Explicit Messaging Research Articles

Gender Gap in STEM Pathways: The Role of Gender-Segregated Schooling in Mathematics and Science Performance

According to the World Economic Forum, the occupational gender gap with men dominating well-remunerated STEM careers is a key factor in the gender pay gap. However, the problem of underrepresentation of women in STEM fields is mitigated or reversed in some Eastern European and Islamic countries. This disparity suggests that cultural factors are at play. Gender-segregated schooling, which is commonly practiced in Islamic countries, is often seen as a contributing factor. However, the issue of gender-segregated education sparks much controversy. Critics argue evidence is lacking, and segregation may foster sexism and hinder social skills.In New Zealand, there is a significant opportunity to conduct research on gender segregation, as approximately 14.43% of girls and 14.35% of boys attend single-gender schools for their secondary (high school) education. In contrast to the USA and Australia, where single-gender schooling is predominantly offered by private and/or Catholic schools, the majority of New Zealand gender-segregated schools are state schools.Utilising the TIMSS 2019 dataset, our analysis revealed that girls from low socio-economic backgrounds and boys from higher socio-economic backgrounds who attend single-gender schools exhibit significantly higher mathematics and science achievement scores compared to their counterparts in co-educational settings. This success is particularly striking for girls in low socio-economic settings. Given mixed international evidence, this suggests that there must be protective factors at single-gender New Zealand schools, positively influencing these students. We examine potential factors setting apart girls-only schools to provide an explanation of our results: (1) a mitigated influence of gender socialisation practices and stereotype threat and (2) explicit messaging aimed at challenging stereotypes and empowering girls to actively engage in STEM fields.

Queer breaches and normative devices: language learners queering gender, sexuality, and the L2 classroom

ABSTRACT Cisgender and heterosexual norms permeate every level of language classrooms, from textbooks to classroom discourse to teachers’ actions, constraining queer/trans learners’ ability to be themselves. Yet queer/trans and non-queer/trans learners alike may challenge cisheteronormativity within the language classroom and create new possibilities. We investigate the possibilities of queer/trans learners’ agency within these normative structures by bringing together three cases from larger separate projects, examining the context and actions of learners in each setting as they attempt to queer their classrooms to make them habitable. Drawing from Ahmed’s queer phenomenology, we analyze the devices that orient students to classroom cisheteronormativity, actions that students and their accomplices may take to breach these norms, and the reactions to and potential of such breaches within the L2 classroom context. We find that orienting devices, including curricular representation, language use, and grading practices, convey implicit and explicit messaging that can limit expressions of gender and sexuality. Yet queer breaches, when not subject to straightening, can lead to new classroom possibilities for expression, playfulness, and identity validation. We conclude by considering the implications of this analysis for practice.

The Power of Images: Exploring Gender Performances of Filipino Female Celebrities on Instagram

Instagram is a social photography ‘app’ designed to run on a Smartphone through which the social media user can produce visual and textual impressions, thus allowing the ambient viewer to interact and distribute these impressions (Mirsarraf et al., 2017). This study aimed to examined how social media networks are changing the way female celebrities portray themselves to the public and how these digital platforms are assisting in the cultivation of celebrity personas. This study was analyzed using feminist theory, and framing analysis. The results revealed that each female celebrity used Instagram in different ways; however, there were commonalities to their self-representation. Anne Curtis Smith, Liza Soberano, and Kathryn Bernardo all used the medium as more or less a self-promotion tool. Anne Curtis Smith created a somewhat accessible persona, though this was done through self-objectifying, body centric, and sexually explicit images and messaging; Liza Soberano created an accessible persona through less objectifying visual messaging; and Kathryn Bernardo created a dynamic and distant persona through sexualized and dream-like imagery and subject matter.

The body positivity movement is not all that positive on TikTok: A content analysis of body positive TikTok videos

This analysis examined the content of 342 body positive videos on TikTok. Videos were gathered by searching #body positivity and coded for diversity, positive body image messages, negative appearance-focused messages, other relevant themes, and contradictory messaging. Results demonstrate that body positivity videos on TikTok often portrayed young, White women with unrealistic beauty ideals. Approximately 93% of the videos embodied Western culturally based beauty ideals somewhat or to a great extent, while 32% of the videos portrayed larger bodies. Only 32.2% of the videos contained explicit positive body image messaging, and negative appearance-focused themes or objectifying content was rare. Contradictory messaging was not present. Overall, body positive videos on TikTok rarely displayed features aligned with positive body image and promoted unrealistic beauty ideals but also rarely included explicit negative appearance-focused messaging. Future research examining effects of exposure to body positivity messaging on TikTok, in comparison to other social media platforms, is warranted.

Interventions Associated With Racial and Ethnic Diversity in US Graduate Medical Education

Racially and ethnically minoritized individuals remain underrepresented in graduate medical education relative to their proportion in the population. While many programs and initiatives have been developed to address this problem, there is little consensus regarding strategies that work to improve representation across specialties. To examine and synthesize evidence-based practices that have been used to increase the proportions of underrepresented in medicine (URiM) trainees at US residency and fellowship programs. The authors searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, PsycInfo, ERIC, Cochrane Reviews, Cochrane Trials, CINAHL, Scopus, and PROSPERO electronic databases to identify relevant studies published through January 2022. They screened all titles and abstracts for relevance and read full-text articles to identify articles reporting reliable data describing the outcomes of interventions to improve racial and ethnic diversity among trainees. Twenty-seven articles were included in this review. Two studies reported on fellowship programs. The most common interventions included holistic review (48%), decreased emphasis on United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores (48%), and explicit institutional messaging regarding the importance of diversity (37%). A combination of interventions was associated with an increased number of URiM applicants, interviewees, and matriculants across various medical and surgical specialties. In this scoping review, approaches and interventions associated with increased diversity in residency and fellowship programs were identified. Continued efforts are necessary to sustain such efforts and assess long-term outcomes.

Concealing Stuttering at School: "When You Can't Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It".

The purpose of this study was to explore experiences with concealing stuttering in children and young people who stutter based on recollections from adults. In addition, we explored how school-based speech therapists can be helpful or unhelpful to children who are concealing stuttering from the perspective of adults who stutter. Thirty adults who stutter, who previously or currently conceal stuttering, participated in semistructured interviews exploring their early experiences with hiding stuttering. Purposeful and random sampling was used to diversify experiences and opinions. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes and subthemes to describe participants' experiences. All participants in the study reported beginning to conceal stuttering at 18 years of age or younger, with more than two thirds sharing that they began in elementary school. Participants reported that exposure to implicit and explicit ableist messaging about stuttering and traumatic social experiences at school contributed to their inclination to hide disfluencies. Many participants described concealment as a strategy for protecting themselves from stigma. Several participants condemned fluency shaping, calling it harmful and likening it to teaching concealment. Participants believed that speech therapists could be helpful by promoting safe and supportive school environments and by being responsive to the social and emotional challenges that can accompany speaking differently and navigating stigma at school. Some children who stutter may attempt to protect themselves from stigma by concealing their disfluencies, but doing so can feel isolating and confusing. Speech therapists can play an important role in making the school environment safer and more supportive for children who stutter.

Tertiary music students’ perspectives on activist-musicianship: Approaches, challenges, and perceived role of higher music education

While tertiary music programs traditionally focus on developing musicians’ craft, there is an increasing emphasis on the need to develop students’ ability to use their craft in socially engaged ways. This has led to an increase in community music, mobility programs, and performance outreach opportunities being embedded into tertiary music programs. There is also, however, potential for students to develop their craft more explicitly in service of social change through activist-musicianship, but little academic exploration into how this might be embedded into tertiary music programs. This article, through interviews and focus groups, investigates tertiary music students’ perspectives on music’s role in activism, their social values and aspirations, and perceived opportunities and challenges for musicians and tertiary music institutions. Music activism was seen to be possible through focusing on the musician as embodying the message or the music communicating the message, with repertoire choice and the degree of explicit messaging deemed important considerations regarding potential impact. Students highlighted a desire to plant seeds for change, to encourage audience members to become aware of and question unconscious biases and values, and to spark ongoing conversations. Within their programs, students expressed a desire for more autonomy in repertoire selection, for training on the inclusion of extra-musical features to support messaging, and for strong integration and alignment of academic and performance courses that could provide opportunities to practice activist-musicianship as part of their programs. Further to this, there are a range of ethical considerations educators need to be mindful of, which are outlined throughout this article. Insights shared highlight a need for further understanding of the activist-musician and how associated skill sets and opportunities might be embedded within existing tertiary music programs.

Historical Touchstones and Imagined Futures During COVID-19 in Aotearoa/New Zealand

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic to date, particular histories have come to serve as touchstones for the pandemic experience. The specific form this historical imagination takes can be significant as it is likely to shape people’s understandings and responses to the pandemic with consequences for official policy, community action and public behaviour. This research examines this imaginative space in Aotearoa/New Zealand’s public media during COVID-19, asking what past epidemics have been invoked and how. We conducted a content and thematic analysis of media stories in Aotearoa/NZ from February 2020 to December 2021. This analysis reveals how historical experiences are made meaningful in the context of the present crisis, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted New Zealanders to look back on their histories for lessons and cautionary tales as they imagine possible futures. While the 1918 flu was the most frequent touchstone in both years, the focus of the stories changed, reflecting changes in public health policies. In 2020, the stories mirrored the major public health measures enacted by the government, namely isolation and quarantine requirements and lockdowns. They focused on anchoring the present in past experiences, collectively framing the ‘extraordinary’ as something more ‘ordinary’ and thus helping people to cope with the new crisis. In 2021, the focus on Māori populations increased, reflecting the emerging disparities in vaccination rates, as did explicit messaging encouraging vaccination. The sense of urgency grew, with the past providing impetus for present action, to bring about—or avert—particular imagined futures.

Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick.

The post‐COVID‐19 care era is likely to see a burgeoning of metabolic dysfunction and chronic kidney disease. Attention to self‐care, including nutrition, will underpin the management of those affected. The damaging effects of sugar‐sweetened beverages are well documented and profound and counter many accepted medical treatments. Government leadership is urgently required with explicit and strong messaging to avoid sugar‐sweetened beverages.

Symbolic Solidarity or Virtue Signaling? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Public Statements Released by Academic Medical Organizations in the Wake of the Killing of George Floyd.

Many academic medical organizations issued statements in response to demand for collective action against racial injustices and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. These statements may offer insight into how medical schools and national organizations were reflecting on and responding to these incidents. The authors sought to empirically examine the initial statements published by academic medical organizations in response to societal concerns about systemic, anti-Black racism. The authors searched for initial public statements released by a sample of academic medical organizations in Canada and the United States between May 25 and August 31, 2020. They assembled an archive with a purposive sample of 45 statements, including those issued by 35 medical schools and 10 national organizations. They analyzed the statements using Fairclough's 3-dimensional framework for critical discourse analysis (descriptive, interpretive, explanatory), which is a qualitative approach to systematically analyzing language and how it reflects and shapes social practice. Many statements used formal and analytical language and reflected hierarchical thinking and power differentials between statement producers and consumers. The authors identified several tensions in the statements between explicit messaging and implied ideologies (e.g., self-education vs action to address racism), and they found a lack of critical reflection and commitment to institutional accountability to address anti-Black racism in academic medicine. The authors also found that many statements minimized discussions of racism and de-emphasized anti-Black racism as well as portrayed anti-Black racism as outside the institution and institutional accountability. This research offers insight into how 45 academic medical organizations initially responded following the murder of George Floyd. Many of these statements included self-exculpatory and nonracist discursive strategies. While these statements may have been well intentioned, organizations must move beyond words to transformative action to abolish institutional racism in academic medicine.

When Goods Become Gods: Fractured Identities and the Call for Safe Spaces in Sports

What is the relationship between identity, idolatry, wholeness, and community? What are the ways in which sports culture bolsters or misdirects God-given identity? How can leaders in sports cultivate authentic, loving community that provides athletes safe spaces to explore and discern messages from the world and truth from God? In this paper, we will explore existential questions such as these. First, we will describe how identity is inherently physiological, psychological, social, and spiritual, developing subconsciously through explicit and implicit messaging. Then, we will explore the ways in which sports – organized play, human creation, and a good gift from God – can become an idol, and how idolatry both stems from and perpetuates fragmented identity. Next, we will explain what a life of wholeness means for sportspeople. Lastly, we will conclude with recommendations for leaders in sports to provide authentic and safe communities driven by love and faithfulness.

Navigating Contradictory Narratives on Sexuality Between the School and the Mosque in Four Muslim Communities in the Netherlands

This qualitative study seeks to examine the sexuality-related values and norms that Muslim youth are taught and socialised into at non-formal Islamic education settings, compares these with values and norms conveyed at secondary schools, and then identifies the ways in which Muslim youth navigate these distinct messages and competing pressures around this subject. The data are based on 62 semi-structured in-depth interviews with young adults and secondary school students from four Muslim communities in the Netherlands (Turkish, Moroccan, Pakistani and Egyptian). The study reveals that explicit messaging as well as institutional practices in mosques convey a specific narrative about proper conduct between the sexes that prohibits sexual conduct before marriage, and in some cases, even any form of touching or socialising. This collides with the institutional practices and educational content in mainstream secondary schools, which are co-educational and provide sexuality education. Three strands of attitudinal choices young Muslims make are identified: opting for chastity, re-negotiating the norm, and embracing romantic entanglements, all having different ramifications for the wellbeing and relationships of these young people.

Welcome to the Anthropocene: Gregory Bateson, disaster porn, Swamp Thing, and ‘The Green’

ABSTRACT A recurring narrative in popular culture is imminent global catastrophe. Contextualizing the cultural phenomenon of disaster porn, I discuss the Anthropocene and explore Gregory Bateson’s ecosystemic theoretical lens and how errors in epistemology precipitate and perpetuate global climate problems. Next I discuss the pros and cons, and intended and unintended consequences, of disaster porn’s propagation in its three main forms. I then apply themes and concepts of ecosystemic theory and disaster porn to an analysis of the 2019 TV series Swamp Thing, sifting the algae-filled waters for explicit and implicit messaging about the current ecological crisis. I conclude with reflections about cultural consciousness regarding climate change, and how the urgency and gravity of this global crisis is subverted, commodified and neutralized as audiences sit back and watch it all happen, consuming apocalyptic ‘entertainment’.

White Rex, White Nationalism, and Combat Sport: The Production of a Far-Right Cultural Scene

Most of the scholarship on far-right hooliganism in Europe and Russia mentions only marginally the Russian far-right MMA gear and tournament brand White Rex (WR). A few authors have discussed WR’s right-wing connections and activities. Yet both the structures that enabled WR and, now, other similar brands to exert ideological and political influence and the influence itself bear further examination. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of information from intelligence reports, social media, open media, and interviews to show how WR modeled and cultivated a professionalizing trend in several far-right combat sport tournaments. We argue that WR’s entrance into the Western European far-right combat sport scene was a key development in the emergence of professionally organized, fight-focused events with explicit political messaging targeted at a far-right, primarily trans-European audience and a surrounding infrastructure of far-right organizations shaping the character of this developing scene. The business model that WR developed in Russia proved to be something the emerging European far-right combat sport scene could adopt in order to grow. Finally, we elaborate on how WR’s founder, Denis Kapustin, was able to establish a Western European network that temporarily gave him influence over one of the far right’s most significant cultural scenes.

The effect of implicit and explicit taxes on the purchasing of ‘high-in-calorie’ products: A randomized controlled trial

Public health taxes on less healthy food and beverage products have been shown to be effective in various settings. However, it is unclear if observed reductions in the quantity of taxed products purchased is a result of price increases due to the tax or the accompanying messaging and if the effects are influenced by the level of support for such taxes within the population. 941 adults residing in Singapore were randomized and asked to shop in one of four versions of a fully functional on-line experimental grocery store: 1) no tax control; 2) implicit tax showing only post-tax prices (i.e., 20 % higher than control prices) on high-in-calorie products; 3) fake tax showing pre-tax prices and a label falsely indicating that the price includes a 20 % tax on high-in-calorie products; and 4) explicit tax showing the same label as in 3) and an actual 20 % price increase applied to the high-in-calorie products. The proportion of high-in-calorie products purchased was 14 % in the control arm. We were unable to reject the null hypothesis of no effect in the implicit tax arm compared to control (0.08, 95 % CI −3.31 to 1.77) or in the fake tax arm compared to the control (2.59, 95 % CI −5.04 to 0.00) but observed a statistically significant 3.35 percentage point decrease (95 % CI −6.01 to −0.5) in the explicit tax arm compared to control. We were unable to reject the null hypothesis of no effect in any of the outcomes related to diet quality. Individuals who support the tax showed greater responsiveness to the explicit and fake taxes compared to those who do not (price elasticities of demand of −1.38 and −0.51 respectively). Results suggest that reductions in the proportions of high-in-calorie products purchased may be largely attributable to explicit messaging rather than to price increases. However, even when effective, policymakers should recognize that changes in purchasing patterns may not improve diet quality and that results may not generalize to other areas where levels of support differ.

Marketing Influences on Perceptions of Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes.

IntroductionThe Food and Drug Administration announced intent to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes. There is limited evidence on how reduced nicotine content cigarette (RNC) marketing affects product beliefs and use, and research on this is needed to inform regulations.MethodsIn an online experiment, 426 young adult cigarette smokers (aged 18–30 years) were randomized in a 2 (implicit: red package vs. blue package) × 2 (explicit: corrective message vs. no corrective message) design to view an advertisement for previously commercially available RNCs. Outcomes were advertisement content recall, product beliefs, and use intentions. Participants’ responses to open-ended assessment of their beliefs about the stimuli were coded to identify prevailing themes.ResultsRed packaging and corrective messaging were independently associated with greater advertisement content recall (p = .01 and p = .04, respectively). There were no significant main or interaction effects on product beliefs or use intentions. Controlling for condition, advertisement content recall was significantly associated with less favorable product beliefs (p < .001) and favorable product beliefs were associated with intent to use the product (p < .001). Open-ended responses converged on the finding that respondents were interested in RNCs, but expressed skepticism about effectiveness and value.ConclusionsBrief exposure to an RNC advertisement with red packaging and corrective messaging were each independently associated with greater advertisement content recall. The results indicate: (1) interest and confusion among young adult smokers regarding RNCs, (2) beliefs about RNCs are influenced by marketing, and (3) beliefs are associated with intention to use RNCs.ImplicationsFindings from this study demonstrate the importance of advertising effects on beliefs about RNC products and support the need to regulate advertising and labeling alongside product regulation. More detailed study of advertisement features that affect consumers’ beliefs about RNCs and how they impact their processing of explicit messaging about product risks will be important to guide regulatory decision-making.

Association between sexually explicit messages and sleep health among French sexual minority men

It has been demonstrated that sexual minority men (SMM) participate in sexting. While research has shown that engagement in the exchange of sexually explicit media is associated with poor health outcomes, no previous research has investigated its association with sleep health outcomes. This study sought to examine the association between sexually explicit media and sleep health among SMM, a population that suffers from poor sleep health. A popular geosocial networking application was used to recruit SMM individuals (N = 580) in the Paris, France, metropolitan area. Multivariate analyses, adjusting for sociodemographics, were used to test the association between the frequency of sexually explicit messaging and three dimensions of sleep health: (1) sleep quality, (2) sleep duration, and (3) two aspects of sleep problems. In multivariate analyses, those who reported engaging in sexually explicit messaging more were more likely to report getting less than seven hours of sleep (aRR = 1.24; 95% CI = 1.08, 1.43) compared with those who reported engaging in sexually explicit messaging less. No significant associations were found between sexting and sleep quality or reporting sleep problems. Sexually explicit messaging was associated with shorter sleep duration. Intervention targeted at individuals who sext could potentially improve sleep health outcomes.

Black Americans and the “crime narrative”: comments on the use of news frames and their impacts on public opinion formation

ABSTRACTNews framing choices remain critical components in the formation of political attitudes and public opinion. Early findings, which indicated that episodic framing of national issues like poverty and unemployment informed public opinion about minority group members, asserted that these framing choices often resulted in the attribution of societal ills to individuals rather than society at-large. Moving this analytical framework into the twenty-first century, I engage with literature on racial messaging to show that shifting social norms surrounding implicit versus explicit racism have transformed the ways that news frames function in mass media. As such, this essay examines the canonical theory of news frames as falling along a thematic-episodic continuum. Fundamentally, I argue that implicit and explicit racial messaging in news media coverage of crime could change the way viewers form opinions of Black Americans and criminality. Thus, it is critical to revisit longstanding theories of news frames to accommodate the present political moment.

Explicit Mental Health Messaging Promotes Serious Video Game Selection in Youth With Elevated Mental Health Symptoms

Serious games aimed at promoting well-being in youth have promising effects and potential for far-reaching impact. Considering that most mental health disorders remain untreated in youth, therapeutic games may be most valuable when they are aimed at untreated youth with internalizing symptoms. However, when targeting youth outside of a clinical setting, the first impression of therapeutic video games may determine whether and how a game is played. Thus, understanding the influence of messaging used in the promotion of therapeutic games on game choice and experience is critical. The current study examined two alternatives in promoting mental health games: one included explicit mental health messaging (e.g., learn to manage stress) and the other was a stealth promotion that did not mention mental health but highlighted the entertainment value. Young adults with mild to severe internalizing mental health symptoms (i.e., depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms) were shown two distinct trailer designs, with random assignment determining which design held which message. Participants (n = 129, Mage = 21.33, SDage = 3.20), unaware that both trailers promoted the same commercial video game, were 3.71 times more likely to choose what they believed was the mental health game. Additionally, an unforeseen difference in the attractiveness of the two trailer designs resulted in participants being 5.65 times more likely to select the mental health game promoted in one trailer design over the other. Messaging did not influence game experience (i.e., gameplay duration, autonomy, competence, intrinsic motivation and affect). Exploratory analyses indicated that game experience, but not game choice, was influenced by symptom severity, symptom type and the interaction between symptom severity and messaging. The present study suggests that explicit mental health messages attract youth with mental health symptoms. Ultimately, youth may be empowered to seek out mental health games if they are promoted properly, allowing for far-reaching positive influences on well-being. Toward this aim, future research is needed on the game selection process, addressing underlying motivations, the balance between explicit health and entertainment messaging, and multiple interacting influences on game selection (e.g., promotion and peers).

Secure Physical Layer Voting

Distributed wireless networks often employ voting to perform critical network functions such as fault-tolerant data fusion, cooperative sensing, and reaching consensus. Voting is implemented by sending messages to a fusion center or via direct message exchange between participants. However, the delay overhead of message-based voting can be prohibitive when numerous participants have to share the wireless channel in sequence, making it impractical for time-critical applications. In this paper, we propose a fast PHY-layer voting scheme called PHYVOS, which significantly reduces the delay for collecting and tallying votes. In PHYVOS, wireless devices transmit their votes simultaneously by exploiting the subcarrier orthogonality of OFDM and without explicit messaging. Votes are realized by injecting energy to pre-assigned subcarriers. We show that PHYVOS is secure against adversaries that attempt to manipulate the voting outcome. Security is achieved without employing cryptography-based authentication and message integrity schemes. We analytically evaluate the voting robustness as a function of PHY-layer parameters. We extend PHYVOS to operate in ad hoc groups, without the assistance of a fusion center. We discuss practical implementation challenges related to multi-device frequency and time synchronization and present a prototype implementation of PHYVOS on the USRP platform. We complement the implementation with larger scale simulations.