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Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer... Jun 2024This research aims to analyze the influence of cigarette content marketing on student behavior, and on cigarette purchasing decisions, as well as the influence of...
OBJECTIVE
This research aims to analyze the influence of cigarette content marketing on student behavior, and on cigarette purchasing decisions, as well as the influence of behavior on cigarette purchasing decisions.
METHODS
This research is quantitative, using a sample of 500 smoking students from twelve universities in the city of Medan, Indonesia, who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data collection was carried out by distributing questionnaires that had been tested for convergent validity with an Outer Loading value > 0.7 and an AVE value > 0.5, and for discriminant validity with an HTMT value < 0.9. The data was analyzed using a multivariate analysis technique which combines factor analysis and regression analysis.
RESULTS
The research results show that the t-statistical value for the behavioral variable (BHV) is 4.128 (> 1.98) and the p-value is 0.000 (< 0.05), which means that the BHV variable has a significant effect on the cigarette purchasing decision variable (PD). The t-statistical value for the content marketing (CM) variable is 27.57 (> 1.98) and the p-value is 0.000 (< 0.05), which means that the CM variable has a significant effect on the BHV variable. The t-statistical value for the CM variable is 18,542 (> 1.98) and the p-value is 0.000 (< 0.05), which means that the CM variable has a significant effect on the PD variable. 93.2% of respondents admitted that they had seen cigarette marketing content on social media, many of them (43%) believed that smoking was detrimental to their health, but the most influential factor was their perception regarding the activity of smoking.
CONCLUSION
Cigarette marketing content has been proven to influence students' behavior towards cigarettes, as well as directly influencing their decision to purchase cigarettes. Students' behavior towards cigarettes also influences their decisions in purchasing cigarettes.
Topics: Humans; Students; Male; Female; Marketing; Young Adult; Surveys and Questionnaires; Smoking; Tobacco Products; Indonesia; Decision Making; Universities; Adult; Adolescent; Latent Class Analysis
PubMed: 38918648
DOI: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.6.1883 -
PloS One 2024Access to brushes allows for natural scratching behaviors in cattle, especially in confined indoor settings. Cattle are motivated to use brushes, but brush use varies...
Access to brushes allows for natural scratching behaviors in cattle, especially in confined indoor settings. Cattle are motivated to use brushes, but brush use varies with multiple factors including social hierarchy and health. Brush use might serve an indicator of cow health or welfare, but practical application of these measures requires accurate and automated monitoring tools. This study describes a machine learning approach to monitor brush use by dairy cattle. We aimed to capture the daily brush use by integrating data on the rotation of a mechanical brush with data on cow identify derived from either 1) low-frequency radio frequency identification or 2) a computer vision system using fiducial markers. We found that the computer vision system outperformed the RFID system in accuracy, and that the machine learning algorithms enhanced the precision of the brush use estimates. This study presents the first description of a fiducial marker-based computer vision system for monitoring individual cattle behavior in a group setting; this approach could be applied to develop automated measures of other behaviors with the potential to better assess welfare and improve the care for farm animals.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Behavior, Animal; Machine Learning; Dairying; Radio Frequency Identification Device; Female; Algorithms; Animal Welfare
PubMed: 38917231
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305671 -
PloS One 2024Previous research has indicated the suitability of behavioural activation (BA) as an intervention for reducing depression in older adults. However, little research has...
Previous research has indicated the suitability of behavioural activation (BA) as an intervention for reducing depression in older adults. However, little research has investigated the potential of BA to increase active engagement and well-being in older adults. The current pilot study sought to investigate the usefulness and acceptability of BA to promote well-being in a group of non-clinical older adults. Participants (N = 18) aged between 65 and 86 (M = 77.82, SD = 5.59) who were retired and living independently in the community were provided a 6-week BA program predominantly delivered online. Treatment retention, self-ratings, and participants' compliance to treatment principles indicate preliminary feasibility for the use of BA as an approach for increasing active engagement in older adult populations. Participants also provided feedback on their experiences with the program post-intervention via individual structured interviews. Thematic analysis of these data revealed that participants found the program to be beneficial in terms of increased self-awareness and social engagement, and provided several recommendations for improving acceptability of the program and workbook. The unexpected events relating to the first wave of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) led to necessary adaptations to delivery modalities, and provided the researchers with an opportunity to investigate the use of a structured well-being program on a high-risk population during a pandemic. Our findings support the proposition that BA is a suitable intervention for increasing engagement and well-being in older adults, provide insight into adapting programs for older adults, and suggest next steps for testing intervention efficacy.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Pilot Projects; Male; Female; Aged, 80 and over; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Depression; Behavior Therapy
PubMed: 38917213
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305908 -
PloS One 2024Society asks individuals, such as front-line medical and emergency personnel or social media moderators, to help others under highly negative emotional circumstances,...
Society asks individuals, such as front-line medical and emergency personnel or social media moderators, to help others under highly negative emotional circumstances, and those individuals need to regulate their emotions for their own well being. A well-studied form of emotion regulation is reappraisal, the use of cognitive processes used to reinterpret initial emotional responses to negative events. Distancing (pretending that a situation is distant in time or space) is well documented to be an effective form of emotion regulation, but it may not be applicable in social contexts where individuals must engage with distressing events to help others. Here, for the first time, we asked whether a novel reappraisal strategy focused on Social Good-imagining that an aversive event is also an opportunity to prevent harm to others-can be an effective form of reappraisal. In a pre-registered experiment, participants were randomly assigned to Distancing or Social Good conditions as they viewed neutral or highly aversive images and then reported their subjective emotional states with or without reappraisal. Both Distancing and Social Good reappraisals led to significantly less negative affect. Distancing yielded a stronger effect, but importantly, participants reported both Distancing and Social Good as equally easy to employ and both were effective across multiple demographic and personality characteristics, indicating the broad value of both as effective forms of reappraisal. Across both reappraisal conditions, effective reappraisal increased with age and positive affect. These findings indicate that Social Good is an effective reappraisal strategy and raise the possibility that it could be particularly valuable in contexts in which emotionally demanding tasks are completed on behalf of the good for other people.
Topics: Humans; Emotional Regulation; Female; Male; Adult; Young Adult; Emotions; Adolescent; Middle Aged
PubMed: 38917180
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305756 -
PloS One 2024Although a robust body of previous empirical studies investigated the long-term trend of child behavior problems, limited research discussed the influences of various...
Although a robust body of previous empirical studies investigated the long-term trend of child behavior problems, limited research discussed the influences of various types of neighborhood factors on such trajectory (e.g., neighborhood structural characteristics and collective efficacy). Using a nationally representative longitudinal dataset the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), with six waves from 1998 to 2017, this study captures the longitudinal effects of two types of early childhood neighborhood factors on the co-development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Data was collected at the focal child's age 3, age 5, age 9, age 15 (N = 2,385), and the parallel-process growth curve models were applied. Results suggest that the trajectories of both internalization and externalizing symptoms showed U-shape and bidirectional relationships among internalizing and externalizing problems. The long-term effects of neighborhood social cohesion and economic disadvantages were significantly associated with children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The implication of this study was further discussed.
Topics: Humans; Child; Residence Characteristics; Male; Adolescent; Female; Child, Preschool; Longitudinal Studies; Child Behavior
PubMed: 38917156
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305632 -
PloS One 2024When combating a respiratory disease outbreak, the effectiveness of protective measures hinges on spontaneous shifts in human behavior driven by risk perception and...
When combating a respiratory disease outbreak, the effectiveness of protective measures hinges on spontaneous shifts in human behavior driven by risk perception and careful cost-benefit analysis. In this study, a novel concept has been introduced, integrating social distancing and mask-wearing strategies into a unified framework that combines evolutionary game theory with an extended classical epidemic model. To yield deeper insights into human decision-making during COVID-19, we integrate both the prevalent dilemma faced at the epidemic's onset regarding mask-wearing and social distancing practices, along with a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. We explore the often-overlooked aspect of effective mask adoption among undetected infectious individuals to evaluate the significance of source control. Both undetected and detected infectious individuals can significantly reduce the risk of infection for non-masked individuals by wearing effective facemasks. When the economical burden of mask usage becomes unsustainable in the community, promoting affordable and safe social distancing becomes vital in slowing the epidemic's progress, allowing crucial time for public health preparedness. In contrast, as the indirect expenses associated with safe social distancing escalate, affordable and effective facemask usage could be a feasible option. In our analysis, it was observed that during periods of heightened infection risk, there is a noticeable surge in public interest and dedication to complying with social distancing measures. However, its impact diminishes beyond a certain disease transmission threshold, as this strategy cannot completely eliminate the disease burden in the community. Maximum public compliance with social distancing and mask-wearing strategies can be achieved when they are affordable for the community. While implementing both strategies together could ultimately reduce the epidemic's effective reproduction number ([Formula: see text]) to below one, countries still have the flexibility to prioritize either of them, easing strictness on the other based on their socio-economic conditions.
Topics: Humans; Masks; COVID-19; Game Theory; Physical Distancing; SARS-CoV-2; Cost-Benefit Analysis
PubMed: 38917069
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301915 -
JMIR Formative Research Jun 2024Large-scale crisis events such as COVID-19 often have secondary impacts on individuals' mental well-being. University students are particularly vulnerable to such...
BACKGROUND
Large-scale crisis events such as COVID-19 often have secondary impacts on individuals' mental well-being. University students are particularly vulnerable to such impacts. Traditional survey-based methods to identify those in need of support do not scale over large populations and they do not provide timely insights. We pursue an alternative approach through social media data and machine learning. Our models aim to complement surveys and provide early, precise, and objective predictions of students disrupted by COVID-19.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of language on private social media as an indicator of crisis-induced disruption to mental well-being.
METHODS
We modeled 4124 Facebook posts provided by 43 undergraduate students, spanning over 2 years. We extracted temporal trends in the psycholinguistic attributes of their posts and comments. These trends were used as features to predict how COVID-19 disrupted their mental well-being.
RESULTS
The social media-enabled model had an F1-score of 0.79, which was a 39% improvement over a model trained on the self-reported mental state of the participant. The features we used showed promise in predicting other mental states such as anxiety, depression, social, isolation, and suicidal behavior (F1-scores varied between 0.85 and 0.93). We also found that selecting the windows of time 7 months after the COVID-19-induced lockdown presented better results, therefore, paving the way for data minimization.
CONCLUSIONS
We predicted COVID-19-induced disruptions to mental well-being by developing a machine learning model that leveraged language on private social media. The language in these posts described psycholinguistic trends in students' online behavior. These longitudinal trends helped predict mental well-being disruption better than models trained on correlated mental health questionnaires. Our work inspires further research into the potential applications of early, precise, and automatic warnings for individuals concerned about their mental health in times of crisis.
PubMed: 38916951
DOI: 10.2196/52316 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jun 2024Socially coordinated threat responses support the survival of animal groups. Given their distinct social roles, males and females must differ in such coordination. Here,...
Socially coordinated threat responses support the survival of animal groups. Given their distinct social roles, males and females must differ in such coordination. Here, we report such differences during the synchronization of auditory-conditioned freezing in mouse dyads. To study the interaction of emotional states with social cues underlying synchronization, we modulated emotional states with prior stress or modified the social cues by pairing unfamiliar or opposite-sex mice. In same-sex dyads, males exhibited more robust synchrony than females. Stress disrupted male synchrony in a prefrontal cortex-dependent manner but enhanced it in females. Unfamiliarity moderately reduced synchrony in males but not in females. In dyads with opposite-sex partners, fear synchrony was resilient to both stress and unfamiliarity. Decomposing the synchronization process in the same-sex dyads revealed sex-specific behavioral strategies correlated with synchrony magnitude: following partners' state transitions in males and retroacting synchrony-breaking actions in females. Those were altered by stress and unfamiliarity. The opposite-sex dyads exhibited no synchrony-correlated strategy. These findings reveal sex-specific adaptations of socio-emotional integration defining coordinated behavior and suggest that sex-recognition circuits confer resilience to stress and unfamiliarity in opposite-sex dyads.
PubMed: 38915653
DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.09.598132 -
Social Cognitive and Affective... Jun 2024Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined as the impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational or health consequences and still...
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined as the impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational or health consequences and still represents one of the biggest challenges for society regarding health conditions, social consequences, and financial costs, including the high relapse rates after traditional alcohol rehabilitation treatment. Especially the deficient emotional competence in AUD is said to play a key role in the development of AUD and hinders to interrupt the substance compulsion, often leading in a viscous circle of relapse. Although the empirical evidence of a neurophysiological basis of alcohol use disorder is solid and increases even further, clinical interventions based on neurophysiology are still rare for individuals with AUD. This randomized, controlled trial investigates changes in emotional competences and alcohol-related cognitions and drinking behavior before and after an established alcohol rehabilitation treatment (control group, nCG = 29) compared to before and after an optimized, add-on neurofeedback training (experimental group: nEG = 27). Improvements on the clinical-psychological level, i.e., increases in emotional competences as well as life satisfaction were found after the experimental EEG-neurofeedback training. Neurophysiological measurements via resting state EEG indicate decreases in low beta frequency band, while alpha and theta band remained unaffected.
PubMed: 38915188
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae048 -
BMC Public Health Jun 2024This survey study investigated the types of sources other than medical professionals (e.g., social media) that the caregivers of children with...
BACKGROUND
This survey study investigated the types of sources other than medical professionals (e.g., social media) that the caregivers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) use to acquire knowledge about ADHD and investigated the association between the use of such information sources and caregiver parenting stress and anxiety in Taiwan.
METHODS
A total of 213 caregivers of children with ADHD participated in this study. The sources that the caregivers used to acquire knowledge about ADHD other than medical professionals were investigated. Caregiver parenting stress was assessed using the Parenting Stress Index, and caregiver anxiety was assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The associations of the types of sources used and total number of source use with caregiver parenting stress and anxiety were investigated using multivariate linear regression analysis.
RESULTS
The most common source of knowledge other than medical professionals was teachers (55.4%), followed by social media (52.6%), traditional media (50.7%), friends (33.8%), caregivers of other children (21.1%), and family members (18.3%). The caregivers' mean total number of using sources of knowledge about ADHD other than medical professionals was 2.32. Acquiring knowledge about ADHD from social media was significantly associated with caregiver parenting stress. Additionally, acquiring knowledge about ADHD from caregivers of other children was significantly associated with caregiver parenting stress and anxiety, as was the frequency of using sources of knowledge about ADHD other than medical professionals.
CONCLUSION
The caregivers of children with ADHD acquired knowledge about ADHD from multiple sources. Acquiring knowledge about ADHD from social media was significantly associated with caregiver parenting stress. The number of sources of knowledge about ADHD was significantly associated with caregiver parenting stress and anxiety.
Topics: Humans; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Taiwan; Female; Male; Caregivers; Adult; Parenting; Stress, Psychological; Anxiety; Child; Middle Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Information Seeking Behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Social Media
PubMed: 38914984
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18761-x