Design and Impact of Awareness Functions – A Study about Social Media in Virtual Teams

The usage of social media in leisure time settings has become a prominent research topic. However, less research has been done on the design of social media in collaboration settings. In this study, we investigate how social media can support asynchronous collaboration in virtual teams and specifically how they can increase activity awareness. On the basis of an open source social networking platform, we present two prototype designs: a standard platform with basic support for information processing, communication and process – as suggested by Zigurs and Buckland (1998) – and an advanced platform with additional support for activity awareness via specialfeed functions. We argue that the standard platform already conveys activity awareness to a certain extent, however, that this awareness can be increased even more by the feeds in the advanced platform. Both prototypes are tested in a field experiment and evaluated with respect to their impact on perceived activity awareness, coordination and satisfaction. We show that the advanced design increases coordination and satisfaction through increased perceived activity awareness.

Commentary on "The Impact of Family Stressors on the Social Development of Adolescents in Residential Facilities"

This is a commentary on “The impact of family stressors on the social development of adolescents admitted to a residential treatment facility,” by Cynthia Harr. This article examines the important but relatively understudied relationship of family dynamics in the social development of high risk teens in residential treatment facility (RTF) care. The commentary supports the author’s calls for a continuum of care involving greater cooperation with parents, and critiques and expands on some of the recommendations.

The Impact of Family Stressors on the Social Development of Adolescents Admitted to a Residential Treatment Facility

The focus of this research was to determine the impact of family stressors on the social development of adolescents at admission to long-term mental health residential care. The study was conducted at the Waco Center for Youth, the only long-term residential care agency serving emotionally and behaviorally challenged adolescents and their families that functions under the authority of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Data was obtained from social assessment forms (N=457) in case records of clients. The prevalence of problem behaviors exhibited by the youth upon entry to the residential facility was examined and it was found that the youth entering the facility were experiencing severe impairment in their social development across several domains. Results indicated that youth with more family stressors exhibited significantly greater impairment in their social development (b = .19, p = .000) which suggests that the combination of multiple stressors within a family inhibits adolescent social development. The research supports a family systems approach to treatment that focuses on building family strengths and actively involving family in the intervention process.

The impact of social roles on trait judgments: a critical reexamination

Consistent with social role theory's assumption that the role behavior of men and women shapes gender stereotypes, earlier experiments have found that men's and women's occupancy of the same role eliminated gender-stereotypical judgments of greater agency and lower communion in men than women. The shifting standards model raises the question of whether a shift to within-sex standards in judgments of men and women in roles could have masked underlying gender stereotypes. To examine this possibility, two experiments obtained judgments of men and women using measures that do or do not restrain shifts to within-sex standards. This measure variation did not affect the social role pattern of smaller perceived sex differences in the presence of role information. These findings thus support the social role theory claim that designations of identical roles for subgroups of men and women eliminate or reduce perceived sex differences.

The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement.

Parochial altruism - a preference for altruistic behavior towards ingroup members and mistrust or hostility towards outgroup members--is a pervasive feature in human society and strongly shapes the enforcement of social norms. Since the uniqueness of human society critically depends on the enforcement of norms, the understanding of the neural circuitry of the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement is key, but unexplored. To fill this gap, we measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while subjects had the opportunity to punish ingroup members and outgroup members for violating social norms. Findings revealed that subjects' strong punishment of defecting outgroup members is associated with increased activity in a functionally connected network involved in sanction-related decisions (right orbitofrontal gyrus, right lateral prefrontal cortex, right dorsal caudatus). Moreover, the stronger the connectivity in this network, the more outgroup members are punished. In contrast, the much weaker punishment of ingroup members who committed the very same norm violation is associated with increased activity and connectivity in the mentalizing-network (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporo-parietal junction), as if subjects tried to understand or justify ingroup members' behavior. Finally, connectivity analyses between the two networks suggest that the mentalizing-network modulates punishment by affecting the activity in the right orbitofrontal gyrus and right lateral prefrontal cortex, notably in the same areas showing enhanced activity and connectivity whenever third-parties strongly punished defecting outgroup members.

Marital split-up and widowhood in old age: Differential impact on psychological and social well-being

Marital split-up and spousal loss are among the most stressful critical life events. Numerous studies have documented their detrimental effects on well-being, yet the large individual differences in psychological adaptation are still not well understood. Whereas in old age bereavement is normative and can be anticipated, divorce is an “off-time” transition for this age group. In contrast to bereavement which has been amply studied, research on later life divorce is still missing despite the increasing relevance of the topic due to the significant increase of divorces in older age. Based on a modified and extended view of Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment model (2000), the aim of this contribution is to explore the differential impact of marital split-up and widowhood in older age on psychological (life satisfaction) and social well-being (social loneliness), and the adaptation to these critical life events. Our analyses are based on data gathered in a questionnaire study, which is part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES. In a first step we compared three groups of individuals aged 60 to 75 years: a sample of 251 persons with a marital split-up (127 women; 123 men), a sample of 270 widowed persons (170 women; 100 men), and a group of 221 continuously married people (110 women; 111 men), which served as control group. In a second step, we investigated the role of socio-demographic variables, intrapersonal and interpersonal resources and variables of the context of loss as predictors for the psychological adaptation to a marital break-up and loss in old age. First results by ANCOVA indicate significant differences with regard to life satisfaction among the three groups, with divorced persons with the lowest scores, followed by the bereaved ones, and the married controls with the highest. Regarding social loneliness, divorced individuals report higher social loneliness than the bereaved group and the married controls (no significant difference between widowed and the married). In both loss groups, financial and intrapersonal resources, as well as the emotional valence of the loss are the most important predictors for the psychological and social adaptation. However, happiness in the past relationship is an important resource regarding the indicators for adaptation for the widowers, but not for individuals with a marital dissolution.

The impact of social support networks on compliance with hypertensive therapeutic regimens among noninstitutionalized black adults

A conceptual framework based on the Health Belief Model was proposed which identified those factors most significant in the prediction of compliance behavior. The hypothesized model was applied to analyze the effects of sociodemographic characteristics, self-assessed health status, and social support networks on compliance with antihypertensive regimens, focusing on black adults.^ The study population was selected from the National Health and Examination Survey II (NHANES II) which produced a sample of 3,957 eligible persons 35-74 years of age.^ The study addressed the following research questions: (a) what is the relationship between demographic variables and self-assessed health status, (b) what is the relationship between social support network and self-assessed health status, (c) what is the compliance, (d) what factors, e.g., demographic characteristics, social support network, self-assessed health status, are most related to compliance, and (e) does the effect of these factors on compliance differ between black and white adults?^ The results of the study found that blacks: (a) had poorer health than whites, and education and income were significantly related to self-assessed health status, (b) the stronger social support networks of blacks, the better their health status, and (c) older blacks and those in poorer health were more likely to comply with recommended treatment. The hypothesized conceptual model for the prediction of compliance behavior was partially substantiated for both blacks and whites.^ Implications for the application of the conceptual model are also discussed. ^

Impact of consciousness raising and social liberation on readiness to engage in regular physical activity among adults in Magnolia Park/Lawndale-Wayside, Houston, TX

According to the transtheoretical model, consciousness raising and social liberation are processes used to help individuals progress through the stages of change for a given behavior. This study assessed the impact of these two processes on readiness to engage in regular physical activity among a convenience sample of 35 adults in the Magnolia Park/Lawndale-Wayside area of Houston, TX. The duration of the study was approximately 4 weeks. All pre/post-test data were collected via self-administered surveys available in English or Spanish. Baseline data were used to determine the culturally relevant content of a one-dose intervention consisting of a presentation and dissemination of educational materials as well as a list of local physical activity opportunities. Although the intervention did not improve progression through the stages of change, significant increases were evident among 5 out of 6 processes of change. Based on these results and qualitative data, this study recommended that the Houston Parks and Recreation Department incorporate cultural competency into the design and publication of materials and revise the schedule of available programs (i.e.: increase the number of walking programs) in order to reflect the physical activity preferences of Magnolia Park/Lawndale-Wayside residents.^

Q method factor analysis of stakeholder social perspectives of the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment public participation in the Western Cape, South Africa

Public participation is an integral part of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and as such, has been incorporated into regulatory norms. Assessment of the effectiveness of public participation has remained elusive however. This is partly due to the difficulty in identifying appropriate effectiveness criteria. This research uses Q methodology to discover and analyze stakeholder's social perspectives of the effectiveness of EIAs in the Western Cape, South Africa. It considers two case studies (Main Road and Saldanha Bay EIAs) for contextual participant perspectives of the effectiveness based on their experience. It further considers the more general opinion of provincial consent regulator staff at the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Planning (DEA&DP). Two main themes of investigation are drawn from the South African National Environmental Management Act imperative for effectiveness: firstly, the participation procedure, and secondly, the stakeholder capabilities necessary for effective participation. Four theoretical frameworks drawn from planning, politics and EIA theory are adapted to public participation and used to triangulate the analysis and discussion of the revealed social perspectives. They consider citizen power in deliberation, Habermas' preconditions for the Ideal Speech Situation (ISS), a Foucauldian perspective of knowledge, power and politics, and a Capabilities Approach to public participation effectiveness. The empirical evidence from this research shows that the capacity and contextual constraints faced by participants demand the legislative imperatives for effective participation set out in the NEMA. The implementation of effective public participation has been shown to be a complex, dynamic and sometimes nebulous practice. The functional level of participant understanding of the process was found to be significantly wide-ranging with consequences of unequal and dissatisfied stakeholder engagements. Furthermore, the considerable variance of stakeholder capabilities in the South African social context, resulted in inequalities in deliberation. The social perspectives revealed significant differences in participant experience in terms of citizen power in deliberation. The ISS preconditions are highly contested in both the Saldanha EIA case study and the DEA&DP social perspectives. Only one Main Road EIA case study social perspective considered Foucault's notion of governmentality as a reality in EIA public participation. The freedom of control of ones environment, based on a Capabilities approach, is a highly contested notion. Although agreed with in principle, all of the social perspectives indicate that contextual and capacity realities constrain its realisation. This research has shown that Q method can be applied to EIA public participation in South Africa and, with the appropriate research or monitoring applications it could serve as a useful feedback tool to inform best practice public participation.

Impact of new technologies and social networks on a secondary education theatre project

This paper describes the potential impact of social media and new technologies in secondary education. The case of study has been designed for the drama and theatre subject. A wide set of tools like social networks, blogs, internet, multimedia content, local press and other promotional tools are promoted to increase students’ motivation. The experiment was developed at the highschool IES Al-Satt located in Algete in the Comunidad de Madrid. The students included in the theatre group present a low academic level, 80% of them had previously repeated at least one grade, half of them come from programs for students with learning difficulties and were at risk of social exclusion. This action is supported by higher and secondary education professors and teachers who look forward to implanting networked media technologies as new tools to improve the academic results and the degree of involvement of students. The results of the experiment have been excellent, based on satisfactory opinions obtained from a survey answered by students at the end of the course, and also revealed by the analytics taken from different social networks. This project is a pioneer in the introduction and usage of new technologies in secondary high-schools in Spain.

The impact of institutional environment and cultural context in the four different approaches to social enterprise

This article analyzes the characteristics of four different social enterprise schools of though (social economy, earned-income school in developed countries, earned-income in emerging countries, and social innovation) and the influence of the contextual elements (cultural, political, economic and social) on their configuration. This article draws on the qualitative discussions of social enterprise in different regions of the world. This paper is intended to contribute to the field of social enterprise by broadening the understanding of the influence of environment and institutions on the emergence of social enterprise.