Partial social integration refers to the perceived exclusion of individuals or groups, from full participation in their society. The current study claims that perceived partial social integration (PPSI) constitutes a substantial predictor of the rejection of the COVID-19 vaccine, a significant mediator of the impact of demographic variables (such as age and level of income) on this vaccine rejection, and an important predictor of indices of psychological distress during pandemic times. Previous publications show that although vaccines constitute a very efficient means for countering pandemics, vaccine hesitancy is a prevalent public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study is one of a few studies examining the impact of psychological variables on the actual behavior of vaccine rejection rather than on the cognitive element of vaccine hesitancy. A sample of 600 Israeli Jewish adults responded in February 2022 to an anonymous questionnaire exploring, among other issues, the (PPSI), the individual level of vaccine uptake, and the level of distress of these individuals. Path analyses of the variables predicted by PPSI indicated the following results: (a) PPSI score negatively predicted vaccine uptake level and significantly mediated the effects of age and family income on the level of vaccination. (b) PPSI levels significantly predicted higher levels of anxiety, depression, and a sense of danger and negatively predicted societal resilience. The discussion elaborates the contention that the PPSI is a substantial cause of psychological distress and in compliance with the pandemic vaccination guidelines, despite the potential health risk involved. We claiThe COVID-19 pandemic has infected, to date, millions of people and caused wide mortality worldwide . The avaA large number of studies investigate vaccine hesitancy by measures of readiness and unwillingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine e.g., , 22]. Aw. Aw22)].per se, but rather by regarding oneself as only partly socially integrated, namely, partly socially excluded. We assume that a higher level of PPSI will result in vaccine rejection, and will characterize several populaces that regard themselves as partly socially excluded. This vaccine rejection will be enhanced by the following demographic variables: being young adults  . Eligible to participate in the study were adults >18 years old. A stratified sampling method was employed, aligned with the data of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics , to be vaccinated at least three times against COVID-19. Specific vulnerable populations were called to be vaccinated with an additional (fourth) booster vaccine. The degree of vaccine uptake was determined by a single item: “To what extent are you currently vaccinated against the COVID-19?” The five-point response scale ranges from 1 = not vaccinated, to 5 = vaccinated four times. It is important to note that the present study examines reports of actual vaccination behavior rather than vaccine hesitancy that tends to measure vaccine willingness or an attitude concerning vaccine uptake .The PPSI in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination was determined by a six-item scale about the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been designed for the present study. We believe that the major issues that trouble individuals who regard themselves as only partly socially integrated include questions of one's social status, retaining free will under conditions of inequality, and being unappreciated and unaccepted by others see . The PPSThe BSI scale was employed . The preSense of danger scale includes six items . We haveThe original scale  is basedRespondents indicated their age in years.Religiosity was determined by the question “How would you define your level of religiosity?”. The four response options were: (1) Secular, (2) Traditional, (3) Religious, (4) Ultra-orthodox.The family income level was established by the following item: ”The average income of an Israeli family today is 18,671 NIS per month. Your family's income is (1) Much lower than this average; (2) Lower than this average; (3) Around this average; (4) Higher than this average; (5) Much higher than this average.Education level was determined by the item “What is your education level?” The six response options were: (1) Primary education, (2) Partial secondary education, (3) Secondary education, (4) Partial academic education, (5) Bachelor's degree, and (6) Master's degree or higher.Hypothesis (a) claimed that the PPSI score will positively predict distress symptoms as well as the sense of danger, and will negatively predict societal resilience: The higher partial social integration, the higher distress, and lower societal resilience and vice versa. A path analysis that was conducted fully supported this hypothesis see . These rThe second hypothesis stated that PPSI will positively predict vaccine rejection and will mediate the impact of demographic characteristics  on vaccine rejection. Second path analysis indicated that PPSI was indeed a substantial predictor of vaccine rejection, which mediated the prediction of age and fully mediated the prediction of family income and vaccine rejection. PPSI did not mediate the association between education or religiosity and vaccine rejection see . The resp < 0.05). However, they did not score higher than men on the PPSI scale, and their level of vaccination did not differ significantly from the men's level of vaccine uptake. In other words, gender does not predict the level of vaccination in this Israeli sample, without the mediation of PPSI. This finding fully supports our third hypothesis.Hypothesis (c) claimed that though women in the Israeli context will report higher levels of distress compared to men, no significant gender difference will be found in their mean PPSI score or level of vaccination. An analysis of variance comparing these variables of males and females supports this hypothesis. As can be seen in The present study substantiates the significant role of perceived partial social integration (PPSI) in determining the well-being of individuals and in directing their behavior in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies of social desegregation emphasize the negative consequences of actually keeping social groups apart, based on their demographic characteristics. For example, it has been shown that living in a highly segregated inner-city neighborhood often limits black and minority residents' chances of escaping poverty, deprivation, and isolation due to poor social networks, limited local resources and constrained job opportunities –62. PrevThe present study demonstrates that perceptions of being only partially integrated into the desired society promote high levels of distress and result in low levels of societal resilience. Our data support the contention that PPSI consistently decreases psychological coping, and is experienced as a continuous stressful and depressing condition. Such personal feelings of stress due to perceived inequality and low social appreciation result, as expected, in mistrusting the authorities, and eventually in the case of COVID-19, also in vaccine rejection.Social research tends to regard integration and segregation as a dichotomy and inclines to ignore the intermediate range between these two ends. The present new PPSI scale reveals the more covert aspects of social acceptance and rejection. It emphasizes the major psychological role of a rather common stressful condition, in which individuals regard themselves as neither being segregated nor being integrated members of their society, since they feel only partially integrated. The present results clearly show that the emotional effects of such PPSI, which do not amount to actual social exclusion, impacts substantially people's perspective on life and their behavior.Faced with the request to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus while the pandemic is spreading, those who regard themselves as only partly socially integrated or as partly socially excluded, distrust the intentions and the goodwill of the authorities . Betsch Many of those who regard themselves as only partly integrated prefer to express their frustration and antagonism, by refraining from taking the vaccine doses recommended by the public health system. In the name of freedom of choice and human rights, they ignore the authorities' request for vaccination, at the expense of their health interest. This behavior is carried out despite available data, covering the period from January to October last year in England, indicating that the rate of death from COVID-19 was 96% lower in people who had received a second dose of vaccine than in those who were unvaccinated .It is interesting to note that as indicated in Our finding that more orthodox religion negatively impacts the level of vaccine uptake is supported by other studies. Frei-Landau  as well The concept of partial social integration and its behavioral outcomes have not been studied so far in depth. Further studies that will be conducted under different stressful conditions and in varied cultural settings would be required to support the concept of PPSI and its social consequences, the PPSI scale, and the present findings. Furthermore, the present correlative study is not enough for determining causality. Different research methods are required to establish the claim that the experience of PPSI is responsible for the reported psychological and behavioral findings. An additional potential limitation concerns the present sampling process. The sample was drawn from a large database but there is no indication of response rates or differences between those who responded and those who did not. There is no way to determine the extent to which the present sample constitutes a representative sample of the Israeli population.The present study investigated the role of perceived partial social integration (PPSI) in determining the wellbeing of individuals and in directing their actual behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results indicate that PPSI is a powerful psychological determinant of individual level of distress which constitutes concurrently an important predictor of vaccine rejection. PPSI provides a theoretical explanation for the findings that people who are not feeling secure about their social belonging  are rejecting vaccination more often than the general public. It shows that a common feature of these groups is their perception of being only partly socially included, which is shared by vaccine rejecting individuals . FurtherThe raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Tel Aviv University Ethics Committee, Tel Aviv University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.YE conceptualized and initiated the study. SK and BA designed the methodology including the data collection. YE and SK analyzed the data. YE drafted the first draft. All authors reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


In contrast, this Research Topic features a contextualized personality approach to the study of filial piety, the Dual Filial Piety Model  and authoritarian filial piety . The focus on universal motivations extends the scope of filial piety research from Confucian societies to cross-cultural investigations and encompasses domains from adolescent development and psychosocial adjustment to intergenerational relations, population aging, and eldercare.Social science researchers often define Wu and Yeh examined the strategies Taiwanese adolescents use to practice filial piety when in conflict with their parents. Their findings broaden the understanding of filial piety in modern Chinese societies and have implications for adolescents' wellbeing and family life. Lin and Wang explored the roles of parenting style and social ecology in the development of filial piety and examined all possible bidirectional paths with longitudinal data from China. Their work bridged filial piety and mainstream parenting theory and provided a comprehensive picture of parent-child interaction within the DFPM. Guo M. et al. demonstrated the differential role of the two filial motivations in mediating the relationships of parental autonomy support and parental control to academic autonomous motivation for adolescents in China. Guo X. et al. investigated the mechanism linking filial piety motivation and early adolescent psychosocial development by focusing on the unique effects of each aspect of filial piety on academic achievement and subjective wellbeing for adolescents in China. Pan and Tang found that for adolescents in China, RFP alleviated depressive symptoms by enhancing cognitive autonomy and reducing academic pressure, whereas AFP exacerbated depressive symptoms by hampering cognitive autonomy and increasing academic pressure.The 10 articles in this Research Topic demonstrate this scope by investigating four interrelated themes (1) mechanisms of parent-child interaction, (2) individual socio-emotional development and adaptation, (3) the link between individual differences in filial piety and the wider socio-demographic context, and (4) cross-cultural/national comparisons. Five articles investigated Chinese societies: Zheng et al. applied the DFPM to moral psychology and culture (China and Indonesia). They examined four psychological mediators in the link between dual filial piety and altruistic behavior, as well as the moderating effects of nation on each mediating path . Both types of filial piety facilitated development of prosocial behavior through different mediating paths conditioned by culture. Qiao et al. found that filial piety has an indirect relationship with moral disengagement through the dark triad personality among university students from Chinese and Islamic societies. Machiavellianism mediated the negative relationship between RFP and moral disengagement, and narcissism mediated the positive relationship between AFP and disengagement. Nainee et al. applied the Malaysian version of the Dual Filial Piety Scale (DFPS) to elucidate the relationships among parenting style, filial piety, and life satisfaction for adolescents in Malaysia. The results highlighted the benefits of culture-infused parenting. Tran et al. translated the DFPS into Polish and tested its psychometric properties. They demonstrated the factor structure invariance of the scale across gender and student-employee groups and the anticipated gender difference in attitudes. This work extends the cross-cultural validity of the DFPM to Eastern Europe, and provides a counterpoint the standard paradigm of East-West differences. Lim et al. applied an English version of the DFPS to Asian and Caucasian Americans. Their work demonstrated the cross-cultural applicability of the model and the potential to reflect significant filial differences within an individualist society.Five articles extended the DFPM to non-Confucian societies: In sum, these 10 studies covered diverse samples from different cultures with four different language versions of the DFPS  to demonstrate theoretically consistent results that broaden the understanding of filial piety in modern societies. These studies provide evidence to support the rationale for redefining filial piety as a universal psychological construct, and also overturn some cultural stigmas associated with the traditional conceptualization of Chinese filial piety by demonstrating positive implications of filial piety through the DFPM perspective.OB, K-HY, and C-ST contributed to summarizing the articles in the topic and writing the editorial. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


The aim of this study was to summarize previously published data and assess the alterations in the composition of the oral microbiome in OSCC using a systematic review and meta-analysis.Electronic databases were systematically searched for studies on the oral microbiome in OSCC published before December 2021. Qualitative assessments of compositional variations at the phylum level were performed. The meta-analysis on abundance changes of bacteria genera was performed via a random-effects model.Fusobacterium showed an increased abundance in OSCC patients  and in cancerous tissues . The abundance of Streptococcus was decreased in OSCC  and in cancerous tissues .A total of 18 studies involving 1056 participants were included. They consisted of two categories of studies: 1) case-control studies (n = 9); 2) nine studies that compared the oral microbiome between cancerous tissues and paired paracancerous tissues. At the phylum level, enrichment of Fusobacteria but depletion in Actinobacteria and Firmicutes in the oral microbiome was demonstrated in both categories of studies. At the genus level, Fusobacterium and depleted Streptococcus may participate in or prompt the occurrence and development of OSCC and could be potential biomarkers for detection of OSCC.Disturbances in the interactions between enriched  More than 481,000 new patients are diagnosed annually worldwide . CigaretFusobacterium periodonticum and Streptococcus constellatus were positively correlated with the development of OSCC .This work was supported by Grant from Data included in article/supplementary material/referenced in article.The authors declare no conflict of interest.


The COVID-19 pandemic and its collateral damage severely impact health systems globally and risk to worsen the malaria situation in endemic countries. Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Ghana. This study aims to describe the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria cases observed in health facilities in the Northern Region of Ghana.Monthly routine data from the District Health Information Management System II (DHIMS2) of the Northern Region of Ghana were analysed. Overall outpatient department visits (OPD) and malaria case rates from the years 2015–2019 were compared to the corresponding data of the year 2020.Compared to the corresponding periods of the years 2015–2019, overall visits and malaria cases in paediatric and adult OPDs in northern Ghana decreased in March and April 2020, when major movement and social restrictions were implemented in response to the pandemic. Cases slightly rebounded afterwards in 2020, but stayed below the average of the previous years. Malaria data from inpatient departments showed a similar but more pronounced trend when compared to OPDs. In pregnant women, however, malaria cases in OPDs increased after the first COVID-19 wave.The findings from this study show that the COVID-19 pandemic affects the malaria burden in health facilities of northern Ghana, with declines in inpatient and outpatient rates except for pregnant women. They may have experienced reduced access to insecticide-treated nets and intermittent preventive malaria treatment in pregnancy, resulting in subsequent higher malaria morbidity. Further data, particularly from community-based studies and ideally complemented by qualitative research, are needed to fully determine the impact of the pandemic on the malaria situation in Africa. Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Globally, there have been 627.000 malaria related deaths in 2020, 12% more than in 2019; 68% of these additional deaths were attributed to indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic , but thePublic Health Emergency of International Concern at the end of January 2020 [The global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a ary 2020 . Many Afary 2020 . SSA accary 2020 . This maary 2020 . Ghana wary 2020 . COVID-1ary 2020 .The socio-economic disruptions associated with the disease and the preventive measures present huge challenges for health systems and whole societies, especially in low- and middle income countries . In the This study aims to describe potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria cases in health facilities in the Northern Region of Ghana – a highly malaria endemic region. The research hypothesis that “lower access to health care services in combination with impaired malaria surveillance systems may have led to a lower number of reported malaria cases in highly endemic countries” will be investigated . This hyGhana, with its population of about 31 million, lies in western SSA and has a relatively well functioning health care system , 18. TheMalaria is highly endemic in northern Ghana with a seasonal transmission pattern that is strongest between July and November. ITNs are a major malaria prevention strategy in Ghana; in 2019, about 74% of households owned at least one ITN and 52% of all households had at least one ITN per two people . RegardiIn Ghana, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria control interventions concerned the country’s stock of artemisinin-based combination therapy, the functioning of its insecticide-treated mosquito net (ITN) routine distribution, and the overall access to primary health care services and facilities .Although the lockdown did not include the Northern Region directly, the other pandemic control measures including the ‘stay at home unless absolutely necessary‘ campaign, suspension of OPD services in many hospitals and the general anxiety among the population, led to reduction in antenatal and child welfare clinic attendance. This situation could have further affected malaria control measures as the antenatal and child welfare clinics are two major service delivery points where education on malaria prevention, intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) services and distribution of ITNs to children and pregnant women are carried out .District Health Information Management System II (DHIMS2) on demographic and health parameters of northern Ghana from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020. This system was implemented in 2007 with an update in 2012 and has improved the data quality and completeness since [This retrospective observational study uses monthly malaria morbidity data on the overall number of outpatients (interpreted as less severe cases) and inpatients (more severe cases). Additionally, all outpatient visits  were analysed. Subgroup analysis was performed for the two groups at high risk for severe malaria manifestations, children under five years of age and pregnant women . Cases wss since .Malaria diagnosis was based either on the results of rapid diagnostic tests or microscopy.Mid-year population estimates of the Northern Region of Ghana were also provided through the DHIMS2.The data have been processed with Microsoft Excel Version 16.52 and analyzed with Stata IC Version 16 . Monthly rates of OPD visits and confirmed malaria cases for the year 2020 and as a comparison for the years 2015–2019 separately as well as mean rates with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) have been calculated and plotted using population figures of the Northern Region of Ghana. Additionally, quarterly rates are presented; rates of 2020 versus the combined rates of 2015–2019 have been compared with the z-test. The data allowed analysing children under five years and pregnant women separately using the fraction of the under-five population (14% of the population) and the fraction of women between 15 and 45 years (23% of the population) as estimates of the respective population denominators . MalariaTable Figure The rate ratios (RR), depicting quarterly measures comparing the rates of 2020 to the combined rates of the years 2015 to 2019, are presented in Table The Covid-19 pandemic has major consequences on the functioning of health services and direct and indirect effects on the burden of various diseases , 30. In In northern Ghana, a slight but significant decline was observed in malaria cases during the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2020. This decline is even more significant considering that the period coincides with the rainy season in northern Ghana (May-November) when usually the majority of malaria cases are recorded. Cases only rebounded to the average levels of previous years at the end of 2020. This pattern was visible in both, outpatient and inpatient settings, but more pronounced in the hospitalized population. The same applies to children and adults, where reductions were also observed in both groups, but were more marked in children under five years of age. The marked decline in March/April 2020 can be explained by the extensive movement and gathering restrictions and early stay-at-home advices for COVID-19-like symptoms unless these get severe. Such measures have likely supported the hesitancy to visit health facilities during the pandemic, which in turn poses a major risk for developing severe malaria , 31. TheAnopheles mosquitoes, what could explain the observed increase of malaria cases in October 2020.The distinct decrease of OPD visits in the health facilities of northern Ghana in September 2020 could be explained by unusual heavy floods that started mid-August, which might have further complicated the access to health services. These floods have provided a favourable habitat for Malaria cases seen in health facilities among pregnant women show a different trend. After a decline in April 2020, cases have rebounded rapidly in this population and reached even higher levels compared to previous years. The most likely explanation of such an opposite trend would be the early hesitancy of pregnant women to visit health facilities. This is probably due to the fear of getting infected with COVID-19, combined with initial disruptions of the provision of IPTp to women in antenatal care (ANC) services as well as the disruption of routine distribution of ITNs . The disGhana had already achieved high levels of ITN coverage, and no ITN mass campaign was planned for 2020 . HoweverThis study has strengths and limitations. A strength of the study is that the data represent a whole year of follow-up into the pandemic, which provides a more comprehensive picture of the effects compared to the previous studies with much shorter study periods. Also, the subgroup analysis of children under the age of five and pregnant women allows for a more complete picture. A major limitation is that the surveillance system itself may probably have been affected by the pandemic, producing a bias in the reported numbers. Massive underreporting could have falsified the observed trends and our conclusions. Moreover, it is not clear if the quality of surveillance data is fully comparable during the five years observed. The data from the Northern Region of Ghana may also not be representative for other malaria endemic areas in SSA, thus, the study has a limited external validity. Absenteeism in health facilities by people with malaria symptoms that have switched to self-medication or traditional medicine or that could not afford reaching official health care during the pandemic could also have had an albeit unknown effect on the malaria figures . EspeciaThis study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with reduced overall outpatient visits and reduced malaria cases reported from northern Ghana’s health facilities. Further data and qualitative explanations from Ghana and other SSA countries and in particular data from community-based studies are needed to fully judge the impact of the pandemic on the malaria situation on the African continent.


The heavy-polluting industry is inexorably to responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Improving environmental performance is an unavoidable decision for heavy-polluting firms to ensure sustainable development under the policy framework of the carbon peak target. This study provides theoretical and empirical evidence for the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance. This study constructs basic and mediating effect models to measure how environmental protection subsidies affect environmental performance using panel data of China’s heavy-polluting listed firms from 2008 to 2019. This is an important outcome of industrial green transformation in environmental governance and provides a scientific basis for government departments to formulate environmental policies. The results of the empirical analysis show that environmental protection subsidies can improve the environmental performance of heavy-polluting listed firms. After receiving environmental protection subsidies, firms engaged in clean and green production through green technology innovation, thereby reducing external environmental pollution and improving their environmental performance. The mediating role of green technology innovation in the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and environmental performance is significant only in state-owned firms and firms in Eastern China. The research results may further guide the direction of green development of heavy-polluting industries, and thus promote harmonious development between the environment and the economy. Green investment could be a good way to reduce environmental pollution by improving efficiency of energy conservation, expanding technological innovation capabilities and upgrading the industrial structure . AlthougThe contributions of this study are as follows: (1) It provides novel insights that should inform policy-making related to subsidizing environmental protection. Existing research focuses more on environmental regulations or government subsidies in China more than environmental protection subsidies. However, this study takes environmental protection subsidies as the special funds to test whether environmental protection subsidies enhance the environmental performance of heavy-polluting firms. The findings of the study complement the literature on the heavy-polluting industries. (2) Few studies explore and test the mediating effect of green technology innovation on the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and the environmental performance of heavy-polluting firms. We contribute to the empirical literature by testing the ‘weak’ version of the Porter hypothesis. The research results are helpful for heavy-polluting firms to actively seek green development models in China and other similar emerging countries by utilizing environmental protection subsidies.The remainder of this paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 reviews the literature on government subsidies, green innovation and environmental performance at home and abroad. Section 3 presents the research hypotheses, model specification, and variable settings. Section 4 discusses the results from the basic regression model, which is followed by a mediating effect analysis. Finally, the main conclusions, limitations, and policy implications of this study are highlighted in Section 5.Clarifying corporate governance helps all of a firm’s stakeholders understand their respective roles, obligations, and interests. The creation and implementation of a firm’s environmental strategy are impacted by ownership concentration, institutional shareholding ratio, and board characteristics, which in turn impact the firm’s environmental performance. According to Earnhatt and Lizal 2006), ownership concentration has a favorable effect on environmental performance, and the more equity a state-owned firm has, the better its environmental performance 006, owne. InstituShapiro and Walker 2018) noted that firms could be more active in environmental protection behavior only when the government implemented strict legislation . Wang et noted thGreen innovation aims to reduce environmental pollution and save natural resources and energy . GovernmSingh et al. (2020) noted that a firm’s environmental performance was affected by its process of green innovation using data from 669 manufacturing firms in the United Arab Emirates . Kraus ePrior research has primarily studied the influencing factors of environmental performance, the relationship between government subsidies and firms’ green innovation or the correlation between green innovation and environmental performance, and some results have yet to reach consensus. Although a few studies have focused on the relationship between government subsidies and environmental performance, they have failed to distinguish between government subsidies and environmental protection subsidies, and the mediating role of green technology innovation between them has not been confirmed. Environmental protection subsidies aim to protect the environment and control pollution. Discussing their impact on environmental performance has practical significance for exploring the effectiveness of implementing China’s environmental protection subsidy policy in the heavy-polluting field.Environmental pollution issues are mostly produced by heavy-polluting firms, which exhibit the traits of high investment, high energy use, and high pollution. In addition, the majority of heavy-polluting firms require many resources in their production and operation, which harms the environment’s ecology. In turn, stakeholders pay closer attention to the environmental performance of heavy-polluting firms due to their higher standards of environmental responsibility. The government provides society with important public products and services, and supervises the behaviors of firms through incentives and punishments. The Ministry of Environmental Protection of China pointed out in the "Key Points of Pollution Prevention and Control in 2011" that the environmental information disclosure system of listed firms needed to be improved and that environmental protection supervisions and penalties should be strengthened. The new institutionalism theory suggests that there are three "institutional pressures" that drive firms to undertake environmental protection responsibilities. Therefore, environmental regulation can significantly encourage firms to improve their environmental performance. However, through many empirical studies have revealed that command environmental regulation has not achieved the expected result , 40. To H1: There is a positive correlation between environmental protection subsidies and the environmental performance of heavy-polluting firms.Green innovation refers to the innovative activities through which firms develop new technology or improve existing technological processes to achieve the sustainable development goal of win-win economic and environmental benefits . AccordiThe "Porter hypothesis" proposes that firms can obtain benefits through technological innovation to compensate for their costs. Through environmentally friendly R&D technologies, firms gain a sustainable competitive advantage and ultimately realize the improvement of production efficiency and economic benefits. The Porter hypothesis is divided into the weak Porter hypothesis and the strong Porter hypothesis. According to weak Porter hypothesis, after receiving environmental protection subsidies, heavy-polluting firms are more willing to invest in green technology innovation and R&D, explore new development models required by the circular economy, and provide more competitive products to improve environmental performance.Externality theory emphasizes that an economic subject’s economic action impacts other economic subjects without incurring any costs or receiving any compensation. Firms that take the lead in developing green technology innovation in the market cannot reap all of the benefits; other competitors can absorb the innovation results, which is the positive externality of green technology innovation and leads to a reduction in firms’ willingness to innovate. Environmental protection subsidies are a type of government support mechanism that can reduce the fluctuation of innovation investment to make up for lost profits resulting from positive externalities from innovation. This eventually increases the enthusiasm for technological innovation  and loweH2: Environmental protection subsidies affect the environmental performance of heavy-polluting firms through green technology innovation.The following models are constructed:Basic model:Mediating model:it refers to the environmental performance of the ith firm in year t; SUBit is the government environmental protection subsidies of the ith firm in the tth year; GIit represents green technology innovation of the ith firm in year t; and controlit denotes a vector consisting of a series of control variables involving Lev, Roa, Share, Size, Age and Ic. Industry and Year are dummy variables. It is necessary to consider each model coefficient and its significance, which aids in investigating the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and environmental performance.Here, EPThe explained variable, environmental performance (EP), can be measured by the score of the environmental protection strategy . We collThe explanatory variable, environmental protection subsidies (lnSUB), is a type of policy intervention that is used by government departments to persuade firms to increase their investment in environmental governance or create environmentally friendly production methods to increase the competitiveness of their products. It can be expressed by the logarithm of government subsidies related to environmental protection, including cash subsidies and tax rebates.The mediating variable, green technology innovation (lnGI), is a means for firms to achieve economic and environmental benefit advantages by upgrading technology and enhancing manufacturing processes. For heavy-polluting listed firms, the logarithm of the number of green patents granted can more realistically reflect the firm’s green innovation capability.The following control variables are considered:Lev is the ratio of a firm’s total liabilities to total assets.Roe is the ratio of net profit to shareholders’ equity.Share is measured using the shareholding ratio of the firm’s largest shareholder.lnSize, is measured by the logarithm of the firm’s total assets.lnAge is stated by the logarithm of the years in which the firm is listed.lnIc, can be indicated by the logarithm of the internal control index from the DIB internal control and risk management database.The specific measures of each variable are shown in We select 16 types of heavy-polluting industries stipulated in the "Guidelines for Environmental Information Disclosure of Listed Firms" published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and take these heavy-polluting listed firms engaged in the above industries from 2008 to 2019 as the research samples, excluding firms with ST, *ST and missing data. Green patent data come from the CNRDS database, and other data come from the CSMAR database. Descriptive statistics of variables and a multicollinearity analysis are conducted using STATA software.A total of 3681 sample observations are shown in Lev has a negative effect on environmental performance and is significant at the 5% level of significance, showing that the higher the asset-liability ratio is, the poorer the debt paying ability of the firm. As a result of the firm focusing more on profitability than on environmental management and technological R&D, the environment will perform better as a result of this market economy’s rational behavior. The coefficients of Roe and Share are insignificantly positive. This could be a result of the fact that environmental performance in high-polluting companies with environmental responsibility was not considerably improved by profitability and ownership structure. Because of the positive correlation between firm size and environmental performance, a larger firm is better able to compete and absorb losses, has lower environmental management costs due to economies of scale, and has more advantages for improving the firm’s environmental performance overall. Internal control may enhance the disclosure of green information and guarantee that firms deliberately uphold their responsibilities to protect the environment. Internal control systems are required, and firms must closely adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, and policies to engage in environmental operations.A robustness test is performed to increase the credibility of the results. There are numerous methods for testing robustness, such as alternative variables, supplementary variables, subsample regression, model substitution, and changing the sample size. Environmental protection investment (EPI) is used to measure the funds invested in environmental governance and ecological balance maintenance. As operational performance, environmental protection investment (EPI) can replace the score of the environmental protection strategy  in the rThe use of basic linear regression may lead to biased conclusions by overestimating the influence of subsidies on policy. Although the estimated coefficients might reveal a link between the environmental performance of firms and environmental protection subsidies, they are insufficient to prove that environmental protection subsidies are the cause of environmental performance. In this study, we employ the PSM method, which is based on estimating the propensity score, identifying a sample of firms in the control group that matches the sample firms in the treatment group, and then analyzing the impact of environmental protection subsidies by comparing the variations in environmental performance between the two groups after matching, which can successfully avoid the endogeneity caused by sample selection bias.The equilibrium tests for the matched variables are shown in Using K neighbor matching (K = 1), radius matching, caliper K neighbor matching (K = 3), kernel matching, and local linear regression matching on the processing group and control group sample firms in China’s economic development differs from region to region. Compared with Central and Western China, Eastern China has the advantages of a geographical environment, talent gathering and economic strength. In terms of technology innovation, the proportion of effective patents and innovation investment in Eastern China are generally better than that in Central and Western China. The fierce competition in the product market makes firms in Eastern China have a driving force for innovation and transformation and the strong awareness and motivation of technology innovation to achieve green development.This study integrates the heavy-polluting list firm data of the CSMAR and CNRDS databases from 2008 to 2019 and measures the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance. The research conclusions are as follows. First,environmental protection subsidies promote environmental performance. The more government support a heavy-polluting firm receives, the more willing the firm is to actively undertake environmental protection responsibilities. This is mainly because environmental protection subsidies have a certain policy-oriented guidance. These subsidies can meet the capital needs of firms and share part of the costs of firms’ environmental protection responsibilities. Second, environmental protection subsidies indirectly affect the environmental performance of heavy-polluting listed firms through green technology innovation. That is, environmental protection subsidies can not only directly increase the capital holdings of firms for environmental responsibility but also achieve clean production by strengthening green technology innovation, thereby reducing environment pollution and improving the environmental performance. The mediating effect of green technology innovation is especially shown in state-owned firms and firms in Eastern China.This study has limitations that it should be addressed by future research. First, there is room for a follow-up study on the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance in post-COVID-19, which may have surprising results and findings. Second, an investigation of environmental subsidies from nonlisted firms could be adopted to further extend the sample. Third, the nonlinear relationship or moderating effect could be explored. All of these studies could create breakthroughs for suggestions in the next step.The findings also have some policy implications. First, green development is critical for China’s economic transformation . EnvironS1 Data(XLSX)Click here for additional data file.


The supermarket environment impacts the healthiness of food purchased and consumed. Shelf tags that alert customers to healthier packaged products can improve the healthiness of overall purchases. This study assessed the potential value-for-money of implementing a three-year shelf tag intervention across all major supermarket chains in Australia. Cost–benefit analyses (CBA) and cost–utility analyses (CUA) were conducted based on results of a 12-week non-randomised controlled trial of a shelf tag intervention in seven Australian supermarkets. The change in energy density of all packaged foods purchased during the trial was used to estimate population-level changes in mean daily energy intake. A multi-state, multiple-cohort Markov model estimated the subsequent obesity-related health and healthcare cost outcomes over the lifetime of the 2019 Australian population. The CBA and CUA took societal and healthcare sector perspectives, respectively. The intervention was estimated to produce a mean reduction in population body weight of 1.09 kg. The net present value of the intervention was approximately AUD 17 billion (B). Over 98% of the intervention costs were borne by supermarkets. CUA findings were consistent with the CBA—the intervention was dominant, producing both health benefits and cost-savings. Shelf tags are likely to offer excellent value-for-money from societal and healthcare sector perspectives. In Australia, 67% of adults and 25% of children and adolescents were living with overweight or obesity in 2017–2018 . Food reEvidence of the effectiveness of supermarket-based interventions to improve the healthiness of food purchases has increased over the last 10 years ,7. RecenThe Australian and New Zealand Health Star Rating (HSR) system is a voluntary front-of-pack labelling scheme, endorsed by the Australian and New Zealand governments, that assigns health stars between 0.5  and 5 stars  based on the nutrition profile of packaged products . Since tEvidence for the effectiveness of shelf tag interventions to improve the healthiness of food purchases in supermarkets is increasing. However, there is currently no evidence of their cost-effectiveness to inform decision-makers of whether shelf tag interventions that are potentially effective from a public health perspective also offer good value-for-money . Cost–utThe aim of this study was to use the evidence of costs and effectiveness that was collected as part of an Australian shelf tag study to assess the economic credentials of implementing the shelf tag intervention across the four largest supermarket chains in Australia. Both CBA and CUA were undertaken, using societal and healthcare sector perspectives respectively. The CBA and CUA consistently found that the intervention was likely to be cost-effective. The costs were predominantly borne by the supermarket industry whereas the main beneficiaries of the intervention were individuals and the Australian federal government.Details of the shelf tag study and results have been reported separately ; with th® [p = 0.034), representing a 13.3% (SE: 5.2%) reduction in the energy density of packaged foods sold.Weekly sales data (number of units and costs) were collected from the intervention and control stores. The primary outcome measure of the trial was percentage change in the units and weight of eligible products (those with HSR of 4.5 or 5) sold relative to all packaged foods sold and was calculated using difference-in-difference analyses . The sal®  and the ®  databaseThe economic evaluation estimated the potential costs and benefits of the shelf tag intervention if implemented as a voluntary initiative by state and territory governments in Australia as part of their obesity prevention strategies. Given the limited evidence on the feasibility of maintaining this intervention over the longer term, it was assumed that the intervention was implemented for three years. It was assumed that the intervention targeted the four leading supermarket chains in Australia ) representing 84% of market share . Given tThe program logic of how the shelf tag intervention was modelled to impact population body weight and body mass index (BMI) is shown in The percentage change in energy intake was applied to average daily energy intake by five-year age and gender groups estimated from the 2011–2012 Australian Health Survey  the lat.The cost to supermarkets included shelf tag design, matching the nutrient profile of packaged foods sold in each supermarket to identify the products eligible for the shelf tag, printing, installation, monitoring, and replacement . The numIt was assumed that each state and territory government would encourage this voluntary supermarket initiative by providing guidance and support to the supermarket industry regarding implementation. We assumed this would involve meetings with the company head office in each state to discuss the initiative, provide advice on product matching to HSR and to provide support at the store level (involving store visits in year 1). Resource use was based on staff time accrued by the NSW Government in supporting fast food companies to implement menu labelling changes  Supplem.Personnel time costs were valued using average wages for various roles reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and included salary on-costs (13%)  and 17.5The specifications for the CBA and the CUA are shown in The supermarket shelf tag intervention was compared to a ‘status quo’ comparator (the comparator is often referred to as the base case in CBA ). The coThe ACE-Obesity Policy model, a proportional, multi-state life table Markov cohort model, was used to estimate the impact of the change in BMI resulting from the shelf tag intervention on long-term health outcomes ) and healthcare costs. Details of the model have been previously published ,47 and aAll costs and benefits are presented in 2019 values. The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards checklist  is proviCBA requires health and non-health benefits to be valued in monetary terms . The HALThe installation of shelf tags offers additional nutrition information in order for customers to meet their own preferences. This is considered a consumer benefit in addition to the nutrition benefits resulting from customers choosing products with higher HSR values ,57. A reSystematic reviews of the impact of healthy food retail interventions on retailers ,61,62, cAs recommended by the CBA framework for preventive health interventions , the netThe CUA results are presented on a cost-effectiveness plane. The incremental cost–effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated by dividing the net present value of costs of the intervention by the net present value of HALYs gained. Based on previous funding decisions by the Australian PBAC , and alihttps://www.epigear.com/index.htm) [The impact of alternative parameter values and assumptions on the cost-effectiveness results were tested in one-way and multi-way sensitivity analyses . The keydex.htm)    and in change in body weight of −1.09 kg , which corresponds to a change in population BMI of −0.41 kg/m; −0.08) . In the ; −0.08) . Figure The difference in perspective for the CBA and CUA produced marked differences in the cost of intervention implementation. The CBA analyses showed that the cost of implementing the three-year shelf tag intervention was approximately AUD 29.8 M  with 98% of these costs accrued by supermarkets . The keyIn the CBA, the health gains valued using the VSLY were estimated to be approximately AUD 17 B, and dwarfed the other monetised benefits, resulting in the NPV also being in the region of AUD 17 B and a BCR of 591. The NPV (AUD 3.2 B) and the BCR (114) remained positive in a sensitivity analysis assigning a lower value to health benefits  . Both thIn all scenarios tested in the sensitivity analyses, the intervention remained highly cost-effective . The senThis study found that a shelf tag intervention promoting healthier packaged food products is potentially highly cost-effective—resulting in health gains and cost-savings over the lifetime of the modelled population. To our knowledge, this is the first economic evaluation of a shelf tag intervention and adds to the limited existing literature of the value-for-money of healthy food retail interventions . The sheIt is important that economic evaluations meet the needs of the decision-makers who may use them to inform preventive health policies. Interventions that affect businesses and have inter-sectoral impacts are considered ‘significant’ government policies and require Cabinet approval. CBA is required to inform Australian state government Cabinet decision-making ,73; howeThis study demonstrated the benefits of adopting a broader perspective. CBA has a clear intent to consider a broad range of costs and benefits; however, in practice, as with all forms of economic evaluation, measurement issues limited the scope of benefits valuation . The CBAThe disaggregation of impacts by stakeholder group as recommended by the CBA framework for preventive health interventions  highlighIn addition to the value-for-money assessment, there are other impacts that are important to consider prior to policy adoption . We haveThe shelf tag intervention was modelled as a voluntary initiative supported by Australian state governments, scaled up, and implemented across Australia. Given the ambiguity around the likely uptake of this intervention, various implementation scenarios were tested, including implementation in just one supermarket chain and mandatory implementation across all major chains. Although all scenarios were cost-effective, as expected, the mandatory implementation scenario resulted in the greatest NPV and BCR. Given that the majority of the cost of the intervention is upfront, with benefits accrued over the lifetime of the population, encouraging ongoing implementation enhances the value-for-money of the intervention. The Australian supermarket sector oligopoly is likely to increase the feasibility of widespread implementation of the intervention. The three largest supermarket chains in Australia  were early adopters of the voluntary HSR front-of-pack labelling scheme on their private label products , indicatThe success and sustainability of a voluntary initiative over a three-year period is reliant on the potential benefits to supermarkets offsetting their costs. A recent process evaluation of a multi-component healthy supermarket retail intervention (Eat Well @ IGA) found that the component most often reported by staff to “not work well” was shelf tags (nominated by 17% of staff) due to the need to periodically replace tags that had fallen off . Staff tA recent systematic review of economic evaluations of retail interventions showed that there is limited evidence on the cost-effectiveness of these interventions, with only eight published studies . Only thThis is the first economic evaluation of a novel supermarket-based shelf tag intervention promoting healthier packaged products. A key strength of this analysis was the broad range of costs and impacts, quantitatively and qualitatively included in the analysis. The use of a model that has been applied extensively to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of several Australian obesity prevention interventions ,47 enhanThere are several limitations of this analysis that should be considered when interpreting the results. Firstly, this economic evaluation was based on a single, short-term study in seven supermarket stores, and although the results were consistent in all intervention stores, further studies over a longer period and with a larger sample of stores, are required to increase confidence that the intervention effects are replicable and could be sustained over a longer period. Secondly, the shelf tag study was undertaken in regional Victoria; transferability of findings to the whole Australian context is also unknown. Finally, the results are reliant on a set of assumptions. The change in energy density of purchased packaged foods was modelled to directly translate to a change in energy consumption. We assumed that the quantity (weight) of packaged foods purchased and all other energy intake from all other sources remained unchanged. However, the shelf tag study indicated that there were small, but significant changes in the purchasing of non-packaged food products . AssumpThe importance of intervening in the supermarket setting has been recognised in the Australian National Obesity Strategy. This study added to the limited economic evidence of nutrition-related interventions in the supermarket setting by demonstrating that shelf tags to alert customers of healthier packaged products are potentially highly cost-effective from both societal and healthcare sector perspectives, and should be considered as one of the components of a comprehensive approach to obesity prevention. For the evaluation of this non-health sector intervention, the CBA provided valuable insights, demonstrating that the majority of the costs fell on supermarkets. Therefore, opportunities to reduce costs and demonstrate benefits to this key stakeholder group require further investigation. Further studies confirming the longer-term effectiveness of the shelf tag intervention, conducted under trial conditions and preferably using robust measures of population consumption, are required to confirm the cost-effectiveness of this intervention.


American Behavioral Scientist marshals casestudies of online media platforms such as Zoom, YouTube, and Twitter and digitalhardware systems such as virtual reality technology to assess the oftenunexpected interactions between the pandemic and digital technologies. The issueleads with a case study of Zoom to examine the laregely successful efforts whichZoom made in the wake of the pandemic to resolve unanticipated privacy andsecurity problems afflicting the suddenly ubiquitous and indispensable platform.Subsequently, the issue charts the growing tensions between competingproprietary and open-source institutional logics during the pandemic. In thenext section, articles consider the spread of covid-related information onYouTube and news outlets to take a comparative angle of vision bothinternationally and in terms of the dynamics of media production and receptionin different cultural and societal environments. Variation is also key to thearticles in the last section where research focuses on persistent digital usagegaps. Here the articles touch on the socioeconomic factors drivingdifferentiated knowledge about the pandemic, as well as the relatively lowuptake of digital technologies among older adults in housing facilities.Finally, we also learn about the effect of the social isolation and anxieties ofthe pandemic on the uptake of a new form of digital hardware, virtual realityequipment. Finally, the issue closes with an eye to visualization tools neededfor the future to close this discussion of the digitization of the 100-yearcrisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. These contributions take the measureof how the pandemic intersected with digitized communications and media invaried and, at times, unequal ways, as well as lessons applicable to futurecrises.This issue of  American Behavioral Scientist assesses the landscapes ofdigital media as it was transformed by the first pandemic of the digital age. The casestudies in the issue probe some of the most significant digital tools and social mediaused during this 100-year event including Zoom, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as theexamination of the role of digital inequalities and divides in responses to thepandemis, and the potential for new tools including VR and visualizations. Together, thearticles facilitate the assessment of some of the important lessons of the pandemic asthey apply to the development and mobilization of digital communications and media inthe face of future crises.This issue of The issue leads with an examination of Zoom, which is entitled “Why Zoom is not Doomed.”This first article takes a case study approach to examine the unusual response of thevideoconferencing company Zoom to the abrupt and unexpected privacy and securityproblems afflicting the suddenly ubiquitous and indispensable platform. Using transcriptmaterials from Zoom’s official communications with external constituencies, the studyidentifies the organizational narratives adopted and promoted by Zoom’s leadership inthe wake of the crisis. From these communications it is apparent that the firm made aneffort to convince external constituencies that it was adapting its business strategy tomeet the needs of users concerned about security and privacy. In this way, it tookadvantage of the crisis as an opportunity for growth and reinvention. This tacticlargely helped Zoom to strengthen its organizational mission and culture in spite of theseemingly dire situation. In addition, in appearing to successfully cope with an urgentcrisis, the company rebuilt its brand as a reliable, trustworthy platform and itsposition as an industry standard-bearer.Whereas the previous articles deal with the responses of specific organizations and setsof organizations, the second article takes a broader view, scrutinizing theorganizational field of the internet in its entirety. This contribution, entitled“Navigating Pandemic Crises: Encountering the Digital Commons,” charts the growingtensions between competing proprietary and open-source institutional logics during thepandemic. As the article contends, the internet has always hosted multiplecountervailing institutional logics, the logic of the commercialized internet run bycapitalist entities, the logic of the government-run internet often used to keep trackof citizens, and the “commons” logic best exemplified by the open source softwaremovement. During the pandemic, the tension between these competing logics only grewstronger, as an unprecedented number of activities moved to online platforms and domainsand the internet became more indispensable for more people. At the same time, asfor-profit firms perfected their techniques of value extraction based on usersurveillance, publicly minded entities offered an abundance of content via open accesswebsites and platforms. Advocates of open science and education in particulardisseminated large volumes of health information and developed educational tools foropen access to individuals around the world. In this way the pandemic created the spacefor the digital commons logic to flourish, in the online sphere even as the proprietaryand capitalist logic often took center stage in the public eye.In the next section, the research explores the dissemination of information during theearly pandemic. The first article expands on the theme of communication during thepandemic by investigating the genres and emotional characteristics of the types ofmessaging employed in order to motivate behavior during the pandemic across several ofthe most important countries across the globe. The article “A cross-national Study ofFear Appeal Messages in YouTube Trending Videos about COVID-19” applies the ExtendedParallel Process Model to explore the prevalence and psychological content of over 2000trending videos posted on YouTube across six countries from January to May 2020. Theanalysis reveals important cross-national differences: while pandemic-themed videosgained early attention in Taiwan, they encountered a prolonged delay in the UnitedStates and Brazil. Specifically, COVID-19 videos featured the least prominently inBrazil’s trending list, with most of those spotlighted videos coming from theentertainment category. Where the thematic and psychological content is concerned, theresults from the automated content analysis further suggested that fear content vastlyovershadowed efficacy content, particularly in countries such as Russia and Brazil,where the collective response to the pandemic was particularly inadequate. These resultssuggest that governments and other collective actors should strive to create publichealth messaging that contains more efficacy-inducing content and less fear-inducingcontent in the future.Another study attends to multiple sources of variation in the extent to which U.S. adultspossess factually correct knowledge of issues around the pandemic. In “Paying Attentionto the Pandemic: Knowledge of COVID-19 Facts by News Source and Demographics,” severalsources of individual-level variation are subjected to scrutiny, namely sociodemographicand socioeconomic differences across individuals and the relative consumption ofdifferent forms of news content relevant to the topics under study. Based on an analysisof nationally representative data drawn from the Pew Foundation, the article revealsthat knowledge of facts relating to the pandemic varies according to both of thesefactors. Logistic models pinpoint differences in the likelihood of correct knowledgeamong respondents, depending on respondent attributes such as race and income, but alsothe types of news content which predominate in their news consumption mix. Correlationswith race/ethnicity, education, and income indicate how the U.S. current informationecosystem caters to higher SES information consumers, suggesting that respondents whorely more heavily on informal news sources and local news sources tend to lack correctknowledge when compared to those who depend more on national news outlets and governmentsources.While the first two sections survey the imperfect ways digital technologies weremarshaled to contend with issues raised by the pandemic. In the last section we turn topotential new avenues and solutions also occasioned by adaptive responses to COVID-19that reveal lessons for future crisis response. The first is entitled “Digital Distancein times of Physical Distancing: ICT Infrastructure and Use in Long-term CareFacilities.” This contribution focuses on an increasingly important yet often overlookedsegment of the population in developed countries, namely older adults, a population atparticularly high risk of social isolation and health problems during the pandemic.Using original survey data based on responses from older Swiss adults in the generalpopulation as well as residents and managers within the care facilities, the study findsboth relatively low uptake of digital technologies combined with a strong desire amongthe majority of older adult respondents for better ICT resources and support. Inparticular, the ICT resources in the long-term care facilities proved inadequate for theresidents of these facilities by and large, although there were important differenceswithin the resident population. Many of the residents expressed a desire for moretraining and technical support, pointing to a general inadequacy of ICT skills supportwithin the facilities. As far as usage habits were concerned, younger and male residentstended to use ICT resources more heavily than their female and older counterparts. Thestudy underlines the inadequacy of ICT resources for this population, even withinrelatively well-funded facilities located in an affluent country, and provides importantlessons to better assist this population in the future.Just as the COVID-19 pandemic made it more critical for digitally disadvantaged groups,such as older adults, to access online resources, it also had an effect on the uptake ofvirtual reality (VR) digital technology as well. This is the topic of the next study,entitled “The Perceived Impacts of COVID-19 on Users’ Acceptance of Virtual RealityHardware: A Digital Divide Perspective.” In this article, the analytical eye turns tothe factors behind the adoption or non-adoption of a relatively novel technology—virtualreality hardware—during the pandemic. The analysis applies a social-psychologicalapproach to technology uptake— the TAM framework—alongside digital access factors andvariables tracking respondents’ experience of the pandemic to characterize the structureof the determinants of VR adoption. The findings suggest that the intense experiences ofquarantine and social isolation precipitated by pandemic lockdowns played an importantrole in stoking interest in VR technology adoption among respondents. Thus, the studyshows the importance of adaptive response that prompts respondents to boost their VRuptake to mitigate their concerns for their health and safety. This revealing case studyshows how particular large-scale crises can promote or inhibit the uptake of newtechnologies in tandem with the individual-level factors commonly associated withtechnology adoption.Finally, the issue closes with an eye to tools needed for the future: “[De]Politicizingthe Pandemic: Visually Communicating Digital Public Sociology.” Drawing together thethemes of the issue, this article shed light on one of the most serious challenges topublic health heightened by the pandemic, social media echo chambers, and indicatesimportant resources to combat future infodemics, showing how social media has the powerto foster self-reinforcing ideological exchanges and self-contained communicationnetworks. Drawing attention to the potential for digital citizen social science, theauthors call for user-accessible visual tools to facilitate a bottom-up response tofuture crises. As the article contends, such digital visualizations would allow users tomap out their own engagements vis-à-vis the larger social landscape of opinions. Bydoing so, visualizations of social media would give members of the general public avehicle that invigorates a public sociological imagination and a flourishing digitalpublic sociology.American BehavioralScientist takes the measure of how communications and media intersectedwith COVID-19. Light is shed on both the opportunities provided by digital and socialmedia, as well as emergent digital divides, and potential threats to privacy, knolwedgeacquisition, and public health that digital media exacerbated. Therefore, not only doesdigital media presents a double-edged sword of benefit and cost for society as a whole,but benefits and costs are unequally distributed across society along various axes ofdifferentiation. Nevertheless, the issue offers reasons for hope that these newtechnological tools can be leveraged to enhance societal resilience in the face oflarge-scale crises and rapid societal change.In closing, across these studies, this issue of


The pursuit of relationship goals is critical to the wellbeing of young adults. This study investigated different achievement goals toward social competence as potential predictors of social anxiety and depression symptoms. It proposed that self-esteem may function as a mediator on the pathway from endorsing social achievement goals to undergraduates' concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms. Social achievement goal theory proposes three types of goals: social mastery goals , social performance-approach goals , and social performance-avoid goals . One hundred and eighty-five Chinese undergraduates aged from 18 to 23  completed this study across two-time points. Path analyses indicated that social mastery  and performance-approach goals were positively associated with self-esteem, whereas social performance-avoid goals were negatively associated with self-esteem; self-esteem was negatively associated with the concurrent social anxiety and depression symptoms and the longitudinal depression symptoms. The proposed mediation effects of self-esteem on the links from three types of social achievement goals to the concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms were significant except on the links from social mastery goals and social performance-approach goals to the subsequent social anxiety symptoms. Self-esteem and the baseline social anxiety and depressive symptoms have a chain mediating effect between social achievement goals and the longitudinal symptoms of social anxiety and depression. These findings suggest that the pursuit of social mastery goals and performance-approach goals in initiating and maintaining social relationships boosts undergraduates' self-worth and reduces their concurrent and longitudinal depression experiences. However, the strivings to hide inadequacy and avoid negative evaluation in social contexts impede one's self-worth and increase concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms. Implications and limitations are discussed. Social anxiety and depression are common psychological problems with a high prevalence rate among young adults . These goals have been associated with more adaptive outcomes such as positive social relationships, social competence, self-efficacy, perceived popularity, and a stronger sense of belonging . These goals have shown contingent results in predicting undergraduates' adjustment. They have been found to be beneficial for improving social popularity and for reducing social withdrawal  and avoiding negative evaluation from others . These goals have been associated with more maladaptive outcomes such as interpersonal stress, social worry, social anxious behaviors, depressive symptoms, and loneliness, and with less adaptive outcomes in the areas of social relationships, social efficacy, perceived popularity, and social competence  whether social achievement goals and self-esteem are associated with the self-reported social anxiety and depression symptoms at the baseline level and at a 10-month follow up; (2) whether self-esteem is associated with social achievement goals and constitutes a mediation mechanism underlying the effects of social achievement goals on the concurrent and subsequent symptoms of social anxiety and depression; (3) whether there is a chain mediating effect of self-esteem and the baseline social anxiety and depressive symptoms between three types of social achievement goals and the subsequent symptoms of social anxiety and depression, using a university students sample from mainland China. The proposed model is presented in Additionally, a recent study showed that women reported higher scores of social anxiety symptoms Guo, . AnotherThe final sample consisted of 185  undergraduates who participated in this two-wave survey. Participants were students who attended an introductory psychology class at a Chinese University in North China, aged 18–23 , the majority (98.4%) were Han Chinese. Participants were from various majors . All of them lived in the student dormitories during the study period.not at all true of me) to 5 (very true of me). Cronbach's alpha (α) was 0.70 for social mastery goals, 0.70 for social performance-approach goals, and 0.75 for social performance-avoid goals in the current study.The SAGOS was used to assess social achievement goal orientations among undergraduates from various backgrounds  from a Chinese self-report version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale  to 4 (applied to me most of the time). Its validity and reliability among student samples were well-established in Chinese settings  agreed to participate in the first wave assessment, 88.5% (N = 185) of these participants agreed to participate in the second wave assessment. On each occasion, participants who agreed to join in the study completed a questionnaire packet with a written consent letter. Social achievement goals, self-esteem, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms were measured in the first wave; 10 months later, social anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured again. The subjects were informed of the study's voluntary nature and could stop at any point if they wanted to. The participants received around 2 dollars incentive for each wave of data collection. The Medical and Scientific Research Ethics Committee of Henan University approved the study.In a class session, all class attendants were invited to participate in the study voluntarily; 94% (N = 24) did not show significant differences with those participants who completed the two-wave assessment in social achievement goals , social performance-approach goals , social performance-avoid goals , self-esteem , and the symptoms of social anxiety  and depression , but the participants who were missed in the second wave assessment were younger . To address the associations among the targeted variables and estimate whether the links between social achievement goals and the concurrent and subsequent symptoms of social anxiety and depression were mediated by self-esteem, the author conducted path analyses using Amos 21. Three commonly used fit indices were selected to determine the fit of models  methods in SPSS19.0. 2/df ′ = 1.296, p = 0.26, CFI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.040 (0.01–0.11), SRMR = 0.026. As illustrated in the path analyses model (p < 0.06); from social performance-approach goals to self-esteem was positive ; and from social performance-avoid goals to self-esteem was negative .Path analysis with structural equation modeling was used with the maximum likelihood estimation method. The model includes measures of social achievement goals and self-esteem at Time 1, social anxiety and depressive symptoms at Time 2. We controlled for the effects of gender and age on the social anxiety and depression symptoms tested on two time points. The model showed excellent fit, χes model , the dirp > 0.05) and depression symptoms  and to the longitudinal social anxiety  and depression symptoms  were not significant. The link from social performance-approach goals to the concurrent depressive symptoms  was negatively significant, whereas the links from social performance-approach goals to the concurrent  and longitudinal social anxiety symptoms  and the longitudinal depression symptoms  were not significant. The paths from social performance-avoid goals to the concurrent social anxiety  and depression  were positively significant and to the longitudinal symptoms of social anxiety  was marginally positive, but the links from social performance-avoid goals to the longitudinal depression symptoms  were not significant. As expected, the direct paths from self-esteem to the concurrent social anxiety  and depression symptoms  and to the longitudinal depression  were negatively significant; whereas the direct path from self-esteem to the longitudinal social anxiety was not significant .As shown in via self-esteem were significant except for two indirect paths . As presented in via self-esteem were negatively significant. The chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial social anxiety between social mastery goals and the subsequent social anxiety symptoms  and the chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial depression symptoms between social mastery goals and the later depression symptoms  were also significant.To test for the proposed indirect effects of social achievement goals on social anxiety and depressive symptoms, a bootstrapping procedure available in Amos 21.0  was used. According to Shrout and Bolger , an indivia self-esteem were significant. The previous symptoms of social anxiety and depression significantly predicted the subsequent social anxiety  and depression symptoms . The chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial social anxiety between social performance-approach goals and the subsequent social anxiety symptoms  and the chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial depression symptoms between social performance-approach goals and the later depression symptoms  were significant. As for social performance-avoid goals, the indirect effects of social performance-avoid goals on the concurrent social anxiety  and depression symptoms  and the longitudinal social anxiety  and depression symptoms  via self-esteem were all significant. The chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial social anxiety between social performance-avoid goals and the subsequent social anxiety symptoms  and the chain mediating effects of self-esteem and the initial depression symptoms between social performance-avoid goals and the subsequent depression symptoms  were significant.The indirect effects of social performance-approach goals on the concurrent social anxiety  and depression symptoms  and the longitudinal depressive symptoms  The current study evaluated whether social achievement goals, self-esteem, and social anxiety and depression symptoms measured at an initial assessment significantly predicted the presence of social anxiety and depression symptoms measured 10 months later. The study also explored whether the relationships between social achievement goals and the concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms were mediated by self-esteem and whether the chain effects of self-esteem and the initial levels of social anxiety and depression symptoms existed between the links from social achievement goals to the subsequent psychopathology symptoms. As presented in previous studies (Shim and Ryan, Contrary to Shim et al.'s  study, pAll three types of social achievement goals are potential predictors of self-esteem. As proposed previously (Shim et al., As the theories Beck,  and empivia self-esteem, and then the initial states of the social anxiety and depression symptoms predict the follow-up tested symptoms of social anxiety and depression.The initial tested social anxiety and depression symptoms have consistently predicted the subsequent social anxiety and depression symptoms, especially for the social anxiety symptoms. This might be the reason why social achievement goals and self-esteem could not predict the subsequently tested social anxiety symptoms directly or indirectly. In other words, students identified with higher social anxiety and depression symptoms demonstrate a higher risk for subsequent social anxiety and depression symptoms (Rodebaugh et al., Social achievement goal theory describes the different achievement goals that individuals endorse in developing friendship, and the current study evidences the crucial roles of these goals in the development of undergraduates' social anxiety and depression. Several implications may follow from this study. For example, it would be helpful to introduce the social achievement goal theory into the relationship education courses in university. Teachers can explain the meaning and possible consequences of different goals in developing new friendships and help students establish appropriate social achievement goals, thereby improving students' friendship quality and diminishing the negative impact of inappropriate goals on individuals' self-development and emotional health. Meanwhile, college students' perceived interpersonal stress and relationship quality have important applications on their social development and wellbeing (Rodebaugh et al., Several limitations should be considered in interpreting these findings. First, the sample size of this study was small, which potentially limited the power of the current results. Further studies with a large sample size are needed to replicate and strengthen the current research findings. Second, some social anxiety symptoms translate into social anxiety disorder over time, but experiencing social anxiety symptoms is not equal to being identified as having a clinical social anxiety disorder. The same situation applies to depression symptoms and the major depression disorder. The protective factors suggested in this study for decreasing social anxiety and depression symptoms may not be effective for tampering with the psychiatric disorder of social anxiety and depression. Future studies could consider using a clinical sample to reexamine the proposed model of this study. Third, this study did not control the effects of comorbid psychiatric disorders such as comorbid post-traumatic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder, which may bias the current findings. Finally, although we proposed that social achievement goals may lead to self-esteem, the change of self-esteem might lead young people to readjust their goal pursuits in building and maintaining their relationships. Future studies testing variables at more time points and controlling for baseline mental health can provide better evidence for the relationship between social achievement goals, self-esteem, and other mental health indicators.In closing, the present study further supports that social achievement goals in developing relationships are meaningful predictors of undergraduates' social anxiety and depression symptoms. The function of self-esteem as the underlying mechanism in explaining majority associations between social achievement goals and the concurrent and longitudinal symptoms of social anxiety and depression deserves further investigation. The concern of why people want to develop social relationships can further understand the development of the psychopathology of social anxiety and depression.The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics, Henan University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.The study was funded by the Youth Foundation of Humanity and Social Sciences from the Ministry of Education of China, Grant Number 18YJC190034 and the Henan Province Scientific and Technique Foundation, Grant Number 212102310094.The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Caring for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (CADHD) is stressful for caregivers. Identifying factors related to parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD can facilitate the development of intervention programs. This study aimed to examine the associations between affiliate stigma and various domains of parenting stress among caregivers of CADHD. This study also analyzed the moderating effects of demographic characteristics and the symptoms of childhood ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) on the associations between affiliate stigma and parenting stress. In total, 213 caregivers of CADHD participated in this study. Parenting stress was assessed using the Parenting Stress Index, Fourth Edition Short Form (PSI-4-SF). Affiliate stigma was assessed using the Affiliate Stigma Scale. ADHD and ODD symptoms were assessed using the Parent Form of the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Scale, Version IV. The results indicated that higher affiliate stigma was significantly associated with greater parenting stress in all three domains of the PSI-4-SF. ODD symptoms increased the magnitude of parenting stress in two domains of parenting stress among caregivers with affiliate stigma. Intervention programs for relieving parenting stress among caregivers of CADHD should take affiliate stigma and child ODD symptoms into consideration. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder with a global prevalence between 2% and 7% . The relAccording to Abidin , parentiThe factors related to parenting stress are divided into child and parent domains. In the child domain, Wiener et al. found that more severe ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and other externalizing behaviors were significantly associated with parental stress . The metIdentifying factors related to parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD can facilitate the development of intervention programs. Affiliate stigma (AS) is a factor related to mental health in caregivers of individuals with psychiatric disorders ,17; its In a cross-sectional study on 159 French mothers of boys with ADHD, Charbonnier et al. found that mothers’ distress was positively related with AS  and to uWhether ADHD and ODD symptoms moderate the association between AS and parenting stress also warrants investigation. Charbonnier et al. found that boys’ ADHD symptoms were positively associated with maternal AS . A studyThe first aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the associations between AS and various domains of parenting stress among caregivers of CADHD. The second aim was to analyze the moderating effects of demographic characteristics and the symptoms of childhood ADHD and ODD on the associations between AS and various domains of parenting stress. We proposed the following hypotheses: (1) higher AS is significantly associated with all domains of increased parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD; and (2) demographic characteristics and the symptoms of childhood ADHD and ODD moderate the associations between AS and parenting stress.We recruited caregivers of CADHD from pediatric mental health outpatient clinics in two general hospitals in Taiwan. The study included caregivers with a child that was aged between 10 and 18 years and was diagnosed as having ADHD in accordance with the DSM-5 criteria . As subsThis study was conducted between June 2018 and May 2021. Five child psychiatrists from the pediatric mental health outpatient clinics in two general hospitals at Kaohsiung, Taiwan  confirmed the eligibility of 220 caregivers and invited them to participate in the study. In total, 213 caregivers (168 women and 45 men) granted informed consent prior to the assessment and individually completed the self-report questionnaires in research rooms. This study was approved by the institutional review boards of two university hospitals (201800740A3 and KMUHIRB-SV(II)-20170077).We used the Taiwanese version  of the PThe 22-item Affiliate Stigma Scale (ASS) was used to assess the caregivers’ level of AS toward their child’s ADHD . Each itWe invited caregivers to rate the severity of their child’s ADHD and ODD core symptoms in the previous 30 days by using the Chinese version of the Parent Form of the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Scale, Version IV (PF-SNAP-IV) ,34. The We collected data on caregivers’ sex, age, and years of education completed. We also collected data on children’s sex and age.All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0 software . Categorical variables are presented as percentages, and continuous variables are presented as means and standard deviations (SDs). Multivariate linear regression was used to analyze the associations of AS, demographic characteristics, inattention problems, hyperactive and impulse control problems, and ODD symptoms with the three domains of parenting stress. p value of <0.05 as indicating statistical significance.We also used the standard criteria proposed by Baron and Kenny  to examip < 0.05) and DC domains , indicating that ODD symptoms moderated the associations between AS and parenting stress in the PCDI and DC domains. The moderating effects are presented in Since inattention problems and ODD symptoms had significant associations with parenting stress, we used their interactions with AS as inputs in our multivariate linear regression analysis model to examine whether inattention problems and ODD symptoms moderated the association between AS and parenting stress . The resThis study demonstrated that after demographic characteristics and childhood ADHD and ODD symptoms were controlled for, AS was positively associated with all three domains of parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD. This study is the first one to examine the associations between AS and various domains of parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD. Although the cross-sectional design limited the possibility to determine the casual relationship between AS and parenting stress, there can be reciprocal relationship between them. Parenting stress arises when parenting demands exceed the expected and actual resources available to the parents that permit them to succeed in the parent role . StressfPrevious studies have revealed that more severe ODD symptoms and disturbed behaviors in children were positively associated with higher parenting distress in caregivers of CADHD ,39. The We recommend the implementation of intervention programs targeting AS and parenting stress. Inadequate public knowledge of ADHD may aggravate social stigmatization and AS. The promotion of psychoeducation to increase the public’s knowledge of ADHD may mitigate social stigmatization and AS ,50. EquiThis study has several limitations. First, because we collected all information from a single source (caregivers), common-method variance may be present. Second, the causality between AS and parenting stress could not be determined. Third, the study did not analyze psychosocial factors, such as support systems and parents’ coping skills. These factors may have influenced the association between AS and parenting stress. Strategies that caregivers used to cope with parenting stress were not surveyed. Fourth, this study recruited caregivers of CADHD from the outpatient clinics. Whether the results of this study can be generalized to caregivers who did not take their CADHD to child psychiatrists warrants further study.AS was positively associated with parenting stress in caregivers of CADHD. Children with ODD symptoms increased the magnitude of parenting stress in the PCDI and DC domains in participants with AS. Intervention programs targeting AS and parenting stress are warranted to enhance the mental health of caregivers of CADHD. As a moderator of the association between AS and parenting stress, ODD symptoms warrant early identification and intervention.