Lower Levels Of Institutional Trust Research Articles

Personal Networks and Grassroots Election Participation in China: Findings from the Chinese General Social Survey

Grassroots elections of rural village heads and urban community directors are an important public arena for social-political participation of Chinese citizens. Analyzing the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS2017) data through the models of GSEM (general equation structure modeling) and fulfilling the robustness check via IV (instrumental variable) method (including IV-Probit and 2SLS-IV models), this article examines the direct and indirect effects of personal networks on voting participation after 2012 under the leadership of Xi. We find that people with greater amounts of network resources and higher frequencies of social eating with network members have a higher likelihood to participate in elections. As to mediating effects, the two measures of personal networks pave the way for people to participate in formal networks of associational engagement, which in turn increase their participation in elections; however, people with higher values in the two personal network measures tend to have lower levels of institutional trust, which in turn hinders voting participation. In comparison, the positive effects are more powerful than the negative ones, so on the whole, personal networks are acting as an important conducive force for grassroots election participation.

Disparities in Students’ Propensity to Consent to Learning Analytics

Use of university students’ educational data for learning analytics has spurred a debate about whether and how to provide students with agency regarding data collection and use. A concern is that students opting out of learning analytics may skew predictive models, in particular if certain student populations disproportionately opt out and biases are unintentionally introduced into predictive models. We investigated university students’ propensity to consent to learning analytics through an email prompt, and collected respondents’ perceived benefits and privacy concerns regarding learning analytics in a subsequent online survey. In particular, we studied whether and why students’ consent propensity differs among student subpopulations bysending our email prompt to a sample of 4,000 students at our institution stratified by ethnicity and gender. 272 students interacted with the email, of which 119 also completed the survey. We identified that institutional trust, concerns with the amount of data collection versus perceived benefits, and comfort with instructors’ data use for learning engagement were key determinants in students’ decision to participate in learning analytics. We find that students identifying ethnically as Black were significantly less likely to respond and self-reported lower levels of institutional trust. Female students reported concerns with data collection but were also more comfortable with use of their data by instructors for learning engagement purposes. Students’ comments corroborate these findings and suggest that agency alone is insufficient; institutional leaders and instructors also play a large role in alleviating the issue of bias.

Student Perceptions of a University Medical Amnesty Policy Are Impacted by Race and Racism: A Qualitative Study

Background Alcohol consumption on college and university campuses is a public health concern. Some universities have instituted medical amnesty policies (MAPs) to encourage calling first responders to the scene of an alcohol-related emergency. This study describes perceptions of a university MAP and the perceived risks of calling first responders among a sample of undergraduate students at a mid-sized, private, residential university. Methods: This is an exploratory, peer-led study, in which student-researchers worked under faculty supervision to devise the aims of the study, recruit and conduct qualitative interviews with participants, analyze data, and organize major findings. Results: Participants in this convenience sample (N = 42) were majority female (n = 33, 78.67%) and white (n = 35, 83.3%). White students often reported risking disciplinary consequences (i.e. suspension) if found in violation of university alcohol policy. White students who were familiar with the MAP praised it as beneficial in improving student safety. Students of color (especially Black students) reported concerns for their safety in the presence of first responders (especially police officers). Awareness of the MAP among students of color was very low, and many reported low levels of institutional trust, suggesting the protections conferred by the MAP should be taken “with a grain of salt.” Conclusions: MAPs may alleviate concern about some perceived risks of calling first responders, but that benefit may not be experienced equitably among students of color. More research is needed to understand the complex relationship between alcohol policies, alcohol-related injuries, policing, and race on college and university campuses.

The Poorer You Are, the More You Trust? The Effect of Inequality and Income on Institutional Trust in East-Central Europe

Compared to Western Europe, the new democracies of East-Central Europe (ECE) demonstrate substantially lower levels of institutional trust. Because trust in state institutions is an indicator of the public approval and legitimacy of a political system, low trust levels are a cause for concern. The paper addresses a particular aspect of this broad issue by focusing on how country-level wealth and inequality and individual-level economic situation and sociotropic evaluations affect institutional trust in ECE in comparison with Western Europe. A multi-level analysis performed on the 2010 European Social Survey dataset reveals that substantial differences exist between the two sides of the continent. While sociotropic measures show a uniformly strong, positive association with institutional trust, the marginal effect of relative income is positive in Western but negative in East-Central Europe. Moreover, although social inequality is inversely related to institutional trust, four ECE countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia), where relatively low inequality is accompanied by low levels of institutional trust, deviate from the general trend. The paper suggests that the causes of these differences may be attributed to the interplay between specific characteristics of ECE political economies and the strongly egalitarian attitudes of East-Central European citizens.

The Irish Traveller Community: Social Capital and Drug Use

The Irish Traveller community experiences severe marginalization, poverty, discrimination, and compromised health. Research indicates a distinct lack of structural understanding of Traveller negotiation of conflict within dominant sedentarist societal norms and values. Gender-based focus groups (n = 12) of Travellers (n = 57) were conducted as part of a large scale regional needs analysis for Travellers and substance use in Ireland and analyzed thematically using the social capital framework in terms of Traveller experiences within settled communities, exposure to drugs, and drug using contexts. Discriminatory experiences, low levels of institutional trust, and an influx of drug activity in Traveller communities are contributing to the neutralization of drug taking risk and the development of normative and reciprocal relationships in drug activities. A holistic, inter-governmental approach is needed to address social exclusion factors by reducing marginalization, preserving the Traveller ethnic identity, minimizing racist and discriminatory instances, understanding the Traveller risk environment, and fostering inclusive relationships with settled communities.