Proportion Of Peers Research Articles

Perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine side effects by political affiliation.

We sought to assess the extent to which subjective experiences of COVID-19 vaccine side effects among US adults are associated with political party identification. An online survey was conducted of a national sample of US adults (N=1259) identifying as either Republican or Democrat. There was no significant difference by party identification in the perceived severity of vaccination side effects; however, Republicans were significantly less likely to recommend the vaccine to others in light of their experience (OR=0.40; 95% CI, 0.31-0.51; P<0.001). Republicans also reported having a larger share of COVID-19-vaccinated friends and family who experienced notable side effects (OR=1.31; 95% CI, 1.02-1.68; P<0.05). There was a positive association between respondents' perceived side-effect severity and the proportion of peers who also reported notable side effects (r=0.43; P<0.001). Subjective appraisals of the vaccinated may affect broader vaccine acceptability.

Social learning and the complex contagion of political symbols in Twitter: The case of the yellow ribbon in Catalonia

In this paper, we empirically test whether the spread of political symbols in Twitter is due to complex contagion. We analyzed behavior consisting of editing the Twitter account name to include an icon with a yellow ribbon; a symbol that represents the demand for the release of imprisoned Catalan politicians and civil leaders. To test this hypothesis, we used a behavioral, non-reactive, relational, and dynamic dataset of a large sample of potential users. First, we show that the probability of displaying a ribbon is associated with the proportion of peers who also display it (friends that share their support for the political cause). Second, we rule out alternative explanations as simple contagion and homophily. To rule out simple contagion, we run three empirically calibrated, agent-based simulations. We use our dataset to rule out homophily. And third, we suggest that adoption cannot be interpreted as the result of a compliance mechanism or as the result of normative pressures. Instead, the most plausible micro-level generative mechanism that leads to a complex contagion pattern is a peer learning process. Our study makes several contributions to the field. We show how digital data can be effectively used to identify new explananda and test the plausibility of competing behavioral explanatory mechanisms. We also contribute to the development of the theory of complex contagions. Our study widens the set of conditions for complex contagion and the set of reasons to explain why complex contagion might occur.

Should I get a master’s degree?: Evaluating peer effects on education investment decisions in the workplace

This paper examines workplace peer effects on advanced education attainment. Using administrative data from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and conditional exogeneous assignment of employees to workplace, I provide empirical evidence that coworkers’ education investment behavior increases the likelihood of using Employer-Provided Educational Assistance (EPEA) benefits to start and eventually complete a graduate degree. I find a 10 percentage point (p.p.) increase in the proportion of peers using Tuition Assistance (TA) increases the probability of starting a master’s degree by 4.99 p.p. Additionally, a 10 p.p. increase in the proportion of coworkers that have finished an advanced degree increases completion rates by 2.71 p.p. within eight years in the organization.

또래선택과 또래영향이 청소년 음주 및 흡연에 미치는 영향

Objectives: This study was the first to investigate the role of peer selection and peer influence in adolescent alcohol use and cigarette smoking over three time periods. Methods: Panel data were collected from students in two middle schools in Gyeonggi province for three consecutive years. Starting from their 1st grade, the survey was conducted yearly through the 3rd grade. Social network data were collected by asking students to nominate their five best friends. Peer selection was operationally defined as the proportion of peers with drinking . smoking experiences of the peers a particular student selected as friends, and peer influence was operationally defined as the proportion of peers with drinking (smoking) experiences of the peers who selected a particular student as a friend. Lifetime alcohol use and cigarette smoking were measured. Results: Peer selection significantly impacted adolescent lifetime alcohol use and cigarette smoking. Selecting users as friends predicted drinking as well as smoking. Conclusion: The findings suggest that future adolescent substance abuse prevention programs need to include a stronger focus on peer group formation.

Factors Influencing Willingness to be Vaccinated with a COVID-19 Vaccine: Results of a CATI Population Survey

The study examines the willingness to be vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine using a random sample of the general population and its determinants (perceived risks of disease, perceived side effects and general attitudes towards vaccination, trust in institutions, socio-structural factors, influence of social reference groups). The study was based on a telephone, one-topic population survey (n=2,014) on willingness to be vaccinated (before the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine in Germany in November/December 2020). The willingness to be vaccinated was about 67% and increased with the proportion of peers and acquaintances who were willing to be vaccinated and had trust in the Robert Koch Institute; willingness was higher in members of a risk group, and in cases where there was an expectation of dangerous consequences of an infection. Experience with infection among the respondents or in peer-groups increased the willingness to be vaccinated. Men had a higher willingness to be vaccinated. The willingness to be vaccinated increased consistently with the level of formal education (with the exception of people with a technical college entrance qualification). Overestimating the likelihood of severe side effects of influenza vaccinations reduced the willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Findings of considerable overestimations of the frequency of serious vaccination side effects were striking. Implications for a target group-appropriate information campaign and risk communication are derived. Efforts to promote the willingness of the population to be vaccinated should focus in particular on disadvantaged population groups.

Disentangling longitudinal relations between youth cannabis use, peer cannabis use, and conduct problems: developmental cascading links to cannabis use disorder.

AimsTo determine whether cannabis use during adolescence can increase risk not only for cannabis use disorder (CUD) but also for conduct problems, potentially mediated by exposure to peers who use cannabis.Design, Setting, ParticipantsLongitudinal study analyzing four waves of longitudinal data from 364 racially and socio‐economically diverse, urban, US community youth (at baseline: M age = 13.51 (0.95); 49.1% female).MeasurementsSelf‐reports of cannabis use, conduct problems, proportion of peers using cannabis and CUD criteria at the final wave were analyzed using a method sensitive to changes over development, the random‐intercept cross‐lagged panel model.FindingsChange in cannabis use did not predict changes in conduct problems or peer cannabis use over time, controlling for gender, race–ethnicity and socio‐economic status. Instead, increases in conduct problems predicted increases in cannabis use and ultimately CUD, with some of the effect mediated by increases in the prevalence of peer cannabis use [β = 0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.07, 0.20]. Additionally, affiliation with peers who used cannabis predicted subsequent CUD via increased personal cannabis use (β = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.14). Significant within‐person betas for the cross‐lagged effects ranged between 0.20 and 0.27.ConclusionsCannabis use in adolescence does not appear to lead to greater conduct problems or association with cannabis‐using peers apart from pre‐existing conduct problems. Instead, adolescents who (1) increasingly affiliate with cannabis‐using peers or (2) have increasing levels of conduct problems are more likely to use cannabis, and this cascading chain of events appears to predict cannabis use disorder in emerging adulthood.

Generational Peers and Alcohol Misuse

This study investigates the influence of generational peers on alcohol misuse among immigrant youth. We derive hypotheses from sociological theories of generations regarding race/ethnicity, gender, and immigrant generation and test these hypotheses using a measure that accounts for the proportion of peers within a given peer network that are of the same immigrant generation. Results show that generational ties decreased the odds of alcohol misuse for immigrants and that these effects depend partly on race/ethnicity and gender. We conclude that generational ties play a meaningful role in the health and well-being of immigrant youth, and discuss possible future avenues for research on immigrant generational peers.

Breastfeeding Practices among Poor Women in Mesoamerica1–3

Background: Breastfeeding is an effective intervention to reduce pediatric morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of practices and predictors of breastfeeding among the poor in Mesoamerica has not been well described.Objectives: We estimated the prevalence of ever breastfeeding, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and breastfeeding between 6 mo and 2 y of age using household survey data for the poorest quintile of families living in 6 Mesoamerican countries. We also assessed the predictors of breastfeeding behaviors to identify factors amenable to policy interventions.Methods: We analyzed data from 12,529 children in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (Chiapas State), Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador using baseline survey data from the Salud Mesoamérica 2015 Initiative. We created multivariable Poisson regression models with robust variance estimates to calculate adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) and 95% CIs for breastfeeding outcomes and to control for sociodemographic and healthcare-related factors.Results: Approximately 97% of women in all countries breastfed their child at least once, and 65.1% (Nicaragua) to 79.0% (Panama) continued to do so between 6 mo and 2 y of age. Breastfeeding in the first hour of life varied by country (P < 0.001), with the highest proportion reported in Panama (89.8%) and the lowest in El Salvador (65.6%). Exclusive breastfeeding also varied by country (P = 0.037), ranging from 44.5% in Panama to 76.8% in Guatemala. For every 20% increase in the proportion of peers who exclusively breastfed, there was an 11% (aRR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.18) increase in the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding.Conclusion: Our study revealed significant variation in the prevalence of breastfeeding practices by poor women across countries surveyed by the Salud Mesoamérica 2015 initiative. Future interventions to promote exclusive breastfeeding should consider ways to leverage the role of the community in supporting individual women.

Data-driven traffic and diffusion modeling in peer-to-peer networks: A real case study

AbstractPeer-to-peer systems have driven a lot of attention in the past decade as they have become a major source of Internet traffic. The amount of data flowing through the peer-to-peer network is huge and hence challenging both to comprehend and to control. In this work, we take advantage of a new and rich dataset recording the peer-to-peer activity at a remarkable scale to address these difficult problems. After extracting the relevant and measurable properties of the network from the data, we develop two models that aim to make the link between the low-level properties of the network, such as the proportion of peers that do not share content (i.e., free riders) or the distribution of the files among the peers, and its high-level properties, such as the Quality of Service or the diffusion of content, which are of interest for supervision and control purposes. We observe a significant agreement between the high-level properties measured on the real data and on the synthetic data generated by our models, which is encouraging for our models to be used in practice as large-scale prediction tools. Relying on them, we demonstrate that spending efforts to reduce the amount of free riders indeed helps to improve the availability of files on the network. We observe however a saturation of this phenomenon after 60% of free riders.

Bullying in Elementary School

Bullying is a widespread social phenomenon that is thought to have detrimental effects on life outcomes. This paper investigates the link between bullying and later school performance. We rely on rich survey and register-based data for children born in a region of Denmark during 1990–92, which allows us to carefully consider possible confounders including psychological factors. We implement an IV strategy inspired by Carrell and Hoekstra (2010) where we instrument victim status with the proportion of peers from troubled homes in one’s classroom. We show that bullied children suffer in terms of GPA and effects tend to increase with severity .

A Measurement Study on the Topologies of BitTorrent Networks

BitTorrent (BT) is a widely-used peer-to-peer (P2P) application. Most of BT's characteristics (except the topology) have been studied extensively by measurement approaches. In this paper, we deploy a measurement system to examine some performance-related topology properties of BT. Our goal is to provide a measurement view of the real-world BT topologies and to verify the previous estimations via simulations and real-world experiments. We observe that at the steady stage, a BT topology has short distances and low clustering coefficients, and its degree-frequency exhibits a Gaussian-like distribution. These indicate that a BT network is very close to a random network rather than a scale-free network or a small world. The proportion of peers with large download percentages is very high at the steady stage, showing that the swarm is robust from the resource perspective. We also find out that most high-degree peers have a very fast download speed. However, the low Spearman's rank correlation coefficient indicates that there is no strong correlation between the peer connection degree and the download speed. Different from previous results, we find that the diameter of a BT network at the initial stage is small even when 95% of peers use the peer exchange extension.

Alcohol Use and Social Adjustment in Adolescence: A Longitudinal, Multilevel Study

The study examined to what extent alcohol use among Dutch adolescents (1,421 adolescents, aged 12–16) was related to sociability and whether the social context affects this association. Data were based on self-reports and peer reports during 2005 and 2006. The results indicated that in contrast to previous assumptions, alcohol use did not predict changes in subsequent sociability. The findings also did not support the idea of curvilinear effects of alcohol use. In addition, the proportion of peers in class who drank had no effect on this association. Limitations and directions for future research are given.

Very young adolescents and alcohol: Evidence of a unique susceptibility to peer alcohol use

AimThe aim of this study is to examine the susceptibility of very young adolescents (10–12years of age) to peer alcohol-related influences, compared to older adolescents (13–14years of age). MethodsThe analysis sample consisted of 7064 adolescents in grade 6 (modal age 11) or grade 8 (modal age 13) from 231 schools in 30 communities across three Australian States. Key measures were adolescent reports of alcohol use (past 30days) and the number of peers who consume alcohol without their parent's awareness. Control variables included parent alcohol use, family relationship quality, pubertal advancement, school connectedness, sensation seeking, depression, length of time in high school, as well as age, gender, father/mother education, and language spoken at home. A multi-level model of alcohol use was used to account for school-level clustering on the dependent variable. ResultsFor both groups, the number of peers who consumed alcohol was associated with alcohol use, but Grade 6 students showed a unique susceptibility to peripheral involvement with peer drinking networks (having one friend who consumed alcohol). ConclusionThe results point to the importance of monitoring and responding to comparatively minor shifts in the proportion of peers who use alcohol, particularly among very young adolescents.

Pregnant or Positive: Adolescent Childbearing and HIV Risk in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

In communities where early age of childbearing is common and HIV prevalence is high, adolescents may place themselves at risk of HIV because positive or ambivalent attitudes towards pregnancy reduce their motivation to abstain from sex, have sex less often or use condoms. In this study, we analyse cross-sectional survey data from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, to explore whether an association exists between the desire for pregnancy and perceptions of HIV risk among 1,426 adolescents in 110 local communities. Our findings suggest that some adolescents, girls more than boys, were more concerned about a pregnancy if they lived in environments where youth were perceived to be at high risk of HIV infection. The probability that pregnancy was considered a problem by boys was positively correlated with the proportion of adult community members who thought youth were at risk of acquiring HIV, and for girls by the proportion of peers in the community who thought youth were at risk of HIV. We also found that becoming pregnant would be a bigger problem for the African girls than the white and Indian girls. The analysis suggests that for some adolescents, in addition to effects on educational and employment opportunities, the danger of HIV infection is becoming part of the calculus of the desirability of a pregnancy.