Differences In Levels Of Support Research Articles

Investigating the Viability of Transfer Pathways to STEM Degrees: Do Community Colleges Prepare Students for Success in University STEM Courses?

Objective: Community colleges have considerable potential to grow the number of individuals who complete STEM baccalaureate degrees and to broaden access to educational opportunities in STEM. However, efforts to tap this potential have been hampered by nagging questions about whether community colleges prepare students adequately for advanced STEM courses at universities. In this study, we draw on data from four universities in Michigan to investigate differences in the course and degree outcomes of students who completed prerequisite STEM courses in community colleges versus students who completed prerequisites at the university. Methods: We use logistic and linear regression to control for several potentially confounding variables, including prior academic achievement as measured by high school grade point average. Results: In three of the universities, we did not find evidence of consistently weaker outcomes among students who completed STEM prerequisites at community colleges or among transfer students generally. In the fourth university, students taking STEM prerequisites in a community college had weaker course outcomes than did non-transfer students. Intersecting qualitative evidence points to differences in levels of support for transfer students as a probable explanation for the differences in students’ outcomes, rather than inadequate rigor of community college STEM coursework. Conclusion: Our findings generally align with prior evidence of minor or inconsistent differences in outcomes for students who previously attended a community college, but also point to the probable role of institutional factors at universities in influencing the chances of success among students who utilize community college to complete STEM coursework.

Moderate support for the use of digital tracking to support climate-mitigation strategies

The use of digital tracking of individuals throughout the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic renewed societal debates on the efficacy and ethics of digital surveillance to mitigate collective crises. While digital emissions tracking is being used to support climate-mitigation strategies, to date there has been limited exploration of the opportunities and challenges of deploying it at the individual level. Here, we assess temporal and regional differences in levels of support for the use of digital surveillance in times of crisis, such as climate change. Results from a global survey indicate moderate support for the use of digital tracking, including for personal carbon footprints. Response varied regionally, with the lowest support in North America and Europe. This study raises key questions—if digital surveillance tools could be part of a socially acceptable response to the climate crisis, is it worth exploring? Or is this an unacceptable risk for society?

Strategic Mindsets and Support for Social Change: Impact Mindset Explains Support for Black Lives Matter Across Racial Groups.

How does the self-relevance of a social movement shape individuals' engagement with it? We examined the decision-making processes that underlie support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) among Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White Americans. We find significant between-group differences in levels of support for BLM, both in terms of past behavior (Study 1) and in terms of future intentions to support the movement (Study 2). These differences notwithstanding, thinking about how one's decisions impact others - which we label impact mindset - explains support for BLM across racial groups, cross-sectionally as well as longitudinally (over 8 months later). Our findings underscore the equivalence of the impact mindset construct across racial groups and its predictive power in the context of BLM. We conclude that, although the struggle for racial justice has different meanings for different racial groups, the same mindset underlies both in-group advocacy and allyship in the context of BLM.

Developmental profiles of children at risk for autism spectrum disorder at school entry.

Functional abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are highly heterogenous, and impairments can overlap with non‐ASD neurodevelopmental disorders. We compared the profiles of children assessed for ASD with and without an ASD diagnosis using a retrospective cohort study of 101,739 children born in British Columbia (2000–2008). The children were grouped into the following five comparison groups: (1) ASD− (n = 1131), (2) ASD+ (n = 1583), (3) Ministry of Education designated ASD+ (n = 654), (4) special need other than ASD (n = 11,663), and (5) typically developing (n = 86,708). Five developmental domains were assessed using the Early Development Instrument. ANCOVA was used to control for covariates, Tukey's HSD test for multiple comparisons, and Cohen's d for effect size. The ASD− group had slightly higher scores than the ASD+ group with small to medium effect sizes in all domains (d = 0.20–0.48). The ASD− group had slightly higher scores than the Ministry of Education ASD+ group in only three domains with small effect sizes (d = 0.21–0.25). The ASD− group had lower scores in all domains compared to the typically developing group with large effect sizes in all domains (d = 1.12–1.77). The ASD− group received less education funding at school entry than both ASD+ groups. Overall, only small to medium differences in development were detected between the ASD− and ASD+ groups. While these children differ diagnostically, they share similar functional profiles and have substantially more difficulties than typically developing children. Therefore, differences in levels of support at school entry raise critical questions of equity.Lay SummaryComparison of children in British Columbia who have been referred for an autism assessment, with or without a diagnosis, shows similarities in their functional and developmental profiles in kindergarten. Furthermore, both groups of children have more difficulties than typically developing children. However, children who have been referred for assessment without an autism diagnosis receive less financial support at school entry, raising important questions on equity.

Policy Influencer and General Public Support for Proposed Alcohol Healthy Public Policy Options in Alberta and Quebec, Canada

Although alcohol consumption is considered a major modifiable risk factor for chronic disease, policies to reduce alcohol-related harm remain low on the Canadian policy agenda. The objective of this study was to understand support for population-level healthy public policies to reduce alcohol-related harm by assessing the attitudes of policy influencers and the public in two Canadian provinces, and by sociodemographic characteristics. A stratified sample of the general public (n = 2,400) and a census sample of policy influencers (n = 302) in Alberta and Quebec participated in the 2016 Chronic Disease Prevention Survey, which included questions to assess support for alcohol-specific policies. Differences in levels of support were determined by calculating differences in the proportion of support for alcohol control policies, comparing groups by regional and sociodemographic characteristics. The modified Nuffield Council on Bioethics Intervention Ladder was used to assess support according to the level of individual intrusiveness. We found that policy influencers and general public respondents were supportive of both information-based policies, with the exception of warning labels, and more restrictive policies targeting youth (e.g., enforcement). Both groups were less favorable to alcohol-specific policies that guided choice through disincentives (e.g., taxation). There were more differences in policy support by sociodemographic characteristics among the public. For health advocates to advance policies to reduce alcohol-related harms at the population level, they will need to mobilize additional support for more intrusive, yet more effective, policy interventions. Advocacy efforts should focus on communicating the effectiveness and positive outcomes of these interventions to help garner support.

News Media Coverage of Stakeholder Views on Suicide and ItsReporting in New Zealand.

Background: Periodically, a debate around suicide reporting becomes prominent in the media. At one point, the Chief Coroner of New Zealand made a public call to the media to open up discussions around suicide and its reporting. Following this action, a high-profile debate emerged in the media. Aims: Our aim was to identify the key players in this debate and examine their perspectives. Method: From a Factiva search of news items from high-circulation newspapers, we identified key stakeholders and documented their perspectives using a framing matrix. Results: Seven stakeholder groups were identified with coroners and health service providers dominant in the news. Framing around the issues varied. There was consensus among the majority of stakeholders supporting continued public health type coverage of the issue of suicide, but a number of differences in levels of support for the reporting individual suicides. Limitations: Although specific to New Zealand, the findings will be of interest to countries considering reporting restrictions. Conclusion: The debate around suicide and its reporting appears to have been obfuscated by the conflating of two different types of media reporting on suicide: news media coverage of suicide as a public health issue and the reporting of individual suicide cases.

Arts education partnerships: sources of harmony and dissonance with cultural institutions’ collaborative efforts

ABSTRACTDue to budget constraints, schools in the United States have increasingly turned to community arts organizations for support. School-community arts partnership stakeholders collaborate because of shared missions to provide students with valuable arts learning experiences. Investigations of these initiatives indicate that these partnerships improve arts learning opportunities and increase public support and resources for arts education. However, not much is known about the experiences and perspectives of the arts organizations that participate in these partnerships. Coordinating collective efforts with a multitude of institutions and interests poses challenges. In this study, we examine survey data collected from arts organization administrators who participated in a large-scale school-community arts partnership initiative. We find that these organizations are generally positive about their impacts on students’ educational outcomes, but there is substantial variation in these views. We also find that organizations differ in their levels of support for these collective efforts. Sources of this variation appear to be attributable to organizations’ preexisting resources and extent to which they are established. While this difference in levels of support is potentially inevitable, we find evidence that the operations handled by the “backbone” organization, i.e. the initiative’s facilitators and overseers, can significantly influence organizations’ levels of support for these efforts. Organizations are more likely to support these collaborative efforts when they believe the backbone organization ensures transparency with initiative operations, provides regular, effective communication, and effectively resolves competing priorities.

Value diversity and conservation conflict: Lessons from the management of red grouse and hen harriers in England

Abstract Conflicts between people over wildlife management are damaging, widespread, and notoriously difficult to resolve where people hold different values and worldviews. Cognitive approaches examining steps from human thought to action can help us understand conflict and explore strategies for their management. We focused on the conflict between hunters and conservationists over the management of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) and hen harriers (Circus cyaneus) in the English uplands which represents a classic, persistent conflict, where human dimensions are poorly understood. Guided by conceptual frameworks from social and environmental psychology, we conducted a questionnaire‐based study to assess wildlife value orientations of key stakeholders. We quantified attitudes towards hen harriers, grouse shooting, gamekeepers, and raptor conservationists. We also measured support/opposition for harrier management strategies in England and investigated trust in the responsible government authority. We present data from 536 respondents from field sport or nature conservation organizations. Respondents were categorized according to the primary objectives of their affiliated organization: Field sport (i.e., hunters), Non‐raptor, Pro‐raptor, and Pro‐bird (i.e., organizations promoting conservation of birds excluding raptors, raptors specifically, or birds generally). Utilitarian value orientations were prominent among Field sport and Non‐raptor respondents. Most Pro‐raptor and Pro‐bird participants held mutualist value orientations, indicating they did not support shooting or management of wildlife. As suggested by the cognitive hierarchy, we found strong correlations between attitude and support for management options, our proxy for behaviour. Pro‐bird affiliates showed clear preference for less invasive management, and along with Pro‐raptor respondents did not support brood management (removal and later release of eggs/young when harrier density is high). Field sport individuals expressed a degree of support for all management types. Trust in Natural England was limited. Understanding value orientations and attitudes of stakeholders helps explain differences in levels of support for management approaches. Our study highlighted strongly divergent beliefs. Such positions are hard to change. Increasing the level of ecological knowledge alone is unlikely to facilitate conflict management. Instead, conflict management would benefit from combining such knowledge with a focus on relationships, deliberation, and trust in addition to exploring comanagement interventions. A plain language summary is available for this article.

Breastfeeding Support Experiences of Registered Nurses in a Large Children’s Hospital System

ObjectiveTo investigate the workplace breastfeeding support experiences of registered nurses (RNs) and how these experiences differed by type of unit. DesignA cross-sectional descriptive design. SettingA large children’s hospital health system in the Midwestern United States. ParticipantsSeventy-eight RNs who were concurrently breastfeeding and working or who had done so within the past 12 months. MethodsThe Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale was used to measure the degree of support that breastfeeding RNs experienced at work with four subscales: Break Time, Work Place Policy, Technical Support, and Environment (total Cronbach’s α = .87). An invitation with a link to the online Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale and demographic surveys was distributed to RNs via the hospital e-mail system. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used to characterize support experiences and explore unit-based differences in support levels. ResultsOf the participants, 35% were first-time mothers, and 60% were currently breastfeeding. Overall, participants rated their support positively; scores on the Workplace Policy subscale were highest, and scores on the Break Time subscale were lowest among the four domains of support. Among RNs who had ceased breastfeeding, we found a positive, weak correlation between break time support and duration of breastfeeding (r = .34, p = .035). No significant differences in support levels were found among nursing unit types or inpatient versus outpatient settings. ConclusionOverall, breastfeeding support in the workplace was positively rated, and adequate break time was positively related to duration of breastfeeding among participants. No evidence was found of different support by unit type in this hospital, which suggests that support is consistent across unit types. Future research is needed to appraise lactation support for nurses and other employees in different types of hospitals and geographic areas.

Public perceptions about climate change mitigation in British Columbia's forest sector.

The role of forest management in mitigating climate change is a central concern for the Canadian province of British Columbia. The successful implementation of forest management activities to achieve climate change mitigation in British Columbia will be strongly influenced by public support or opposition. While we now have increasingly clear ideas of the management opportunities associated with forest mitigation and some insight into public support for climate change mitigation in the context of sustainable forest management, very little is known with respect to the levels and basis of public support for potential forest management strategies to mitigate climate change. This paper, by describing the results of a web-based survey, documents levels of public support for the implementation of eight forest carbon mitigation strategies in British Columbia’s forest sector, and examines and quantifies the influence of the factors that shape this support. Overall, respondents ascribed a high level of importance to forest carbon mitigation and supported all of the eight proposed strategies, indicating that the British Columbia public is inclined to consider alternative practices in managing forests and wood products to mitigate climate change. That said, we found differences in levels of support for the mitigation strategies. In general, we found greater levels of support for a rehabilitation strategy (e.g. reforestation of unproductive forest land), and to a lesser extent for conservation strategies (e.g. old growth conservation, reduced harvest) over enhanced forest management strategies (e.g. improved harvesting and silvicultural techniques). We also highlighted multiple variables within the British Columbia population that appear to play a role in predicting levels of support for conservation and/or enhanced forest management strategies, including environmental values, risk perception, trust in groups of actors, prioritized objectives of forest management and socio-demographic factors.

Advancing support for gender equality among women in Mexico: Significance of labor force participation

Improvements in women’s support for gender equality have for long been a crucial component of social policies in developing countries such as Mexico. Women’s entry into the labor force is associated with higher levels of support for gender equality. It can be expected that working women are more supportive of gender equality than nonworking women. However, the gap in support for gender equality between employed women and full-time housewives could derive from differences in their education level, age, and level of support within the household rather than from their employment-related characteristics. Using the Blinder–Oaxaca method, this article decomposes the impact of women’s participation in the labor market and socioeconomic characteristics on women’s support for gender equality in Mexico. Results of this study suggest that a large share of the difference in levels of support for gender equality between nonworking and working women may be attributed to broad-level socioeconomic changes.

The Racial Divide in State Medicaid Expansions.

This study considers five important questions related to the role of race in state-level public support for the Medicaid expansion: (1) whether public support for the Medicaid expansion varies across the American states; (2) whether public support is positively related to state adoption; (3) whether this support is racialized; (4) whether, if racialized, there is evidence of more state responsiveness to white support than to nonwhite (black and/or Latino) support; and (5) does the size of the nonwhite population matter more when white support is relatively low? Our findings suggest that while public support for the Medicaid expansion is high at the state level, especially in comparison to public support for the ACA, there are important variations across the states. Although overall public support is positively related to state adoption, we find that public support for the Medicaid expansion is racialized in two ways. First, there are large differences in support levels by race; and second, state adoption decisions are positively related to white opinion and do not respond to nonwhite support levels. Most importantly, there is evidence that when the size of the black population increases and white support levels are relatively low, the state is significantly less likely to expand the Medicaid program. Our discussion highlights the democratic deficits and racial bias at the state level around this important coverage policy.

Generating Regime Support in Contemporary China

Autocrats may try to generate regime support in order to remain in power, but do they get the results they intend? This article analyzes the causes and consequences of regime support in China. We show two key findings. First, as in previous studies, we find significant differences in levels of support and trust for central and local political institutions, what we refer to as the “local legitimacy deficit.” The factors that produce support and trust in the central state have dissimilar impacts on local levels of the state. Second, rising prosperity, normative values, and institutional ties to the state—when analyzed together instead of viewed in isolation—do not influence regime support in the way expected by conventional wisdom. These findings have direct implications for state-society relations in contemporary China and for the sustainability of authoritarian regimes more generally.

Red states, green laws: Ideology and renewable energy legislation in the United States

We develop a novel, mixed methods approach to examine the relationship between political ideology and support for renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) policies. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with state-government legislators in the U.S., we show that when legislators evaluate and justify their support for and opposition to different types of renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) policies, they distinguish bills based on frames that are related to ideological differences (e.g., tax decreases, government efficiency, regulation, mandates, government spending). In turn the qualitative distinctions among bills are associated with quantitative differences in levels of support and success for the policies. Using data from a longitudinal analysis of 188 major state-government laws passed from 2004 to 2014 and a cross-sectional set of 709 passed and unpassed laws from 2011 to 2012, we show that REEE policies configured as mandates (e.g., renewable portfolio standards) have consistently lower levels of support than for similar REEE policies configured as tax reductions, reduction of government waste by increasing building efficiency, authorization of local government action, and regulatory reduction. Thus, via both quantitative and qualitative analysis, we show that there are important ideology-associated differences in REEE policy that point to opportunities for more successful policy design.

Differences in Public Perceptions and Leaders’ Perceptions on Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Development

New technologies and rising energy prices have resulted in many energy companies investing significant amounts of capital in rural America. Much of the recent focus of energy companies has been on the development of shale oil and natural gas. We examine the differences in levels of support and opposition to shale oil and gas development, building on the literatures of the growth-machine coalition, polluter-industrial complex, and environmental justice. Specifically, we examine different frames of shale development held by government leaders and the public who reside above the New Albany shale play in Southern Illinois and Northwest Kentucky. Using a combination of interview, survey, and participant observation data, we find that government officials emphasize economic growth and many support shale development. While most government leaders claimed that there was not a major division in their communities about shale development, we found the public to be split, with a large countercoalition to shale development in existence.

Women’s opinions on the legalisation of abortion in Chile 2009–2013

Chile is one of only four countries in the world where there is no explicit legal exception to prohibitions on abortion, and where the criminalisation of abortion endangers women’s health and may be misaligned with public opinion. In this study we explored attitudes towards the legalisation of abortion and differences in levels of support across time. Among Chilean women in 2009 and 2013, we examined: (1) an additive index indicating support for legalisation of abortion in several situations and (2) support for each situation separately. We investigated the demographic characteristics associated with support for legalisation using multivariate regression. Over 70% of women supported the legalisation of abortion in cases of risk to the woman’s life, rape and foetal malformation, and support was higher in 2013 compared to 2009 (β = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.44). Women with increasing education and those attending church services less frequently were more likely to support the legalisation of abortion (β = 0.27; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.43), while those affiliated to a religion other than Catholicism (β = − 0.32; 95% CI: − 0.48, − 0.16) were less likely to do so. Our study is the first to examine public opinions on abortion in Chile and differences in levels of support across time periods. Results indicate that current policies may not reflect trends in public opinion.

Effects of age, gender and occupation on perceived workplace learning support

The provision of workplace support is central to how and what is and can be learnt at work. Hence, the distribution of those experiences is an important factor in the quality of workplace learning experiences. The study reported and discussed here aims to identify differences in levels of support and opportunities for applying knowledge in workplaces among factors of age-, gender-, and occupation-related cohorts of employees across a range of levels of employment. A convenience sample of 459 employees from different occupations, companies and workplaces participated in this cross-sectional exploratory study. Comparisons between categories of age and occupation are based on the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test and comparisons regarding gender are performed with the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test. The results propose that for this sample neither age nor gender, but level of employment is the crucial factor. Put simply, the evidence suggests that those in better jobs, regardless of age or gender, receive more support for workplace learning.

Characterisation of the Disadvantaged: Explaining Differences in Levels of Support for Independence by Income Levels, Economic Activity and Socio-economic Status

This paper specifically seeks to explain why those who are most disadvantaged in Scottish society are more likely to support independence. This focus on the lowest ranking socio-economic classes is relevant for two main reasons: one is that they are shown as consistently more likely to vote for constitutional change and, two, they are generally the least interested in politics and hence an understanding of their motives is necessary if they are to be better engaged with opinion formers. The analysis demonstrates, by contrasting the upper and lower population quarters on a number of socio-economic indicators (income and employment related groups), the differing attitudes which are displayed. Further characteristics of the lower quarter are highlighted. These include their greater tendency to identify themselves as Scottish rather than British and to expect general economic improvement following a yes vote in September. They are less likely to expect a lessening of economic inequality, however, and their recent support for the SNP is no higher than more affluent groups. They are also less likely to take an active interest in politics. This should help inform debate ahead of the 2014 referendum.

Does the framing of climate policies make a difference to public support? Evidence from UK marginal constituencies

Public support for climate policies is essential to underpin their credibility, but evidence suggests that an environmental basis for that support is not strong. It has been suggested that framing climate policies in other terms, such as energy security or job creation, will build a more sustainable political basis for bold climate policies. This approach is explored using data from a survey in 157 UK marginal constituencies. Framing does make a difference to support for the expansion of renewable energy, but not to support for policies on energy efficiency and financial assistance to developing countries. The data also show key differences in levels of support for policies between different socio-demographic and voter groups.

Attitudes toward home‐based employment for mothers of young children: Australian evidence

Kelley CGE, Kelley SMC, Evans MDR, Kelley J. Attitudes toward home‐based employment for mothers of young children: Australian evidence Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 33–44 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.People have mixed feelings about paid employment for mothers with young children. This might reflect opposition to women's work per se or, instead, fear that children are harmed by the mother's absence from the home. To find out, we developed new questions differentiating support for or opposition to mothers working for pay depending on whether the employment is home‐based or outside the home. Data from a large representative national sample of Australia (n= 1,324) show that public support for employment is about 30 percentage points greater if the mother works at home. Structural equation analyses show social differences in levels of support. Thus work at home provides a way of increasing labour force participation and earnings for mothers (with the welfare benefits that implies), which is congruent with public opinion.