Digital media use, depressive symptoms and support for violent radicalization among young Canadians: a latent profile analysis.

BACKGROUND: Despite the prominent role that digital media play in the lives and mental health of young people as well as in violent radicalization (VR) processes, empirical research aimed to investigate the association between Internet use, depressive symptoms and support for VR among young people is scant. We adopt a person-centered approach to investigate patterns of digital media use and their association with depressive symptoms and support for VR. METHODS: A sample of 2,324 Canadian young people (Mage = 30.10; SDage = 5.44 ; 59% women) responded to an online questionnaire. We used latent profile analysis to identify patterns of digital media use and linear regression to estimate the associations between class membership, depressive symptoms and support for VR. RESULTS: We identified four classes of individuals with regards to digital media use, named Average Internet Use/Institutional trust, Average internet use/Undifferentiated Trust, Limited Internet Use/Low Trust and Online Relational and Political Engagement/Social Media Trust. Linear regression indicated that individuals in the Online Relational and Political Engagement/Social Media Trust and Average Internet Use/Institutional trust profiles reported the highest and lowest scores of both depression and support for VR, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential to tailor prevention and intervention efforts to mitigate risks of VR to the specific needs and experiences of different groups in society, within a socio-ecological perspective. Prevention should consider both strengths and risks of digital media use and simulteaneously target both online and offline experiences and networks, with a focus on the sociopolitical and relational/emotional components of Internet use.

The parents' internet use and children's extracurricular tutoring class participation.

The educational burden from extracurricular tutoring class has become a pressing social issue in China. This study used data from the China family panel studies (CFPS) in 2014, 2016, and 2018 to empirically analyze the impact of Internet usage on children's participation in extracurricular tutoring class. There are many factors that influence parents' decisions to enroll their children in extracurricular tutoring class. These factors include family income status, the level of importance parents place on their children's education, the marginal returns on educational investment, academic pressure, etc. However, in today's digitalized society, the widespread use of the internet will also become an important influencing factor in parents' decisions regarding educational investment. The study finds that, parents by using the Internet significantly increase the probability of enrolling their children in extracurricular tutoring class. Through mechanism regression analysis, it is concluded that internet usage has a positive influence on parents enrolling their children in extracurricular tutoring class by increasing the frequency of social interaction and raising parents' educational expectations for their children. Based on the empirical results, the following policy suggestions were proposed: 1. Schools should establish a more comprehensive after-school education service system to improve the engagement of students in compulsory education; 2. The government can enhance the accessibility and optimization of educational resources by increasing investment in education, improving the quality of in-school education, and optimizing the management and supervision of extracurricular tutoring class. This ensures that students can access high-quality educational services.

The influence of the internet on choices about older adults' health and well-being.

OBJECTIVES: to describe the profile of older adults who access the internet to search for health information and identify the factors that can influence older adults' decisions about their health based on information collected online. METHODS: 391 older adults answered an online questionnaire regarding habits and satisfaction with information about health collected on the internet. Data processing involved Logistic Regression. RESULTS: higher education reduces by 44% the likelihood of an older adult following the health recommendations on internet sites. However, social activities and self-perceived health increase the possibility of following the recommendations by 83% and 71%, respectively. The belief that the internet promotes healthy habits increases by 29.2 times the probability of an older adult following the advice. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: knowing the profile of older adults who use the Internet can help professionals formulate public policies and build good information platforms on health and well-being.

Internet use and its association with physical activity among adolescents in Beni Municipality, Myagdi, Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is a critical phase marked by distinct health and developmental needs and rights. It represents a pivotal time for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, emotional regulations, and relationship management. However, a recent surge in internet usage among adolescents has been observed, leading to a concerning decline in physical activity. This study aims to evaluate the level of physical activity and its correlation with internet use among adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study, conducted within educational institutions in Beni, Nepal, utilized a self-structured questionnaire to collect data on physical activity levels and associated factors. The relationship between physical activity and independent variables was assessed through the chi-square test, and regression analysis was employed to quantify the strength of this association. RESULTS: The study revealed that 75.3% of adolescents (out of 385) exhibited inadequate physical activity levels. Notably, late adolescents were more susceptible to insufficient physical activity than their middle adolescent counterparts were. Adolescents from nuclear families (UOR = 2.689, C.I = 4.074-22.822), those with higher monthly family income (UOR = 3.318, C.I = 1.209-9.105), and individuals using Wi-Fi (UOR = 1.801, C.I = 1.117-2.904) demonstrated a higher likelihood of internet addiction. Moreover, these groups were more prone to engage in inadequate physical activity (UOR = 1.1740, C.I = 0.938-3.226) compared to their counterparts not addicted to the internet. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that over two-thirds of adolescents were addicted to the Internet, and three-fourths were inadequately physically active, with late adolescents being more affected than middle adolescents. Inadequate physical activity was associated with various factors, including family type, monthly family income, monthly pocket money, father's occupation, type of school, type of internet access, and Internet Addiction Test (IAT) score. Internet-addicted adolescents were found to be more likely to be physically inactive.

Analysis of the situations and influencing factors of public anxiety in China: based on Baidu index data.

Background: Anxiety disorders have emerged as one of the most prevalent mental health problems and health concerns. However, previous research has paid limited attention to measuring public anxiety from a broader perspective. Furthermore, while we know many factors that influence anxiety disorders, we still have an incomplete understanding of how these factors affect public anxiety. We aimed to quantify public anxiety from the perspective of Internet searches, and to analyze its spatiotemporal changing characteristics and influencing factors. Methods: This study collected Baidu Index from 2014 to 2022 in 31 provinces in mainland China to measure the degree of public anxiety based on the Baidu Index from 2014 to 2022. The spatial autocorrelation analysis method was used to study the changing trends and spatial distribution characteristics of public anxiety. The influencing factors of public anxiety were studied using spatial statistical modeling methods. Results: Empirical analysis shows that the level of public anxiety in my country has continued to rise in recent years, with significant spatial clustering characteristics, especially in the eastern and central-southern regions. In addition, we constructed ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) spatial statistical models to examine the relationship between social, economic, and environmental factors and public anxiety levels. We found that the GWR model that considers spatial correlation and dependence is significantly better than the OLS model in terms of fitting accuracy. Factors such as the number of college graduates, Internet traffic, and urbanization rate are significantly positively correlated with the level of public anxiety. Conclusion: Our research results draw attention to public anxiety among policymakers, highlighting the necessity for a more extensive examination of anxiety issues, especially among university graduates, by the public and relevant authorities.

Romantic attachment and cyber dating violence in adolescence: A dyadic approach.

INTRODUCTION: Little research has documented cyber dating violence (DV)-a type of teen DV with unique characteristics that has been associated with negative consequences. Attachment is central to understanding negative behaviors in the context of relationships and has been associated with other forms of DV in teens. This study used an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to examine how cyber-DV victimization and perpetration (direct aggression and control) relate to attachment anxiety and avoidance. METHODS: An online questionnaire was completed by 126 adolescent couples (n = 252; mean age = 17.7) from Quebec, Canada. RESULTS: In almost all couples (96%), at least one partner reported an incident of cyber-control in the previous year, while cyber-aggression was reported in 34% of couples. APIM results revealed that girls' and boys' victimization and perpetration of direct cyber-aggression are associated similarly with both their own high levels of attachment anxiety and their partner's. Concerning cyber-control, results show that boys' and girls' victimization is associated more with their partner's higher level of anxious attachment than their own. Girls' perpetration of cyber-control is associated with both their own high levels of attachment anxiety and their partner's, while for boys' perpetration, their own high levels of anxious attachment were found to play a significantly greater role than their girlfriend's. No significant associations were found for the dimension of avoidant attachment for both cyber-aggression and cyber-control whether perpetration or victimization. CONCLUSION: These findings, which identify potential risk factors for victimization and perpetration of cyber-DV, have implications for research, intervention, and prevention.

A Content Analysis of Posts to an Online Support Forum for "Girl Lovers".

The internet is an effective tool for studying the cognitive distortions among those with a sexual attraction to children. Identified through previous works, users of an online "boy love" forum were found to present a variety of justifications for adult-child sexual relations. The current study extends this line of inquiry, analyzing posts from an online "girl love" forum. We found that the most common justification to appear reflected a belief that societal attitudes and authority figures were to blame for the harms caused by adult-child sex. We also found that the forum provided users with support and reinforcement for such distorted beliefs. Overall, online forums provide a window into the cognitive life of individuals with a sexual attraction to children, and one that reflects beliefs that may be largely unexpressed in the confines of forensic treatment settings.

Sources of information used by women during pregnancy and the perceived quality.

BACKGROUND: Access to reliable information is critical to women's experience and wellbeing during pregnancy and childbirth. In our information-rich society, women are exposed to a wide range of information sources. The primary objective of this study was to explore women's use of information sources during pregnancy and to examine the perceived usefulness and trustworthiness of these sources. METHOD: A quantitative cross-sectional study of Dutch women's experiences with various information sources during pregnancy, including professional (e.g. healthcare system), and informal sources, divided into conventional (e.g. family or peers) and digital sources (e.g. websites or apps). Exploratory backward stepwise multiple regression was performed to identify associations between the perceived quality of information sources and personal characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 1922 pregnant women were included in this study. The most commonly used information sources were midwives (91.5%), family or friends (79.3%), websites (77.9%), and apps (61%). More than 80% of women found professional information sources trustworthy and useful, while digital sources were perceived as less trustworthy and useful. Personal factors explain only a small part of the variation in the perceived quality of information sources. CONCLUSION: Even though digital sources are perceived as less trustworthy and useful than professional and conventional sources, they are among the most commonly used sources of information for pregnant women. To meet the information needs of the contemporary generation of pregnant women it is essential that professionals help in the development of digital information sources.

Memory advantage for untrustworthy faces: Replication across lab- and web-based studies.

The Covid-19 pandemic imposed new constraints on empirical research and forced researchers to transfer from traditional laboratory research to the online environment. This study tested the validity of a web-based episodic memory paradigm by comparing participants' memory performance for trustworthy and untrustworthy facial stimuli in a supervised laboratory setting and an unsupervised web setting. Consistent with previous results, we observed enhanced episodic memory for untrustworthy compared to trustworthy faces. Most importantly, this memory bias was comparable in the online and the laboratory experiment, suggesting that web-based procedures are a promising tool for memory research.

Psychological impact during COVID-19 pandemic: A web-based cross-sectional study among students studying at College of Science and Technology (CST), Phuentsholing, Bhutan.

The unprecedented experience of national lockdowns and uncertainty of academic career due to the COVID-19 pandemic has multifaceted impacts on mental health among university students worldwide. This study determined its impact on depression and anxiety level, and associated risk factors among engineering students studying at College of Science and Technology (CST), Phuentsholing, Bhutan during the first lockdown in the country. Self-reported depression and anxiety levels were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) respectively. Data was collected using an e-questionnaire link generated in Google form and the link was shared with students via the student's official email group. A total of 278 students (response rate, 26.9%) completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents were male (69.8%) and were aged from 18 to 30 (Mean: 21.7 ±SD 2.07) years. The prevalence of self-reported moderate to severe depression and anxiety were 44.2% (95% CI, 38.5-49.6) and 27.3% (95% CI, 22.3-32.4) respectively. Participants having their family members as frontline workers reported a significantly higher level of anxiety (χ2 = 4.85, p = 0.028). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, students who were academically lagging showed a higher risk of depression (AOR = 5.36, 95% CI = 2.86-10.04) and anxiety (AOR = 3.83, 95%CI = 1.86-7.88) as compared to students who were not academically behind. A high percentage of depression and anxiety was reported by students of CST during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from the study highlight the importance of adopting appropriate online-based teaching and learning methods to ensure timely academic and professional achievements. Moreover, the relevant stakeholders should put health system strategies in place to provide psychological support to university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of using digitally-mediated social stories on the perceived competence and attitudes of parents and practitioners supporting children with autism.

A Social Story (SS) is a highly acceptable and widely used intervention by the autism community. Yet, inconsistent implementation of the intervention is reported to be one of the causes of variability in terms of outcome research, particularly in a naturalistic context. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether digitally-mediated social stories (SSs) can improve competence in developing and delivering a SS and thus contribute towards improved implementation, and (2) investigate the impact of the digitally-mediated SS on attitudes towards the SS intervention. Ninety-three participants took an initial pre-engagement survey. Forty-eight of these participants also complete a post-engagement survey. A pre-post design was utilised with the participants who completed both surveys. These 48 participants were invited to develop a digitally-mediated SS with the aim of exploring how digitally-mediated SSs impacted perceived competence and attitudes. Post-engagement data was collected two weeks after the pre-engagement data. Outcomes of this study indicate that both perceived competence and attitudes improved after engaging with digitally-mediated SSs. It is concluded that digitally-mediated SS not only impacted the integrity of how the intervention was delivered but also the beliefs in the participants' capabilities to develop and deliver a SS. Digitally-mediated SS, thus, has the potential to effectively support development and delivery whilst also addressing challenges related to intervention implementation in a naturalistic context.

Internet use and pro-environmental behavior: Evidence from China.

Solving environmental problems relies upon cultivating pro-environmental behavior in the society. While the internet has been widely used to facilitate information transmission and communication, it's important to understand its function in promoting pro-environmental behavior. Using the data from the China General Social Survey 2013, the relationship between the use of internet and the individual's pro-environmental behavior is investigated, and overall positive effects are found. The results show that, the influence of internet use is more pronounced on the private pro-environmental behavior when further dividing pro-environmental behavior into private and public types. Moreover, the positive effect of internet use on pro-environmental behavior is more pronounced among low-income and female groups, compared to middle to high income and male counterparts, respectively, when considering the heterogeneity across different groups of individuals. We further explore the plausible channels of providing information, encouraging participation in pro-environmental campaigns and improving social relationships through which internet use facilitates pro-environmental behavior.

Physician-Rating Websites and Social Media Usage: A Global Survey of Academic Orthopaedic Surgeons: AOA Critical Issues.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between orthopaedic surgeons and the internet is complicated. Social media allows surgeons to educate their patients while marketing to them at the same time. Conversely, patients are able to better communicate with their surgeons while anonymously rating their service and expertise. This study aims to look at the complex relationship between surgeons and social media use.

The Phubbing Scale (PS-8) in the Portuguese population: psychometric properties

Phubbing is defined as ignoring other individuals by using a mobile phone during a face-to-face conversation. The Phubbing Scale (PS) was developed to assess this practice. In this study, we analyze the psychometric properties of the 8-item version of the PS (PS-8) in the Portuguese population, providing validity evidence based on internal structure and on relationships with other variables, and examining item properties, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender. Participants were 391 Portuguese adults (132 men, 259 women) who completed a battery of questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices for the two-factor structure (communication disturbance and phone obsession), which was invariant across gender. Item homogeneity and reliability of factor scores (McDonald's omega) were satisfactory. Validity evidence based on relationships with other variables was provided by positive associations with time spent on the Internet on weekdays and at the weekend, time spent on social networking sites, number of social networks used, Internet addiction, problematic mobile phone use, Facebook intrusion, fear of missing out, and depression. These associations show the addictive component of phubbing and its relationship with mental health. The PS-8 is a short and easy-to-administer scale with adequate psychometric properties for measuring phubbing in the Portuguese population. (AU)

Reading digital- versus print-easy texts: a study with university students who prefer digital sources

The transition from on-paper to on-screen reading seems to make it necessary to raise some considerations, as a greater attentional efort has been claimed for print texts than digital ones. Not surprisingly, most university students prefer this digital medium. This research aims to examine reading times by contextualizing this phenomenon into two processes: namely, word recognition and reading comprehension task on paper and on screen. Thus, two diferent tasks­counterbalanced into digital and print mediums­were carried out per each participant with a preference for a digital medium: a reading comprehension task (RCT) and a lexical decision task (LDT) after reading a specifc story. Participants were slower reading print texts and no statistically signifcant diferences were found in RCT accuracy. This result suggests that the task required more cognitive resources under the print medium for those with a worse comprehension performance in reading, and a more conservative pattern in digital RCT for those with a better performance.

Trends and Seasonality of Information Searches Carried Out through Google on Nutrition and Healthy Diet in Relation to Occupational Health: Infodemiological Study.

This study aimed to analyze and relate the population interest through information search trends on Nutrition and Healthy Diet (HD) with the Occupational Health (OH). Ecological and correlational study of the Relative Search Volume (RSV) obtained from Google Trends query, segmented in two searched periods concerning antiquity; date of query: 20 April 2021. The RSV trends for the analyzed three Topics were: Nutrition (R2 = 0.02), HD (R2 = 0.07) and OH (R2 = -0.72). There was a good positive correlation between Nutrition and OH (R = 0.56, p < 0.001) and a moderate one between HD and OH (R = 0.32, p < 0.001). According to seasons, differences were verified between RSV means in the Topics HD (p < 0.01) and OH (p < 0.001). Temporal dependence was demonstrated on Nutrition searches (Augmented Dickey-Fuller = -2.35, p > 0.05). There was only a significant relationship between the RSV Topic HD (p < 0.05) for the Developing and Least Developed countries. The data on the analyzed RSV demonstrated diminishing interest in the search information on HD and OH as well as a clearly positive trend change in recent years for Nutrition. A good positive correlation was observed between the RSV of nutrition and OH whereas the correlation between HD and OH was moderate. There were no milestones found that may report a punctual event leading to the improvement of information searches. Temporal dependence was corroborated in the RSV on Nutrition, but not in the other two Topics. Strangely, only an association was found on HD searches between the Developing and Least Developed Countries. The study of information search trends may provide useful information on the population's interest in the disease data, as well as would gradually allow the analysis of differences in popularity, or interest even between different countries. Thus, this information might be used as a guide for public health approaches regarding nutrition and a healthy diet at work.

Can auxiliary indicators improve COVID-19 forecasting and hotspot prediction?

Short-term forecasts of traditional streams from public health reporting (such as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths) are a key input to public health decision-making during a pandemic. Since early 2020, our research group has worked with data partners to collect, curate, and make publicly available numerous real-time COVID-19 indicators, providing multiple views of pandemic activity in the United States. This paper studies the utility of five such indicators-derived from deidentified medical insurance claims, self-reported symptoms from online surveys, and COVID-related Google search activity-from a forecasting perspective. For each indicator, we ask whether its inclusion in an autoregressive (AR) model leads to improved predictive accuracy relative to the same model excluding it. Such an AR model, without external features, is already competitive with many top COVID-19 forecasting models in use today. Our analysis reveals that 1) inclusion of each of these five indicators improves on the overall predictive accuracy of the AR model; 2) predictive gains are in general most pronounced during times in which COVID cases are trending in "flat" or "down" directions; and 3) one indicator, based on Google searches, seems to be particularly helpful during "up" trends.

An open repository of real-time COVID-19 indicators.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented enormous data challenges in the United States. Policy makers, epidemiological modelers, and health researchers all require up-to-date data on the pandemic and relevant public behavior, ideally at fine spatial and temporal resolution. The COVIDcast API is our attempt to fill this need: Operational since April 2020, it provides open access to both traditional public health surveillance signals (cases, deaths, and hospitalizations) and many auxiliary indicators of COVID-19 activity, such as signals extracted from deidentified medical claims data, massive online surveys, cell phone mobility data, and internet search trends. These are available at a fine geographic resolution (mostly at the county level) and are updated daily. The COVIDcast API also tracks all revisions to historical data, allowing modelers to account for the frequent revisions and backfill that are common for many public health data sources. All of the data are available in a common format through the API and accompanying R and Python software packages. This paper describes the data sources and signals, and provides examples demonstrating that the auxiliary signals in the COVIDcast API present information relevant to tracking COVID activity, augmenting traditional public health reporting and empowering research and decision-making.

R-Loop Tracker: Web Access-Based Tool for R-Loop Detection and Analysis in Genomic DNA Sequences.

R-loops are common non-B nucleic acid structures formed by a three-stranded nucleic acid composed of an RNA-DNA hybrid and a displaced single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) loop. Because the aberrant R-loop formation leads to increased mutagenesis, hyper-recombination, rearrangements, and transcription-replication collisions, it is regarded as important in human diseases. Therefore, its prevalence and distribution in genomes are studied intensively. However, in silico tools for R-loop prediction are limited, and therefore, we have developed the R-loop tracker tool, which was implemented as a part of the DNA Analyser web server. This new tool is focused upon (1) prediction of R-loops in genomic DNA without length and sequence limitations; (2) integration of R-loop tracker results with other tools for nucleic acids analyses, including Genome Browser; (3) internal cross-evaluation of in silico results with experimental data, where available; (4) easy export and correlation analyses with other genome features and markers; and (5) enhanced visualization outputs. Our new R-loop tracker tool is freely accessible on the web pages of DNA Analyser tools, and its implementation on the web-based server allows effective analyses not only for DNA segments but also for full chromosomes and genomes.