Group Members Research Articles

Trajectories of Violence Exposure and Drug Use Among Justice-Involved Male Adolescents: A Multi-Trajectory Approach

A strong link exists between exposure to violence and drug use, yet their simultaneous development is less understood. This study utilizes multi-trajectory modeling to investigate the dynamic relationship between violence exposure and drug use among justice-involved male adolescents. Using a sample from the Pathways to Desistance study ( n = 1,095), we identify five group trajectories of violence exposure and drug use; “Chronic Low” (39.2%), “Resisters” (17.6%), “Accelerators” (13.9%), “Desisters” (22.2%), and “At-risk” (7.1%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis examines individual, social, and environmental risk factors predicting trajectory group membership. Results highlight the need to address cumulative vulnerabilities shaping outcomes among high-risk adolescents. We conclude by discussing the importance of drug treatment and intervention strategies to foster positive outcomes for justice-involved youth.

Group-differentiated rights for Indigenous communities that straddle borders

ABSTRACT This paper examines the normative justification for special rights for Indigenous peoples whose traditional territories straddle contemporary international borders. Examining the Mohawks of Akwesasne (Quebec, Ontario, and New York state) and the Tohono O’odham (Arizona and Sonora, Mexico) as cases, I demonstrate how state claims to territorial jurisdiction and border regulation often interfere with the lives of Indigenous people whose social, cultural, economic, spiritual and political practices and relationships cluster across contemporary international boundaries. Through the concept of group occupancy interests, I argue that members of Indigenous nations whose territories straddle borders possess special rights to access and use lands presently claimed by states of which they are not recognized citizens. Moreover, I demonstrate how border-straddling Indigenous nations challenge the unlimited sovereignty of contemporary states with respect to border policy: the occupancy and self-determination interests of Indigenous peoples may ground the moral rights of their communities to co-manage international border crossings with states. Finally, I argue that collective interests in cross-border political identities and self-determination can ground the rights of Indigenous peoples to form unified cross-border jurisdictional units that demand recognition by states, alongside the rights of Indigenous peoples to regulate group membership.

The Good, the Bad and the Other: Discursive constructions of nations in Voice of America’s international news

This research analyses Voice of America’s discursive construction of nations in its international news reporting, based on Van Dijk’s sociocognitive discourse analysis approach and his concept of the ideological square. Through a combination of content analysis, corpus-assisted linguistic analysis and manual critical discourse analysis, this research examines how countries are constructed as part of an in-group and out-group. The findings show that US interpretations of democracy, freedom and human rights are used ideologically to emphasize positive aspects of in-group members and negative aspects of out-group members, while they are absent in justifications of military involvement by the in-group. The analyses also reveal the countries and regions of the world that are discursively overlooked or relegated to simply providing context for other nations’ activities.

From group to institutional agency

ABSTRACT We live in an institutional world, where our identity is significantly shaped by our membership in institutional groups (from sports clubs and condo boards to state and international organisations). As such, then, understanding what those groups are and how they affect our reality through their actions is imperative. To that end, some philosophers have taken on the task of elucidating ‘institutional agency' (the capacity of institutional groups to act). Most recently, for example, Michael Bratman has introduced a theory of institutional agency, according to which an institutional group can act if the relevant participants act on an institutional intention (viz., a decision output that satisfies certain rationality constraints). Crucially, he develops this approach on the assumption that ‘planning agency' is the core capacity involved across various forms of human practical organization: individual, social, and institutional. However, this paper shows that while true that planning agency may be a basic element of individual and shared intentionality, it is not so relevant for institutional intentionality. In fact, contra Bratman’s intuitions, it argues that institutional agency is constructed out-of-group attitudes and actions, for which group agency, but not planning agency, is the core capacity.

On Communal Transgressive Behaviour; A Moral Dilemma Variation on the Classic Asch Paradigm

Research suggests that communal violence constitutes an integral component of human social cognition under conditions in which in-group membership is highly desirable and uncertain for most in-group members. However, little remains known about the effects of social conformity dynamics on moral decision-making under these conditions. In this study, we adapt the Asch paradigm to study these effects in a cohort of cadets at the Czech University of Defence. The data suggests that social conformity dynamics strongly affect moral decision-making (rpb = .564, n = 87) and may be stronger in males than females. These findings highlight the need for specialized training programs to provide military personnel with the mental tools to recognize, deter and resist communal acts of unjustifiable violence.

AggNet: Learning to aggregate faces for group membership verification

In certain applications of face recognition, our goal is to verify whether an individual belongs to a particular group while keeping their identity undisclosed. Existing methods have suggested a process of quantizing pre-computed face descriptors into discrete embeddings and aggregating them into a single representation for the group. However, this mechanism is only optimized for a given closed set of individuals and requires relearning the group representations from scratch whenever the groups change. In this paper, we introduce a deep architecture that simultaneously learns face descriptors and the aggregation mechanism to enhance overall performance. Our system can be utilized for new groups comprising individuals who have never been encountered before, and it easily handles new memberships or the termination of existing memberships. Through experiments conducted on multiple extensive, real-world face datasets, we demonstrate that our proposed method achieves superior verification performance compared to other baseline approaches.

Caries trajectories from childhood to adolescence: Analysis of data from a nationwide school dental service.

The aim of the study was to assess patterns of longitudinal changes in caries status among school-going children in Singapore. Dental records for a single cohort of students who received dental examinations in six standard examination years between 2009 and 2017 were analysed (n = 24 699). Group-based trajectory modelling with a zero-inflated Poisson distribution was carried out to determine dental caries trajectories in the permanent dentition. Associations between sociodemographic factors and trajectory group membership were assessed using multinomial logistic regression. The predicted population distribution across the four caries trajectory groups identified was 65.0% ('none'), 16.8% ('low'), 14.8% ('medium') and 3.4% ('high'). The 'none' trajectory group had a decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score of 0 throughout the 8 years. Higher baseline DMFT counts and nonlinear increases in DMFT scores were noted for the 'low', 'medium' and 'high' trajectory groups. The correlation coefficient between DMFT counts in years 6 and 8 was 0.91, as compared to 0.77 between baseline and year 1. Factors associated with the 'high' caries trajectory include lower socio-economic status, female gender, Chinese race (compared to the Indian race), enrolment in primary schools in the Eastern and Western regions of Singapore, and enrolment in public secondary schools. Under a nationwide school dental service, four trajectory patterns of caries counts in the permanent dentition were identified over 8 years. Among students in the 'low', 'medium' and 'high' trajectory groups, greater caries increment was noted during the transition from primary to secondary school. The correlation between DMFT counts in successive examinations was stronger in older than younger ages.

Predicting Mental Health Treatment Outcomes using Latent Growth Mixture Models and Machine Learning in a Real-World Clinical Setting

Previous models of depression outcomes have been limited by symptom heterogeneity within populations. This study conducted a retrospective analysis using latent growth mixture models to identify heterogeneous trajectories within a clinical population, subsequently developing machine learning models to predict clinical outcomes based on baseline characteristics and symptom measures. The study analyzed approximately 15,000 clients aged 18-89 in a real-world clinical setting, treated for up to 180-days between 2015 and 2020. Three distinct groups were identified: Low-Low (stable low scores), High-Low (improving scores), and High-High (stable high scores), representing 56%, 18%, and 26% of the cohort, respectively. Significant differences were observed in baseline factors and outcome assessments across these groups. The machine learning model demonstrated balanced accuracies of 0.67-0.93, and ROC-AUC values between 0.87-0.97 in predicting group membership from baseline data. Key predictors included baseline PHQ-9 scores, sex, age, and PTSD diagnosis. Prospective application of the model accurately categorized new client data, aligning predictions with observed outcomes. The study highlights the potential of machine learning in clinical settings to predict client outcomes, offering valuable insights based on initial data, potentially enhancing treatment personalization and efficacy. Further research should explore the impact of individual treatment modalities to validate the model’s clinical utility.

Constructing Hate Crimes: Does Respondent's Racial/Ethnic Identity Matter?

This study explores whether and how respondents' racial/ethnic identity affects racial/ethnic hate crime perception, considering the races/ethnicities of the offender and the victim. The data of this study comes from a factorial survey experiment with random vignette assignments among U.S. adults from MTurk (n = 2,021). A set of logistic regression models with robust standard errors was estimated to test the two-way and three-way moderation effects of the races/ethnicities of the offender, victim, and respondent. Results reveal how racial/ethnic groups recognize hate crimes, considering not only the identities of the offenders and victims but also the respondents' own backgrounds. Subgroup analyses further revealed different patterns of racial/ethnic hate crime recognition among minority respondents and non-Hispanic white respondents. Integrating a power-relation perspective and social identity theory, this study concludes that there are racial/ethnic variances in the recognition of racial/ethnic hate crimes, which not only concern the race/ethnicity of the offender and victim but are also related to respondents' identity. Social identity theory partially explains the observations through group image management and ingroup favoritism. Additionally, the perception of racial/ethnic hate crimes is primarily driven by the Majority-Minority pattern, regardless of the group membership. This study calls for further efforts not only in researching the role of race/ethnicity in relation to racial/ethnic hate crime recognition but also in advancing the practice of hate crime reporting and data collection by an enhanced understanding of group identity among individuals as well as law enforcement.

Effects on HbA1c of referral of type 2 diabetes patients to secondary care

Aim To study trajectories of HbA1c in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients referred to diabetes outpatient clinics (DOCs), and to explore characteristics of referrals and patient pathways in patients treated in DOCs. Methods We retrospectively followed T2D patients from the Norwegian population-based ROSA 4 study to identify persons with T2D who were referred to a DOC. We used latent class trajectory modelling to identify subgroups of patients with similar patterns of HbA1c one year before to one year after the first consultation at a DOC. We performed multinomial regression analyses to identify baseline characteristics associated with group membership. Results Four hundred and two of 6716 T2D patients started treatment at a DOC, constituting a yearly starting rate of 1.5%. We identified three classes of HbA1c trajectories: (1) stable moderate hyperglycaemia (75%); (2) severe hyperglycaemia with a decline in HbA1c around referral (14%) and (3) severe hyperglycaemia with a decline in HbA1c after starting treatment at the DOC (11%). HbA1c trajectories were associated with diabetes duration RRR 0.92, CI (0.87, 0.97) in class 2 vs. 1 and 0.93 (0.88, 0.98) in class 3 vs. 1. Some differences were found between clinics in rejection rate, processes of care, and duration of follow-up. Conclusions Norwegian GPs handle most T2D patients themselves. Those with T2D and severe hyperglycaemia had a considerable benefit from being referred to a DOC, though with two separate trajectories: One where HbA1c improved around the time of referral, and another that improved after starting in a DOC.

Sexuality myth endorsement is linked with poorer sexual and relational outcomes across demographic groups in a large and diverse sample

ABSTRACT Due to differences in access to sexual information, some people may be more likely to endorse sexuality myths, which could be linked to poorer sexual and relational outcomes. The goals of this study were to: 1) investigate predictors of sexuality myth endorsement; 2) examine links between endorsing myths and sexual and relational outcomes; and 3) assess whether group membership strengthened associations between myth endorsement and sexual and relational outcomes. A large and diverse sample of undergraduate students (N = 1,077) and community adults (N = 3,359) completed an online survey assessing their demographics, sexuality myth endorsement, and sexual and relational outcomes. Being assigned male at birth, identifying as cisgender, identifying as heterosexual, being younger, holding more conservative political views, being more religious, living in an urban locality during childhood, and not receiving sex education predicted greater sexuality myth endorsement. Greater sexuality myth endorsement predicted lower sexual satisfaction, lower sexual function (among people with vulvas), higher sexual distress, and lower relationship satisfaction. Generally, the strength of associations between myth endorsement and sexual and relational outcomes did not differ across demographic factors. Overall, findings provide insight into groups more likely to endorse sexuality myths, who thus may be at risk of poorer sexual and relational outcomes.

Eco-social divides in public policy preferences in Great Britain.

Environmental and social policy measures can both complement and contradict each other. Recent environmental sociology literature suggests that this dual relationship can give rise to eco-social divides in European societies, as some people either endorse or reject both types of measures, while some support one set of policies but not the other. In the current paper, we use data from the British Social Attitudes survey to investigate eco-social divides in Great Britain. The results confirm the presence of four sizeable attitudinal groups with distinct combinations of welfare and environmental preferences. The sizes of the groups have nevertheless changed considerably over time, with people who are simultaneously in favour of welfare and environmental measures becoming more numerous, and the opponents of both measures becoming fewer. Cultural conservatism/progressiveness, age and political party allegiance are key predictors of eco-social attitudinal group membership.

Microbial communities indicate fine differences in pollution levels by emerging contaminants

Aquatic microbial communities are well known to rapidly respond to environmental changes, and to harbor the highest taxonomic and genetic diversity among biological communities. Nevertheless, they remain under-utilized as bioindicators of contamination. Here we applied indicator value analysis (IndVal) to aquatic microbial communities to identify indicators of anthropogenic pressure by emerging contaminants at basin scale. For that, we defined categories of impact according to the Aquatic Quality Index (AQI) based on previous determinations of emerging contaminants (ECs) along an anthropogenic impact gradient. Indicator value analysis (IndVal) was conducted to identify amplicon sequence variants (ASVs; analogous to species in other fields of ecology) associated with each category.It was possible to find combinations of ASV indicators for all impact categories defined by the AQI. Microbial indicators exhibited a high capacity to predict the group membership of the samples within each AQI category and to correctly assign the samples to the appropriate category, employing leave-one-out cross-validation (100 % correctly assigned for streams and coastal sea and 94% for lagoons).This is the first report of emerging contamination indicators based on microbial communities. These results reaffirm the capacity of microbial communities to rapidly adjust their taxonomic composition in response to environmental changes. Therefore, these microscopic entities are promising for the application of environmental management measures and the approximation presented here contributes to the advancement of tools dedicated to monitoring aquatic ecosystems, and the application of more stringent standards for water quality than what is currently implemented.

Bio-Social Race as a Socially Salient Conception of Race

In this paper I argue that a Bio-Social conception of “race” is a socially salient conception within the United States. This conception is “socially salient” in the sense that is demonstrative of public understanding and public use of the race concept within context of the United States and its member institutions. This conception is “Bio-Social” in the sense that a set of biological and social properties form the necessary conditions for “race” and “racial group membership.” I explain that these biological and social properties are the social interpretation of ancestral relations to geographically and culturally specified groups.

Do wild-caught fly larvae cooperatively forage?

Animals often form organized cooperative foraging groups, where individual members must adhere to specific rules to maintain cohesiveness. These groups face the challenge of managing potential intruders, who may or may not assist in foraging. In semi-liquid food environments, Drosophila larvae learn to synchronize their movements into clusters, which are thought to make feeding more efficient. Individuals who do not synchronize with the group are excluded from the cluster. Whether clustering behavior occurs in wild-caught larvae, and if so, the extent of their selectivity in group membership, remains unknown. Here, we show that clustering occurs across a number of fly species, and the capacity to join different clusters varies both between and within species. We collected and observed a larval cluster from rotting fruit in the field, yielding seven fly species. Subsequent tests for clustering on five lines from this collection and 20 other inbred wild-caught lines revealed that all species, except D. suzukii, exhibit clustering behavior. Each line demonstrates varying capacities to become members of different clusters. This study also indicates that there is high genetic variance in how individual lines cluster with each other that is not explained by cross species features. Additionally, combinations of wild species with lab benchmark strains give varied outcomes in resultant adult fitness. The ability to co-cluster varies between and within species boundaries. However, fly lines that cluster with another tend to impart fitness both to themselves and their host. Our findings demonstrate that multiple species of fly larvae can co-cluster. This behavior tends to confer mutual benefits to cluster members, suggesting significant ecological implications in Drosophila communities.

Spatial Spillover Effects of Smallholder Households’ Adoption Behaviour of Soil Management Practices Among Push–Pull Farmers in Rwanda

Push–pull technology (PPT) integrates maize with the legume fodder Desmodium sp. and the border crop Brachiaria sp., aiming to enhance maize production in Rwanda. Despite its potential, the adoption of complementary soil management practices (SMP), vital for PPT’s success, remains low. This study employs spatial econometric methods to evaluate the determinants of SMP adoption and the interdependencies in decision-making among PPT-practicing farmers. We constructed a spatial weight matrix based on a global Moran’s I index and identified optimal model parameters through principal component analysis. Utilizing a spatial Durbin probit model (SDPM), we assessed the spatial interdependence of SMP adoption decisions among maize farmers. Our findings reveal significant spatial dependence in SMP adoption within a 1.962 km radius, with improved seed usage, household income, yield, farmer group membership and size of land cultivated being key factors positively influencing adoption. We propose a “nonequilibrium promotion strategy” to enhance SMP adoption, emphasizing the establishment of pilot regions to broaden outreach. Additionally, fostering technical training and selecting farmers with adequate resources as demonstration leaders can enhance spatial spillover effects. This research provides insights for developing policies to scale up push–pull technology in Rwanda and across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Quick-reference criteria for identifying multivariate cognitive change in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia: An ADNI study.

To establish quick-reference criteria regarding the frequency of statistically rare changes in seven neuropsychological measures administered to older adults. Data from 935 older adults examined over a two-year interval were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The sample included 401 cognitively normal older adults whose scores were used to determine the natural distribution of change scores for seven cognitive measures and to set change score thresholds corresponding to the 5th percentile. The number of test scores that exceeded these thresholds were counted for the cognitively normal group, as well as 381 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 153 individuals with dementia. Regression analyses examined whether the number of change scores predicted diagnostic group membership beyond demographic covariates. Only 4.2% of cognitively normal participants obtained two or more change scores that fell below the 5th percentile of change scores, compared to 10.6% of the stable MCI participants and 38.6% of those who converted to dementia. After adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and premorbid estimates, the number of change scores below the 5th percentile significantly predicted diagnostic group membership. It was uncommon for older adults to have two or more change scores fall below the 5th percentile thresholds in a seven-test battery. Higher change counts may identify those showing atypical cognitive decline.

The discrepancies in parent and teacher reports of children's behavioral inhibition provide domain-specific information about psychopathology and parenting.

Behavioral inhibition is a temperamental factor that increases the risk of internalizing disorders. Therefore, the identification of highly inhibited children is of great importance. However, informant discrepancies make this process difficult. In a cluster analytic approach, we aimed to use both parent and teacher reports of behavioral inhibition in order to gain a more detailed picture about children's behavioral inhibition in different contexts and to characterize highly inhibited children. Parents and teachers of 318 preschool children completed a questionnaire, which included the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Parents also reported their parenting behavior on the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Questionnaire (MAPS). A two-step cluster analysis was conducted on BIQ parent and teacher reports, and the resulting clusters were compared on the SDQ externalizing and internalizing subscales. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted separately for girls and boys to predict cluster membership based on the MAPS hostility, lax control and physical control subscales. Four clusters were identified, labelled as medium-low (ML), low-elevated (LE), elevated-elevated (EE) and high-high (HH), based on the levels of BIQ parent and teacher reports, respectively. In the HH cluster, mean scores of the SDQ internalizing subscales as reported by parents and teachers were significantly higher, and in boys but not in girls, mean scores of the SDQ externalizing subscale as reported by teachers were lower than in the other clusters. High levels of hostility predicted group membership of HH compared to LE and EE in both genders. Furthermore, in boys, lax control and physical control were also found to be significant when comparing HH to EE and LE, respectively. Our results suggest that the joint use of parent and teacher reports on behavioral inhibition may increase the ability to identify highly inhibited children at risk of developing internalizing disorders and add to our understanding of the underpinnings of children's inhibited behavior in different contexts.

Should chatbots use dialects? Exploring the influence mechanism of chatbot language form on value co-creation intention

ABSTRACT Incorporating dialects into chatbot interactions is crucial for building stronger connections with users and promoting value co-creation, especially in contexts where personalisation is prioritised. This study draws on social cognitive theory, social presence theory, and social identity theory to investigate how the language form used by chatbots affects individuals’ value co-creation intention. Across four distinct experiments, we find that dialects, as opposed to standard language, considerably enhance users’ value co-creation intention. This impact is driven by heightened perceived warmth, perceived competence, and social presence. Furthermore, the study emphasises the differing effects based on group membership, showing that dialect usage positively influences perceived warmth, competence, social presence, and value co-creation intention, but only within in-group contexts. These results point out the power of dialects as cultural markers in human-AI interactions, offering valuable insights for designing more engaging and culturally resonant chatbots.

The Influence of Neck Pain and Sleep Quantity on Headache Burden in Service Members With and Without Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: An Observational Study.

Headache is the most overwhelmingly reported symptom following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The upper cervical spine has been implicated in headache etiology, and cervical dysfunction may result in neck pain that influences the experience of headache. Sleep problem is the second most reported symptom following mTBI. We explored the contribution of neck pain (as a potential proxy for cervical dysfunction) on headache burden along with the contribution of sleep quantity following mTBI. Retrospective data from a repository consisting of service members recruited from primary care, with (N = 493) and without a history of mTBI (N = 63), was used for analysis. Portions of the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire were used for headache, sleep, and neck pain measures. Demographic and military characteristics that differed between groups were treated as covariates in analyses. Group comparisons revealed significant differences in the expected direction on all measures: mTBI > controls on headache and neck pain; controls > mTBI on sleep quantity. Regression revealed that neck pain accounted for the most variance in headache score, followed by group membership and sleep quantity. When analyzing groups separately, no difference in the pattern of results was revealed in the mTBI group. In the control group, variance in headache score was only significantly related to neck pain. Amongst service members who sought service from primary care, neck pain explains more variance in headache burden than mTBI history or sleep quantity, supporting that cervical dysfunction may be a salient factor associated with headache. Neck functioning may be a potential area of intervention in the management of headaches.