Behavioral Science Research Research Articles

Research at Work: Administrative Data and Behavioral Sciences Research

Administrative data may provide rich, relatively inexpensive, unbiased, and accurate information that can be used to explore various research questions without imposing any additional burden to the participants. Understanding the data, having the ability to deal with its complexity, and ensuring data security are the keys to the successful use of administrative data sets.

A new era in human-subjects regulation

New regulations for research that involves human subjects deregulate much ordinary social and behavioural science research. The new rules support greater flexibility for researchers and institutional review boards, while affording the greatest protection for research participants.

Gender Differences in BMI, Relationship Status, and Weight Control Behaviors Over Time

OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this study was to assess how relationship status was associated with BMI and weight control behaviors among diverse college freshmen.METHODSThis is a secondary data analysis of the longitudinal SPARC (Social impact of Physical Activity and nutRition in College) study, which tracked college freshmen during the 2015–2016 year. The current study examines freshmen SPARC participants residing on campus (n=1100; 64.5% female; 51.4% white) at the start and end of the Fall semester. Participants completed surveys that included questions related to relationship status (single vs other) and a number of weight control behaviors. Participants anthropometrics were measured by trained research assistants. Logistic regression was used to examine the cross‐sectional differences between BMI, gender, weight control behaviors, and relationship status for the incoming freshmen at baseline. Linear and logistic regression was used to examine changes over time. All models were stratified by gender, adjusted for Pell grant status and race/ethnicity, and were clustered by dormitories.RESULTSCross‐sectional results showed that at the start of the academic year 31% of students were in a relationship; more females reported being in relationships than males (OR = 1.78, p<0.001). Females with lower BMIs were more likely to be in a relationship (OR = 0.94, p=0.001); there was no difference between male relationship status and BMI (p=0.255). The mean BMI change over time was 0.47 for females and 0.44 for males; the difference in BMI change by gender was not significant (p=0.741). Baseline relationship status was not associated with a change in BMI at T2 (p=0.34 for females; p= 0.26 for males). Females with lower BMI's at the start of the semester were more likely to be in a relationship at the end of the semester, even after adjusting for previous relationship status (OR 0.92, p=0.008); this association was not observed for males (p=0.429). Weight control behaviors did not predict relationship status at T2 (p=0.235 for females; p=0.133 for males). After adjusting for baseline relationship status, no difference between weight control behaviors and BMI change was observed among females (p=0.155). However, after adjusting for baseline relationship status, BMI change for males was significantly less at T2 (p=0.043) if they were reported at least one weight control behavior.CONCLUSIONSGender differences were observed: more females were in relationships than males, BMI was a significant predictor for female relationship status but not male relationship status, and weight control behaviors were associated with a smaller increase in BMI for males but not females. No direct relationship was observed between weight control behaviors and relationship status. This suggests that female freshmen may have more pressure to be in a relationship and to have a low BMI, and that male freshmen may be more successful in weight management than females, independent of relationship status. Future research should address whether BMI change is related to the quality of the relationship, whether other measures of weight status show the same results, and why we are observing gender differences with freshmen weight control behaviors.Support or Funding InformationThis study was supported by the NIH Common Fund from the Office of the Director and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, grant number 1DP5OD017910‐01 (PI: M. Bruening). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Health.

Behavioral Science Tools to Strengthen Energy & Environmental Policy

To increase consumers’ conservation of energy and other resources, government agencies, utilities, and energy-related businesses can complement regulatory and market-based policies with simple and effective behavioral interventions grounded in extensive behavioral science research. In this article, we review 13 behavioral tools that we find especially promising. Collectively, these tools help meet four behavioral objectives: getting people's attention; engaging people's desire to contribute to the social good; making complex information more accessible; and facilitating accurate assessment of risks, costs, and benefits.

The Relationship between Psychological Capital and Spirituality with Internet Addiction among Students at Jondishapuor University of Medical Sciences

The Relationship between Psychological Capital and Spirituality with Internet Addiction among Students at Jondishapuor University of Medical Sciences

The Brainstem in Emotion: A Review.

Emotions depend upon the integrated activity of neural networks that modulate arousal, autonomic function, motor control, and somatosensation. Brainstem nodes play critical roles in each of these networks, but prior studies of the neuroanatomic basis of emotion, particularly in the human neuropsychological literature, have mostly focused on the contributions of cortical rather than subcortical structures. Given the size and complexity of brainstem circuits, elucidating their structural and functional properties involves technical challenges. However, recent advances in neuroimaging have begun to accelerate research into the brainstem’s role in emotion. In this review, we provide a conceptual framework for neuroscience, psychology and behavioral science researchers to study brainstem involvement in human emotions. The “emotional brainstem” is comprised of three major networks – Ascending, Descending and Modulatory. The Ascending network is composed chiefly of the spinothalamic tracts and their projections to brainstem nuclei, which transmit sensory information from the body to rostral structures. The Descending motor network is subdivided into medial projections from the reticular formation that modulate the gain of inputs impacting emotional salience, and lateral projections from the periaqueductal gray, hypothalamus and amygdala that activate characteristic emotional behaviors. Finally, the brainstem is home to a group of modulatory neurotransmitter pathways, such as those arising from the raphe nuclei (serotonergic), ventral tegmental area (dopaminergic) and locus coeruleus (noradrenergic), which form a Modulatory network that coordinates interactions between the Ascending and Descending networks. Integration of signaling within these three networks occurs at all levels of the brainstem, with progressively more complex forms of integration occurring in the hypothalamus and thalamus. These intermediary structures, in turn, provide input for the most complex integrations, which occur in the frontal, insular, cingulate and other regions of the cerebral cortex. Phylogenetically older brainstem networks inform the functioning of evolutionarily newer rostral regions, which in turn regulate and modulate the older structures. Via these bidirectional interactions, the human brainstem contributes to the evaluation of sensory information and triggers fixed-action pattern responses that together constitute the finely differentiated spectrum of possible emotions.

Introduction to special issue: Self-regulation of appetite-it's complicated.

A meeting of multidisciplinary biobehavioral scientists and National Institutes of Health (NIH) program staff was convened by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Director, NIH to examine mechanisms associated with humans' ability to self-regulate appetite and appetitive behavior. Based upon prior discussions of the NIH Obesity Research Task Force Behavioral Phenotyping Work Group, the premise was adopted that, in modern society, multiple factors on multiple levels interact to create circumstances wherein self-control of appetite is difficult, leading to overconsumption of unhealthy foods versus healthy eating patterns, contributing to our current levels of obesity. Through presentations and group discussions, the panel examined how foundational processes/mechanisms directly and indirectly affect appetitive behavior and how these processes can be manipulated to affect food intake and thereby weight. The meeting identified evidence-based mechanisms with the potential to impact self-regulation of appetite and appetitive states (hunger, satiety, food wanting, restraint, reward) and associated behaviors such as overconsumption, eating in the absence of hunger, food seeking, and decision-making that could inform novel weight intervention strategies in free-living, nonlaboratory settings. The three summary papers contained in this issue represent the synthesis of the material presented at the meeting and the panel's recommendations on how existing evidence regarding mechanisms and pathways to appetitive behavior can be used to inform future research and novel prevention and intervention strategies to impact prevalence of obesity.

Behavioral and Social Sciences at the National Institutes of Health: adoption of research findings in health research and practice as a scientific priority.

The National Institutes of Health's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) recently released its Strategic Plan for 2017 to 2021. This plan highlights three scientific priorities: (1) improve the synergy of basic and applied behavioral and social sciences research, (2) enhance and promote the research infrastructure, methods, and measures needed to support a more cumulative and integrated approach to behavioral and social sciences research, and (3) facilitate the adoption of behavioral and social sciences research findings in health research and in practice. This commentary focuses on the challenges and opportunities to facilitate the adoption of research findings in health research and in practice. In addition to the ongoing NIH support for dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, we must address transformative challenges and opportunities such as better disseminating and implementing D&I research, merging research and practice, adopting more rigorous and diverse methods and measures for both D&I and clinical trials research, evaluating technological-based delivery of interventions, and transitioning from minimally adaptable intervention packages to planned adaptations rooted in behavior change principles. Beyond translation into practice and policy, the OBSSR Strategic Plan also highlights the need for translation of behavioral and social science findings into the broader biomedical research enterprise.

Recent trends in the U.S. Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) workforce.

While behavioral and social sciences occupations comprise one of the largest portions of the “STEM” workforce, most studies of diversity in STEM overlook this population, focusing instead on fields such as biomedical or physical sciences. This study evaluates major demographic trends and productivity in the behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) workforce in the United States during the past decade. Our analysis shows that the demographic trends for different BSSR fields vary. In terms of gender balance, there is no single trend across all BSSR fields; rather, the problems are field-specific, and disciplines such as economics and political science continue to have more men than women. We also show that all BSSR fields suffer from a lack of racial and ethnic diversity. The BSSR workforce is, in fact, less representative of racial and ethnic minorities than are biomedical sciences or engineering. Moreover, in many BSSR subfields, minorities are less likely to receive funding. We point to various funding distribution patterns across different demographic groups of BSSR scientists, and discuss several policy implications.

Behavioral and social sciences at the National Institutes of Health: Methods, measures, and data infrastructures as a scientific priority.

The National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) recently released its strategic plan for 2017-2021. This plan focuses on three equally important strategic priorities: 1) improve the synergy of basic and applied behavioral and social sciences research, 2) enhance and promote the research infrastructure, methods, and measures needed to support a more cumulative and integrated approach to behavioral and social sciences research, and 3) facilitate the adoption of behavioral and social sciences research findings in health research and in practice. This commentary focuses on scientific priority two and future directions in measurement science, technology, data infrastructure, behavioral ontologies, and big data methods and analytics that have the potential to transform the behavioral and social sciences into more cumulative, data rich sciences that more efficiently build on prior research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Reporting single-case design studies: Advice in relation to the designs’ methodological and analytical peculiarities

The current text provides advice on the content of an article reporting a single-case design research. The advice is drawn from several sources, such as the Single-case research in behavioral sciences reporting guidelines, developed by an international panel of experts, scholarly articles on reporting, methodological quality scales, and the author's professional experience. The indications provided on the Introduction, Discussion, and Abstract are very general and applicable to many instances of applied psychological research across domains. In contrast, more space is dedicated to the Method and Results sections, on the basis of the peculiarities of single-case designs methodology and the complications in term s of data analysis. Specifically, regarding the Method, several aspects strengthening (or allowing the assessment of) the internal validity are underlined, as well as information relevant for evaluating the possibility to generalize the results. Regarding the Results, the focus is put on justifying the analytical approach followed. The author considers that, even if a study does not meet methodological quality standards, it should include sufficiently explicit reporting that makes possible assessing its methodological quality. The importance of reporting all data gathered, including unexpected and undesired results, is also highlighted. Finally, a checklist is provided as a summary of the reporting tips.

Challenges of integrating evidence into health policy and planning: linking multiple disciplinary approaches.

To explore the challenges that arise through the multidisciplinary nature of evidence informed policy making (EIPM). Type of program or service: Education and practice for EIPM. This article summarises and compares four disciplinary approaches to EIPM with highly contrasting starting points: behavioural science, policy science, critical theory and intervention research. Key insights and theories are highlighted to provide a gateway into each, and to complement what is already known about the evidence needs of policy makers in terms of high-quality, timely and well-communicated research evidence. The extension of the evidence based medicine approach to EIPM has created interest in the processes of use of evidence in health policy and planning. Research in this field has spanned multiple disciplines; however, the disciplines use very different research methods and begin with different basic assumptions. Thus, despite the multidisciplinary nature of EIPM, true interdisciplinary research and action remain a challenge. We conclude with a set of key questions that can be used as a gateway to interdisciplinary EIPM in the future.

Behavioral science tools to strengthen energy & environmental policy

To increase consumers' conservation of energy and other resources, government agencies, utilities, and energy-related businesses can complement regulatory and market-based policies with simple and effective behavioral interventions grounded in extensive behavioral science research. In this article, we review 13 behavioral tools that we find especially promising. Collectively, these tools help meet four behavioral objectives: getting people's attention; engaging people's desire to contribute to the social good; making complex information more accessible; and facilitating accurate assessment of risks, costs, and benefits.

Becoming John Glenn in the Words of John Glenn

Human space exploration requires massive budgets every fiscal year. Especially under severe financial constraint conditions, governments are forced to justify to society why spending so much tax revenue for human space exploration is worth the cost. The value of human space exploration might be estimated in many ways, but its social significance and cost-effectiveness are two key ways to gauge that worth. Since these measures should be applied country by country because sociopolitical conditions differ in each country and must be taken into consideration, the study on the social significance of human space exploration must take the coloration of a case-study. This paper, focusing on the case of Japan with surveying Japanese literary and national documents as well as taking its sociopolitical conditions into account, examines the social significance of human space exploration.First, we give an overview of the circumstances surrounding Japan's human space exploration program. Derived from the statements of such relevant parties as scholars, journalists, policy makers, and astronauts, this overview indicates that the main concerns about human space exploration in Japan are its social significance and cost-effectiveness (Section 1). Next, an overview of behavioral science—an essential field for human space exploration (referred to in this paper as space behavioral science) that provides support for astronauts—is presented from the perspective of stress research in isolated and confined environments (Section 2). We then give two examples of where such knowledge from space behavioral science research has been applied to terrestrial isolated and confined environments. One is JAXA’s support in 2009 for people who were vulnerable to infection by a new strain of flu and accordingly placed in an isolated and confined facility under the Infectious Disease Law and the Quarantine Law. The other is NASA's support in 2010 for Chilean mine workers who were trapped 700 m underground after a mining accident (Section 3). Based on these case studies, we illustrate the further social utility of such knowledge through a discussion of potential applications in other situations in Japan. Focusing on Japan for its geographical and social features in being an earthquake-prone archipelago and having the world's preeminent aging society, we show that refugees living in evacuation centers and people in an elderly-elderly homecare situation pose socially problematic situations specific to Japan. We then argue that space behavioral scientific knowledge can be applied to support people under these and other isolated and confined environments in various ways (Section 4). Finally, we demonstrate that such an application can be understood as an ethical contribution to Japanese society and that this contribution can be embedded in Japan's space policy (Section 5). We conclude that human space exploration can be a socially significant and cost-effective endeavor that is worthy of tax revenue expenditures because space behavioral science is highly likely to provide unique and useful knowledge to help address various social problems concerning terrestrial isolated and confined environments and support people in sufferings there.

Investigating the Framing Effect in Social and Behavioral Science Research: Potential Influences on Behavior, Cognition and Emotion

Investigating the Framing Effect in Social and Behavioral Science Research: Potential Influences on Behavior, Cognition and Emotion

Optimal Sample Size Determinations for the Heteroscedastic Two One-Sided Tests of Mean Equivalence

Equivalence assessment is becoming an increasingly important topic in many application areas including behavioral and social sciences research. Although there exist more powerful tests, the two one-sided tests (TOST) procedure is a technically transparent and widely accepted method for establishing statistical equivalence. Alternatively, a direct extension of Welch’s solution for the Behrens–Fisher problem is preferred in equivalence testing of means when the homogeneity of variance assumption is violated. For advance planning of equivalence studies, this article describes both exact and nearly exact power functions of the heteroscedastic TOST procedure and develops useful approaches to optimal sample size determinations under various allocation and cost considerations. Detailed numerical illustrations and simulation studies are presented to demonstrate the distinct features of the suggested techniques and the potential deficiency of existing method. Moreover, computer programs are provided to facilitate the implementation of the described sample size procedures. The proposed formulas and algorithms are recommended over the current results for their technical transparency, overall performance, and diverse utility.

A cross-paradigm macro-structure analysis of research articles in Information Systems

The study presented in this paper examined the macro-structures (MSs) of research articles (RAs) in Information Systems (IS). Unlike most previous MS studies, which have tended to look for a single unified MS model to represent the discipline under investigation and have provided post hoc explanations of intra-disciplinary variability, this study set out to examine how MSs of RAs in IS may vary with the epistemological paradigms they follow. Thirty articles of behavioural science research and thirty design science research articles were collected from eight IS journals. Their main sections were subjected to a series of analyses. Results show distinct macro-structural variations across the two corpora. Implications for teaching and future research of MS will be discussed.

Mental Health Service Use Among Young Adults: A Communication Framework for Program Development.

Research on mental health service engagement has been dominated by attempts to identify determinants of engagement. Such knowledge is important but incomplete. Once identified, program designers need to use evidence-based principles to design programs to bring about changes in the empirically identified determinants. Research is relatively silent on such principles. This article develops a framework to guide program designers' as they address factors that constrain and/or facilitate engagement. The framework is grounded in communication theory and evidence from related behavioral science research. The literature is summarized and used to generate a check-list of questions to consider when structuring engagement programs.

Information system artefact or information system application: that is the question

AbstractLee et al. () suggest the concept of information system (IS) artefact as an alternative to information technology (IT) artefact, defining the former as a system of an IT artefact, an information artefact and a social artefact. This paper assesses this suggestion, contrasting it with the concepts of IT artefact and IS application as introduced in the prior IS literature. After this conceptual analysis, the paper discusses the relationships between an IS artefact and design and between an IS artefact and design science. The analysis concludes that an IS artefact is problematic as a unit of design because of the great differences in the designability of its constituent parts. Instead, the paper maintains that an IS application is more appropriate as a unit of design, but an IS artefact may be fruitful as an analytical concept to be used in behavioural science research on the interplay of IT artefact, information artefact and social artefact, or – especially if including IS application design – in action research‐oriented design science research. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Algorithm Characterization of Suicide: Introducing an Informative Categorization System.

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Occupational Environmental Research Center, Rafsanjan Medical School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, IR Iran Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Sari, IR Iran Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Sari, IR Iran Corresponding author: Mohsen Rezaeian, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Occupational Environmental Research Center, Rafsanjan Medical School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, IR Iran. Tel: +98-3434331315, E-mail: moeygmr2@yahoo.co.uk