Social Behavioral Sciences Research Articles

Family Members Grieving the Loss of a Person to Incarceration: A Scoping Review.

This scoping review examined grief related to the incarceration of a family member in order to establish a theoretical framework. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Social Sciences Citation Index, Embase, PsycInfo, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials & Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PILOTS, and Psychiatry Online was conducted. We extracted data on sample characteristics, study design, purpose of the study, grief measure used, grief term and definition used, and key qualitative and quantitative findings. Twenty-five studies met inclusion criteria. Most studies used the terms 'ambiguous loss' (n = 15) and 'disenfranchised grief' (n = 12); however, grief terms and their definitions varied. The review identified 14 unique terms and more than 20 definitions. In several cases, the same term was defined and conceptualized differently between studies. This review also revealed shortcomings in existing theoretical frameworks for grief related to incarceration. Grief related to losing a family member to incarceration involves two distinct constructs: non-traditional losses and cascading losses. Non-traditional losses (measured on a continuum) capture elements of a loss to incarceration that are unique (compared to a loss via death) or may not be socially accepted, whereas cascading losses refers to the ongoing losses that one may experience related to the incarceration (e.g., loss of financial stability). This framework provides the field with consistent constructs and definitions that can be used to further advance research in incarceration-related grief and facilitates an improved ability to replicate findings between laboratories.

Multi-Family Housing Environment and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

To identify environmental features of multi-family housing (MFH) and their surrounding neighborhoods that influence residents' physical activity (PA). Articles published between January 2000 and September 2023 were identified from major social science, medical, health, behavioral science, and urban studies databases. Studies were included if they (a) were empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals and written in English; (b) focused on the MFH environment or the surrounding neighborhood; and (c) had at least one PA outcome. Data was extracted regarding the study objective, location, study sample, research design, results related to MFH and neighborhood environment, and limitations. Descriptive summary of study characteristics and analysis to identify emerging themes at three spatial scales (i.e., building, site, and neighborhood). Findings from 35 identified articles revealed factors influencing MFH residents' PA. On the building level, typology (apartment, townhouse) and tenure (public, market rent) showed contrasting correlations with PA in different age groups. On the site level, the presence of PA facilities and safe, walking-friendly environments promoted PA. On the neighborhood level, safety, quality of PA and pedestrian infrastructure, upkeep, air quality, aesthetics, neighborhood satisfaction, street connectivity, walkability, land use mix, density, and public transport promoted PA. Study findings highlight the importance of the MFH environments in promoting PA, especially in older adults and young children. With increasing housing demand, understanding diverse MFH typologies and the impact of interventions on multi-spatial scales can help promote healthy and activity-friendly communities.

Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Health Disparities: State of the Science, Research Gaps and Opportunities

Food insecurity and the lack of access to affordable, nutritious food are associated with poor dietary quality and an increased risk of diet-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Those of lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of food insecurity, are more likely to live in under-resourced food environments, and continue to bear the greatest burden of diet-related chronic diseases in the United States. Despite the growing body of literature in this area, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the various pathways that link food insecurity and neighborhood food environments to racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health and the most effective intervention strategies to address these disparities. To better understand the science in this area, the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), convened a virtual 3-d workshop 21–23 September 2021: Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Nutrition Health Disparities: State of the Science. The workshop brought together a diverse group of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and federal partners with expertise in nutrition, the food environment, health and social policy, and behavioral and social sciences. The workshop had the following 3 research objectives: 1) summarize the state of the science and knowledge gaps related to food insecurity, neighborhood food environments, and nutrition health disparities, 2) identify research opportunities and strategies to address research gaps, and 3) examine evidence-based interventions and implementation approaches to address food insecurity and neighborhood food environments to promote health equity. This article summarizes workshop proceedings and describes research gaps and future opportunities that emerged from discussions.

From cross-lagged effects to feedback effects: Further insights into the estimation and interpretation of bidirectional relations.

Bidirectional relations have long been of interest in psychology and other social behavioral sciences. In recent years, the widespread use of intensive longitudinal data has provided new opportunities to examine dynamic bidirectional relations between variables. However, most previous studies have focused on the effect of one variable on the other (i.e., cross-lagged effects) rather than the overall effect representing the dynamic interplay between two variables (i.e., feedback effects), which we believe may be due to a lack of relevant methodological guidance. To quantify bidirectional relations as a whole, this study attempted to provide guidance for the estimation and interpretation of feedback effects based on dynamic structural equation models. First, we illustrated the estimation procedure for the average and person-specific feedback effects. Then, to facilitate the interpretation of feedback effects, we established an empirical benchmark by quantitatively synthesizing the results of relevant empirical studies. Finally, we used a set of empirical data to demonstrate how feedback effects can help (a) test theories based on bidirectional relations and (b) reveal correlates of individual differences in bidirectional relations. We also discussed the broad application prospects of feedback effects from a dynamic systems perspective. This study provides guidance for applied researchers interested in further examining feedback effects in bidirectional relations, and the shift from focusing on cross-lagged effects only to a comprehensive consideration of feedback effects may provide new insights into the study of bidirectional relations.

Environmental evidence in action: on the science and practice of evidence synthesis and evidence-based decision-making

In civil society we expect that policy and management decisions will be made using the best available evidence. Yet, it is widely known that there are many barriers that limit the extent to which that occurs. One way to overcome these barriers is via robust, comprehensive, transparent and repeatable evidence syntheses (such as systematic reviews) that attempt to minimize various forms of bias to present a summary of existing knowledge for decision-making purposes. Relative to other disciplines (e.g., health care, education), such evidence-based decision-making remains relatively nascent for environment management despite major threats to humanity, such as the climate, pollution and biodiversity crises demonstrating that human well-being is inextricably linked to the biophysical environment. Fortunately, there are a growing number of environmental evidence syntheses being produced that can be used by decision makers. It is therefore an opportune time to reflect on the science and practice of evidence-based decision-making in environment management to understand the extent to which evidence syntheses are embraced and applied in practice. Here we outline a number of key questions related to the use of environmental evidence that need to be explored in an effort to enhance evidence-based decision-making. There is an urgent need for research involving methods from social science, behavioural sciences, and public policy to understand the basis for patterns and trends in environmental evidence use (or misuse or ignorance). There is also a need for those who commission and produce evidence syntheses, as well as the end users of these syntheses to reflect on their experiences and share them with the broader evidence-based practice community to identify needs and opportunities for advancing the entire process of evidence-based practice. It is our hope that the ideas shared here will serve as a roadmap for additional scholarship that will collectively enhance evidence-based decision-making and ultimately benefit the environment and humanity.

Female Leadership Portraits in Commercial Movies: Gender Social Representations from the STEAM Sector

To encourage girls and women to pursue STEAM careers, it is crucial to increase the positive representation of female role models in science. The study uses the Bechdel test and an adapted Greimas Actantial Method to analyse mainstream films. Results show that female characters are often attractive, Caucasian scientists, not mothers, and play secondary roles above all. The most represented careers were in Biology, Astronomy, and Social or Human Behavioural Sciences. Representation of women in leadership positions in the STEAM sector in commercial movies is clearly deficient.

How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

Geoscience and geodiversity, two sides of the same coin, deal with very poor social visibility and recognition. Ensuring the protection of geodiversity is not only in the geoscientists’ hands and all of society needs to be involved. Therefore, public engagement with geodiversity demands new solutions and a change of paradigm in geoscience communication. Most of the science communication activities undertaken by geoscientists, even when they use modern approaches and technologies, are mainly designed based on empirical experience, laid on didactical approaches and assuming the public’s knowledge deficit. In order to engage the society with geodiversity, it is not enough to focus on scientific literacy and deficit models in which lack of knowledge is considered to be the main obstacle between science and society. It is fundamental to establish a commitment between society and science based on dialogue where lay public is not seen anymore as a single entity with a knowledge deficit. Non-experts must become also protagonists in scientific decisions with social impact and integrate their knowledge and concerns in public participation and decision-making. Engagement with geoscience and geodiversity would benefit from more effective and targeted communication strategies, with different approaches to engage with communities, local stakeholders, media, students and teachers, scientific community, tourists, politicians or policy-makers, and groups with different concerns and distinct relations with science. In the last 20 years, science communication research has made many relevant contributions in order to promote more participatory processes with which society is asked to engage. Regarding geoscience communication as a discipline, it is a very recent Earth science branch that also incorporates social science, behavioral science, and science communication, but still lacks a clear and formal definition. This study provides a comprehensive review of the literature in order to develop a conceptual framework for geoscience communication research, identifying the main challenges and opportunities.

An empirical support of Schopenhauer's ethics: A dynamic panel data analysis on developed and developing countries

This paper covers all main theoretical features of Schopenhauer's ethics (i.e., life satisfaction arising from art, compassion based on virtue of justice or virtue of loving, and compassion leading to asceticism) in an analytical model, it translates this analytical model into a statistical model by referring to empirical variables (i.e., household expenditures in recreation and culture for art, the Gini index for compassion based on virtue of justice; percentages of people nationally defined as poor for compassion based on virtue of loving; percentages of believers in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism; governmental enrolments and expenditures in primary, secondary and tertiary education; and inter-generational equal access to Earth resources for compassion leading to asceticism), and it estimates this statistical model by using panel data at a country level for 99% of the world's population (i.e., 18% in 34 OECD developed countries and 81% in 128 non-OECD developing countries) from 2000 to 2020. Statistical results about reliability show that Schopenhauer's ethics is supported by observations (i.e., all predictions are confirmed within an each individual perspective with reliable variables depicting compassion based on virtue of justice, Christianity, and primary education) and it can explain the observed decreasing life satisfaction within an average individual perspective (i.e., believers in developed countries are showed to be decreased from 86% to 73% and compassion based on virtue of justice, art, and tertiary education turn out to be reliable). Mathematical results about feasibility show that some reliable principles of Schopenhauer's ethics can compensate for the decreasing life satisfaction at a cultural individual level (i.e., compassion based on virtue of justice, Christianity) and some of its reliable principles can compensate the decreasing life satisfaction at a representative individual level (i.e., compassion based on virtue of justice, art). Therefore, the methodological contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it provides an example of interdisciplinary science (i.e., contextual rather than topical, abductive rather than inductive, observational rather than experimental). Second, it highlights (theoretical and empirical) synergies between social (behavioural) sciences and (moral) philosophy: Schopenhauer's ethics turn out to be not only a normative philosophy (i.e., it suggests individual behaviours) but also a positive philosophy (i.e., it explains individual behaviours), within its virtue approach; Schopenhauer's ethics can explain the observed dynamics of life satisfaction at global level, if an utilitarian rather than a virtue approach is adopted.

Social Science and Its Frontiers

Social Science and Its Frontiers Myron P. Gutmann (bio) Mark Solovey,Social Science for What? Battles over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2020. X+ 398pp. Figures, notes, index. $50.00. Americans often date the emergence of a strong commitment to government support of science to the launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 satellite in October 1957. That event certainly spurred policy decisions that increased federal investments in education and science, and thus is an appropriate starting point for the popular narrative about science. At the same time, policy developments of the Sputnik era built on earlier events, widely recognized by historians of science. That perspective starts the story with the presentation in July 1946 of Vannever Bush’s report, Science, The Endless Frontier, to President Truman, advocating for a large, organized federal investment in scientific research, based on the role of science and technology in the Second World War. Early efforts to enact legislation based on the Bush report failed (Truman vetoed the first bill that passed because it lacked presidential control over the appointment of the Foundation’s leadership), but in 1950 Truman signed the National Science Foundation Act, establishing an enduring basis for publicly—especially federally—funded scientific research in the United States. The debates about the creation of the National Science Foundation pitted progressives against conservatives and advocates of public and congressional control of science against advocates of exclusive control by scientists.1 One of the topics of debate—although hardly the loudest—was whether the social sciences would be included in the Foundation’s charge.2 Vannever Bush was opposed to their inclusion, sometimes arguing that they should be supported by a separate organization; on the other side, Democratic West Virginia Senator Harley M. Kilgore, a leading sponsor of a more progressive approach, supported their inclusion in the Foundation’s mission. In the end, the compromise legislation that Truman signed in 1950 did not include support for the social sciences, but at the same time did not prohibit such support. The Foundation did not totally exclude the social sciences for long; it hired sociologist Harry Alpert in 1953, and in 1954 introduced a first, extremely modest, program to support the linkage between the social and natural sciences. [End Page 396] The first Social Sciences Division was not established until 1960 (in an era in which the Foundation was divided into four scientific divisions reflecting major disciplinary categories). Later, when the Foundation was reorganized into seven directorates (three of them disciplinary, one for education, and three for administrative activities) in 1975, the Divisions of Social Sciences and Behavioral and Neural Sciences were part of an expanded Directorate for Biological, Behavioral and Social Sciences (p. 179). Only in 1991–92 did the Foundation establish a separate Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) Sciences, an organizational status that still exists today. The road from the origin of the Foundation to the creation of the SBE Directorate was not linear, with ups and downs in support for the social and behavioral sciences mostly reflecting political and institutional challenges. This history spanning the period from the first discussions of the National Science Foundation through the end of the 1980s (with an added discussion of recent events and recommendations for the future) is the topic of Mark Solovey’s Social Science for What? Battles over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation. In this book he builds on his earlier book, Shaky Foundations: The Politics-Patronage-Social Science Nexus in Cold War America (2013), on extensive archival research, and on interviews with surviving participants. Social Science for What? is an impressive accomplishment, capturing the connections between partisan politics, scientific inquiry, tensions among scientific disciplines, and the institutional development of the Foundation. It is instructive for all readers, including for me, who served for four years (2009–13) as one of the Foundation’s Assistant Directors and head of the Directorate for Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). Social Science for What? articulates consistent themes that define social science at NSF, along with a lively narrative arc. To define that arc, Solovey divides the main...

Social Behavioral Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (NSF)

Social Behavioral Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (NSF)

The Campaign Against Ageism.

Journal Article Accepted manuscript The Campaign Against Ageism Get access Karen L Fingerman, PhD, Karen L Fingerman, PhD Department of Human Development & Family Sciences and Texas Aging and Longevity Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA Address correspondence to: Karen L. Fingerman, PhD, 108 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78712. E-mail: kfingerman@austin.utexas.edu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9260-9400 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Joan K Monin, PhD Joan K Monin, PhD Social Behavioral Sciences Department, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1729-0230 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar The Gerontologist, gnac116, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnac116 Published: 04 August 2022 Article history Received: 05 July 2022 Published: 04 August 2022

Nudge on Choice Architecture: Effectiveness of Economic Recovery Policy and Irrational Behavior Predictions

Economic recovery policy in low-income communities is a priority of the government in tackling the tidal wave of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to map the government's priorities and rapid action in its careful planning also implementation. The challenge is how society has a drive about a wide range of choices that have many possibilities, namely maximizing added value to the aid or fulfilling desires that approach irrational behavior. Therefore, encouragement is needed by every individual to choose choices that are in line with the government's policy objectives to eliminate or eliminate extreme poverty. The method used is an analysis of social science and behavioral science with circumplex strategy, which is further analyzed in correlation with quantitative methods using Kendall W. Test analysis and continued double regression. The results showed that encouragement had a positive and insignificant influence on the effectiveness of BLT policies; predictions of irrational behavior have a negative and insignificant influence on the effectiveness of BLT policies; And together, nudge and irrational predictably have a positive and significant influence on the effectiveness of Top Up BLT policies. Recommendations on the encouragement in improving the architecture of choice are the collaboration between the program implementation team and related stakeholders; irrational behavior predictions are anticipating irrational behavior tendencies by understanding the vulnerability of preconditions and conditions in the implementation of the program; the maintenance of the commitment of the central and local government and village government in enforcing regulations.

An Analytical Apparatus for Visual Imagery Applied in a Social-Behavioral Research

Participant created visual data are increasingly being used in social-behavioral sciences projects. They have become a popular medium in community-based research adopting an arts-informed approach to study challenging life circumstances of community members. We argue that visual data can do more than just illustrate ideas or concepts, particularly in the process of research where participants contribute to the data collection phase. Visual images record the tacit meanings of the person who makes them, and they can—with the help of a researcher skilled in qualitative reasoning—form another stream of textual analysis. The authors developed an Analytical Apparatus for Visual Imagery (AAVI), constructed from the elements of art and the principles of design and other arts-based sources, and applied it to two different arts-based research projects where participants created visual images or artworks for analysis. Through a combination of storylines and the AAVI analysis, a deeper level of analytical interpretation and a better understanding of the complexity of human experience were reached, particularly in trying to understand the emotional layers linked to experiences.

The Effect of Sample Size on Random Component in Multilevel Modeling

In cluster-correlated data arise when there exists any condition for that individual are grouped among themselves. Data of this kind arise frequently in social science, behavioral, and medical sciences since individuals can be grouped in so many different ways. Multilevel modeling (MLM) is an approach that can be used to handle cluster or grouped data. Analyzing of correlated data is different from the usual way for independent data since we have to consider the correlation structure among individuals within cluster. In random effects models’ correlation structure can be estimated by considering the models parameters are allowed to vary across the cluster. Random effect models have two components, within cluster components, cluster-specific response is described by a regression model with a population-level intercept and slope, other is between-cluster component: variation in cluster-intercepts and slopes is captured. In a multilevel model, cluster level variance component is more affected by no. of cluster as well as cluster size. So, this is important to aware the researcher about no. of cluster and cluster size in estimating the random components of random effect models for correlated continuous and discrete outcome respectively in MLM since it produces bias estimate for few no. of cluster and cluster size. The parameters of random effects models can be estimated by Maximum Likelihood and Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) estimation for correlated continuous outcome, on the contrast besides REML, Penalized Quassi Likelihood (PQL) and Adaptive Gaussian Quadrature (AGQ) estimation techniques are applied for correlated discrete outcome. In this thesis, using the simulation procedure we would be compared among these estimation techniques by exploring the influence of no. of cluster and cluster size on estimated random parameters from random effect models of two-level and three levels for continuous and discrete outcome respectively. Relative bias, mean square error and coverage probability would be used for comparison purpose among the estimation techniques.

Blurred Eras: Historical and Contemporary Socio-Ecological Contexts of Development and Adjustment of Black American Adolescents.

This commentary reflects on research studies included in this special issue, Black Lives Matter! Systems of Oppression Affecting Black Youth. A key finding in these studies is significance of developmental and social behavioral sciences to center systemic racism and oppression in studies of Black youth to more fully understand and explain how contextual factors and processes impact their everyday life experiences. This collection of papers offers insights and recommendations of ways advance research studies by expanding research to include upstream policies and practices and explain their roles in perpetuating oppression and discrimination. Applying multi-socio-ecological theoretical frameworks may demonstrate effective pathways to reduce environmental toxins that hinder positive health and well-being for adolescents, their families, and communities.

Power of the Temporary: Social Art in Spaces of Transitional Living

This communication paper addresses the role of ephemeral and temporary artistic interventions into the systemic problem of homelessness and the question of sustainability in social art practice. I approach these issues through my work with homeless service agencies that are shaped by rules and procedures intended to increase predictability, whereas, as an artist, my work resists such rigidity by carving out space for spontaneity, vulnerability, and renewal. The dilemma of sustaining socially engaged art long-term raises particular questions within the context of institutions such as these. Can a project be successful as a temporary intervention within systems of predictability? If a project does become sustainable in the long-term, is there a way it can retain a level of energy incited by newness and unexpectedness? I discuss these issues in the context of two of my long-term projects, Beauty in Transition (2013–2016) and Choreographing Care (2016–2021), both working within homeless service agencies. Beauty in Transition was a pop-up mobile hair salon offering free haircare for transitional housing residents. Choreographing Care, a project supporting homeless service staff, started as a socially engaged art project and was adopted into an emergency shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A as an organizational initiative. The ideas I discuss in this paper are supported and inspired by disciplines of research including care ethics of Gilligan, social behavioral science of Goffman, and approaches to participation discussed by Helguera and Kaprow.

Sustainable Consumption Intentions of Consumers in Turkey: A Research Within the Theory of Planned Behavior

Sustainable consumption can be a way to minimize the environmental impact of the rapidly growing consumption phenomenon. However, sustainable consumer behavior changes depending on many different factors and determining these factors is very important for many disciplines. This study aims to determine the sustainable consumption behavior of consumers and the factors affecting this behavior within the framework of Planned Behavior Theory, which is used in many fields in the literature. The research was conducted within the framework of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control as well as altruistic values variables added to the model. Research data survey method with Turkey/Kastamonu were collected from the consumers in the province. The questionnaire was adapted using previous studies, and its validity and reliability analysis were made. Research data were tested with Structural Equation Modeling, which is used frequently in social sciences and behavioral sciences. As a result; It has been revealed that the variables of Planned Behavior Theory, which are attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and also the altruistic values dimension added to the model have a statistically significant effect on sustainable consumption intention, and intention has an effect on sustainable consumption behavior. It was concluded that perceived behavioral control has no direct effect on sustainable consumption behavior. These findings have important consequences for a large number of individuals and organizations such as policy makers, scientists, environmental organizations, health organizations, and businesses.

College majors and wages in Turkey: OLS and quantile regression with sample selection correction

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the wage differentials of the majors in college education in Turkey, which is a country implementing an ongoing expansion in college education in recent years.Design/methodology/approachThe study implements Mincreian wage regression using ordinary least squares, Heckman two-step estimation and quantile regression with sample selection correction by using household labor force surveys of TurkStat from the years 2014–2017.FindingsThe findings indicate one of the highest heterogeneity, close to 0.50 log points, between majors in the literature. The within-heterogeneity created by majors is highest among the graduates of social-behavioral sciences, law, biology, physics, mathematics, statistics, computer, engineering and manufacturing, as shown by a 90–10 difference, which is almost 700% for some of these majors. This study shows that the natural science and technical majors that are expected to be more productive and to be paid more fall behind in the wage distribution.Research limitations/implicationsEstimation results show that natural science majors, except for subjects allied to medicine and engineering, are paid lower than law and service-sector-related majors. This indicates that the predictions of the skill-biased technical change hypothesis are not valid in the wage profiles in Turkey and that some majors supply more than the sectoral needs. This casts doubts on the effectiveness of the ongoing higher education expansion process of the country.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on wage differentials of college majors, an area with limited studies. This is the first study analyzing wage differentials of the field of studies by correcting sample selection bias for the Turkish case.

Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Precision Medicine.

Purpose: The Precision Medicine Health Disparities Collaborative fosters collaboration between researchers with diverse backgrounds in precision medicine and health disparities research, to include training at the interface between genomics and health disparities. Understanding how perceptions about precision medicine differ by background may inform activities to better understand such differences.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of Center members and beyond. Data were collected on categories of educational background, current activities, and level of agreement with 20 statements related to genomics and health disparities. Respondents categorized their background and activities as social/behavioral, genetics, both, or neither. Fisher's exact test was used to assess levels of agreement in response to each statement. Statistically significant associations were further analyzed using ordinal logistic regression adjusting for age, self-identified race/ethnicity, and gender.Results: Of 130 respondents, 50 (38%) identified educational backgrounds and current activities as social-behavioral or genomic 55 (42%). Respondents differed by educational background on the statement Lifestyle and other life experiences influence how genes impact disease risk (p=0.0009). Respondents also differed by current activities on the statement Reducing disparities in access to health care will make precision medicine more effective (p=0.0008), and on Racism and discrimination make me concerned about how genetic test results will be used (p=0.0011).Conclusions: Respondents who differed on prior education and current activities, whether social behavioral science or human genomics, were associated with different perceptions regarding precision medicine and health disparities. These results identify potential barriers and opportunities to strengthen transdisciplinary collaboration.

Health Care Organizations: Soft Target during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Health care organizations have been challenged by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for some time, while in January 2020, it was not immediately suspected that it would take such a global expansion. In the past, other studies have already pointed out that health care systems, and more specifically hospitals, can be a so-called "soft target" for terrorist attacks. This report has now examined whether this is also the case in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.During the lockdown, hospitals turned out to be the only remaining soft targets for attacks, given that the other classic targets were closed during the lockdown. On the other hand, other important factors have limited the risk of such attacks in hospitals. The main delaying and relative risk-reducing factors were the access control on temperature and wearing a mask, no visits allowed, limited consultations, and investigations.But even then, health care systems and hospitals were prone to (cyber)terrorism, as shown by other COVID-19-related institutions, such as pharmaceuticals involved in developing vaccines and health care facilities involved in swab testing and contact tracing. Counter-terrorism medicine (CTM) and social behavioral science can reduce the likelihood and impact of terrorism, but cannot prevent (state-driven) cyberterrorism and actions of lone wolves and extremist factions.