Quantitative Empirical Studies Research Articles

The role of socio-emotional security on school engagement and academic achievement: systematic literature review

IntroductionSocio-emotional security and particularly secure attachment relationships with parents and peers have been associated with positive developmental outcomes, including school-related variables. This systematic literature review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the literature, exploring the relationship between socio-emotional security (attachment, support, and secure relations with parents and peers) and academic achievement, school engagement, and early school dropout.MethodsThe inclusion criteria were studies with socio-emotional security as the independent variable and academic achievement and/or school engagement as the dependent variable, using a quantitative methodology, written in English. The exclusion criteria were articles presenting literature review or meta-analysis, interventions or instrument validation studies, studies with a qualitative approach, studies developed in an e-learning context, studies with university students, and/or focused on schooling in extreme conditions (e.g., COVID-19). PRISMA guidelines were followed, through a search that resulted in the identification of 38 empirical quantitative studies, published between 2018 and 2022, in English.Results and discussionThe results revealed that parent and peer relationships impact students’ academic achievement and school engagement, as expected, and highlighted the relevance of parental and peer relationships for school-related outcomes. Future research should consider the role of potential mediators and moderators in the relationship between socio-emotional security and school outcomes.

Two-process Model and Residual Abundance Analysis of the Milky Way Massive Satellites

The “two-process model” is a promising technique for interpreting stellar chemical abundance data from large-scale surveys (e.g., the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV/V and the Galactic Archeology with HERMES survey), enabling more quantitative empirical studies of differences in chemical enrichment history between galaxies without relying on detailed yield and evolution models. In this work, we fit two-process model parameters to (1) a luminous giant Milky Way (MW) sample and (2) stars comprising the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr). We then use these two sets of model parameters to predict the abundances of 14 elements of stars belonging to the MW and in five of its massive satellite galaxies, analyzing the residuals between the predicted and observed abundances. We find that the model fit to (1) results in large residuals (0.1–0.3 dex) for most metallicity-dependent elements in the metal-rich ([Mg/H] > −0.8) stars of the satellite galaxies. However, the model fit to (2) results in small or no residuals for all elements across all satellite galaxies. Therefore, despite the wide variation in [X/Mg]–[Mg/H] abundance patterns of the satellite galaxies, the two-process framework provides an accurate characterization of their abundance patterns across many elements, but these multielement patterns are systematically different between the dwarf galaxy satellites and the MW disks. We consider a variety of scenarios for the origin of this difference, highlighting the possibility that a large inflow of pristine gas to the MW disk diluted the metallicity of star-forming gas without changing abundance ratios.

A meta‐analysis of the effects of democratic innovations on participants’ attitudes, behaviour and capabilities

AbstractDemocratic innovations aim to strengthen citizen participation in democratic decision‐making processes. Building on theories of deliberative democracy, participatory democracy and direct democracy, different types of democratic innovations have been developed, ranging from mini‐publics, to participatory processes and referendums and citizens’ initiatives. Over the last four decades, an expanding number of scholars have investigated the effects of these democratic innovations on citizens. However, even though a considerable amount of research has been done, there currently exists no overview of the effects of different types of democratic innovations on citizens’ attitudes, behaviour and capabilities. In addition, it is unclear which effects prove robust across studies, and which effects require more investigation.The aim of this paper is to systematically evaluate what we know and what we do not know yet about the effects of democratic innovations on citizens who participate in them. In order to do so, we conduct a meta‐analysis of 100 quantitative empirical studies published between 1980 and 2020. We find, perhaps unsurprisingly, that mini‐publics are widely researched for their effects on citizens, whereas studies into the effects of participatory processes and referendums and citizens’ initiatives on participating citizens are much less frequent. We also find that participation in mini‐publics changes citizens’ policy attitudes and positively affects citizens’ political attitudes, knowledge, internal efficacy and reasoning skills. For participatory processes, our analyses indicate that they appear to have a positive effect on participants’ political attitudes and knowledge and no effect on participants’ internal efficacy, but there are too few studies to draw robust conclusions. Participation in referendums and citizens’ initiatives appears to have a positive effect on participants’ knowledge and internal efficacy, even though these findings should also be considered preliminary due to the limited number of studies.

Multimodal Resources and Approaches for Teaching Young Adolescents: A Review of the Literature

With an increased number of multimodal texts being read, viewed, or designed by young adolescents ages 10–15 years, classroom instruction requires a focus on current research related to multimodal pedagogy. This integrative literature review sought to determine how instruction based on multimodality has been implemented in middle school classrooms. Educational databases were searched to locate empirical quantitative and qualitative studies describing instruction focusing on reading, viewing, or designing multimodal texts. The authors reviewed 37 research studies published between 2013 and 2023 to update the MLER Research Agenda. An analysis of the studies revealed three themes related to multimodal pedagogy: promoting language and literacy development; enhancing content learning; and providing opportunities for empowerment, personal expression, and identity development. Three gaps in the literature were also noted: no studies were conducted in mathematics classrooms, few studies examined multimodal pedagogy and students with learning or language differences, and few studies investigated the impact of multimodal pedagogy on students’ learning. Based on our findings, we conclude with a series of questions for a research agenda.

Alcohol and Cannabis Use by Adolescents with Special Educational Needs: A Systematic Review Focused on Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Aim: As most substance use prevention programs are offered at school, it is important to explore which group of students might be at increased risk. Both researchers and educators have often maintained that students with special educational needs due to emotional and behavioral disorders (SENs-EBD) are particularly vulnerable. Hence, the aim of the current systematic review was to examine the alcohol and cannabis use by students with SENs-EBD in comparison to students without SENs or other types of SENs. Methods: Adhering to the PRISMA guidelines, the review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023375799) and search terms were entered in Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, and PubMed in December 2022. Publications were required to report on empirical quantitative studies (primary data) that assessed alcohol and/or cannabis use by adolescent students with SENs-EBD and a comparison group, and be published in English-language journal articles, conference papers, or book chapters from 2000 onwards. The QuADS tool was used for quality assessment. Results: Based on these criteria, six articles (sample sizes N = 61 to N = 122,180) were included for the thematic narrative synthesis. The studies revealed that the percentage of students with SENs-EBD consuming alcohol and cannabis was higher compared to students who did not have SENs or attended mainstream schools. Conclusion: The small number of heterogeneous studies, with limitations concerning the sample size, missing effect sizes, and influence of control variables, demonstrates the need for more research. The systematic review provides guidance for such future research endeavors, as well as preliminary notions for practical implications.

Discrimination and Civic Engagement of Immigrants in Western Societies. A Systematic Scoping Review

AbstractResearch has highlighted the barriers that immigrants face due to discrimination in their everyday lives. At the same time, it has been shown that immigrants get civically engaged to counteract discrimination and to work for structural change. To contribute to ongoing research on how discrimination affects attitudes, behaviour, and eventually life opportunities of immigrants, we investigate in a scoping review conceptualisations and measurements of discrimination and civic engagement used in empirical quantitative studies. We take systematic stock of publications that examine the link between discrimination—perceived and experienced—and the civic engagement of immigrants in Western societies. Using three of the leading databases for the social sciences, we systematically search for literature on discrimination and civic engagement over the past 50 years. On the basis of the retrieved publications, we assess how studies conceptualise and measure discrimination and civic engagement and investigate how scholars represent the link between discrimination and civic engagement in their statistical models. We introduce an analytical framework for discrimination that leads to more analytical clarity and may serve as a tool to investigate the link between discrimination and civic engagement more precisely. From our review, we derive recommendations as to how studies from different disciplines can learn and benefit from each other in order to gather knowledge on the mechanisms that underlie the link between discrimination and civic engagement.

The impact of entrepreneurial ecosystems on digital transformations: micro-level analysis

Purpose Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) contribute to organisational success through enabling actors to restructure businesses, stimulating exchanges of resources as well as applications and improvements to technological approaches. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to study the impact of EE micro-level variables on digital transformations. Design/methodology/approach Based on data spanning 5,000 Portuguese firms, the authors selected a random sample of 300, including businesses in the industrial, retail and service sectors. The authors deployed the multiple linear regression statistical method to validate the hypotheses. Findings As a result, the authors may conclude the organisation and the micro-level actors of EEs, owners and their members of staff produce influences on digital transformation processes. Originality/value This study contributes to completing the gap in the literature regarding the shortage of quantitative empirical studies approaching micro-level EE variables from the perspective of their relationships with digital transformation processes.

Do health-care institutions perform better under leaders with medical or non-medical backgrounds? A scoping review

PurposeThis study aims to summarize studies that compared the performance of health-care institutions led by leaders with medical background versus those with no medical background.Design/methodology/approachA systematic search was conducted on three databases: PubMed, Ovid Medline and Google Scholar to identify relevant peer-reviewed studies using the keywords “performance,” “impact,” “physician,” “medical,” “doctor,” “leader,” “healthcare institutions” and “hospital.” Only quantitative studies that compared the performance of health-care institutions led by leaders with medical background versus non-medical background were included. Articles were screened and assessed for eligibility before the relevant data were extracted to summarize, appraise and make a narrative account of the findings.FindingsA total of eight studies were included, four were based in the USA, two in the UK and one from Germany and one from the Arab World. Half of the studies (n = 4) reported overall better health-care institutional performance in terms of hospital quality ranking such as clinical effectiveness and patient safety under leaders with medical background, whereas one study showed poorer performance. The remaining studies reported mixed results among the different performance indicators, especially financial performance.Practical implicationsWhile medical background leaders may have an edge in clinical competence to manage health-care institutions, it will be beneficial to equip them with essential management skills to optimize leadership competence and enhance organizational performance.Originality/valueThe exclusive inclusion of quantitative empirical studies that compared health-care institutional performance medical and non-medical leaders provides a clearer link between the relationship between health-care institutional performance and the leaders’ background.

Dementia-Friendly Transportation Services: A Scoping Review.

Transportation is an important component of dementia-friendly communities. People living with dementia have the right to access transportation services to keep their mobility in their community, which is essential for independence, well-being, and quality of life. This scoping review maps the literature on dementia-friendly transportation services and explores their characteristics to inform future development and research. Empirical quantitative and qualitative studies in English or French that informed on transportation services for people living with dementia in the community were searched in 15 databases. Two authors independently screened records and charted relevant characteristics from selected publications. Important findings were summarized with a narrative synthesis approach. Thirty-five studies informed on important dimensions of transportation services in urban and/or rural context: availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability, and affordability. Important insights were identified: the importance of staff training and attitude, and the challenges of availability of affordable services in the rural context. Emerging policy and program intervention areas include the need for access to quiet areas in transit hubs, training to use mass public transit and mobility management. The literature on dementia-friendly transportation services is important in the expansion and maintenance of mobility for people living with dementia in the community. The scope of the existing scientific literature remains limited. Although several studies indicated a clear need for better access to dementia-friendly transportation services, the best practices still need to be demonstrated in the scientific literature.

Process Evaluations of Diabetes Self-Management Programs: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

To conduct a systematic review of process evaluations (PEs) of diabetes self-management programs (DSMPs). An electronic search using Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (Ensco), Academic Search (Ebsco), and APA PsycInfo (Ebsco). Peer-reviewed, empirical quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method studies were included if they (1) were a traditional, group-based DSMP, (2) involved adults at least 18 years with T1DM or T2DM, (3) were a stand-alone or embedded PE, and (4) published in English. The following process evaluation outcomes were extracted: fidelity, dose delivered, dose received, reach, recruitment, retention, and context. Additional items were extracted, (eg, process evaluation type, data collection methods; theories; frameworks or conceptual models used to guide the process evaluation, and etc). Due to heterogeneity across studies, studies were synthesized qualitatively (narratively). Sixty-eight studies (k) in 78 articles (n) (k = 68; n = 78) were included. Most were mixed methods of low quality. Studies were typically integrated into outcome evaluations vs being stand-alone, lacked theoretical approaches to guide them, and incorporated limited outcomes such as dose received, reach, and retention. Future research should 1) implement stand-alone theoretically grounded PE studies and 2) provide a shared understanding of standardized guidelines to conduct PEs. This will allow public health practitioners and researchers to assess and compare the quality of different programs to be implemented.

Exploring French venality in the seventeenth century: Insights from a new database on offices

Venality was the French system of sales of public positions called offices. It was a stable and central institution within the French Old Regime. Though widely studied by historians, the topic lacks large-scale quantitative analysis. In this article, we fill this gap by presenting a novel and comprehensive database of 17th-century French offices, which includes more than 15,000 offices and large information about their characteristics, the institution they depended on, and their geographical jurisdiction. We also propose three quantitative examples of how this database could be used. Following the proposed research agenda, our database could be used for quantitative empirical studies and for multidisciplinary work, including history, political sciences, economics and administration.

Travel behaviour of shared mobility users: a review of empirical evidence

ABSTRACT In recent decades, shared mobility has gained prominence as a sustainable alternative in transport, yet a comprehensive understanding of its effects on travel behaviour remains limited. This paper provides a narrative review of quantitative empirical studies, focusing on car-sharing and bike-sharing, and revisits the magnitude of the effects on four indicators: public transport use, active transport use, auto dependence, and auto ownership. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives are considered, examining variances in trip characteristics. Shared mobility users tend to rely less on private vehicles and increase cycling, with varying effects on transit use and walking. Car-sharing typically replaces private vehicles for non-commuting trips, while bike-sharing mainly competes with rather than complements public transport, especially for shorter commutes. The longitudinal effects of shared mobility appear more limited than those observed in cross-sectional analyses, indicating that shared mobility can potentially lead to a positive trend in travel mode shifts over time, albeit slowly. Additionally, this study highlights differences in shared mobility outcomes between Australia and other global contexts, exploring potential reasons for these discrepancies. Integrating shared mobility and other transport paradigms requires long-term strategies to shape travel behaviour towards multimodality, offering a continuum of choices covering most daily trips without private vehicles.

Digital Self-Monitoring Tools for the Management of Gestational Weight Gain: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

Gestational weight gain (GWG) exceeding the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (in the United States) is associated with numerous adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. While many behavioral interventions targeting nutrition and physical activity have been developed to promote GWG within the Institute of Medicine guidelines, engagement and results are variable. Technology-mediated interventions can potentially increase the feasibility, acceptability, and reach of interventions, particularly for pregnant women, for whom integration of interventions into daily life may be critical to retention and adherence. Previous reviews highlight GWG self-monitoring as a common intervention component, and emerging work has begun to integrate digital self-monitoring into technology-mediated interventions. With rapid advances in technology-mediated interventions, a focused synthesis of literature examining the role of digital self-monitoring tools in managing GWG is warranted to guide clinical practice and inform future studies. The proposed review aims to synthesize the emerging research base evaluating digital GWG self-monitoring interventions, primarily focusing on whether the intervention is effective in managing GWG. Depending on the characteristics of the included research, secondary focus areas will comprise intervention recruitment and retention, feasibility, acceptability, and differences between stand-alone and multicomponent interventions. This protocol was developed following the PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols) guidelines for systematic review protocols. The proposed review would use a planned and systematic approach to identify, evaluate, and synthesize relevant and recent empirical quantitative studies (reported in English) examining the use of digital weight self-monitoring tools in the context of technology-mediated interventions to manage GWG in pregnant US adults, with at least 2 instances of data collection. Literature eligible for inclusion will have a publication date between January 2010 and July 2020. The Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies will be used to assess the methodological quality of included studies across various domains, and results will be synthesized and summarized per the synthesis without meta-analysis guidelines. The initial queries of 1150 records have been executed and papers have been screened for inclusion. Data extractions are expected to be finished by December 2023. Results are expected in 2024. The systematic review that will be generated from this protocol will offer evidence for the use of digital self-monitoring tools in the management of GWG. The planned, focused synthesis of relevant literature has the potential to inform the use of digital weight self-monitoring tools in the context of future technology-mediated interventions to manage GWG. In addition, the planned review has the potential to contribute as part of a broader movement in research toward empirically supporting the inclusion of specific components within more extensive, multicomponent interventions to balance parsimony and effectiveness. PROSPERO CRD42020204820; https://tinyurl.com/ybzt6bvr. PRR1-10.2196/50145.

What do we know about religion and interreligious peace? A review of the quantitative literature

AbstractInterreligious relations remain an important dimension of human coexistence and we currently observe an increase in religiously motivated violence and discrimination. Hence, we need to better understand determinants of interreligious peace. Building on a new concept of interreligious peace which includes but exceeds the absence of interreligious physical violence, we provide a systematic review of 83 quantitative empirical studies examining religious determinants of interreligious physical violence, hostile attitudes, threat perceptions, trust, and cooperation. We find that religious ideas foster or hinder interreligious peace depending on their content. Religious identities have negative effects but must be considered in context. Evidence regarding the role of religious practice is mixed and the role of religious actors and institutions remains understudied. Our results show the need for (1) more conceptual clarity, (2) replications in different contexts, (3) research on dimensions of religion beyond identities, and (4) a better integration of different strands of literature.

Considering genres in gendered and racialized cultural capital

Despite their essential role in conceptualizing cultural capital, genres have been left out of most quantitative empirical studies in this research tradition. Based on data from the French Ministry of Education with measures of detailed genre consumption for reading and TV watching, this article uses multiple correspondence analysis to show differences in consumption by gender, race/ethnicity, and class, and uses Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions to explore how gender and ethnic/racial GPA gaps can be explained with attention to cultural genres. Findings suggest that variations in consumption can both play to the advantage or detriment of girls and minorities, with perhaps gendered practices having an exacerbated effect on grades in certain cases and conformity to school norms being particularly rewarded for children of immigrants. Ultimately, results call for attention to genres to nuance our understanding of all-encompassing indicators of cultural capital as also gendered and racialized.

Including families in schizophrenia treatment: a systematic review

The family as one of system support for schizophrenia treatment in the primary care setting has been a challenge in integrating family services into mental health. This study aimed to review the urgent of family involvement during the treatment of schizophrenia in health mental services using the Family-Centered Care approach. A systematic review was performed using the population, intervention, comparison, outcome, study design (PICOS) framework within Scopus (27 articles), ProQuest (151 articles), Science Direct (93 articles), EBSCO (124 articles), and Springer (149 articles) published databases in the last five years using the keywords of “Family- Centered Care, nursing, AND Schizophreni*”. The articles were empirical quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies published within 2017- 2021 where study participants were clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia and intervention approaches were within the scope of family involvement. Twenty-four articles met the inclusion criteria for review. Evidence supports a professionally engaged relationship between patients, families, and providers with open knowledge exchange, communication, and collaboration. Family-centered care requires empathy, understanding, respect, and empowerment to choose, control decisions, and empower in the treatment of schizophrenia. This study concludes the importance of family involvement in the treatment of schizophrenia from the start. Health care providers help families through the admissions process.

Writing a useful empirical journal article

The impact of research depends on how well readers can understand and use published reports, yet as researchers we often fail to consider what our readers need. Instead, we structure reports to match a socially accepted, but often inappropriate, standard design – the “hourglass”. In this essay, I suggest that when writing a report, we should adjust our reporting style to suit our target readers. I outline four reporting templates for quantitative empirical studies that are suited to differing reader needs.

The Association of Moral Injury and Healthcare Clinicians’ Wellbeing: A Systematic Review

Research focused on elucidating moral injury amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) is essential due to the deep connection with morality and individuals’ overall wellbeing. Examining moral injury provides an avenue through which researchers can connect individual experiences with systemic level causes (i.e., structural power imbalances between clinicians and health systems) to better study workplace wellbeing. The omnipresence of the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need to study moral injury. This paper describes a systematic review conducted using PRISMA-P guidelines to answer the question, “what is the association between moral injury and professional wellbeing and mental health amongst healthcare workers.” Twelve databases were searched to identify specified studies. This study’s criteria included: (1) articles published through December 2022; (2) qualitative and quantitative empirical studies; (3) articles written in English; (4) articles including moral injury; and (5) articles including at minimum one other measure of professional or personal wellbeing. The initial search produced 248 articles, and 18 articles were ultimately included in the final review. To confirm that no articles were left out of this study, the first author of each included article was contacted to inquire about any additional works that met the inclusion criteria of this study. The elements of the 18 included articles described in this review are discussed. The results indicate that moral injury is associated with both professional wellbeing factors and mental health outcomes. Further theoretical development, including (professional- and identity-based) exploratory research on moral injury, and evidenced-based interventions for moral injury are needed.

A Bibliometric Review ofJournal of Financial Counseling and PlanningBetween 1990 and 2022

In 1990, the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning (JFCP) was established. The journal publishes academic research on consumer financial decision-making, financial education, counseling, and planning. This article reviews the journal’s contents published during the period 1990–2022. It analyzes JFCP’s publication trends, citation statistics, significant themes, authors’ collaborations, keywords, and contributions to the literature of consumer finance. Most studies employed Life Cycle Hypothesis and Expected Utility Theory. JFCP publishes mostly US-based quantitative empirical studies. JFCP’s eight knowledge themes are credit card behavior; financial literacy and financial behavior; financial risk tolerance; financial education, and financial behavior; financial distress and financial self-efficacy; financial well-being; workplace financial education and financial help-seeking behavior, and JFCP’s retrospection. Among JFCP’s articles, the most used keywords selected by authors are “survey of consumer finances” and “financial literacy.” This study also describes the author, country, and concept networks.

Transdiagnostic factors in symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress: a systematic review

The current systematic review sought to identify quantitative empirical studies that focused on the transdiagnostic factors of intolerance of uncertainty, emotional dysregulation and rumination, and their relation with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The overall research aim was to examine the relationship between these transdiagnostic factors and their relation with depression and PTSD symptoms. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Out of the 768 articles initially identified, 55 met the inclusion criteria for the current review. The results determined that intolerance of uncertainty is indirectly related to depression and PTSD symptoms, mainly through other factors including emotion dysregulation and rumination. Additionally, emotional dysregulation is a significant predictor of both depression and PTSD symptoms. Rumination is a robust factor related to depression and PTSD symptoms, this relationship was significant in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. This review provides evidence on the transdiagnostic factors of intolerance of uncertainty, emotional dysregulation and rumination in the relationship with depression and PTSD symptoms.