The challenge of motivated cognition in promoting lake health among shoreline property owners: biased estimation of personal environmental impact

<p>Amato MS, Shaw BR, Olson E, Turyk N, Genskow K, Moore CF. 2016. The challenge of motivated cognition in promoting lake health among shoreline property owners: biased estimation of personal environmental impact. Lake Reserve Manage. 32:386–391.</p> <p>Habitat loss through shoreline development on inland lakes threatens biodiversity. Property owners can reduce their impact by growing vegetated shoreline buffers, but many do not adopt these land management behaviors. One factor that may influence individuals' decisions to participate in conservation initiatives to promote natural shorelines is beliefs about their personal impact. A field study tested whether motivation to protect positive self-view would influence property owners' judgments about their shoreline's impact on lake health. Participants rated photos of their own property and other participants' properties on 4 dimensions: beauty, usability, water quality, and habitat. Linear mixed-effect modeling revealed photos were rated higher by their owners than other participants on all dimensions (mean β = 1.13, <i>P</i> < 0.05 for all), consistent with the hypothesis that motivation to protect self-view biased property owners to judge their own shoreline development as less harmful than it was judged by others. These results identify a potential barrier to outreach efforts for enlisting property owner cooperation in mitigating habitat degradation from shoreline development.</p

A prospective examination of online social network dynamics and smoking cessation

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>Use of online social networks for smoking cessation has been associated with abstinence. Little is known about the mechanisms through which the formation of social ties in an online network may influence smoking behavior. Using dynamic social network analysis, we investigated how temporal changes of an individual’s number of social network ties are prospectively related to abstinence in an online social network for cessation. In a network where quitting is normative and is the focus of communications among members, we predicted that an increasing number of ties would be positively associated with abstinence.</p><p>Method</p><p>Participants were N = 2,657 adult smokers recruited to a randomized cessation treatment trial following enrollment on BecomeAnEX.org, a longstanding Internet cessation program with a large and mature online social network. At 3-months post-randomization, 30-day point prevalence abstinence was assessed and website engagement metrics were extracted. The social network was constructed with clickstream data to capture the flow of information among members. Two network centrality metrics were calculated at weekly intervals over 3 months: 1) in-degree, defined as the number of members whose posts a participant read; and 2) out-degree-aware, defined as the number of members who read a participant’s post and commented, which was subsequently viewed by the participant. Three groups of users were identified based on social network engagement patterns: non-users (N = 1,362), passive users (N = 812), and active users (N = 483). Logistic regression modeled 3-month abstinence by group as a function of baseline variables, website utilization, and network centrality metrics.</p><p>Results</p><p>Abstinence rates varied by group (non-users = 7.7%, passive users = 10.7%, active users = 20.7%). Significant baseline predictors of abstinence were age, nicotine dependence, confidence to quit, and smoking temptations in social situations among passive users (<i>p</i>s < .05); age and confidence to quit among active users. Among centrality metrics, positive associations with abstinence were observed for in-degree increases from Week 2 to Week 12 among passive and active users, and for out-degree-aware increases from Week 2 to Week 12 among active users (<i>p</i>s < .05).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>This study is the first to demonstrate that increased tie formation among members of an online social network for smoking cessation is prospectively associated with abstinence. It also highlights the value of using individuals’ activities in online social networks to predict their offline health behaviors.</p></div

Baseline characteristics by group.

<p>Baseline characteristics by group.</p

Odds Ratio (OR) estimates of 3 month abstinence from the GEE logistic regression model for passive participants (N = 812).

<p>Odds Ratio (OR) estimates of 3 month abstinence from the GEE logistic regression model for passive participants (N = 812).</p

Distributions of Week 1 degrees for all users in the network.

<p>Distributions of Week 1 degrees for all users in the network.</p

Social network utilization patterns and smoking outcomes among 3 utilization groups.

<p>Social network utilization patterns and smoking outcomes among 3 utilization groups.</p

Distributions of Week 1 degrees for the 2,657 users in the analytic sample.

<p>Distributions of Week 1 degrees for the 2,657 users in the analytic sample.</p

Website utilization and social network metrics by cluster at 3 months^a.

<p>Website utilization and social network metrics by cluster at 3 months<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183655#t003fn001" target="_blank">^a</a>.</p

Odds Ratio (OR) estimates of 3 month abstinence from the gee logistic regression model for active participants (N = 483).

<p>Odds Ratio (OR) estimates of 3 month abstinence from the gee logistic regression model for active participants (N = 483).</p