Negative Attention Research Articles

Links between obesity, weight stigma and learning in adolescence: a qualitative study

BackgroundEducational attainment is a key social determinant of health. Health and education are linked by multiple pathways, many of which are not well understood. One such pathway is the association between being above a healthy weight and lower academic achievement. While various explanations have been put forward to explain this relationship, evidence for causal pathways is sparse and unclear. This study addresses that evidence gap.MethodsWe interviewed 19 adults (late 20s; 14 female, 5 male) and one young person (14 years, male) from the UK in 2019/2020. Participants were recruited from the ALSPAC 1990s birth cohort, sampled to ensure diversity in socio-economic status and educational attainment, and a community-based weight management group for young people. Interviews focused on experiences of being above a healthy weight during secondary school and how this may have affected their learning and achievement. Interviews were face-to-face, digitally recorded, and transcribed verbatim. We analysed the data thematically.ResultsWe identified key pathways through which higher body weight may negatively impact educational performance and showed how these are linked within a novel theoretical model. Because larger body size is highly stigmatised, participants engaged in different strategies to minimise their exposure to negative attention. Participants sought to increase their social acceptance or become less socially visible (or a combination of both). A minority navigated this successfully; they often had many friends (or the ‘right’ friends), experienced little or no bullying at school and weight appeared to have little effect on their achievement at school. For most however, the behaviours resulting from these strategies (e.g. disruptive behaviour, truanting, not working hard) or the physical, social or mental impacts of their school experiences (e.g. hungry, tired, self-conscious, depressed) made it difficult to concentrate and/or participate in class, which in turn affected how teachers viewed them.ConclusionsAction to combat weight stigma, both within schools and in wider society, is urgently required to help address these educational disparities that in turn can impact health in later life.

Negative Interplay between Cabinet and Opposition Agendas: Evidence from Croatia

Abstract Despite the contemporary notion that government and opposition parties’ agendas in the long run positively influence each other, there are reasons to argue that different dynamics are at play as well. More specifically, previous studies neglected to address the short-term, transient interplay between parties’ agendas (within a year) while dominantly focussing on what governing parties talk about (and not on what they actually decide). Therefore, this article focuses on this short-term dynamic by hypothesising that governing parties (in cabinet meetings) and opposing parties (in parliamentary questions) feature issues that are undisclosed by the other side in the recent past, and as such create a negative issue attention influence. In other words, if the government places a certain issue high on its cabinet agenda, it will cause the opposition to avoid that issue in their parliamentary questions in the following months and vice versa. By analysing issue-coded data from the government’s cabinet meetings and opposition questions in Croatia (1992–2017) across multiple issues, I can provide evidence that supports these hypotheses. As such, this study contributes to the current knowledge on the relationship between government and opposition issue attention by offering another take on their interaction from a negative influence perspective.

SLIS Notes: What is a library in crisis?

What is a library in crisis? One definition is that a crisis is an event beyond the normal situation that acts as a disruption to library operations and services and can damage the library’s reputation (Pedraza, 2010). These situations draw attention, usually negative attention, and scrutiny by the library’s user population, political/government entities, and even at times, the attention of the nation via outlets such as social media. Crisis management requires action in three phases—before, during, and after. The goal of crisis management is to prevent or reduce the impact of the crisis on the library. What can libraries do to be prepared before the challenge?

Consequences of control and monitoring: are they always perceived as negative attention

Consequences of control and monitoring: are they always perceived as negative attention

Impact of Post Pandemic on Environmental World Disorder

In general it has been observed that the Preparedness levels against the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic were relatively poor in South Asian countries. However, South Asian countries have lower mortality levels compared with other world countries. COVID-19 has revealed the vulnerabilities of the health system as a whole. In addition, the high burden of non-communicable diseases in South Asia multiplies the complexities in combating present and future health crises. The advantage offered by the younger population demographics in South Asia may not be sustained with the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases and lack of priority setting for improving health systems. Thus the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a window for introspection, scaling up preparedness for future pandemics, and improving the health of the population overall. The COVID pandemic arrived in South Asia at a much later stage compared with other countries. As such, the South Asian countries may have been able to learn from countries that had early peaks, and therefore achieved better preparation in terms of the public health response. For example, this could have resulted in a lower viral load due to more people wearing masks. South Asian countries lift lockdowns despite rising case numbers. Healthcare facilities and hospitals are stretched due to the increase in the number of cases. It has been reported that testing levels in Pakistan and Bangladesh have fallen dramatically. Social distance is much prevalent in sangha members of Buddhism and caste system in Hindu and its associated communities. That help much to such communities during COVID-19 pandemic. Further requires strong leadership and great political will to allocate substantial resources to prepare for future pandemics. The region needs to scale up the existing social ‘safety nets’ rapidly, such as cash transfers for food. South Asian countries have also resorted to the use of online portals, social media, working from home, online learning, direct benefit transfers, delivery of health services through ‘virtual doctors’, deploying facial recognition, and use of thermal scanners for identification of infected people. Delayed vaccine campaigns in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have brought more negative attention to their governments as other developed countries surge ahead. Since a huge extent of PM 2.5 can be credited to traffic vehicle’s gas and mechanical consuming of fills, this over all decrease of AQI information by implication shows an impact of lockdown in these nations. Urgent advanced training of both mental and physical health by way of yoga and meditation require

Depressive Symptoms Account for Loss of Positive Attention Bias in ADHD Patients: An Eye-Tracking Study

Objectives: Depression and ADHD often co-occur and are both characterized by altered attentional processing. Differences and overlap in the profile of attention to emotional information may help explain the co-occurence. We examined negative attention bias in ADHD as neurocognitive marker for comorbid depression. Methods: Patients with depression (n = 63), ADHD (n = 43), ADHD and depression (n = 25), and non-psychiatric controls (n = 68) were compared on attention allocation toward emotional faces. The following eye-tracking indices were used: gaze duration, number of revisits, and location and duration of first fixation. Results: Controls revisited the happy faces more than the other facial expressions. Both the depression and the comorbid group showed significantly less revisits of the happy faces compared to the ADHD and the control group. Interestingly, after controlling for depressive symptoms, the groups no longer differed on the number of revisits. Conclusion: ADHD patients show a relative positive attention bias, while negative attention bias in ADHD likely indicates (sub)clinical comorbid depression.

Manufacturing doubt: Assessing the effects of independent vs industry-sponsored messaging about the harms of fossil fuels, smoking, alcohol, and sugar sweetened beverages

Background Manufacturers of harmful products engage in misinformation tactics long employed by the tobacco industry to emphasize uncertainty about scientific evidence and deflect negative attention from their products. This study assessed the effects of one type of tactic, the use of “alternative causation” arguments, on public understanding. Methods In five trials (one for each industry) anonymized Qualtrics panel respondents were randomized to receive a message on the risk in question from one of four industry sponsored organizations (exposure), or from one of four independent organizations (control), on risks related to alcohol, tobacco, fossil fuel and sugar sweetened beverages. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the effect of industry arguments about uncertainty on the primary outcome of public certainty about product risk, adjusting for age, gender and education. The results from all five trials were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis. Findings In total, n=3284 respondents were exposed to industry-sponsored messaging about product-related risks, compared to n=3297 exposed to non-industry messages. Across all industries, exposure to industry-sponsored messages led to greater reported uncertainty or false certainty about risk, compared to non-industry messages [Summary odds ratio (OR) 1·60, confidence interval (CI) 1·28–1·99]. The effect was greater among those who self-rated as not/slightly knowledgeable (OR 2·24, CI 1·61–3·12), or moderately knowledgeable (OR 1·85, CI 1·38–2·48) compared to those very/extremely knowledgeable (OR 1·28, CI 1·03–1·60). Conclusions This study demonstrates that exposure to industry sponsored messages which appear intended to downplay risk significantly increases uncertainty or false certainty, with the effect being greater in less knowledgeable participants.

Media attention and regulatory efficiency of corporate violations: Evidence from China

We examine the influence of media attention on the regulatory efficiency of corporate violations in a restrictive media environment. Using a hand-collected sample of corporate violations in China during 1998–2018, we find that fraudulent firms accompanied by more negative media attention are associated with a higher hazard rate of the violation being investigated and enforced. The effect is not diminished by the political connections of the fraudulent firms and is robust after controlling for potential confounding factors. Our findings suggest that by influencing regulatory efficiency, the media serve as an effective governance mechanism even in markets with strict media control.

Facial Appearance Dissatisfaction Explains Differences in Zoom Fatigue.

Viewing self-video during videoconferences potentially causes negative self-focused attention that contributes to virtual meeting (VM) or “Zoom” fatigue. The present research examines this proposition, focusing on facial dissatisfaction—feeling unhappy about one's own facial appearance—as a potential psychological mechanism of VM fatigue. A study of survey responses from a panel of 613 adults found that VM fatigue was 14.9 percent higher for women than for men, and 11.1 percent higher for Asian than for White participants. These gender and race/ethnicity differences were found to be mediated by facial dissatisfaction. This study replicates earlier VM fatigue research, extends the theoretical understanding of facial dissatisfaction as a psychological mechanism of VM fatigue, and suggests that practical approaches to mitigating VM fatigue could include implementing technological features that reduce self-focused attention during VMs (e.g., employing avatars).

The use of corporate social responsibility in the recovery phase of crisis management: A case study in the Brazilian company Petrobras

Despite evidence that the extractive industry adheres to corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies developing such activities still attract negative attention because of their frequent involvement in crises. The adoption of CSR practices to respond to crises is particularly important for the postcrisis, for which the literature has been extensive in documenting the mechanisms mobilized by organizations for damage control and for learning from crisis events. However, the previous literature has been less prolific in investigating the recovery phase of crises, which involves a series of actions that organizations might undertake between the phases of damage control and learning. By employing an inductive and qualitative approach, this paper examines the use of CSR practices during the recovery phase of crises in the oil industry context by investigating three cases involving the Brazilian company Petrobras. Our findings indicate that four mechanisms are mobilized in the recovery phase of the different crises: penance, deference, renaissance and insurance. With the adoption of a processual perspective, our paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the processes underlying these four mechanisms and how they shape the actions of organizations in high-risk activities such as the extractive industry.

Abstract 13669: Secondary Prevention Aspirin Trends in the Upper Midwest, 2015-2019

Introduction: Secondary prevention (SP) aspirin use after a cardiovascular disease (CVD) event is strongly recommended and supported by consistent guidelines. Aspirin recommendations for primary prevention have varied over time, recently becoming more restrictive after clinical trials published in 2018. Hypothesis: Negative scientific and media attention regarding primary prevention aspirin would result in unintentional decline in SP aspirin use. Methods: We conducted random telephone surveys of adults aged 45-79 years in the upper Midwest in 2015, 2017, and 2019. We queried participant demographics, CVD history and risk factors and aspirin use. Using logistic regression, we evaluated i) the trend in SP aspirin use over the 3 surveys and ii) characteristics associated with SP aspirin non-use, adjusting for other antithrombotic use. Results: A total of 1907 adults with history of CVD provided data for analysis, median age 70 years, 38% female. There was no significant change in SP aspirin use in the total sample, nor by age, sex, or CVD risk factors. SP aspirin use was significantly lower among participants with 0-1 CVD risk factors compared with those diagnosed with ≥2 (Figure). Younger participants also used aspirin less frequently (67% for <60 years vs 76% for 60+ years). Respondents who talked with their healthcare provider about aspirin had much higher aspirin use than those who did not (87% vs 60%). In the 2019 survey, 11% of participants stopped aspirin. Stoppers were more likely to be on another antithrombotic medication (61% vs 43%) and less likely to have the diagnosis of hypertension (78% vs 81%) or hyperlipidemia (68% vs 72%) compared with those on aspirin. Stoppers also had fewer aspirin discussions with their provider (45% vs 69%). Conclusions: It is reassuring that SP aspirin use did not drop during a time of negative messaging for primary prevention aspirin. Unfortunately, underuse remains evident in younger adults and those with fewer CVD risk factors.

Biosolids in Western Canada: A Case Study on Public Risk Perception and Factors Influencing Public Attitudes.

The land application of biosolids can be subject to questions and concerns, suggesting a gap exists with public perception of biosolids. There is opposition amongst a segment of the population regarding the land application of biosolids in the Southern Interior of British Columbia in Canada. Kamloops and Merritt communities were assessed through a mailout survey to understand better public perceptions of biosolids risks and factors that influence attitudes towards biosolids management. Two thousand surveys were distributed proportionately between the communities. Response rates for Kamloops and Merritt were 22 and 24 percent, respectively. Kamloops and Merritt respondents generally identified differing risk perceptions around biosolids management. Kamloops respondents relative to Merritt were more accepting of the risks associated with biosolids. This acceptance is a likely result of Merritt residents' recent experience with application sites and proximity to biosolids projects, and the associated negative local media attention. Results from Kamloops highlighted that there is general support to find a productive use of biosolids. This research supports the notion that the 'beyond compliance' approach of conducting early engagement to obtain community support proactively may be valuable for any potentially controversial natural resource project, such as with biosolids land application projects.

How weight and body size affect learning: a qualitative exploration of experiences in secondary school

BackgroundBeing above a healthy weight is associated with lower academic achievement. Various explanations have been put forward to explain this association, but evidence for causal pathways is sparse and unclear. This study sought to qualitatively explore the association between bodyweight, body size, and learning. MethodsWe interviewed 19 adults (late 20s; 14 women, five men) and one young person (14 years, male) from the UK in 2019–20. Ethnicity was not formally recorded. Adult participants were recruited from the ALSPAC 1990s birth cohort, sampled to ensure diversity in socioeconomic status and educational attainment; the teenage participant was recruited from a youth community-based weight management group. Interviews focused on experiences of being above a healthy weight (self-identified) during secondary school and on how this bodyweight might have affected their learning and achievement. Interviews were face-to-face, digitally recorded, and transcribed verbatim. We analysed the data thematically to create three key themes linked within a theoretical model. Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the ALSPAC Ethics and Law Committee (86964) and the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (85702) at the University of Bristol FindingsBecause a larger body size is highly stigmatised, all participants engaged in different strategies to minimise their exposure to negative attention. Participants sought to either increase their social acceptance or become less socially visible (or a combination of both). Three participants appeared to navigate this experience successfully: they had many friends (or the right friends), experienced little or no bullying at school, and weight appeared to have little effect on their achievement at school. For most, however, school was a negative social environment, and the behaviours resulting from these strategies (eg, disruptive behaviour, truanting, not working hard) or the physical, social, or mental impacts of their school experiences (eg, hungry, tired, self-conscious, depressed) made it difficult to concentrate or participate in class, which in turn affected how they felt teachers viewed them. InterpretationEngaging in negative behaviours to increase social acceptance or trying to be “invisible” in school might be key pathways through which higher bodyweight might negatively impact educational performance. Action to combat weight stigma, both within schools and in wider society, is urgently required and might help address these educational disparities. FundingThe Health Foundation.

Scots Wiki – moving forward

How do you recover after a crisis? This session will reflect on the work done by and with the sco.wiki community to recover and rebuild after the negative international press attention that surrounded the wiki in 2020. I’ll talk about on- and off- wiki community development, partnership development, the challenges that still face the project, and hopes for the future. I’ll also reflect on care in volunteer management, and why we should always remember that there are real people behind keyboards. As Scotland Programme Coordinator for Wikimedia UK, I’ve been involved in supporting the community post-crisis, and have been impressed and heartened by the volume of work which has taken place since sco.wiki hit the headlines. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell the story of a group of editors and Scots speakers who are determined that the wiki should survive, grow, and thrive. Abstract id. 11: In the lead-up to the launch of Abstract Wikipedia, a sufficient body of linguistic information, based on which the text within for a given language can be generated, must be in place so that different sets of functions, some working with concepts and others turning these into word sequences, can work together to produce something natural in that language. To achieve that information body's development requires more thorough consideration of a number of linguistic aspects sooner rather than later. This session will thus discuss aspects of language planning with respect to Wikidata lexicographical data and natural language generation, including the compositionality and manipulability of lexical units, the breadth and interconnectedness of units of meaning, and the treatment of variation among a language’s lects broadly construed. Special reference to the handling of each of these aspects for Bengali and those linguistic varieties often grouped with it will be presented.

Change in negative attention bias mediates the association between attention bias modification training and depression symptom improvement.

Attention bias modification training (ABMT) is purported to reduce depression by targeting and modifying an attentional bias for sadness-related stimuli. However, few tests of this hypothesis have been completed. The present study examined whether change in attentional bias mediated a previously reported association between ABMT condition (active ABMT, sham ABMT, assessments only; N = 145) and depression symptom change among depressed adults. The preregistered, primary measure of attention bias was a discretized eye-tracking metric that quantified the proportion of trials where gaze time was greater for sad stimuli than neutral stimuli. Contemporaneous longitudinal simplex mediation indicated that change in attentional bias early in treatment partially mediated the effect of ABMT on depression symptoms. Specificity analyses indicated that in contrast to the eye-tracking mediator, reaction time assessments of attentional bias for sad stimuli (mean bias and trial level variability) and lapses in sustained attention did not mediate the association between ABMT and depression change. Results also suggested that mediation effects were limited to a degree by suboptimal measurement of attentional bias for sad stimuli. When effective, ABMT may improve depression in part by reducing an attentional bias for sad stimuli, particularly early on during ABMT. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A Descriptive Analysis of the Epidemiology and Motivations for Laser Tattoo Removal in an Underserved Population.

Tattoos of formerly gang-involved and incarcerated individuals can negatively impact their ability to reintegrate into society. Laser tattoo removal is essential to helping individuals obtain employment, re-cultivate positive relationships, and disengage from gangs. The objective of this study is to describe the demographics and motivations for laser tattoo removal at a large nonprofit clinic. This was a single center retrospective study conducted on patients presenting to Ya'stuvo Tattoo Removal between January 2016-December 2018 and had at least three laser tattoo removal sessions. Data was recorded on patient demographics, geographic location of residence (e.g. zipcode), comorbidities, probation/parole status, referral source, transportation mode, and motivations for receiving and removing tattoos. A representative sample of 862 patients was used to conduct our analysis. Average age at first visit was 30. 16% (n = 134) were on probation, 8% (n = 66) were on parole, and 63% (n = 544) did not report their probation/parole status. Reasons for receiving a tattoo included gangs (46%, n = 368), a current or ex-relationship (28%, n = 223), and decoration (20%, n = 159). The most common reasons for tattoo removal were employment (66%, n = 546), readiness to change life (47%, n = 392), maturity (47%, n = 392), family (43%, n = 356), and negative attention from tattoos (37%, n = 303).The current study highlights the importance of laser tattoo removal in reintegration and gang disengagement. Expanding cost efficient laser tattoo removal is paramount to meet the safety and socioeconomic needs of this population.

Biased Maintenance of Attention on Sad Faces in Clinically Depressed Youth: An Eye-Tracking Study

The role of negative attention biases (AB), central to cognitive models of adult depression, is yet unclear in youth depression. We investigated negative AB in depressed compared to healthy youth and tested whether AB are more pronounced in depressed than at-risk youth. Negative AB was assessed for sad and angry faces with an eye-tracking paradigm [Passive Viewing Task (PVT)] and a behavioural task [Visual Search Task (VST)], comparing three groups of 9–14-year-olds: youth with major depression (MD; n = 32), youth with depressed parents (high-risk; HR; n = 49) and youth with healthy parents (low-risk; LR; n = 42). The PVT revealed MD participants to maintain attention longer on sad faces compared to HR, but not LR participants. This AB correlated positively with depressive symptoms. The VST revealed no group differences. Our results provide preliminary evidence for a negative AB in maintenance of attention on disorder-specific emotional information in depressed compared to at-risk youth.

Quantifying the effect of Wakefield et al. (1998) on skepticism about MMR vaccine safety in the U.S.

Efforts to trace the rise of childhood vaccine safety concerns in the US often suggest Andrew Wakefield and colleagues' retracted 1998 Lancet study (AW98)-which alleged that the MMR vaccine can cause children to develop autism-as a primary cause of US vaccine skepticism. However, a lack of public opinion data on MMR safety collected before/after AW98's publication obscures whether anecdotal accounts are indicative of a potentially-causal effect. We address this problem using a regression discontinuity framework to study change in monthly MMR injury claims (N = 74,850; from 1990-2019) from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) to proxy concern about vaccine safety. Additionally, we suggest a potential mechanism for the effect of AW98 on vaccine skepticism, via automated sentiment analyses of MMR-related news stories (N = 674; from 1996-2000) in major television and newspaper outlets. AW98 led to an immediate increase of about 70 MMR injury claims cases per month, averaging across six estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 70.44 [52.19, 88.75], p < 0.01). Preliminary evidence suggests that the volume of negative media attention to MMR increased in the weeks following AW98's publication, across four estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 9.59% [3.66, 15.51], p < 0.01). Vaccine skepticism increased following the publication of AW98, which was potentially made possible by increased negative media coverage of MMR. Childhood vaccine skepticism presents an important challenge to widespread vaccine uptake, and undermines support for pro-vaccine health policies. In addition to advancing our understanding of the previously-obscured origins of US vaccine skepticism, our work cautions that high-profile media attention to inaccurate scientific studies can undermine public confidence in vaccines. We conclude by offering several recommendations that researchers and health communicators might consider to detect and address future threats to vaccine confidence.

Shaker dance and the religious production of spectacle

AbstractReligious communities such as the Shakers, the Mormons, and Africana religious practitioners practice spectacular religion. Ritual spectacle is particularly visible and thus invites observation from outsiders. My argument follows recent work by David Walker and Paul C. Johnson that illustrates religious traditions in which religion was practiced in collaboration with an anticipated audience. Religious spectacle is not unusual: there are religions who put on shows for one another and who have a place for theater within their religious community. On the other hand, there are religions that make a spectacle of themselves for others, a category that overlaps substantially with groups categorized through the disciplinary frame of New Religious Movements. Scholarship on non‐normative religion has, however, underestimated the way in which religions that invite negative attention incorporate the hostile gaze of audiences into their rituals. By thinking about particular religious practices as performances for an audience, I argue that Shakers, Mormons, and Africana traditions used the power of observation for spiritual purposes.

Rumination & eating psychopathology among trans and nonbinary individuals: A path analysis integrating minority stress

Ruminative thought patterns, defined as repetitive negative self-focused attention, are considered an avoidant coping strategy for managing stress. As trans and nonbinary (TNB) individuals commonly experience prejudice and discrimination in response to their gender identities (i.e. minority stressors), rumination over these stressors may contribute to heightened risk of psychopathology in these groups. Although rumination is a general risk factor for eating disorder (ED) psychopathology, no studies to date have examined whether eating- or gender-related ruminative patterns relate to maintenance of ED psychopathology for TNB individuals. This cross-sectional study investigated whether levels of rumination (both gender-related and ED-specific) mediated the relationship between minority stress and ED psychopathology. MethodParticipants were 242 TNB adults (Mage = 24.92, SD = 6.5, Range = 18-70) recruited online, who completed measures of minority stress, gender-related rumination, ED-specific rumination, and ED psychopathology. We used Preacher-Hayes' approach to examine the parallel mediation model, with gender-related and ED-specific rumination as potential mediators. ResultsGender-related rumination did not mediate the relation between gender minority stress and ED psychopathology, Indirect B = -0.00 [95% BCa CI: -0.01, 0.00]; however, ED-specific rumination was significant, indicating partial mediation, Indirect B = 0.01 [95% BCa CI: 0.00, 0.02]. ConclusionAs gender minority stress and ED-specific rumination relate to ED psychopathology, it is essential that clinicians adopt an intersectional minority stress framework in understanding ED psychopathology among TNB individuals.