Who Wants to Join? Variation and Strength in Social Networks

The main hypothesis of the present study was that more variation in an emerging adult’s social network should predict higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress. It was also predicted that introversion–extraversion would moderate these relationships. Participants were 318 college students from two small, Catholic liberal arts institutions in the Upper Midwest. The variation (i.e., friends with varied interests and activities) of an individual’s social network was measured by a researcher-developed inventory (Social Network Variation Scale; SNVS). Social network strength was measured by the researcher-developed Social Network Strength Scale (SNSS). Results showed strong support for nine of ten hypotheses. People with more variation in their social network had higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress. Similarly, people with more close or strong friends in their social network had higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress. Autonomy mediates the relationships between variation and stress and strength and stress. Personality moderates the relationships between variation and happiness and variation and stress. These results suggest that college students might benefit from focusing time and energy on building relationships with individuals who have a variety of interests

Investigating Variation and Strength in Social Networks

Participants were 318 college students from two small, Catholic liberal arts institutions in the Upper Midwest. Variation (i.e., having friends with varied interests and activities) of an individual’s social network was measured by a researcher-developed inventory, the Social Network Variation Scale (SNVS). Social network strength was measured by the researcher-developed Social Network Strength Scale (SNSS). People with more variation or more strength in their social network had higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress. Autonomy mediated the relationships between variation and stress and strength and stress. Personality moderated the relationships between variation and happiness and variation and stress

Lutheran Social Services service learning project

Background: Lutheran Social Services (LSS) is an organization whose mission is to “express the love of Christ for all people through service that inspires hope, changes lives, and builds community.” A significant part of what they do involves leading afterschool activities that promote the learning of specific academic and life skills. Those learning objectives are as stated as follows: (1) working together, (2) communication, (3) following instructions, and (4) personal boundaries. As liberal arts students, we provide external perspectives regarding ways to enhance their four learning objectives. Because they have our help in developing new leisure activities for their students, the LSS staff has more time at their disposal to focus on improving other aspects of the program. Our help in creating exciting new games was also useful simply because they were novel experiences for the children, coming from different sources than what they were used to; that is, the kids had the opportunity to experience various games they may not have played before. Additionally, the staff gained a new perspective on different follow-up discussion questions for the children after every game. Overall, our goal was to help make LSS a more fun and productive site in any way we were able to achieve. Those games help make the site an empowering setting by allowing the kids to participate in activities and share power in group activities. They also get to have fun doing it. The facility is a converted house. The project came about because the LSS staff needed different viewpoints on how to accomplish their learning objectives for their kids. They reported that it was great for the kids to experience new games from different standpoints. Though our intervention was implemented at the Sauk Rapids LSS site, almost all of our work came from home. The project was designed for about 15 children aged 9 to 13 who were enrolled in Lutheran Social Services’ afterschool Kid’s Resiliency Program (KRP). The children had either mental disabilities or learning disorders. They all have different interests and abilities; therefore, we created a host of different games in an attempt to satisfy all their needs. We visited the site to meet the staff and visually assess our population’s needs

Data from: Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science

This record contains the underlying research data for the publication "Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science" and the full-text is available from: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5257Reproducibility is a defining feature of science, but the extent to which it characterizes current research is unknown. We conducted replications of 100 experimental and correlational studies published in three psychology journals using high-powered designs and original materials when available. Replication effects were half the magnitude of original effects, representing a substantial decline. Ninety-seven percent of original studies had statistically significant results. Thirty-six percent of replications had statistically significant results; 47% of original effect sizes were in the 95% confidence interval of the replication effect size; 39% of effects were subjectively rated to have replicated the original result; and if no bias in original results is assumed, combining original and replication results left 68% with statistically significant effects. Correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams