Making American Friends: The Effects of Musical Tastes and English Proficiency on Chinese International Students’ Social Networks in the United States

This study investigated the relationship between Chinese international students’ social networks in the United States and their musical tastes. Based on concept of homophily, this study used a self-reported Social Network Analysis (SNA) survey to examine whether sharing similar musical tastes affected Chinese international students’ relationship, their musical tastes, and music consumption. The results showed that having high musical taste similarity predicted closer relationship between respondents and their alters, and higher likelihood of new music consumption. This study also found that frequent American English-language songs listeners were more likely to have Americans in their social network than less-frequent American English-language songs listeners.     

Influence of Cultural Orientations on Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in Social Media

This study explores how horizontal/vertical individualism and collectivism (HVIC) orientations influence electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) (i.e., opinion leadership and opinion seeking) in social media. Online survey panel data through Amazon MTurk were collected from American social media users to address the research purpose. The results, using the structural equation modeling, show that the paths from horizontal individualism to opinion leadership, vertical individualism to opinion leadership and opinion seeking, horizontal collectivism to opinion leadership, and vertical collectivism to opinion leadership and opinion seeking were significant. This study provides theoretical and managerial implications regarding the influence of HVIC orientations on eWOM in social media.     

Social identification,exercise participation,and positive exercise experiences: Evidence from parkrun

Growing evidence suggests that social identities may have profound implications for physical activity participation. Real-world examinations of this relationship have, however, been lacking, with research predominantly examining intentions and hypothetical scenarios. To address this shortcoming and further advance understanding in this area, the present study tested relationships between group identification, participation, two exercise-specific outcomes (exercise-specific satisfaction and group cohesion), and a broad health indicator (life satisfaction) among individuals recruited from parkrun. Participants (N = 289) completed questionnaires measuring all variables except participants’ parkrun participation, which was objectively assessed. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that group identification was significantly associated with greater participation, exercise-specific satisfaction, group cohesion, and life satisfaction. Findings provide real-world evidence of the health-related benefits associated with forming strong social identities in exercise settings.     

Threat and Prejudice against Syrian Refugees in Canada: Assessing the Moderating Effects of Multiculturalism,Interculturalism, and Assimilation

A survey experiment (N = 529) was used to test the moderating effects of intergroup ideologies (assimilation, multiculturalism, and interculturalism) on the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and expressions of prejudice under conditions of intergroup threat. Moderated multiple regression analyses suggest a multicultural integration frame moderates the relationship between SDO and feelings toward Syrian refugees in Canada when the target outgroup is portrayed as a source of intergroup threat. This moderating effect was unique to the relationship between SDO and feelings toward Syrians and did not extend to other correlates of prejudice including beliefs in zero-sum group competition or a multicultural ideology, nor did it extend to more general measures of prejudice (i.e., attitudes toward immigrants or evaluations of intercultural contact). Findings suggest the prejudice-reducing effects of a multicultural integration narrative affect group evaluations and functions by targeting beliefs in social dominance, rather than zero-sum group competition or ideological support for cultural diversity. The results offer insights into the prejudice-reducing potential for two alternative integration narratives that are institutionalized in Canada.     

An examination of the relationship between social self-efficacy and personal growth initiative in international context

The cross-cultural transitioning experience of international students has been viewed as a high-impact practice for student learning. International students experience both challenges and growth opportunities when they encounter new peoples and environments. However, limited research exists on the student factors that predict benefits, growth or resilience for international students through their cross-cultural transitioning experience. This study investigated social self-efficacy as a predictor of personal growth initiative amongst international students, above and beyond demographic and linguistic factors. In addition, the factorial structure of Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II was examined. Our results indicated that the perceived ability to successfully negotiate social situations and produce positive social interactions predict greater personal growth initiative and its dimensions regardless of students’ language proficiency. Moreover, results from the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided further support for the first-order four-factor structure of the PGIS-II. Results have implications for improving international student integration, because efforts to support students’ social self-efficacy are linked to their personal growth initiative.     

Improving well-being through hedonic,eudaimonic, and social needs fulfillment in sport media consumption

Understanding sport consumer well-being is essential for enhancing the psychological experience and benefits of sport consumers. While watching a sporting event on TV or Internet is a key means of sport consumption, not much is known about the activity’s influence on well-being. Well-being improves when one’s hedonic, eudaimonic, and social needs are fulfilled. Need fulfillment occurs when hedonic, eudaimonic, and social values are experienced and perceived as one’s own. A pre-post survey and SEM-based research was conducted to examine individuals’ psychological experiences in sport event viewing and its link to well-being. The influences of the sport fanship and media consumption setting on the links were also examined. The results indicate that hedonic, eudaimonic, and social values experienced by sport event viewers fully or partially (moderated by sport fanship and media consumption setting) led to well-being improvement, supporting the notion of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social needs fulfillment as the mechanism of improving well-being in this context.     

Peripheral Ritualized Practices—Threads Connecting Decorations to the Cloak of Identity

This is an ethnographic study which investigates the practices of language maintenance and ethnic identity affiliation for immigrant/migrant Nepalese families with primary to middle school children in the United Kingdom. The study presents a comparative case study analysis of three Nepalese immigrant/migrant families. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and historical narrative interview were used. The study investigated prior exposure to home country, ethnic, cultural, and social literacy practices that occurred in various contexts during a nine-month period. This analysis revealed a phenomenon I termed peripheral ritualized practices. Exposure to peripheral ritualized practices over time creates positive changes in attitudes toward multilingualism and diversity.     

现阶段社会体育发展的几点思考

通过文献资料研究及实地访谈,分析了社会体育发展的现状,并对所存在的问题进行讨论后提出相应的对策,以期为社会体育发展做出建设性的指导。     

We make the road by walking together: New teachers and the collaborative and context-specific appropriation of shared social justice-oriented practices and concepts

This study examined the work of a collaborative group of six new United States-based social studies teachers from the same social justice-oriented teacher education program (SJOTEP). Shared practices and concepts introduced previously in the SJOTEP were developed and appropriated to their classrooms and schools in consideration of the local context, through the collaborative problem-solving process of the group. It is argued that SJOTEPs and TEPs committed to issues of diversity, democracy, inclusion, and/or equity should be collaboration-based, teach a coherent and consistent social justice-focused curriculum, and provide post-graduation collaborative support and research it.     

The Centre for Research into Higher Education at the University of Amsterdam (Centrum voor Onderzoek van het Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs,COWO)

This study is part of a first study of collaborative socio-environmental projects that engage Jewish and Arab students in Israel in learning about their local environment and about each other through outdoor learning and environmental action. We used ideas of social learning and environmental citizenship to frame our research. We investigated students' knowledge regarding their local environment and their knowledge of each other's community. We also studied the participants’ views regarding their project-partners'environmental knowledge, awareness and behaviour in comparison to their own. Initially, differences were found regarding various aspects of the students' socio-environmental knowledge and in students' views of their counterparts' environmentalism. At the end of the projects, students showed better understanding of local socio-environmental issues and demonstrated changes in their original views towards the environmental awareness and behaviour of their counterparts. These findings suggest that projects which involve students from segregated communities not only promote environmental awareness but contribute to a reduction in mutual prejudices. We suggest that the differences we found are not related to ethnicity, but rather to students' socioeconomic status and experience in environmental education programmes.