutinizing over 10,000 original tweets from 2018 US Senate election candidates, the present work addresses this gap through natural language processing combined with machine and deep learning to probe (a) Are certain types of moral messaging among US politicians more effective in garnering attention?; and (b) If so, does this pattern differ among Democrats and Republicans online? While an unequal distribution emerged, wherein morally charged content elicited more responses than nonmoral rhetoric on both sides of the political aisle, the results indicate varying sensitivities between the factions to certain moral messaging, with Democrats being driven not only by care/harm and fairness/cheating but also by those signaling betrayal, subversion, or even degradation, whereas Republicans were captivated by a broader spectrum of concerns, including care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and purity. Given that social media is becoming increasingly pivotal in politics today, such findings advance our understanding by untangling how advanced methodologies can dissect the intricacies of moralities in the digital realm, shedding light on the potential dynamics and strategies through which Democratic vs. Republican candidates adopt to expand their reach via social media politicking.

Multicultural and colourblind approaches to managing diversity are often conceptualized to be antagonistic. However, in principle, both have underlying motives for social justice, making it important to understand how they may be psychologically reconciled. In the present research, we examined dialectical thinking as an individual characteristic or condition under which people may endorse them in a conciliatory way. Across five studies (three pre‐registered; N = 1899), using well‐established materials that have measured and experimentally manipulated dialectical thinking, we found that individual differences in dialectical thinking were a replicable factor that moderated the relationship between colourblind and multicultural ideals. By contrast, situational priming of dialectical thinking did not reliably impact this relationship. Therefore, people with a greater propensity to view issues from multiple perspectives and to reconcile seemingly contradictory information appear more likely to take a harmonized approach to endorsing colourblind and multicultural ideals. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Objectives Vaccinations are an important preventative measure in reducing the spread of infectious diseases worldwide. However, concerns of undervaccination during childhood have become increasingly common. The current study aims to investigate changes in attitudes towards childhood vaccinations prior to the COVID-19 pandemic using a national sample from New Zealand. Design Age-based, period-based, and cohort-based changes were assessed using cohort-sequential latent growth modelling in 11 overlapping birth cohorts, which spanned the ages of 23–79 years. Setting and participants Data were taken from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study where 58 654 adults completed at least one wave across a 7-year period (2013 and 2015–2019). Results The period-based and cohort-based models fit the data equally well (χ²(282)=8547.93, p<0.001, comparative fit index, CFI=0.894, root mean square error of approximation, (RMSEA)=0.074, standardised root mean square residual, SRMR=0.105; χ²(273)=8514.87, p<0.001, CFI=0.894, RMSEA=0.075, SRMR=0.105, respectively) suggesting societal factors contribute to childhood vaccination attitudes. Additionally, the findings suggest attitudes towards childhood vaccinations were becoming increasingly more positive in all birth cohorts (ps<0.001), with younger and older birth cohorts exhibiting even positive attitudes compared with middle-aged cohorts. Conclusion Overall, both the cohort-based and period-based models reveal changes in vaccination attitudes suggesting that even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, societal influences had an impact on attitudes towards childhood vaccination.