Social Interaction Research Articles

Dynamics of Social Interaction, Social Support, and Psychological Well-Being in Urban Communities: Social Support Theory Perspective

This study aims to investigate the effect of Quality of Social Relationships on Social Welfare and Urban Community Quality of Life, using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) quantitative analysis method with the SMARTPLS tool. This research method involves collecting data from 600 samples representing various backgrounds and characteristics of individuals in an urban environment. The results showed that Quality of Social Relationships has a positive and significant influence on Social Welfare and Urban Community Quality of Life. The quality of strong and supportive social relationships is shown to play an important role in enhancing individual social welfare and improving the overall quality of life in urban communities. From the analysis using the SEM method with SMARTPLS, the findings suggest that social interaction, life satisfaction, social support, and the ability to adapt to environmental changes contribute positively to the quality of social relationships which in turn influence Social Welfare and Urban Community Quality of Life. The implication of these findings is the need to consider the importance of strengthening the quality of social relationships in developing social policies and programs aimed at improving social welfare and quality of life in urban environments.

Understanding Components of The Memorable Ethnic Food Experience: A Case of Turkish Cuisine in London

The primary goal of this study is to understand the memorable ethnic food experience of Turkish cuisine in London. To achieve the aim of the study, netnography approach, which is a qualitative study method, was used to ascertain the components of the memorable ethnic food experience via the User-Generated Content (UGC) technique. The data was garnered via TripAdvisor from consumers’ reviews posted regarding their food experience of Turkish food (n: 2324). The findings of this study posed that the memorable ethnic food experience has five main components: hospitality and social interaction, taste, and food characteristics, servicescape, authenticity, satisfaction, recommendation, and revisit intentions. The results of this study allow service providers to create a framework of memorable ethnic food experience design by focusing on components identified in the present work. The findings of the study contribute to a better understanding of memorable ethnic food experiences. Because of its original contributions, this study extends the food experience literature by providing original findings

AutistiCare: A One-Stop Centre for Parents With Autism Spectrum Disorder Children In Perlis

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typically struggle with social communication and interaction, psychomotor, activity daily living, cognitive, as well as behavioural and intention issues. It is difficult for parents and carers of children with ASD to manage their difficulties, particularly at home and at school. This going to be worst if the parents or carers are not well-equipped with related knowledge on the ASD management. The COVID-19 pandemic situation that spread the world in 2020 has caused significant mental health challenges for parents, such as anxiety and depression, as a result of additional challenges in coping with their children in everyday life, in which the usual therapies that they received at the therapy centre must be completed at home. As a result, supporting them in managing this problem is critical to improving their psychological well-being as a continual attempt from the therapy centre to home. Society nowadays is adapted to the use of the technologies because of COVID-19 phenomena. Strong evidence suggests that online intervention is equally important with a face-to-face approach that has positive effects to autistic children and provides psychological support for the parents. However, there is a gap on the digital intervention platform according to the needs of parents for ASD management especially in Perlis society. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to invent a telehealth platform, characterized as the delivery of healthcare to patients and caregivers via the Internet. The proposed system is AutistiCare targeting parents with ASD children in Perlis that will be developed through a web-based system. The system includes various intervention modules, such as online communities, including online consultations between experts and parents, psychological support through forums, psychoeducation delivered via learning materials such as videos or modules, and service-related postings such as advertisements for ASD programs or seminars. It is envisaged at the end, the system is equipped with optimal ASD management content to support parents with autistic children in Perlis. In addition, it can be a platform to seek knowledge and assistance from the expert remotely.

Revisiting The Usability of Personalised E-Learning Framework with Social Collaboration Support Using PCA

Personalised e-learning aims at providing a personalisation effect based on the learner’s characteristics such as knowledge level, preferences, and learning style. The support derived from using social collaboration tools like social media reflects the discovery of these characteristics from content generated during collaboration. The collaboration process is guided using different annotations equipped with the collaboration tool. This type of system needs to be evaluated in terms of usability factors including usefulness, ease of use, and System Usability Scale (SUS). These evaluation factors reflect the objectives of the system based on the different functionalities provided. Thus, the correlation between these factors and how they are related to the system objectives is needed to be validated. This validation is performed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) utilising PerLCol framework as discussed in this paper. PerLCol is a framework that aims at providing personalisation effects by utilising the generated information during social collaboration and interaction. The result reveals the strength items as indicated by the selected components (PC1, PC2, and PC3). These components are related to three evaluated factors which are personalisation, social collaboration, and seamless design which ultimately reflect the objectives of the framework.

Transitions in social media use and social media use for transition

High school and college students are known to be heavy users of social media. Much of their use is focused on peer social interactions and entertainment, but social media is also a potential platform for informal networked learning. In this study, we examine how college students used social media to learn about and prepare for college, how they use it in the university context, and how their social media use has changed as they mature and transition from one educational setting to another. Undergraduate students at a large public research university completed an online survey about their social media uses and perceptions. In terms of using social media to support the high school to college transition, preliminary findings show that for many students social media provided a valuable source of information about colleges, and in particular helped them plan and begin to build their social and activity networks in their new setting. Once at college, social media continued to help provide connections, serving as a source of information about campus events and supporting social connections. Social media was less frequently used as a means of networking with instructors. Many students noted that their use of social media had changed in meaningful ways as they transitioned to college. These students indicated that their networks were now different, that their attitudes and uses had matured, and that they were better able to use their social media networks as a platform for awareness and change. Whether they perceived meaningful changes in their use of social media across the transition, most participants alluded to a desire to minimize drama, social comparison, and other ill effects of social media. As data analysis continues, we will be exploring differences across platforms and relationships in college-related social media use based on intensity of use and sense of belonging. The study has implications for how institutions offer and support the development of social media networks among prospective and current students and provides insight into mindsets that can support or inhibit greater use of social media as a platform for informal networked learning as youth transition from high school to college and eventually on to careers.

The influence of perceived institutional support and social competencies on online learning satisfaction: A private higher education student perspective

COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionised higher education delivery through online learning. While it offers flexibility and accessibility, it also challenges social interaction and satisfaction. To address this challenge, this study adopted the Community of Inquiry framework as a valuable lens to investigate the relationship between perceived institutional support, social competencies with classmates and instructors, and online learning satisfaction. A quantitative approach was used to analyse and explore the proposed hypotheses through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. Students with prior experience in online learning from private higher education institutions were approached as the respondents. A total of 419 samples were selected through purposive sampling. The results indicated a positive relationship between perceived institutional support and online learning satisfaction. Perceived institutional support is positively related to social competencies of classmates and instructors. The research found that social competencies with classmates and instructors significantly mediated the association between perceived institutional support and online learning satisfaction. The findings from the study have implications for educational institutions, instructors, and students.

Visual and auditory attention in individuals with DYRK1A and SCN2A disruptive variants.

This preliminary study sought to assess biomarkers of attention using electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking in two ultra-rare monogenic populations associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Relative to idiopathic ASD (n = 12) and neurotypical comparison (n = 49) groups, divergent attention profiles were observed for the monogenic groups, such that individuals with DYRK1A (n = 9) exhibited diminished auditory attention condition differences during an oddball EEG paradigm whereas individuals with SCN2A (n = 5) exhibited diminished visual attention condition differences noted by eye gaze tracking when viewing social interactions. Findings provide initial support for alignment of auditory and visual attention markers in idiopathic ASD and neurotypical development but not monogenic groups. These results support ongoing efforts to develop translational ASD biomarkers within the attention domain.

Social participation of low‐income older adults in deprived urban neighborhoods in Amsterdam: A study among native Dutch, and Surinamese, Moroccan and Turkish migrants in The Netherlands

AbstractThis paper explores differences in social participation among low‐income older migrants and socioeconomically similar native Dutch older adults living in deprived neighborhoods in Amsterdam. It also analyzes experiences of social participation in relation to perceived neighborhood conditions. Analysis of 85 in‐depth interviews reveals that the types of activities that low‐income older adults participate in center around less demanding (collective) rather than more demanding (political and productive) forms of social participation. Differences in social participation were associated with personal characteristics and with neighborhood experiences. The findings articulate the dynamic and complex interaction between the competencies of older adults belonging to different ethnic communities and their diverse preferences and environmental needs. Older migrants living in areas where their own group is dominant enjoyed better access to ethnic services and experienced greater opportunities for social interaction. However, when compared to their native Dutch counterparts, they were more likely to encounter language barriers and to experience specific environmental problems, such as inadequate housing conditions and paid parking.

The future of presence in distance learning, a speculative design approach

Face-to-face teaching remains for many teachers the golden standard in education. However, learning is always emergent, dependent on the socio-material context. Sharing a physical space is one option, but with new digital technologies, alternative assemblages can create new and exciting learning environments and experiences. Based on the community of inquiry model, I consider cognitive, social, and teaching presence as central to a valuable educational experience in higher education. The aim of this research is to look at what presence could look like in the distance university of the future. Traditional research methods, whether quantitative or qualitative, focus on what is and on linear causal effects. However, education is open, recursive, nonlinear, and new environments introduce new actors, human and material, that affect the learning and teaching. In this research, I experiment with a speculative design method to see if it can lead to opening up new possibilities and to their critical evaluation. In six speculative design workshops, teachers developed prototypes of what presence and affective closeness could look like when students and teachers were spatially and temporally distant. I present the three main categories of prototypes that answer the needs of distance teaching creating social interactions, offering feedback, or re-creating a virtual classroom. These all show how presence can be enacted at a distance, including asynchronously. From a science-based and data-driven approach to the Virtual Reality University, via a live course map and the connected coffee cup, each prototype offers a different view of education with its opportunities, but also challenges. The prototypes also highlight how difficult it is to change our perception of what presence could look like in higher education. I use Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to help explain the difficulty of moving away from the face-to-face experience, and how a revolutionary view rather than a marginal approach to change requires a return to the fundamental questions of how students learn, the purpose of education and the role of the teacher.

On the nature of social interactions and cognition in learning communities

Whether explicitly used as a research aim or implicitly discussed as an outcome, the concept of community is central for the networked learning research as it allows networked learning researchers to study how people perceive the networked environment as a space, wherein the members can develop relationships among one another. The underlying premise for this work is that it is erroneous to assume a learning community is a unified concept, functioning in the same way for everyone under same circumstances. Taking the contextual factors into account, this research questions the characteristics of a community that are related to learning. I explore how different types of relationships among members of a learning community are related to learning. In particular, I conceptualise the concept of community using social capital theory. Since the central tenet of social capital theory is that different relationships within networks of people hold different values, I argue that it can inform the ways by which the perceived level of learning is understood with respect to interaction patterns. The findings suggest that both distributed–diverse communications and strong–close communications are manifest in learning. However, the impact of diverse relationships on learning is considerably larger and stronger compared to denser relationships. The implications are discussed.

Application of Digital Cameras Toward Children Development Domain

This research was carried out to create awaereness on the benefits of camera applications to young children development like social, language, and cognitive development. The initiative to introduce camera as teaching tool in preschool and home was one of fantastic ideas in effort of making children’s learning more interactived and improved. Digital cameras provide children with a medium to express their creativity, capture and share moments, and engage in storytelling. This studies proved that the digital camera seccussfuly encouraged children to observe and appreciate the world around them, enhancing their visual literacy and observation skills. Furthermore, digital cameras foster social interactions and collaboration as children work together on photography projects, share their creations, and connect with others who share their interests.

Women on Women in Contemporary Romanian Documentary Film

Guy Standing (2016) observes how in Eastern Europe, the post-1989 neoliberal order determined the working class to morph into what he names the precariat. This newly formed segment of society has to adapt to forever changing market imperatives in order to survive. Concomitantly, the Romanian state apparatus abruptly mutated from an overwhelming patriarchal structure into an all-out absent one (Bucur and Miroiu 252), thus making it more difficult for women to manage both patriarchally imposed roles and to find a workplace. Women filmmakers like Ana Căpățână-Juller (Aici…adică acolo [Here… meaning there], 2012) and Teodora Mihai (Waiting for August, 2014) decide to turn their cameras onto women characters engaged in a struggle for survival. Both filmmakers deal with the same theme, the lives of children who have to raise themselves, as their parents have gone abroad in order to gain better incomes than in Romania. Working with Sybille Krämer’s “second person model of witnessing,” where testimony is associated with concepts such as social interaction manifested through trust and authority (Krämer 34), I will examine how the two filmmakers particularly engage with their subjects and the differences between two directorial perspectives: one that approaches reality from a top down perspective, while the other is enmeshed with the characters in the historical world.

The Relationship between Social Interaction and Perceived Discrimination among Students at University X in Jakarta

Interactions carried out by individuals show that the more diverse a person’s interactions, the more relationships that exist. According to Robert M.Z Lawang (Soyomukti, 2016) social interaction is a process when individuals who communicate influence each other both in thought and action. According to Myers and Twenge (2017) discrimination is an act that occurs due to prejudice and stereotypes. The design of this research is non-experimental quantitative research with 269subjects. The selection of subjects was done by convenience sampling technique. The description of the subject data shows that the mean value of social interaction tends to be high. In the perceive discrimination variable, the mean value tends to be low. The results of the correlation test between social interaction and perceived discrimination obtained a p-value of 0.016 (<0.05) coefficient correlation -0.146, meaning that there was a negative correlation between social interaction and perceived discrimination. Thus, it can be said that if the social interaction is good or high, the perceived discrimination will be low. For this reason, it is necessary to increase social interaction so that individuals have low perceived discrimination.

The Relationship of Bullying Behavior and Social Interaction in School-Age Children at SDN 22 Jambi City

The problem that is currently widespread in education circles is bullying. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) stated that Indonesia is ranked first in the position of bullying cases in ASEAN with 84% confirmed in 2023, and according to data from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) Bullying cases are quite a worrying issue in the school environment. Data records that there will be at least 1,478 cases of bullying reported in 2023. Bullying makes it difficult for children to interact well in their social environment and this can hinder the child's development process. This research was conducted to identify the relationship between bullying behavior and social interactions in school-age children at SDN 22, Jambi City. The research method used was quantitative research using a cross sectional approach. The research population was students of SDN 22 Jambi City grades IV, V, VI, totaling 103 samples taken using total sampling techniques. This research uses a questionnaire instrument. The analytical test used is Spearman Rho. The results of the research show that generally the bullying behavior data is in the low category of 96 respondents (93.2%) and most social interactions are in the good category of 80 respondents (77.7%). The test results obtained were (p 0.01<0.05). The conclusion is that there is a relationship between bullying behavior and social interaction in school-age children at SDN 22 Jambi City. It is hoped that the results of the research will be used as material for consideration by schools in providing guidance and counseling support services, so that students can understand the limits of social interaction.

Neuropsychiatric considerations in treating anorexia nervosa patients with osteopathic manipulative medicine: a narrative review.

Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) has a growing recognition in serving as an effective treatment topromote adaptation and homeostasis of the body by addressing musculoskeletal, neural, vascular, and lymphatic structures to promote self-healing and regulation. OMM can treat the musculoskeletal tension and sympathetic hyperactivity resulting from the increased cortisol response and hypersensitivity found in varying psychiatric illnesses, including anorexia nervosa (AN). This paper addresses the considerations necessary for treating AN patients with OMM, emphasizing the need to evaluate their abnormal high-level neuronal processing of sensory information, including differences in touch perception compared to the general population. Current literature was gathered utilizing a combination of the following keywords: anorexia nervosa, perception of touch, and osteopathic manipulative medicine/treatment. No literature was found addressing the effects of OMM on treating AN patients. Eight studies addressed the change in perception of touch found in AN patients. Results of the literature review reveal that the perceptions of touch in AN patients are distorted and can lead to reduced perceived pleasantness encountered in social interactions and touch. Specific changes have been found in C-tactile (CT) afferents responsible for the positive effects of touch, thus influencing emotional regulation. The significance of addressing this topic is to provide insight into the pathophysiological processes of AN and to inform physicians of unconventional stimuli that may exacerbate AN symptoms and behaviors. Further study is required to elucidate the role and mechanism of OMM in patients with AN and whether manual therapy could worsen pathological behavior and thinking patterns seen in AN patients. Such studies could include, but are not limited to, examining biological factors such as cortisol levels in AN patients receiving OMM and collecting data about AN patients' thinking patterns and behavior during OMM treatment.

Social cohesion as a modifier of joint air pollution exposure and incident dementia

Social cohesion can reduce stress, increase social interaction, and improve cognitive reserve. These social mechanisms may modify the effects of air pollution on dementia risk. This cohort study examines the potential moderating effect of social cohesion on associations between joint air pollution exposure and incident dementia leveraging data from 5112 community-dwelling adults ≥65 years of age enrolled in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Study participants were enrolled in 2011 and followed through 2018. We assigned 2010 residential census tract-level exposures to five air pollutants, particulate matter (PM) ≤ 10 μm in diameter, PM ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, and nitrogen dioxide, using the US Environmental Protection Agency's Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System. Dementia status was determined based on self- or proxy-reported dementia diagnosis or “probable dementia” according to NHATS cognitive screening tools. Participants' self-rated neighborhood social cohesion was evaluated based on three questions: neighbors knowing each other, being helpful, and being trustworthy. Social cohesion was dichotomized at the median into high vs low social cohesion. Associations between air pollutants and incident dementia were assessed using quantile g-computation Cox proportional hazard models and stratified by high vs low social cohesion, adjusting for age, sex, education, partner status, urbanicity, annual income, race and ethnicity, years lived at current residence, neighborhood disadvantage index, and tract segregation. High social cohesion (HR = 1.20, 95 % CI = 0.98, 1.47) and air pollution (HR = 1.08, 95 % CI = 0.92, 1.28) were not associated with incident dementia alone. However, when stratified, greater joint air pollution exposure increased dementia risk among participants at low (HR = 1.34, 95 % CI = 1.04, 1.72), but not high (HR = 1.00, 95 % CI = 0.93, 1.06) social cohesion. Air pollution was a risk factor for dementia only when reported social cohesion was low, suggesting that social interaction may play a protective role, mitigating dementia risk via air pollution exposure.

A Review of the Child Anxiety Questionnaire Based on the Left-behind Children

Left-behind children are a special group in the process of urban development. They lack parental care, which affects the development of mental health. Anxiety is one of the most common psychological problems in children around the world. It has an important impact on children’s emotions and social interaction, lasting until adulthood. To study the anxiety of left-behind children, this study summarized the screening tools for children’s anxiety in this review and found that there is no anxiety questionnaire for left-behind children at present and most of the existing anxiety questionnaires for children are not completely based on the existing diagnostic criteria. As a result, these scales are not able to accurately measure all contents covered by the concept of children’s anxiety. The study summarized the left-behind anxiety questionnaire to provide some ideas for choosing a questionnaire for researchers studying left-behind children. In addition, the study believes that the development of anxiety scales for left-behind children as soon as possible and the use of multiple measurement methods should be the direction of future researchers.

Pubertal maternal presence reduces anxiety and increases adult neurogenesis in Kunming mice offspring

Puberty is a critical period of emotional development and neuroplasticity. However, most studies have focused on early development, with limited research on puberty, particularly the parental presence. In this study, four groups were established, and pubertal maternal presence (PMP) was assessed until postnatal days 21 (PD21), 28 (PD28), 35 (PD35), and 42 (PD42), respectively. The social interaction and anxiety behaviors, as well as the expression of oxytocin (OT) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SON), and the number of new generated neurons and the expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in the dentate gyrus (DG) were assessed. The results suggest that there is a lot of physical contact between the mother and offspring from 21 to 42 days of age, which reduces anxiety in both female and male offspring in adulthood; for example, the PMP increased the amount of time mice spent in the center area in the open field experiment and in the bright area in the light-dark box experiment. PMP increased OT expression in the PVN and SON and the number of newly generated neurons in the DG. However, there was a sexual difference in ERα, with ERα increasing in females but decreasing in males. In conclusion, PMP reduces the anxiety of offspring in adulthood, increases OT in the PVN and SON, and adult neurogenesis; ERα in the DG may be involved in this process.

Older Adults' Perceptions of Cognitive, Physical, and Exergame Training: A Mixed Methods Investigation of a Four-Armed Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

Purpose: Although the health benefits of behavioral interventions for older adults are well studied, research focused on intervention acceptability in older adult populations is less established and is needed. This mixed methods study investigated older adults' perceptions of training interventions. Methods: Community-dwelling older adults (N = 41) were randomized into three groups (cognitive, physical, and exergame) and completed 20 in-lab training sessions over 10 weeks. At every fifth session, participants provided feedback on their perceived gains across functional domains, enjoyment of and motivation to complete training, and aspects they most and least enjoyed regarding study participation. Results: Based on the multivariate analysis of variance, perceived cognitive and everyday function gains did not vary by training group. However, physical and exergame groups perceived greater improvement in physical function than the cognitive training group (P < 0.001). Enjoyment of and motivation to complete training did not vary by training group. Exploratory qualitative coding results suggest that participants across groups most enjoyed social interaction and feelings of improvement. Participants least enjoyed traveling to the study site and engaging in aspects of training (e.g., specific games, structure or duration of training). Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of incorporating meaningful social engagement and balancing the challenge of training components with goal attainment when working with older adults, regardless of the intervention type. Future research and practice should consider salient aspects of the participant experience (e.g., social connection, accessible locations or remote options) when designing interventions for older adults.

Self-disgust mediates the effect of problematic mobile social media use on non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents: A latent growth curve analysis.

Previous research linked problematic mobile social media use to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, little research explored the underlying mechanism. Drawing on the social displacement hypothesis, which suggests that excessive social media use may disrupt offline social interactions, leading to negative emotional experiences, the study employs a longitudinal design to explore the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and NSSI, with a specific emphasis on the mediating role of self-disgust. A total of 1,684 Chinese adolescents (52.3% females; Mage = 14.59 years, SDage = 1.27) completed self-report questionnaires regarding problematic mobile social media use, self-disgust, and NSSI. The assessment was conducted in three waves, 6 months apart. Using latent growth curve and structural equation modeling, our study observed a consistent linear decline in NSSI levels over time. Higher initial NSSI levels correlated with a slower reduction. Problematic mobile social media use positively influenced the initial level of NSSI. Additionally, self-disgust played a mediating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and NSSI. The study underscores the importance of understanding the emotional experiences behind social media use, beyond mere usage duration. By revealing the mediating role of self-disgust, it provides new insights into the complex interplay between problematic mobile social media use and adolescent NSSI.