| 1. |
- Fors Connolly, Filip, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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Does Gender Equality Cause Gender Differences in Values? : Reassessing the Gender-Equality-Personality Paradox
- 2020
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In: Sex Roles. - : Springer. - 0360-0025 .- 1573-2762. ; 83, s. 101-113
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Gender-Equality-Personality Paradox (GEPP) is the finding that gender differences in personality are at their largest in the most gender equal countries. Previous known studies have not examined this relationship over time. Examining this linkage is crucial to our understanding of gender differences and personality development. In the present study, we contrast evolutionary perspectives predicting a gender divergence in personality due to progression in gender equality against biosocial perspectives predicting convergence. Using data from all eight rounds of the European Social Survey (n = 235,339) across 32 European countries, we report three findings. First, in accordance with the evolutionary perspective, country-level gender equality is positively associated with gender differences in basic human values. Second, in accordance with the biosocial perspective, we find evidence supporting gender convergence in basic human values. Third, contradicting both evolutionary and biosocial assumptions, we find no evidence that gender equality causes gender differences in values. We argue that there is a need to explore alternative explanations to the observed cross-sectional association between gender equality and personality differences, as well as gender convergence in personality over time.
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| 2. |
- Bohman, Andrea, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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COVID-19-induced academic stress and its impact on life satisfaction and optimism : a panel study of Swedish university students between 2020 and 2022
- 2023
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In: European Journal of Higher Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2156-8235 .- 2156-8243.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, we analyse the level of and development in students’ academic stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We devote particular attention to students that first entered university in 2020, ‘the COVID cohort’, who had fewer opportunities to integrate in ways that theoretically should mitigate the impact of pandemic-induced disruption to their studies. Using four waves of data, collected 2020–2022, we find evidence of both pandemic and cohort effects among Swedish university students (N = 3138). During the pandemic’s first year academic stress due to COVID-19 increased regardless of pre-pandemic university experience. The stress, in turn, negatively impacted students’ life satisfaction, a factor theoretically linked to key student outcomes like persistence and academic performance but had limited effect on students’ long-term optimism. The COVID cohort expressed higher levels of academic stress and experienced a greater drop in life satisfaction compared to the most senior students (3 years or more), but largely overlapped with students with some university experience (1–2 years). These group differences persisted in spring 2022. Finally, we found that the higher levels of pandemic-induced academic stress in the COVID cohort were mitigated by experiences that foster academic and social integration, specifically by teacher support and social cohesion.
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| 3. |
- Breznau, Nate, et al.
(author)
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Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty
- 2022
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 119:44
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores how researchers analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis. We coordinated 161 researchers in 73 research teams and observed their research decisions as they used the same data to independently test the same prominent social science hypothesis: that greater immigration reduces support for social policies among the public. In this typical case of social science research, research teams reported both widely diverging numerical findings and substantive conclusions despite identical start conditions. Researchers expertise, prior beliefs, and expectations barely predict the wide variation in research outcomes. More than 95% of the total variance in numerical results remains unexplained even after qualitative coding of all identifiable decisions in each teams workflow. This reveals a universe of uncertainty that remains hidden when considering a single study in isolation. The idiosyncratic nature of how researchers results and conclusions varied is a previously underappreciated explanation for why many scientific hypotheses remain contested. These results call for greater epistemic humility and clarity in reporting scientific findings.
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| 4. |
- Eger, Maureen A., Dr. 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Argumentum ad populum : A reply to Bonikowski and DiMaggio
- 2022
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In: Nations and Nationalism. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1354-5078 .- 1469-8129. ; 28:1, s. 366-370
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Our reply to Bonikowski and DiMaggio (2021) is in three parts. First, we clarify the aim of our research note (Eger & Hjerm, 2021). Our original critique was based on a replication of their inductive analysis, and we evaluated their work using best practices for the methodology that they chose. Our argument is straightforward: If one is going to use inductive methods to say something meaningful about the real world, one needs to make sure that the model being advanced fits the data. We present additional evidence supporting our original critique. Second, we discuss whether their new analyses bolster their original results and conclusions. Third, because their own results actually suggest that different levels of American nationalism exist rather than qualitatively different types, we question their claim of convergent validity. In short, we stand by our original critique.
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| 5. |
- Eger, Maureen A., Dr. 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Identifying Varieties of Nationalism : A Critique of a Purely Inductive Approach
- 2022
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In: Nations and Nationalism. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1354-5078 .- 1469-8129. ; 28:1, s. 341-352
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Most theoretical and empirical approaches to nationalism not only distinguish between ethnic and civic notions of national belonging, but also differentiate national identity from national hubris, pride, and attachment. In this article, we examine recently published research on nationalist sentiments in the United States that takes a different approach. The study in question has already become quite influential in the field and has the potential to change how we conceptualize and operationalize attitudes about the nation. In this research note, we revisit its analytical strategy and exploratory methods. We ask two questions. First, does this study allow us to draw conclusions about American nationalism? To answer this, we replicate the original model and then execute additional postestimation analyses, whose results undermine the study's main conclusions. Second, we investigate whether judicious revisions to the study's model generate results that would lead us to the article's same conclusions. 385 additional models lend no support. Based on this evidence, we argue that the original study's conclusions stem from a misinterpretation of its LCA analysis, as our own analyses demonstrate that there is no empirical basis for its claims.
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| 6. |
- Eger, Maureen A., Dr. 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Unpacking the liberalizing potential of higher education : an analysis of academic majors, anti-Black prejudice, and opposition to immigration
- 2024
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In: Ethnic and Racial Studies. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0141-9870 .- 1466-4356.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, we challenge the prevailing assumption about the impact of higher education on attitudes toward racial and ethnic minorities by examining whether educational effects are monolithic or manifold instead. Using data from the General Social Survey (1972-2021), we use a variety of measures of education (years, levels, sectors, and majors) to unpack the relationship between higher education and intergroup attitudes, specifically anti-immigration attitudes among native-born Americans and anti-Black attitudes among non-African Americans. Results show that some higher education graduates hold out-group attitudes that are not much different from those without any higher education. Narrowing our focus to respondents only with higher education, we find significant variation in out-group attitudes across educational sectors and academic majors. These results have implications for how we understand previous scholarship on prejudice and higher education, which may have overestimated the impact higher education has, in general, on prejudice.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Eger, Maureen A., Dr. 1977-, et al.
(author)
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When I was growing up : The lasting impact of immigrant presence on native-born American attitudes towards immigrants and immigration
- 2022
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In: European Sociological Review. - : Oxford University Press. - 0266-7215 .- 1468-2672. ; 38:2, s. 169-188
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Scholarship, including seminal research on prejudice, identifies adolescence as a critical period for the development of attitudes. Yet most sociological research on prejudice, especially in the form of anti-immigrant sentiment, focuses on the relationship between contemporaneous social conditions and attitudes towards out-groups while neglecting the demographic context during one’s impressionable years. Therefore, we design research to investigate the relationship among temporally distal and temporally proximal sub-national contexts and native-born attitudes towards immigration and immigrants. To do this, we merge geocoded data from the General Social Survey (1994–2016) with a unique US state-level dataset (1900–2015). Results from multilevel models reveal that immigrant presence during adolescence is a more consistent predictor of attitudes towards immigration and immigrants in adulthood. Thus, while the majority of sociological research on anti-immigrant sentiment asks ifsocietal conditions matter, our results suggest that a more important question is when the context matters.
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| 9. |
- Fors Connolly, Filip, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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Out-of-home activities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden : associations with subjective well-being and the moderating roles of age and personality
- 2024
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In: Personality and Individual Differences. - : Elsevier. - 0191-8869 .- 1873-3549. ; 226
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study investigates the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reduction of frequency of out-of-home activities among Swedes, and its relationship with Subjective Well-Being (SWB), including Life Satisfaction (LS) and Emotional Well-Being (EWB). A considerable decrease in attending cultural events, dining out, shopping, and social activities was observed and to a lesser extent walking and exercise. Reduction in walking and exercise, but none of the other activities, correlated negatively with both LS and EWB. Our study suggests that activity reductions may have similar effects on both dimensions of SWB, rather than the typical finding in previous studies suggesting a stronger influence on EWB. Age moderated the impact of physical activities, indicating that reductions in physical activities were primarily detrimental for older individuals. High Neuroticism was found to moderate the relationship between social activities and SWB, suggesting that decreases in social activities had a slightly negative effect on SWB for people high in Neuroticism.
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| 10. |
- Frech, Johannes, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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The worst off in Europe - country differences and trends over time in (low) life satisfaction
- 2024
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In: International Journal of Sociology. - : Routledge. - 0020-7659 .- 1557-9336.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, policymakers and researchers have shown increased interest in subjective well-being across countries. While previous research primarily focused on country averages, measuring the distribution of subjective well-being through standard deviation has become more frequent. This article introduces a new approach to assess subjective well-being: focusing on the “worst off," or the group with the lowest levels of well-being. Based on several ethical and political theories, this measure is deemed the most relevant when assessing well-being levels in society. The study constructs new measures of low subjective well-being (the bottom 10%) to evaluate differences across countries, changes over time, and associations with economic growth, using data from 33 European countries from 2002 to 2018. The findings indicate significant variations in well-being for the worst off across countries, with improvements observed in almost all countries studied, particularly in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Improvements are generally larger for the worst off compared to the general population. Furthermore, both GDP per capita and financial satisfaction are positively associated with the subjective well-being of the worst off, both over time and when countries are compared cross-sectionally. The implications of these findings for future research and benchmarking quality of life are discussed.
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