Positive Indirect Association Research Articles

Ethnic Diversity, Inter-group Attitudes and Countervailing Pathways of Positive and Negative Inter-group Contact: An Analysis Across Workplaces and Neighbourhoods

This study advances the current literature investigating the relationship between contextual out-group exposure, inter-group attitudes and the role of inter-group contact. Firstly, it introduces the concept of contact-valence into this relationship; that is, whether contact is experienced positively or negatively. Secondly, it presents a comparative analysis of how processes of out-group exposure and frequency of (valenced) contact affect prejudice across both neighbourhoods and workplaces. Applying path analysis modelling to a nationally-representative sample of white British individuals in England, we demonstrate, across both contexts, that increasing out-group exposure is associated with higher rates of both positively- and negatively-valenced contact. This results in exposure exhibiting both positive and negative indirect associations with prejudice via more frequent inter-group mixing. These countervailing contact-pathways help explain how out-group exposure is associated with inter-group attitudes. In neighbourhoods, increasing numbers of individuals experiencing positive-contact suppress an otherwise negative effect of neighbourhood diversity (driven partly by increasing numbers of individuals reporting negative contact). Across workplaces the effect differs such that increasing numbers of individuals experiencing negative-contact suppress an otherwise positive effect of workplace diversity (driven largely by increasing numbers of individuals experiencing positive contact).

Benefiting from Open Innovation: A Multidimensional Model of Absorptive Capacity*

While recent studies shed some light on the performance implications of open innovation, there is a gap in understanding how firms can translate their openness into innovation outcomes. In particular, it is unclear whether—and if so, how—firms can create a competitive advantage in product innovation by tapping into external sources of innovation. To address this gap, this study conceptualizes multidimensional components of absorptive capacity and develops a nomological network that explicates relationships between these components and competitive advantage in product innovation. By marrying the open innovation and absorptive capacity perspectives, higher‐order models of absorptive capacity are proposed which delineate the underlying processes to recognize, assimilate, and exploit external sources of innovation. The empirical analysis of the nomological network based on original survey data reveals important findings. First, there is a positive indirect baseline association between external technological resource access and competitive advantage in product innovation, mediated by the firm's technology‐related capabilities. Second, components of absorptive capacity modify this indirect baseline relationship. Recognition capacity is positively associated with external technological resource access and therefore, operates as an antecedent to the proposed baseline relationship. Assimilation capacity constitutes a relevant condition to the proposed baseline relationship. The indirect association between external technological resource access and competitive advantage in product innovation is dependent on the level of assimilation capacity. Exploitation capacity has an additional and independent direct positive association with competitive advantage in product innovation. This study contributes to the open innovation literature by delineating organizational processes that help to explain interfirm differences in benefiting from external sources of innovation. In addition, this study adds to the absorptive capacity literature by developing and validating a set of measures that captures, individually and in concert, three components of absorptive capacity.

Recreational specialization and ecologically responsible behaviour of Chinese birdwatchers in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTBirdwatching is a popular nature-based recreational activity that has millions of participants worldwide. Hong Kong is an important birdwatching destination in Southeast Asia, and the number of birdwatchers visiting Hong Kong has steadily increased in recent decades. This study investigated the influences of recreational specialization on the pro-environmental attitudes and ecologically responsible behaviour of Chinese birdwatchers. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in Hong Kong, and 387 completed questionnaires were collected. The results of structural equation modelling indicate a direct positive association between the birdwatchers’ specialization and pro-environmental attitudes and an indirect positive association between their specialization and ecologically responsible behaviour. These findings suggest that understanding birdwatchers’ specialization is essential for predicting birdwatchers’ behaviour when visiting ecologically sensitive destinations. Birdwatcher specialization levels could be used to formulate visitor management strategies at birdwatching sites and to mitigate visitor impacts on avian species.

Association between frequency of fried food consumption and resilience to depression in Japanese company workers: a cross-sectional study.

BackgroundLong-chain n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3/n-6 PUFA) play important roles in emotional regulation. We previously reported an association between fish consumption, which is major source of LC n-3 PUFA, and resilience to depression, where resilience is the ability to cope with stress in the face of adversity. Although the traditional Japanese dietary pattern of high fish consumption is associated with low depressive symptoms, the current Japanese diet pattern has become westernized. Westernized diets contain excessive amounts of LC n-6 PUFA due to high intake of vegetable oils commonly used in fried food and are associated with risk of depression. The aim of this study was to examine the association between frequency of fried food consumption and resilience to depression.MethodsParticipants were 715 Japanese company workers. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms, and the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14) was used to measure resilience. Frequency of fish and fried food consumption was assessed using a self-report questionnaire based on the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Regression analyses using Preacher and Hayes’ bootstrap script were used to adjust for demographic factors, frequency of physical exercise, and fish consumption.ResultsSignificant associations were identified between frequency of fried food consumption and total CES-D score (path c, B = 0.72; P < 0.01), between frequency of fried food consumption and total RS-14 score (path a, B = −1.73, P < 0.01), and between total RS-14 score and CES-D score (path b, B = −0.35; P < 0.01). The association between fried food consumption and total CES-D score was not significant when we controlled for RS-14 score. Bootstrapping results showed that there was a significant positive indirect association between frequency of fried food and CESD score through RS-14 (95 % bias-corrected and accelerated confidence interval = 0.34 to 0.92).ConclusionFrequency of fried food consumption was associated with lower resilience to depression. Further nutritional interventional studies to increase resilience and prevent depression are warranted.

Microbiome Networks: A Systems Framework for Identifying Candidate Microbial Assemblages for Disease Management.

Network models of soil and plant microbiomes provide new opportunities for enhancing disease management, but also challenges for interpretation. We present a framework for interpreting microbiome networks, illustrating how observed network structures can be used to generate testable hypotheses about candidate microbes affecting plant health. The framework includes four types of network analyses. "General network analysis" identifies candidate taxa for maintaining an existing microbial community. "Host-focused analysis" includes a node representing a plant response such as yield, identifying taxa with direct or indirect associations with that node. "Pathogen-focused analysis" identifies taxa with direct or indirect associations with taxa known a priori as pathogens. "Disease-focused analysis" identifies taxa associated with disease. Positive direct or indirect associations with desirable outcomes, or negative associations with undesirable outcomes, indicate candidate taxa. Network analysis provides characterization not only of taxa with direct associations with important outcomes such as disease suppression, biofertilization, or expression of plant host resistance, but also taxa with indirect associations via their association with other key taxa. We illustrate the interpretation of network structure with analyses of microbiomes in the oak phyllosphere, and in wheat rhizosphere and bulk soil associated with the presence or absence of infection by Rhizoctonia solani.

Food assistance programmes are indirectly associated with anaemia status in children

Anaemia in children is a public health concern in Mexico; Federal food assistance programmes are being implemented to prevent it. We undertook this research to investigate the indirect association between food assistance programmes (FAP) and anaemia through dietary and socio-economic conditions of beneficiary children. A structural equation model (SEM) was constructed to assess associations among FAP, dietary and socio-economic conditions, as well as anaemia. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted based on a sample of 1214 households with children <5 years old, beneficiaries of two FAP: Prospera and rescue from malnutrition with amaranth (RMA) and a comparison group in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The SEM and a decomposition effect analysis revealed the existence of a significant indirect association of FAP on the prevalence of anaemia via dietary and socio-economic conditions in children under 5 years old. The Prospera assistance programme showed a significant indirect positive association with the prevalence of anaemia (standard coefficient=0·027, P<0·031), and the RMA programme showed a significant indirect negative association with the prevalence of anaemia (standard coefficient=-0·029, P=0·047). There was a direct association between FAP and dietary and socio-economic conditions. FAP could indirectly modify the prevalence of anaemia in young children with a direct improvement on dietary and socio-economic conditions. The unexpected finding of the association between RMA, dietary and socio-economic conditions and the prevalence of anaemia reflects differences in the focus of the programmes.

Does Career Success Make You Happy? The Mediating Role of Multiple Subjective Success Evaluations

We hypothesize that career success assessed as objective career achievements (income and responsibility status) has an indirect positive association with life satisfaction that is channeled through multiple subjective success evaluations. These are based on (a) social comparisons (comparison with others, other-referent success evaluation) and (b) individual standards (satisfaction with career achievements, self-referent success evaluations). We tested our reasoning in a 2-year prospective study with N = 990 professionals. Controlling for gender, family status, and workload, the results of two mediation models that draw on all information from two measurement points supported our reasoning. We found indirect positive associations between career success and life satisfaction (H1) channeled through both other-referent (H2) and self-referent (H3) subjective success evaluation. In both mediation models, we found partial mediation, and the remaining direct path from career success to life satisfaction was negative. We conclude that career success has mixed effects on a person’s life satisfaction: The net effect of positive indirect and negative direct effects is positive, but not large. We discuss the significance of these findings for theorizing about the influence of the work domain on life satisfaction as well as for conceptual issues in the analysis of mediators and moderators of the career success life satisfaction association.

Longer breastfeeding duration reduces the positive relationships among gestational weight gain, birth weight and childhood anthropometrics

BackgroundThe relationship between gestational weight gain (GWG) and childhood growth remains controversial. An examination on whether infant feeding practices mediate this relationship may improve our understanding of it.MethodsWe investigated whether...

An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior

The current study investigated how work-related disagreements—coined as conflicts—relate to workplace bullying, from the perspective of the target as well as the perpetrator. We hypothesized a positive indirect association between task conflicts and bullying through relationship conflicts. This process accounted for both for targets and perpetrators of bullying. Targets are distinguished from perpetrators in our assumption that this indirect effect is boosted by distributive conflict behavior, being yielding for targets and forcing for perpetrators. Results in a large representative sample of the Flemish working population (N = 2,029) confirmed our hypotheses. Additionally, our study also revealed a direct effect from task conflicts to bullying in the analyses regarding the indirect as well as the conditional indirect effects. For perpetrators, both the indirect and direct relationships are moderated by forcing, underlining the importance of distributive conflict behavior particularly for the enactment of bullying behaviors.

Foraging Relationships Between Elephants and Lantana camara Invasion in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, India

AbstractLantana camara is a widespread exotic invasive species in India, capable of dominating and displacing native forage species. We investigated whether L. camara was associated with variation in elephant foraging behavior in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, India. The behavioral responses of elephants to L. camara were assessed from feeding and stepping rates. Elephants were never observed to feed on L. camara, but rather fed on grass and browse present within and around L. camara patches. A multiple regression analysis showed that feeding rates were negatively associated with L. camara invasion (F1, 55 = 4.26, R2 = 0.07), but not stepping rates. Instead, grass cover and browse density were associated with stepping rates (F2, 55 = 11.16, R2 = 0.30). Path analysis indicated that the total effect of L. camara on feeding rates was 11 percent (β = −0.24) less than the direct negative association (β = −0.27) owing to a positive indirect association of L. camara with feeding rates through grass cover and browse density (β = 0.03), while stepping rates were negatively associated with grass cover (β = −0.39) and positively associated with browse density (β = 0.38). Our results indicate that L. camara appears capable of modifying feeding rates of elephants, likely through a loss of grass areas due to L. camara invasion. Experimental work is needed to test for causal relationships among the variables we measured, to enhance our understanding of how invasive weeds modify elephant behavior.

Enculturation and Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence and Gender Roles in an Asian Indian Population: Implications for Community‐Based Prevention

This study examined the relationships among enculturation, attitudes supporting intimate partner violence (IPV-supporting attitudes), and gender role attitudes among one of the largest Asian Indian population groups in the US. Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews with a random sample of Gujarati men and women aged 18-64 in Metropolitan Detroit. Using structural equation modeling, we modeled the effects of three components of enculturation (behavior, values, and community participation) on gender role attitudes and IPV-supporting attitudes among married respondents (N = 373). Analyses also accounted for the effects of respondent age, education, religious service attendance, perceived financial difficulty, and lengths of residence in the US. The second-order, overall construct of enculturation was the strongest predictor of IPV-supporting attitudes (standardized B = 0.61), but not gender role attitudes. Patriarchal gender role attitudes were positively associated with IPV-supporting attitudes (B = 0.49). In addition to the overall effect of the enculturation construct, two of the components of enculturation had specific effects. "Enculturation-values" had a specific positive indirect association with IPV-supporting attitudes, through its relationship with patriarchal gender role attitudes. However, "enculturation-community participation" was negatively associated with IPV-supporting attitudes, suggesting the importance of community-based prevention of IPV among this immigrant population group.

Sexual Minority Stressors and Psychological Aggression in Lesbian Women’s Intimate Relationships

Our study examined how two sexual minority stressors (internalized homophobia and social constraints in talking with others about one’s minority sexual identity) are related to psychological aggression (PA) in lesbian women’s relationships. PA includes a range of methods to hurt, coerce, control, and intimidate intimate partners. Rumination (i.e., brooding about one’s self and life situation) and relationship satisfaction were examined as potential mediating variables. Self-identified lesbian women in a same-sex relationship ( N = 220) were recruited from a market research firm’s online panel. Participants completed measures of internalized homophobia, social constraints, rumination, relationship satisfaction, and frequency of past year PA victimization and perpetration. Internalized homophobia and social constraints in talking to friends about sexual identity yielded a positive indirect link with PA via a sequential path through rumination and relationship satisfaction. There was an additional indirect positive association of minority stressors with PA via a unique path through rumination. These results demonstrate the importance of continued efforts toward reducing minority stress, where possible, as well as enhancing coping. Given the importance of rumination and relationship satisfaction in the link between minority stressors and PA, it is imperative to improve adaptive coping responses to sexual minority stressors. Development and validation of individual- and couples-based interventions that address coping with sexual minority stressors using methods that decrease rumination and brooding and increase relationship satisfaction are certainly warranted.

Indirect Positive and Negative Association Rules in Web Usage Mining

One of the purposes of Web usage mining is to find out interesting user association rules from web server logs. It has become vital for personalization, effective web site management, business and support services, creating adaptive web sites, and so on. In the web domain, items correspond to pages and transactions to user sessions. Indirect associations, type of infrequent pattern provide useful insight into the data. The concept of indirect association is to indirectly connect two rarely co-occurred pages via a third page called transitive page. Mining positive and negative association rules in web usage data become a hot spot. So, these all information leads find new approach for discovering efficient rules for web. Indirect positive and Negative Association Rules are discussed here which can be used for Web Recommendation, personalization etc. Mining indirect positive and negative association rules for the web is explored very little so far in the research work. The presented Proposed Approach of algorithm is to extract the positive and negative association rules from web session log file and then discover the indirect positive and negative association rules from it.

Occupational engagement as a constraint on restoration during leisure time in forest settings

Abundant evidence affirms that contact with nature can promote physical and mental health, but the relationship appears to be contingent on multiple factors. We address the possibility that having paid work related to a natural environment constrains the psychological restoration that can be realized in such environments. Using data from a cross-sectional survey administered to a national probability sample of Swiss adults (N=1678), we tested a multiple-mediator regression model in which having an occupational relationship to forests is assumed to affect the degree to which a person reports experiencing restoration with visits to forests, as mediated by experiences of being away and fascination and by familiarity with the forest. The results indicate that having a forest profession was associated with greater familiarity, which was in turn associated with greater reported restoration. At the same time, however, this positive indirect association was more than offset by a lower sense of being away during forest visits, which was itself a positive predictor of reported restoration. Fascination did predict reported restoration, but it was not associated with forest profession. The pattern of associations held after adjustment for different characteristics, like age, gender, level of employment, and intensity of forest visitation. The results illustrate that the restorative value of nature experience is contingent on occupational engagement with the natural environment, and they indicate some pathways through which occupational engagement can affect restoration. Landscape professionals can use these results to articulate more nuanced arguments regarding access to natural environments for restoration purposes.

Spirituality within the family and the prevention of health risk behavior among adolescents in Bangkok, Thailand.

This study investigates the influences of a family's spiritual beliefs and practices on substance use and sexual risk behaviors among young adolescents 13-14 years old in Bangkok, Thailand. Independent predictor variables are the parents' and teens' spiritual beliefs and practices in Buddhism and parental monitoring behaviors. The study uses data from the 2007 Baseline Survey of the Thai Family Matters Project, which adapted a U.S. based family prevention program for Thai culture. A representative sample of 420 pairs of parents and teens from the Bangkok metropolitan area was recruited to participate in the study. Structural equation models indicate that positive direct and indirect associations of the spirituality of parents and teens within a family and the prevention of adolescent risk behaviors are significant and consistent.

Periodic climate cooling enhanced natural disasters and wars in China during AD 10–1900

Recent studies have linked climatic and social instabilities in ancient China; the underlying causal mechanisms have, however, often not been quantitatively assessed. Here, using historical records and palaeoclimatic reconstructions during AD 10-1900, we demonstrate that war frequency, price of rice, locust plague, drought frequency, flood frequency and temperature in China show two predominant periodic bands around 160 and 320 years where they interact significantly with each other. Temperature cooling shows direct positive association with the frequency of external aggression war to the Chinese dynasties mostly from the northern pastoral nomadic societies, and indirect positive association with the frequency of internal war within the Chinese dynasties through drought and locust plagues. The collapses of the agricultural dynasties of the Han, Tang, Song and Ming are more closely associated with low temperature. Our study suggests that food production during the last two millennia has been more unstable during cooler periods, resulting in more social conflicts owing to rebellions within the dynasties or/and southward aggressions from northern pastoral nomadic societies in ancient China.

Cascading effects of fishing on Galapagos rocky reef communities: reanalysis using corrected data

This article replaces Sonnenholzner et al. (2007; Mar Ecol Prog Ser 343:77-85), which was retracted on September 19, 2007, due to errors in entry of data on sea urchins. We sampled 10 highly fished and 10 (putatively) lightly fished shallow rocky reefs in the southeastern area of the Galapagos Marine Reserve, Ecuador. After the correction, these are the new results: there was a negative association between slate-pencil urchins Eucidaris galapagensis and non-coralline algae. In addition, pencil urchins were less abundant where there were many predators. An indirect positive association between predators and non-coralline algae occurred. Fishing appeared to affect this trophic cascade. The spiny lobster Panulirus penicillatus, the slipper lobster Scyllarides astori, and the Mexican hogfish Bodianus diplotaenia were significantly less abundant at highly fished sites. Urchin density was higher at highly fished sites. Non-coralline algae were nearly absent from highly fished sites, where a continuous carpet of the anemone Aiptasia sp. was recorded, and the algal assemblage was mainly structured by encrusting coralline and articulated calcareous algae.

Negative and positive peer influence: Relations to positive and negative behaviors for African American, European American, and Hispanic adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to examine adolescents' perceptions of negative and positive peer influence (i.e., indirect peer association and direct peer pressure) as they related to adolescent behavior. Regression analyses were conducted using a sample of African American, European American, and Hispanic adolescents ( N = 1659, M age = 16.06, SD = 1.10). The study found differences and similarities in relation to respondents' ethnicity vis-à-vis indirect peer association and adolescent behavior. Although few ethnic-based differences occurred as a function of indirect negative peer association, indirect positive peer association was not as consistently or as strongly related to behaviors for minority youth as it was for European American youth.

Perfectionism and burnout in junior elite soccer players: The mediating influence of unconditional self-acceptance

Objectives It has been argued that elite junior athletes may be especially vulnerable to the development of burnout [Coakley, D. (1992). Burnout among adolescent athletes: A personal failure or social problem. Sociology, 9, 271–285; Feigley, D. A. (1984). Psychological burnout in high-level athletes. The Physician and Sports Medicine, 12, 108–119; Raedeke, T. D. (1997). Is athlete burnout more than just stress? A sport commitment perspective. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19, 396–418]. Few studies to date have examined the psychological mechanisms that may underpin this vulnerability. One exception was a study by Gould, Tuffrey, Udry, and Loehr [(1996). Burnout in competitive junior tennis players: I. A quantitative psychological assessment. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 332–340], which found that a form of perfectionism reflecting a preoccupation with avoiding mistakes differentiated between burnout and non-burnout tennis players. The first purpose of the present investigation was to extend this research and examine the influence of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism on burnout in elite junior soccer players. A second purpose was to examine whether the association between perfectionism and burnout was mediated by unconditional self-acceptance. Design A correlational design was employed. Method One hundred and fifty-one soccer players ( M age=14.4 years, SD=2.4 years) completed an inventory that included Flett and Hewitt's (1991) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Chamberlain and Haaga's (2003) Unconditional Self-acceptance Scale, and Raedeke and Smith's [(2001). Development and preliminary validation of an athlete burnout measure. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 23, 281–306] Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Results Structural equation modeling indicated that unconditional self-acceptance partially mediated the relationship between the two dimensions of perfectionism and athlete burnout. Contrary to the hypotheses, self-oriented perfectionism demonstrated both a positive indirect association with symptoms of burnout, as well as a direct inverse relationship. Conclusion The findings provide support for the contention that a contingent sense of self-worth is central to both socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism [Flett, Besser, Davis, & Hewitt (2003). Dimensions of perfectionism, unconditional self-acceptance, and depression. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 21, 119–138; Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & MacDonald (2002). Perfectionism in children and their parents: A developmental analysis. In G. L. Flett & P. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 89–132). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association], and that this association may underpin maladaptive achievement striving and increase vulnerability to athlete burnout.

Protective factors associated with preadolescent violence: preliminary work on a cultural model.

This study explores the influences of communal values, empathy, violence avoidance self-efficacy beliefs, and classmates' fighting on violent behaviors among urban African American preadolescent boys and girls. As part of a larger intervention study, 644 low-income 5th grade students from 12 schools completed a baseline assessment that included the target constructs. Boys reported more violent behaviors, and lower levels of empathy and violence avoidance self-efficacy beliefs than girls. Path analyses revealed that, after controlling for the positive contributions of classmates' fighting, violence avoidance self-efficacy beliefs were a negative predictor of violent behavior. Communal values had a direct negative relationship with violence for boys, but not girls. Both communal values and empathy were associated with less violent behavior through positive relationships with violence avoidance self-efficacy beliefs. For girls, classmate fighting had an indirect positive association with violent behavior through its negative relationship with violence avoidance self-efficacy beliefs. Findings are discussed in terms of implications of basic and applied research on violence among African American youth.