Cross-national Level Research Articles

Human capital indicators as influenced by SES, cognitive and non-cognitive skills: evidence from Taiwan’s PISA performance

Taiwan’s high performance in the PISA surveys has not been unnoticed by researchers. However, both individual level research and cross-national research which is relevant for Taiwan’s PISA achievement is typically lacking, especially as regards later surveys. This article examined Taiwan’s PISA mathematics and reading achievement in 2018, using individual level data (Valid N = 6863) and cross-national data with aggregated data for 77 countries. At the individual level, socioeconomic and non-cognitive variables explain the most variance of PISA mathematics and reading. At the cross-national level, cognitive ability and average income were statistically significant with cognitive ability as the strongest predictor. As Taiwan has a high level of average cognitive ability it may regarded as a strong comparative advantage with regard to human capital.

Perceived Social Support and Health Care Spending as Moderators in the Association of Traditional Bullying Perpetration with Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimisation among Adolescents in 27 European Countries: A Multilevel Cross-National Study.

Existing research has documented the association between bullying perpetration and bullying victimisation. However, it is still unclear how different sources of social support moderate the association between bullying perpetration and bullying victimisation at a cross-national level. Using multilevel binary logistic regression models, this study examined the moderating role of public health care spending and perceived social support (i.e., family and teacher support) in the association between traditional bullying perpetration and victimisation by traditional bullying and cyberbullying among adolescents across 27 European countries. Country-level data were combined with 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey data from 162,792 adolescents (11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds) in 27 European countries. Results showed that adolescents who perpetrated traditional bullying had a higher likelihood of being victimised by traditional bullying and cyberbullying than adolescents who did not bully others. Results also indicated that the magnitude of the positive association between traditional bullying perpetration and victimisation by traditional bullying and cyberbullying was mitigated among adolescents with more family, teacher, and public health care support. These findings support the notion that multilayered systems of social support could play a vital role in bullying prevention and intervention strategies to address bullying among adolescents.

Pushing forward the deployment of renewable energy: Do cross-national spillovers of policy instruments matter?

The deployment of renewables is a vital option for tackling the global challenge of climate change and achieving carbon neutrality. In international energy policy debates, existing literature has detected the outcome of various policy instruments and the driving factors of renewables development, whereas the spatial effects of different policy instruments on renewables deployment at a cross-national level have not been addressed. The novelty of this study lies in filling this gap through investigating the spatial interdependence effect of technology-push and demand-pull policies on the diffusion of renewables in European Union countries from multidimensional perspective of geography, institution, and culture. The results demonstrate that demand-pull policies give great impetus to the diffusion of domestic renewables, while the positive role of technology-push policies turns out to be comparatively less influential. From the transnational spillover perspective, it is confirmed that the domestic deployment of renewables is influenced to some extent by various policy instruments of geographically adjacent or institutionally and culturally similar regions. In addition, the spatial spillover effect of demand-pull policies is much stronger than that of technology-push policies. These findings from spatial perspective provide new insights for public policy guidance to achieve the sustainability of energy landscape.

Civil Society and Democracy under Pressure: Does Authoritarian Mobilization and Party Incapacity Diminish the Positive Effect of Civil Society?

ABSTRACT Countries worldwide are experiencing a sharp wave of democratic decline that is cutting away at the gains made toward democracy that had occurred in decades prior. While the majority of scholars demonstrate a robust positive association between civil society and democracy, historical case studies in political sociology have demonstrated that nations with robust civic spheres can become cauldrons of anti-democratic politics under particular circumstances, particularly when the country has weak and ineffective political parties and when the country has autocratic movements working to degrade the democracy. While these case studies illuminate important caveats to leading research on civil society, these findings have not been tested at a cross-national level. In this paper, we ask how weak political parties and autocratic mobilization moderate the extent to which countries with more civic participation have stronger democracies around the world. We examine this research question using the continuous level of electoral democracy. Findings of our statistical analysis reveal support for the conditioning effects of weak political parties and autocratic mobilization on the relationship between civil society and electoral democracy and stability.

Tracing the Flow of Climate Change Frames: Intermedia Agenda Setting Between Twitter and News Media in the US and the UK

This study integrates agenda setting and framing theory to explore the transmission of climate change frames between newspapers and Twitter in the US and the UK. A set of computational methods was applied to identify five prevailing climate change frames—cause, impact, action, real, and hoax—in 230,000 tweets and 20,000 news articles from 2016 to 2021. At the cross-national level, a symmetrical relationship was found on Twitter between the US and the UK, which indicates their mutual influence on social-media discussions of climate change. Within each country, the US news media had a stronger agenda-setting influence on public climate change discussions on Twitter, whereas news coverage and social-media discussions in the UK were relatively isolated. The use of the cause frame in the US media coverage often led to the presence of the hoax, action, impact, and cause frames in Twitter conversations, whereas the action frame in the UK media coverage led to the presence of the hoax, real, and impact frames in Twitter discussions. The findings have implications for the dynamics of framing processes that shape public attention and the understanding of climate issues cross-nationally.

What Determines Social Service Workers’ Wages: A Cross-Country Analysis Using a Luxembourg Income Study

Abstract The study is aimed at exploring the influencing factor of wages among social service workers (SSWs) through a cross-country analysis. Using Luxembourg Income Study data, two aspects are emphasised: first, the trends and patterns of wage levels among SSWs. Second, the determining factors that influence their low wages at a cross-national level and how those factors are intersectionally intertwined to exacerbate the wage level. Three significant findings are confirmed: a universal gendered wage gap; a more significant wage gap for those on part-time and/or fractured contracts and employed in the private sector; and a substantial association between a higher education and higher wages. Two policy concerns are raised for discussion: first, tackling the gendered wage gap and ensuring more secure employment, and a guaranteed living wage for those employed in the private sector. Second, enhancing the professionalism for empowering their effective choices in the labour market is essential.

Cross-national associations of IQ and infectious diseases: Is the prevalence of Corona an exceptional case?

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported negative associations between a country’s mean IQ and economic development at the one side and the prevalence of infectious diseases on the other, arguing that a more rational behavior and better living conditions decreased health risks. The purpose of this study was to transfer these previous findings on the relationship between IQ and the burden of infectious diseases on a cross-national level to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Countries with higher IQ results and rich countries in North-East Asia and the West are more affected by Corona than poorer countries in the Middle East or in sub-Saharan Africa (IQ: _r_IQ↔Cases = .41 and _r_IQ↔Deaths = .28; wealth: _r_GDP/c↔Cases = .45 and _r_GDP/c↔Deaths = .22). Intelligence can have contradicting effects on Corona, i.e., it increases health and makes people more rationally cautious, but at the same time leads to an older population that is more susceptible to corona health problems and allows societies to detect more Corona cases. METHODS: The effects of IQ on the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (per capita: reproduction rate_ R_0, hospitalizations due to Corona, Intensive Care Unit treatments, cases, deaths, excess mortality) were controlled in a sample of up to 207 countries for climatic conditions, air pollution, wealth, demographic factors, health burden (e.g., cardiovascular diseases), peoples’ mobility, test coverage and anti-Corona regulations. The stability of effects was checked in six country sub-samples and controlled for the factors named above in regressions with 73 successful runs. RESULTS: The effect (standardized β) of IQ shows an average negative (reducing) effect of –.19 on the pandemic’s impact. Intelligence has a small effect on the spread of corona and the severity of its consequences. Stronger effects are given by climatic conditions (colder climates) and air pollution. Detailed regressions and additional path analyses show that the reducing effect of IQ is limited to the direct path and the long term (β = .08 in 2020 but –.21 in 2021). CONCLUSIONS: In the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the previous findings about the relationship between IQ and the burden of infectious diseases could only be partially reproduced. The assumption of a weakening effect on the impact of the pandemic was confirmed, but only to a limited extent and along unknown ways.

The association between nation-level social and economic indices and suicide rates: A pilot study.

Ever since the pioneering work of Emile Durkheim, it has been known that regional or national suicide rates can be influenced by a variety of social and economic factors. Recent research has found a robust association between two country-level economic indices-gross national product and unemployment rate-and suicide rates, particularly in men. However, the association between other country-level social indices-such as measures of social integration, inequality, environmental preservation and political freedom-and suicide rates has not been studied at the cross-national level. In the current study, national suicide rates for men and women were examined in relation to seven indices measuring subjective wellbeing, sustainable development, type of political regime, economic and gender inequality, and social capital. It was found that the Happy Planet Index, a composite measure of subjective wellbeing and sustainable development, was negatively associated with suicide rates independent of gender, and even after adjusting for possible confounding factors. Economic inequality was associated with suicide in men, and social capital was associated with suicide in women. Moreover, the strength and direction of the associations observed between socioeconomic indices and suicide varied across income groups. These results highlight the need for a closer evaluation of the link between large-scale ("macro") social factors and individual ("micro") psychological factors, as well as the importance of integrating these factors into suicide prevention programmes at the national level.

The Relationship between Ambient Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Pollution and Depression: An Analysis of Data from 185 Countries

Several studies have identified a relationship between air pollution and depression, particularly in relation to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. However, the strength of this association appears to be moderated by variables such as age, gender, genetic vulnerability, physical activity, and climatic conditions, and has not been assessed at a cross-national level to date. Moreover, certain studies in this field have yielded negative results, and there are discrepancies between the results obtained in high-income countries and those from low- and middle-income countries. The current study examines cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between the incidence of depression in each country, based on Global Burden of Disease Study data, and the average national level of PM2.5 based on the World Health Organization’s database, over the past decade (2010–2019). The observed associations were adjusted for age, gender, level of physical activity, income, education, population density, climate, and type of depression. It was observed that while PM2.5 levels showed significant cross-sectional associations with the incidence of depression, longitudinal analyses were not suggestive of a direct causal relationship. These findings are discussed in the light of recent contradictory results in this field, and the need to consider the intermediate roles of a number of individual and environmental factors.

Education and Revolutions: Why do Revolutionary Uprisings Take Violent or Nonviolent Forms?

Is there a relationship between education and the type of revolutionary action – violent or nonviolent? Past studies found a positive relationship between the education and nonviolence, but the influence that education produces on the form that revolution takes has not yet been explored. We show several possible mechanisms that push the educated population to choose nonviolent tactic: (1) education changes people’s preferences toward peaceful solutions and increases support for civil liberties; (2) it enhances human capital that makes it feasible to use unarmed tactics successfully and (3) it increases the relative costs of engaging in armed action. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the higher education in a country, the higher the probability that revolution will be nonviolent. This paper examines it at a cross-national level with an analysis of 470 NAVCO ‘maximalist campaigns’ and 265 revolutionary events recorded between 1950 and 2020. Overall, we find robust evidence that the higher the level of education in a country, the lower chance that the revolution there would take a violent/armed form.

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN MEDIA CONSUMPTION AND AGEIST ATTITUDES: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

Abstract The mass media has been thought to be associated with public opinion, often creating and sustaining stereotypes. However, little is known about the role of media exposure in people’s ageist attitudes, particularly at a cross-national level. This study examines whether the daily use of different media types is associated with personal attitudes towards older people. We analyzed data from 59,103 adults across 54 countries, using the World Value Survey wave 6 (2010-2014). Personal ageist attitudes were assessed by whether participants agree that older people are a burden on society. We used logistic regression, controlling for individual- and country-level factors. Our findings suggest that people’s exposure to media is significantly associated with their attitudes towards older adults, but differently by the platform and respondents’ age. Those who used newspaper (OR:1.66, CI:1.38-1.98), magazines (OR:1.67, CI:1.27-2.20), and radio (OR:1.42, CI:1.23-1.65) were more likely to have negative attitudes toward older people, whereas those who used TV (OR:0.62, CI:0.53-0.72) and internet (OR:0.76, CI:0.65-0.89) were less likely to. Further, the effects of newspaper and radio consumption on people’s attitudes were moderated by respondents’ age. Younger adults’ ageist attitudes had a stronger negative relationship with these media types compared to those that are older. For the older age group, in contrast, more consumption of newspapers and radio are associated with less ageist attitudes. Future studies may focus on the content of each platform and assess their effect on people’s ageist attitudes by age groups in order to understand how to foster a more age-friendly media environment.

The Relationship Between Access to Abortion and Mental Health in Women of Childbearing Age: Analyses of Data From the Global Burden of Disease Studies.

Background It has often been suggested that restricting access to legal abortion could have a negative impact on the mental health of women seeking this procedure. The recent judgment of the United States Supreme Court in the Dobbs case has brought the question of the psychological impactof changes in abortion policy into focus. The results of studies on the link between induced abortion and mental health are contradictory, and interpreting the results of these studies is complex due to a multitude of potential confounding factors. However, there is little data on the relationship between the availability of legal abortion and its effects onthe mental health of women of childbearing age in the general population. Objective The objective of the current study was to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between access to legal abortion and the prevalence of common mental disorders in women of childbearing age at a cross-national level while correcting for potential confounding factors. Methods The current study employs both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of nation-level data for 197 countries and regions. As data on global abortion policy were compiled in 2009 and 2017 by the Guttmacher Institute, data on access to legal abortion for these yearswere examined in relation to the prevalence of anxiety disorders and depression in women of childbearing age for each country, obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Studies for the most recent subsequent year (2010 and 2019). The relationship between changes in abortion policy and changes in the prevalence of these disorders in each country was examined for the aforementioned period. All analyses were adjusted for the potential confounding effects of gender development, gender inequality, and intimate partner violence. Cross-sectional associations were examined using Pearson's bivariate and partial correlations, while longitudinal associations were examined using a general linear model and analyses of covariance. Results At the cross-sectional level, broad legal access to abortion was associated with a lower prevalence of depression in women aged 25-49 years, however, this association was not significant after correcting for measures of gender development, gender inequality, and intimate partner violence. At the longitudinal level, a slight but significant decrease in the prevalence of anxiety disorders in women aged 25-49 years was observed in countries where access to legal abortion was broadened in the period 2009-2017. This association remained marginally significant after adjustment for the above confounders. Conclusions The current study suggests that there is a modest relationship between access to legal abortion and its effects on themental health of women aged 25-49 years. However, this relationship appears to be largely indirect in nature and influenced by factors, such as gender development, gender inequality, and intimate partner violence. These results may lead to further exploration of the links between reproductive rights and mental health of women in the general populationand drawattention to the influence of gender inequality and intimate partner violence on mental health of women of childbearing age.

The meaning in life and smart technology of older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic: A cross-cultural qualitative study

IntroductionThe exponential increase of the older segment of the population (1) is coinciding with the growing challenges of a digital society in different socio-cultural contexts (2).ObjectivesThis exploratory study aims to analyze older adult perspectives of how smart technology influenced their meaning in life during the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency period, using qualitative research at a cross-national level.MethodsThree hundred and fifty one community-dwelling older participants aged 65-87 years were included in the study. Participants were Italian, Mexican, Portuguese and Spanish. All the narratives went through a process of content analysis.ResultsFindings of content analysis produced six themes: Meaningful relations, rewarding activities, spirituality, health and safety-related support, self-growth, and physical activity. Smart technology was important in promoting significant relations for Mexican older adults (71.3%), rewarding activities for Portuguese older adults (57.1%), spirituality for Spanish older participants (71.6%), and physical activity for Italian older adults (29.5%).ConclusionsThis study indicated that smart technology during the Health Emergency period was important for the meaning in life of older populations, mostly by facilitating meaningful relations, rewarding activities and spirituality. Future interventions with older adults during pandemic periods should consider the diversity of themes associated with increasing older adult well-being, from a cross-cultural perspective. 1. von Humboldt S & Leal I. The old and the oldest old: Do they have different perspectives on adjustment to aging?. Int J Gerontol; 9:156-160. 2. von Humboldt S et al. Does spirituality really matter? - A study on the potential of spirituality to older adult’s adjustment to aging. Jpn Psychol Res, 56;114-125.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

American Muslim Attitudes toward Jews

Muslims are often accused of being antisemitic and for being a major source of attacks and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions. Research also finds variation in Muslim orientations toward Jews at the aggregate, cross-national level, with lower levels of anti-Jewish sentiment in some western nations. There is also variation in the antisemitic sentiment of Muslims at the individual level in western nations. This paper asks whether factors that affect antisemitism among non-Muslims similarly affect Muslims with the same weight. In order to estimate these relative effects with precision, it is desirable to have a common dataset that includes both Muslims and non-Muslims. Since Muslims comprise a small percentage of the population in most western nations, nationally representative surveys rarely contain enough Muslim respondents for reliable statistical analysis. This paper uses the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape survey, which has over 500,000 respondents, including 5000 Muslim respondents, sufficient for such analysis. The analysis finds that although American Muslims are less positive toward Jews than non-Muslims, the difference is not great, and, on average, American Muslims have positive views of Jews. Results also find that education, being foreign born, and perceiving discrimination against Muslims similarly affects Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes toward Jews. However, perceptions of a weak economy and age have discernably different effects on Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes toward Jews.

The Use of Non-verbal Displays in Framing COVID-19 Disinformation in Europe: An Exploratory Account.

While online disinformation practices have grown exponentially over the past decade, the COVID-19 pandemic provides arguably the best opportunity to date to study such communications at a cross-national level. Using the data provided by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), we examine the strategic uses of non-verbal and verbal arguments to push disinformation through social media and websites during the first wave of lockdowns in 2020 across 16 European countries. Our paper extends the work by Brennen et al. (2021) on the use of visuals in COVID-19 misinformation claims by investigating the use of facial emotional expressions and body pose depictions in conjunction with framing elements such as problems identified and attribution of responsibility in the construction of disinformation messages. Our European-wide comparative analysis of 174 messages indexed by the IFCN during the months of April and May 2020 helps provide a rounder understanding of the use of non-verbal devices in advancing COVID-19 disinformation across the continent, and can provide the basis for a framework for further study of the strategic use of non-verbal devices in COVID-19 disinformation world-wide.

Ambivalence Among Intergenerational Relationships In Old Age

Family strain is associated with higher numbers of depressive symptoms and lower levels of life satisfaction. Leisure activities are observed to buffer the negative effects of family strain among younger adults, however, this phenomenon is understudied among older adults. This study examines the relationship between intergenerational strain and depressive symptoms and life satisfaction among persons aged 50 and older. The study also examines the moderating effects of gender and leisure activities. The analysis uses the Health and Retirement Study to addresses these questions. The results suggest that intergenerational strain (p=.000) and being female (p.=000), are associated with more depressive symptoms, while engagement in social leisure activities (p.=04) is associated with fewer. Intergenerational strain (p=.000) and being female (p=.03) are associated with lower levels of life satisfaction, while engagement in solitary (p=.000) and social leisure activities (p=.000) are associated with higher levels. Results from moderation models suggest that as intergenerational strain increases, women have lower life satisfaction and more depressive symptoms as compared to men (p=.000). Also, the association between intergenerational strain and life satisfaction is reduced among respondents who engaged in leisure activities (p=.002-social and p=.000-solitary). Further, the positive relationship between intergeneration strain and depressive symptoms is lower for persons who engage in leisure activities (p=.027-solitary and p=.013-social). Finally, women who engage in social and solitary leisure activities have fewer depressive symptoms than men (p=.037). The study findings imply that the subjective well-being of older persons may be improved in terms of intergeneration strain if they engage in leisure activities.

How circular economy transforms business models in a transition towards circular ecosystem: the barriers and incentives

The transition towards a circular economy (CE) is increasingly seen as a solution to address sustainable development. The environmental impacts, resource restrictions, and economic and social benefits are among the reasons that justify the formation of CE businesses. Meanwhile, shifting from traditional to circular businesses requires the transformation of business model components and in-depth changes in all ecosystem entities. Thus, more insight is needed to foster the implementation of circular ecosystems. Surprisingly, however, existing literature suffers from a dearth of research in this domain. To address this gap, we used an iterative approach of systematic literature review to identify the associated values and specifications as well as thematic analysis to clarify the prerequisites of such a transition and finally, an in-depth interview to investigate the possible transformation of the business model components. The findings revealed the barriers and incentives during the transition towards a circular ecosystem, along with a conceptual framework to develop a CE ecosystem. The findings also illustrated how the circular economy transforms business model components. Altogether, this research contributes to our current understanding of the antecedents, their potential interactions, and the necessary interventions to stimulate the implementation of a circular ecosystem, including supply chain and surrounding community sub-ecosystems. Furthermore, the ecosystem approach used in this study considers the maturity level of all sub-ecosystem constituents as an indispensable requirement to develop a circular ecosystem. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are provided at a cross-national level about the implementation requirements and the shaping mechanisms of a circular ecosystem.

Health, Wealth and Happiness

This report is a very brief introduction to the relationships between three main factors of quality of life: happiness, health and wealth, with a focus on happiness. Briefly, at the cross national level, happiness, wealth and health are all very highly correlated with each other. Wealth and health have the highest correlation, followed by wealth and happiness and then health and happiness. Freedom and social support also have fair correlation with happiness.

Cross-national analysis of food security drivers: comparing results based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale and Global Food Security Index

The second UN Sustainable Development Goal establishes food security as a priority for governments, multilateral organizations, and NGOs. These institutions track national-level food security performance with an array of metrics and weigh intervention options considering the leverage of many possible drivers. We studied the relationships between several candidate drivers and two response variables based on prominent measures of national food security: the 2019 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale’s (FIES) estimate of the percentage of a nation’s population experiencing food security or mild food insecurity (FI<mod). We compared the contributions of explanatory variables in regressions predicting both response variables, and we further tested the stability of our results to changes in explanatory variable selection and in the countries included in regression model training and testing. At the cross-national level, the quantity and quality of a nation’s agricultural land were not predictive of either food security metric. We found mixed evidence that per-capita cereal production, per-hectare cereal yield, an aggregate governance metric, logistics performance, and extent of paid employment work were predictive of national food security. Household spending as measured by per-capita final consumption expenditure (HFCE) was consistently the strongest driver among those studied, alone explaining a median of 92% and 70% of variation (based on out-of-sample R2) in GFSI and FI<mod, respectively. The relative strength of HFCE as a predictor was observed for both response variables and was independent of the countries used for model training, the transformations applied to the explanatory variables prior to model training, and the variable selection technique used to specify multivariate regressions. The results of this cross-national analysis reinforce previous research supportive of a causal mechanism where, in the absence of exceptional local factors, an increase in income drives increase in food security. However, the strength of this effect varies depending on the countries included in regression model fitting. We demonstrate that using multiple response metrics, repeated random sampling of input data, and iterative variable selection facilitates a convergence of evidence approach to analyzing food security drivers.

Intergenerational relationships: do older adults experience ambivalence with their adult children?

ABSTRACT This study aims to analyze the perspectives of intergenerational relationships between older adults and adult children. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out, which analyzes these relations at a cross-national level. Four hundred and twenty four older participants aged 65–97 years, were interviewed. Participants were of three different nationalities and lived in the community. All the interviews went through the process of verbatim transcription and subsequent content analysis. Two dimensions of generational ambivalence were revealed from the study; support and the conflict dimensions. Findings of content analysis produced six themes, which represent intergenerational relations between older adults and adult children: older adults-adult children interaction quality; family integration; care and support; definition of limits; distance and alienation; and communication difficulties. This study highlighted the diversity of experiences in old age, in relation to intergenerational relationships and underlined the conflicting expectations from older adults in relation to their adult children.