Positive Social Ties Research Articles

Effects of Trust, Public Engagement, Conflict, and Social Networks on Satisfaction with Ecological Restoration

River restoration is one of the most common, expensive, and environmentally influential forms of restoration, but has little post-restoration assessment of social success. In this study, we use social network theory and analysis (SNA), an emerging approach for understanding social dynamics in restoration projects, to examine the social connections, perceptions of project success, and attitudes of stakeholders involved in a river restoration project. We find that positive and negative social network ties have asymmetrical effects on stakeholders’ attitudes and satisfaction with project outcomes. Trust ties positively influence perceptions of public engagement, while avoidance ties negatively influence satisfaction. Trust in leaders positively influences satisfaction and both public engagement and perceived conflict influence the development of that trust. We contribute to the growing body of research using SNA in natural resource contexts through quantitative tests of social networks’ effects on stakeholder satisfaction with project outcomes.

Daily Rumination Among Older Men and Women: The Role of Perceived Family and Nonfamily Social Partner Life Stress.

Women tend to ruminate more than men, and are generally more hypervigilant to the emotions of others in order to maintain positive social ties. Thus, compared to men, women may ruminate more when their social partners have greater life stresses. However, the literature on stressful events typically focuses on individuals' experiences and perceptions of stressors experienced by specific social ties such as spousal partners and adult children. The purpose of this study was to examine links between perceptions of a broad array of family and nonfamily social partner stresses and daily rumination among older men and women. Adults aged 65 and older (N = 293, 55% women) completed baseline assessments of family and nonfamily life stressors and 5-6 consecutive nightly assessments regarding rumination, interpersonal tensions, worries, and support provision. Multilevel structural equation models revealed that perceptions of greater family and nonfamily life stressors were associated with greater rumination. The links between family stress and rumination varied by gender: family stress was related to greater rumination among women and not men. Moreover, among women, family and nonfamily stress-rumination links were accounted for by greater daily worries about others, and among men, the nonfamily stress-rumination link was due to greater interpersonal tensions as well as daily worries. These findings may be due in part to gender role socialization and women's greater kin-keeping and investment in family ties.

IMPACT OF AN ONLINE SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE TRAINING PROGRAM ON CUSTODIAL GRANDMOTHERS’ WELL-BEING

Abstract Despite widespread evidence that the circumstances leading to care, combined with the stress of full-time parenting, have profound effects on psychological, physical, and social functioning of custodial grandmothers (CGM) and their adolescent grandchildren (GC), evidence-based interventions for these families are scarce. To address this gap, we conducted a randomized clinical trial (RCT) with 349 nationally recruited CGMs which compared an online social intelligence training intervention (SIT; n=185) to an attention-control (AC; n=164) condition. The SIT focused on enhancing CGMs’ capacity to develop and sustain positive social ties; an important goal since working models of attachment and caregiving are challenged and re-shaped by the off-time and demanding nature of parenting a GC. To investigate initial impact of SIT, we conducted multi-domain latent difference score models (Mplus 8) on a full intent-to-treat basis comparing the two RCT conditions on changes across key outcomes from baseline to immediate post-intervention. In comparison to AC, SIT yielded statistically significant improvement in CGMs’ depressed affect, self-esteem, relationship quality with the GC, and attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety with GC. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences were found between the two conditions on outcomes indicative of social competence (e.g., perspective taking, social awareness, social information processing, social self-monitoring). We conclude that CGMs may have applied information obtained from the SIT primarily to their relationship with GC. Our findings point to the potential benefits of the self-guided SIT, given that it can be delivered online and therefore has widespread reach to a vulnerable population. [Funded by R01AG054571]

The affective need to belong: belonging as an affective driver of human religion

ABSTRACT Philosophy of religion has recently made a turn to lived religion, an approach which seeks to understand lived religion as it is experienced concretely by individual practitioners. However, this turn to lived religion has seen limited engagement with the notion of belonging. Belonging here refers to the felt sense of being part of a group – of insidership – along with the development of positive social ties and mutual affective concern. It is my contention in this paper that reflection on this experience of belonging can improve our understanding of lived religion. In particular, I argue that human beings have an affective need to belong – a fundamental and affective need for belonging and positive social relationship which is felt in the body and rooted in human biology and evolutionary history. This paper makes the case for the affective need to belong, before examining its implications for understanding religion. It finds that the affectivity of belonging is capable of raising the affective salience of certain in-group beliefs, as well as creating affective hurdles to dissent, and in so doing can help to explain processes of religion conversion, sustained religious adherence, and religious disaffiliation.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT OF SOCIAL WORKERS

The article is devoted to the study of burnout, which is interpreted as the inability to perform professional duties at the proper level due to prolonged physical and/or mental overload. The main content of the study is to determine the possibilities of prevention of professional burnout of a social worker in order to ensure his physical and mental health.Scientific opinions and positions on the relevance, purpose, multifaceted nature, content of prevention, objective and subjective factors of prevention, differences in organizational and psychological and pedagogical influences of prevention, the specifics of social prevention and prevention. As well as the impact on the professional activities of social norms and deviations from norms, values, responsibilities. The causes of burnout can be differentiated by the nature of the determination. Among the main groups of determinants – social, medical, biological, psychological. The conducted survey among social specialists on the state of professional burnout revealed certain tendencies and regularities among them. This was evidenced by statistics relating to the factors influencing the professional burnout of the specialist, as well as their dynamics. The basis of professional activity should be to provide conditions for this.
 However, collective life, in addition to having advantages, is also endowed with negative features. Indicators of collective distress that have a direct impact on the professional burnout of an individual member of the team are identified. These include problems and / or lack of corporate culture; dissatisfaction with the psychological atmosphere prevailing in the team; presence of conflict situations, quarrels, intrigue; absence or problems of interpersonal communication in the team, division into groups; low level of mutual assistance and support, unwillingness to maintain friendly relations; no punishment for guilt, reaction to negative behavior of colleagues, control over subjective factors; lack of prospects for team development; lack of conditions for personal development and formation; lack of measures to prevent occupational burnout. For comparison, the experimental study involved people who did not suffer from burnout and people who survived the state of burnout.
 Thus, people who have experienced a state of burnout have much deeper psycho-emotional disorders. Their professional experience is characterized by significant negative experiences and beliefs. Positive corporate social ties have been disrupted in their lives, which can lead to disruption in other areas: family, personal, spiritual and emotional. That is, it causes a number of other shifts. Certain trends are evidenced by statistics on the assessment of the existing risks of burnout, which concern specialists in various fields: almost all recognized the fact of burnout to varying degrees; the vast majority of respondents assess the ability to perform professional duties generally well, but the lack of an absolute answer also indicates the risks involved; mostly the presence of risks of burnout is assessed indirectly. On the basis of statistical indicators of occupational burnout, their dynamics can be distinguished victim groups. Given the classification of propensity to burnout, prevention technologies can be used. In each of the three cases, the approach will be different. It is established that a special place is occupied by the subjective factor of professional activity.
 Professional burnout is caused by various factors: social and organizational conditions of functioning of collective, legislative and normative-organizational maintenance of process of work; individual and personal qualities of personality, stress resistance, motivation of activity; compliance of qualities and personality traits with the requirements of the chosen profession, professional competence; ability to work in a team, ability to take into account the opinions and positions of others, sociability; availability of life, professional experience; psychological compatibility of individual team members; ability to control the situation in the team by management; corporate culture, the presence of common interests and activities, interest in the development and prosperity of the team. Theoretical analysis and experimental study of problems related to burnout indicate the presence of risks in the professional activities of professionals from different social structures. That is, it depends not so much on objective factors as on the subjective attitude of the individual to himself and his mental and physical health. And the problem looks not so much psychological as psychological and pedagogical.

A model of signed network formation with heterogeneous players

This paper proposes a model of formation of signed networks that comprise both positive (friendly/cooperative) and negative (antagonistic) social ties between players who differ intrinsically in strength. Friendships/alliances serve to increase one’s power over their intrinsic strength; in the determination of power it matters not how many allies one has, but who these allies are. The model proposed here is suited to any context where players derive power from friendships/alliances with stronger players and payoffs are extracted from less powerful enemies. The structure of ties across various types of players is studied in Nash equilibria along with a characterization of Nash equilibria under various parametric conditions.

"I Didn't Really Have Anybody to Turn To": Barriers to Social Support and the Experiences of Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

Social support is crucial for adapting to stress and trauma, processing adverse emotions, developing better mental health, and garnering relationship success. Yet, social support may not always be accessible to those who need it the most. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study examined how men who have perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) perceived the availability and adequacy of social ties, as well as how they discursively constructed social support during times of childhood adversity. Results indicated a prevalence of trauma in attachment relationships, a lack of perceived social support, and persistent messages that discouraged help seeking and engendered masculine norms (e.g., self-reliance, aggression, rejection of femininity, restrictive emotionality) and communication styles. The current study illustrates how the effects of adverse childhood experiences may be exacerbated by the absence of positive social ties and adherence to masculine gender norms governing communication. Thus, the protective benefit (or the "buffering effect") of social support appears to be inaccessible for this specific population. Findings suggest so-called "batterer intervention program" groups could provide measures to increase perpetrators' sense of social support during the intervention process and work to deconstruct additional masculine gender beliefs (i.e., in addition to power and control) to alleviate some of social and psychological effects of early childhood adversity.

Reducing loneliness among migrant and ethnic minority people: a participatory evidence synthesis

BackgroundTo date, there has been little research into the causes of, and solutions to, loneliness among migrant and ethnic minority people.ObjectivesThe objectives were to synthesise available evidence and produce new insights relating to initiatives that aim to address loneliness among these populations, plus the logic, functioning and effects of such initiatives.Data sourcesElectronic database searches (MEDLINE, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts and Social Science Citation Index via Web of Science – no date restrictions were applied), grey literature searches, and citation and reference searching were conducted. Data were generated via nine workshops with three consultation panels involving 34 public contributors, and one practitioner workshop involving 50 participants.Review methodsGuided by ‘systems thinking’, a theory-driven synthesis was combined with an effectiveness review to integrate evidence on the nature and causes of loneliness, interventional types and programme theory, and intervention implementation and effectiveness.ResultsThe theory review indicated that common conceptualisations of ‘loneliness’ can be usefully extended to recognise four proximate determinants when focusing on migrant and ethnic minority populations: positive social ties and interactions, negative social ties and interactions, self-worth, and appraisal of existing ties. A total of 170 interventions were included. A typology of eight interventions was developed. Detailed logic models were developed for three common types of intervention: befriending, shared-identity social support groups and intercultural encounters. The models for the first two types were generally well supported by empirical data; the third was more tentative. Evaluation of intervention processes and outcomes was limited by study content and quality. Evidence from 19 qualitative and six quantitative studies suggested that social support groups have a positive impact on dimensions of loneliness for participants. Evidence from nine qualitative and three quantitative studies suggested that befriending can have positive impacts on loneliness. However, inconsistent achievements of the befriending model meant that some initiatives were ineffective. Few studies on intercultural encounters reported relevant outcomes, although four provided some qualitative evidence and three provided quantitative evidence of improvement. Looking across intervention types, evidence suggests that initiatives targeting the proximate determinants – particularly boosting self-worth – are more effective than those that do not. No evidence was available on the long-term effects of any initiatives. UK intervention (n = 41) and non-intervention (n = 65) studies, together with consultation panel workshop data, contributed to a narrative synthesis of system processes. Interlocking factors operating at individual, family, community, organisational and wider societal levels increase risk of loneliness, and undermine access to, and the impact of, interventions. Racism operates in various ways throughout the system to increase risk of loneliness.LimitationsThere was a lack of high-quality quantitative studies, and there were no studies with longer-term follow-up. UK evidence was very limited. Studies addressing upstream determinants operating at the community and societal levels did not link through to individual outcome measures. Some elements of the search approach may mean that relevant literature was overlooked.ConclusionsTheory regarding the causes of loneliness, and functioning of interventions, among migrant and ethnic minority populations was usefully developed. Evidence of positive impact on loneliness was strongest for shared-identity social support groups. Quantitative evidence was inadequate. The UK evidence base was extremely limited.Future workUK research in this area is desperately needed. Co-production of interventional approaches with migrant and ethnic minority people and evaluation of existing community-based initiatives are priorities.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42017077378.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme and will be published in full inPublic Health Research; Vol. 8, No. 10. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Just banter? Friendship, teasing and experimental aggression in adolescent peer networks.

Aggressive behaviour serves many useful social functions, yet can also have damaging consequences. In line with evidence showing adolescent development in social cognitive abilities, we hypothesized that the use of aggression would become more sophisticated with age. We investigated adolescent aggression towards peers using an experimental, hypothetical aggression paradigm, the hot sauce paradigm, in a school-based social network setting. Participants (N=162 aged 11-17, 98 male) indicated which strength of imaginary hot sauce they would allocate to each of their classmates. A Social Network Questionnaire quantified participants' perceived dyadic social tie strength with each classmate, and the incidence of mutual or unilateral dyadic real-world aggression (e.g. teasing). Participants allocated weaker hot sauce to peers with whom they reported strong, positive social ties and an absence of self-reported unilateral real-world aggression. With increasing cross-sectional age, there was a decrease in the impact of social tie strength and an increase in the extent to which hot sauce allocation was predicted by self-reported mutual real-world aggression. This pattern of findings is consistent with young (vs. late) adolescent use of experimental, hypothetical Hot Sauce aggression to reflect real-world animosity, while late adolescents' behaviour is more subtle. These findings extend our understanding of the dyadic social context of adolescent aggressive behaviour using a novel experimental aggression paradigm.

EXPANDING SOCIAL TIES AS A GOAL IN LATER LIFE: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

Older adults often winnow their social ties to focus on emotionally rewarding ties (Charles & Carstensen, 2010). Some older adults, however, have small social networks that preclude much winnowing or aversive social ties from which disengagement is difficult. These individuals might be motivated to expand, rather than contract, their social ties. The current study sought to extend knowledge regarding potential links between social network characteristics and older adults’ interest, effort, and success in creating new social ties. We expected that small social networks and negative social ties might motivate interest and effort directed toward forming new social ties but that positive social ties might foster success in efforts to form new ties. In-person interviews were conducted with participants (N = 351, Mean age = 74.16) in a larger study of older adults’ social networks and well-being. The interviews assessed participants’ social networks, as well as their interest, effort, and success in making new social ties. Participants’ social network composition, rather than size, was associated with greater motivation to establish new social ties. Negative social ties were associated with greater interest and effort directed toward forming new social ties. Positive social ties were related to greater success (due, in part, to their support provision) and, unexpectedly, were also related to greater interest and effort directed toward forming new ties. Older adults sometimes seek to expand, rather than contract, their social ties, and characteristics of their social networks appear to play a role in fueling and influencing the success of such efforts.

The Structure of Negative Social Ties in Rural Village Networks.

Negative (antagonistic) connections have been of longstanding theoretical importance for social structure. In a population of 24,696 adults interacting face to face within 176 isolated villages in western Honduras, we measured all connections that were present, amounting to 105,175 positive and 16,448 negative ties. Here, we show that negative and positive ties exhibit many of the same structural characteristics. We then develop a complete taxonomy of all 138 possible triads of two-type relationships. Consistent with balance theory, we find that antagonists of friends and friends of antagonists tend to be antagonists; but, in an important empirical refutation of balance theory, we find that antagonists of antagonists also tend to be antagonists, not friends. Finally, villages with comparable levels of animosity tend to be geographically proximate. Similar processes, involving social contact, give rise to both positive and negative social ties in rural villages, and negative ties play an important role in social structure.

Asocial balance\u2014how your friends determine your enemies: understanding the co-evolution of friendship and enmity interactions in a virtual world

Social interactions take place simultaneously through different interaction types, such as communication, friendship, trade, exchange, enmity, revenge, etc. These interactions can be conveniently described with time-dependent multi-layer networks. Little is known about the dynamics of social network formation on single layers. How the dynamics on one layer is coupled to and influences the dynamics on another layer is a completely unexplored territory. This is mainly due to the lack of comprehensive microscopic interaction data on time-dependent multi-layer networks. In this work, we study a unique dataset of 350,000 odd players in a massive multi-player online game, for which we know practically every social interaction event. We focus on the dynamics of friendship interactions and how they are coupled to the dynamics of enmity interactions. We are able to identify the driving processes behind the joint network formation of friendship and enmity links. The essential mechanisms turn out to be specific triadic closure rules. We propose a simple dynamical model that allows us to predict not only the correct levels of social balance but also the detailed simultaneous structural properties of the friendship and enmity networks, including their degree distributions, clustering coefficients and nearest neighbor degrees. While the formation of new friendship links can be largely understood on the basis of structural features of the friendship network alone, this is not true for enmity networks. The formation of enmity links is driven by the need to socially balance triadic relations that contain negative and positive interactions. Networks of enmity relations can only be understood structurally in the context of the positive social ties they are embedded in.

Close social ties and health in later life: Strengths and vulnerabilities.

The world is aging at an unprecedented rate, with older adults representing the fastest-growing segment of the population in most economically developed and developing countries. This demographic shift leaves much uncharted territory for researchers who study social relationships and health. Social relationships exert powerful influences on physical health in later adulthood, a critical consideration given age-related increases in the prevalence of chronic health conditions and physical disability. A large body of research indicates that older adults report greater satisfaction with their social networks than do younger adults, and that they often take measures to minimize their exposure to negative social encounters. These emotionally satisfying and generally positive social ties afford some health protection against a backdrop of mounting physical limitations and play an important role when juxtaposed with the potentially health-damaging frictions that sometimes emerge in older adults' social relationships. Although most older adults report that they are satisfied with their social ties, some older adults experience frequent conflicts or ambivalent exchanges with members of their social networks, and these experiences detract from their health. In addition, many older adults will experience the loss of one or more close relationships during the course of their lives, with ramifications for their health and, often, for the reorganization of their social lives over time. Understanding how both the strengths and vulnerabilities of close social relationships affect health and well-being in later life is an important goal, particularly in view of the accelerating rate of population aging worldwide. (PsycINFO Database Record

Using cell phones for data collection: Benefits, outcomes, and intervention possibilities with homeless youth

While many homeless youth use cell phones to stay socially connected, and maintaining positive social ties can contribute to pathways out of homelessness, little is known about how using cell phones for data collection can improve these young people's lives. We conducted baseline and follow-up interviews with 150 homeless youth as well as provided them with a cell phone for 30days to gather daily data using short message service (SMS) surveying. This paper examines youths' opinions about study participation and how they used the cell phone. Results revealed that youth liked participating in the study because the SMS texting portion, for example, made them feel that someone still cared about them, prompted them to self-reflect on their life, and allowed them to make a difference (e.g. educating the public about homelessness). Despite numerous benefits of study participation, improvements that youth discussed for future studies included changing the format of our text questions to allow for explanations and the use of higher quality phones. In terms of study phone usage, youth reported using the phone to schedule appointments, contact employers, and to keep in touch with family and friends. Finally, we highlight ways in which cell phones via SMS could be used with homeless youth to provide informational resources along with educational and employment opportunities, all of which are important intervention strategies in improving life situations for this population.

Exploiting Social Tie Structure for Cooperative Wireless Networking: A Social Group Utility Maximization Framework

We develop a social group utility maximization (SGUM) framework for cooperative wireless networking that takes into account both social relationships and physical coupling among users. Specifically, instead of maximizing its individual utility or the overall network utility, each user aims to maximize its social group utility that hinges heavily on its social tie structure with other users. We show that this framework provides rich modeling flexibility and spans the continuum between non-cooperative game and network utility maximization (NUM)—two traditionally disjoint paradigms for network optimization. Based on this framework, we study three important applications of SGUM, in database assisted spectrum access, power control, and random access control, respectively. For the case of database assisted spectrum access, we show that the SGUM game is a potential game and always admits a socially-aware Nash equilibrium (SNE). We also develop a distributed spectrum access algorithm that can converge to the SNE and also quantify the trade-off between the performance and convergence time of the algorithm. For the cases of power control and random access control, we show that there exists a unique SNE and the network performance improves as the strength of social ties increase. Numerical results corroborate that the SGUM solutions can achieve superior performance using real social data trace. Furthermore, we show that the SGUM framework can be generalized to take into account both positive and negative social ties among users, which can be a useful tool for studying network security problems.

Extended family and friendship support and suicidality among African Americans.

This study examined the relationship between informal social support from extended family and friends and suicidality among African Americans. Logistic regression analysis was based on a nationally representative sample of African Americans from the National Survey of American Life (N=3263). Subjective closeness and frequency of contact with extended family and friends and negative family interaction were examined in relation to lifetime suicide ideation and attempts. Subjective closeness to family and frequency of contact with friends were negatively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Subjective closeness to friends and negative family interaction were positively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Significant interactions between social support and negative interaction showed that social support buffers against the harmful effects of negative interaction on suicidality. Findings are discussed in relation to the functions of positive and negative social ties in suicidality.

Family resilience in low income communities: A case study of an informal settlement in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa

Many of the people who are most vulnerable to the effects of poverty and deprivation reside in informal settlements in Africa. While there is growing evidence of the importance of family resilience, there is little documented evidence of how collective actions undertaken by families in African communities can contribute to this. In‐depth interviews and focus‐group sessions were conducted with single mothers residing in an informal settlement in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa to delineate the factors that contributed to their resilience. We examined the influence of social ties, self‐efficacy and networks they had established beyond their immediate community on enhancing family resilience. Three key themes are discussed: determination to survive, rising above harsh economic conditions and establishing networks within and outside the community. We conclude that the foundation for building strong female‐headed families lies in positive social ties, self‐empowerment initiatives and tapping on established networks within and outside low income communities.

Life-course social and economic circumstances, gender, and resilience in older adults: The longitudinal International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS)

Although early socioeconomic adversity is associated with poorer function and health in adulthood, those who are able to adapt positively to such risks and threats develop a resilience that may ameliorate harm. Predictors of resilience have been examined in children, however exploring the relationship between life-course events, lived environments and current resilience among older adults across countries is novel. We specifically studied how childhood social and/or economic adversity and current socioeconomic resources were associated with resilience in 2000 community dwelling older men and women in Canada, Colombia, Brazil and Albania. The longitudinal International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS) collected information in 2012 and 2014 on childhood adversity, current income sufficiency social support and social engagement, and resilience (Wagnild Resilience Scale RS-14). Resilience levels were moderately high, and similar among women and men. Early social adversity predicted later resilience for some, with women but not men adapting positively. In contrast there was no bouncing back from early economic adversity. Current social engagement aligned with resilience (women only) as did social support from children (for women) and friends (for men). Partner support was of no advantage to either. Among men economic circumstances were stronger correlates of resilience while for women social circumstances were primary. The impact of site on resilience suggested that cultural norms and values have an independent effect on resilience of their populations, with strong and positive social ties more typical of Latin America than Canada appearing to offset lower absolute incomes. These findings are of importance because resilience is dynamic, can be fostered across the lifespan and is generally associated with greater health. Understanding which social assets and resources can be reinforced to build individual resilience offers a means for decreasing the harms of social and economic adversity.

Pair bond characteristics and maintenance in free-flying jackdaws Corvus monedula: effects of social context and season.

Most birds rely on cooperation between pair partners for breeding. In long-term monogamous species, pair bonds are considered the basic units of social organization, albeit these birds often form foraging, roosting or breeding groups in which they repeatedly interact with numerous conspecifics. Focusing on jackdaws Corvus monedula, we here investigated 1) the interplay between pair bond and group dynamics in several social contexts and 2) how pair partners differ in individual effort of pair bond maintenance. Based on long-term data on free-flying birds, we quantified social interactions between group members within three positive contexts (spatial proximity, feeding and sociopositive interactions) for different periods of the year (non-breeding, pre-breeding, parental care). On the group level, we found that the number of interaction partners was highest in the spatial proximity context while in the feeding and sociopositive contexts the number of interaction partners was low and moderately low, respectively. Interactions were reciprocated within almost all contexts and periods. Investigating subgrouping within the flock, results showed that interactions were preferentially directed towards the respective pair partner compared to unmated adults. When determining pair partner effort, both sexes similarly invested most into mutual proximity during late winter, thereby refreshing their bond before the onset of breeding. Paired males fed their mates over the entire year at similar rates while paired females hardly fed their mates at all but engaged in sociopositive behaviors instead. We conclude that jackdaws actively seek out positive social ties to flock members (close proximity, sociopositive behavior), at certain times of the year. Thus, the group functions as a dynamic social unit, nested within are highly cooperative pair bonds. Both sexes invested into the bond with different social behaviors and different levels of effort, yet these are likely male and female proximate mechanisms aimed at maintaining and perpetuating the pair bond.

A Longitudinal Examination of the Bidirectional Association Between Sleep Problems and Social Ties at University: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

Despite the growing body of research linking sleep problems and social ties, research investigating the direction of effects between these two constructs is lacking. Furthermore, there remains a dearth of research examining the mechanisms that may explain the association between sleep problems and social ties within a longitudinal design. The present 3-year longitudinal study addressed two research questions: (1) Is there a bidirectional association between sleep problems and social ties at university? and (2) Does emotion regulation mediate the association between sleep problems and social ties at university? Participants (N = 942, 71.5% female; M = 19.01 years at Time 1, SD = 0.90) were university students who completed annual assessments of sleep problems, social ties, and emotion regulation, for three consecutive years. Results of path analysis indicated that the bidirectional association between sleep problems and social ties was statistically significant (controlling for demographics, sleep-wake inconsistency, sleep duration, and alcohol). Analyses of indirect effects indicated that emotion regulation mediated this link, such that better sleep quality (i.e., less sleep problems) led to more effective emotion regulation, which, subsequently, led to more positive social ties. In addition, more positive social ties led to more effective emotion regulation, which, in turn, led to less sleep problems. The findings highlight the critical role that emotional regulation plays in the link between sleep problems and social ties, and emphasize the need for students as well as university administration to pay close attention to both the sleep and social environment of university students.