ABSTRACT The rapid growth of platform-based delivery services has raised concerns about commercial motorcycle safety, particularly regarding the interplay between occupational pressures and age-related risk factors. A critical gap remains in understanding how age moderates the relationships between occupational pressures (time pressure and fatigue) and risk-taking patterns. This study examines these relationships among commercial motorcycle riders, comparing young (under 35) and middle adult (35 and older) groups. Data from 1,884 riders across five regions of Thailand were analyzed using structural equation modeling with measurement invariance testing. Results revealed significant age-based differences: middle adult riders exhibited stronger effects of time pressure on risk-taking behaviors, whereas young adults showed a substantially stronger link between general risk-taking tendencies and comprehensive risk-taking behaviors. Time pressure’s impact on fatigue was more pronounced among young riders. The findings support age-specific interventions for training, monitoring, and support systems in platform-based delivery services.

ABSTRACT Studies examining the intersection of gender and the death penalty have identified gender effects in case outcomes. I build upon that previous research to simultaneously consider the gender of the defendant, victim, and prosecutor in more than 14,000 capital case prosecutions in Texas. I find the most death sentence-oriented gender combination (male prosecutor, female victim, and male defendant) produces death sentences at a vastly higher rate than the least death sentence-oriented combination (female prosecutor, male victim, and female defendant). The results support a theory of masculine focal concerns that posits decision-making shortcuts and the desire to impose social dominance allows gender to shape the process. The results also speak to a central debate in death penalty jurisprudence regarding the degree to which sentencing is a product of arbitrary factors unrelated to the severity of the crime and the culpability of the accused.

ABSTRACT U.S. President Donald Trump has been known to use incendiary language relative to minority groups. Trump even indicated a preference for immigrants from predominately White countries in 2018 while also using particularly vulgar language when referencing parts of the world that are largely inhabited by Peoples of Color. This research seeks to determine whether Americans distinguish race and country of origin when evaluating immigrants by administering a survey-based experiment to college students at institutions across the U.S. (n = 505). The instrument varies the country of origin (Namibia/Norway), race (Black/White), and attire (traditional African dashiki/suit/casual) of a fictional immigrant who is transferring from a university in his home country to one in the U.S. to participate in collegiate athletics. Our results provide some support for Americans’ ability to distinguish race and country of origin and the impact of stereotype-confirming targets. We also illustrate intriguing findings regarding the impact of negative racial stereotypes.

ABSTRACT Known as digital self-harm or self-cyberbullying, fictitious online victimization (FOV) refers to anonymously sharing online negative information about the self. The current study examined correlates of FOV as well as the dimensionality of a measure of the phenomenon. Three hundred forty-six adult respondents (59.3% female, 72.0% White, and 78.9% heterosexual; Mage = 36.69; SD = 14.24) completed a questionnaire. Positive correlations were observed between composite FOV scores and anxiety, depression, loneliness, shame, guilt, stress, anti-mattering, traditional bullying perpetration, and both cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. Negative relationships emerged between FOV and self-esteem and self-compassion. Factor analytic results of the FOV measure revealed a three-factor solution: Pretend FOV, Reactive FOV, and Disseminating FOV. Patterns of relationships of each factor with other measures were not uniform, highlighting the multi-dimensionality of FOV. The findings support the formative nature of the FOV construct at the factor, but not the individual, level, and highlight where prevention/intervention efforts might be directed.

ABSTRACT This study explores how transnational social media communication – particularly via social media shapes Latinx Americans’ political attitudes toward U.S. democracy. Using 2023 national survey data, it finds that frequent engagement with people or media in Latin America correlates with lower trust in democratic norms, greater acceptance of authoritarianism, and higher tolerance for political violence. These relationships are moderated by both nativity and gender: The effects are stronger among immigrants than U.S.-born respondents and among men compared to women and non-binary individuals. The findings suggest that exposure to heritage-country narratives through transnational networks can erode confidence in U.S. democratic governance, depending on individuals’ embeddedness in these information environments. The study highlights how cross-border digital media flows shape democratic attitudes within diaspora communities and offers recommendations for policymakers, civic organizations, and media platforms to strengthen democratic engagement and resilience in transnational contexts.

ABSTRACT Prior research has found that measures of welfare state generosity and social class are, at best, unevenly related to individual redistributive attitudes. We suggest that these uneven relationships are at least partially due to a methodological misspecification prevalent in much of the existing literature, as well as a theoretical shortcoming of the rational choice assumptions undergirding the supposed link between economic self-interest and redistributive attitudes. Using a cross-national sample and multi-level modeling, we illustrate that the effect of income on subjective perceptions of economic well-being differs greatly depending on the generosity of the welfare state. Individuals perceive their class position differently depending on the welfare state context. Thus, we argue that the welfare state moderates the effect of class on redistributive attitudes, not just mediates it, as much of the existing literature assumes. We illustrate this moderating effect systematically using a battery of redistributive attitudes.

ABSTRACT Drawing on a national survey conducted before the U.S. presidential election in 2020, this study examines how social media communication activities shape the public’s beliefs in foreign interference. The results indicate that intentional news exposure weakens foreign interference beliefs while incidental news exposure strengthens such beliefs. Both like-minded and cross-cutting discussions are likely to enhance the beliefs in foreign interference. Moreover, social media news exposure and political discussion are found to interact with each other in influencing foreign interference beliefs. This study also investigates the impact of such beliefs on people’s voting intentions. Individuals who believe the existence of foreign interference tend to have higher voting intentions; however, people are unwilling to vote if they believe there are many countries interfering in the election. Implications are discussed in terms of the roles social media play in shaping political beliefs and affecting political engagement.

ABSTRACT For democratic institutions to thrive, citizens must use their voice and vote, as well as demonstrate civic virtues, including respecting ideological differences and electoral outcomes. Recently, deepening political divisions in the United States strain civic virtues with rising partisan animus and conflict. As the ideological gap between major political parties widens, Americans’ civic empathy, or the ability to understand the feelings and experiences of others in the context of public life, deserves more attention. Are interactions across political differences more difficult than across other differences? This mixed methods study uses a survey experiment to investigate college students’ perceptions of politically diverse social settings. Findings reveal that students are particularly wary of political diversity, more so than they are of other kinds of diversity. We argue that civic education should focus on developing political tolerance and civic empathy.

ABSTRACT Construction apprenticeship programs involve significant classroom instruction and on-the-job training to develop highly skilled and broadly trained workers. Data from the state of Nevada, USA indicate that the typical apprentice who completes a program can expect to earn 56% more than the expected wage elsewhere in the economy for similar amounts of formal education. Potential earnings premiums are even higher for those with less educational attainment. One obstacle for completion is macroeconomic volatility, which under recessionary conditions, reduces apprentices’ opportunities to obtain on-the-job learning hours. Our study shows that economic fluctuations, which were particularly severe in Nevada before and during the Great Recession, especially affected less-educated workers, who stood to benefit the most from completing an apprenticeship. Findings also indicate that completion rates for underrepresented demographic groups were typically more cyclically sensitive compared to white, male, non-veteran apprentices with a high school degree.

ABSTRACT While past research explores ingroup favoritism toward perpetrators of domestic violence, less is known about how shared and unshared religious identities shape public blame toward victims. Using a survey experiment in Bangladesh (n = 698), this study introduces Selective Solidarity Theory to analyze how identity alignment between respondents, victims, and perpetrators influences victim-blaming attitudes. Findings reveal that victim-blaming is most prevalent when both victim and perpetrator share the respondent’s religious identity, likely reflecting a desire to preserve group image. In contrast, blame is lower when only the victim shares the respondent’s identity, and is also low when neither party is an ingroup member. These results highlight the conditional nature of identity-based bias in justice perceptions and the need for context-sensitive interventions in domestic violence reform.