Background: The social environment is important to consider for effective promotion of movement behaviors like increased physical activity (PA) and reduced sedentary behavior (SB); yet, it is less often considered than individual and built environments. One way to advance social environment research is to develop system maps, an innovative, participatory, action-oriented research process that actively engages stakeholders to visualize system structures and explore how systems "work." The purpose of this research was to develop PA and SB system maps of the social environment embedded within the core/nuclear family system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic brought different challenges to different populations. A less explored group was university students who generally suffered low mortality rates compared to other populations. Yet, they were affected by the psychological impact of lockdowns and limited access to education and socialization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 2020 study entitled 'Wearing high heels as female mating strategy' by Pavol Prokop and Jana Švancárová claimed that when females imagined an interaction with an attractive male, their preference for high heels steeply increased, compared with an imagined interaction with an unattractive male. The authors concluded that wearing high heels seem to be a form of sexual signaling by females in intersexual interactions. The present paper revisits this study through a psychological standpoint, rather than a biological one.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies consistently show the social impact of spreading epistemologically unfounded beliefs (or 'conspiracy beliefs'), including negative effects on public health. The present study identified correlations among epistemologically unfounded beliefs, authoritarianism, and scientific literacy in a representative sample of 303 Slovak secondary school students, using the Epistemologically Unfounded Beliefs Scale, Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, and Scientific Reasoning Scale. Statistical analysis confirmed significant correlations among the three variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdolescents, as active online searchers, have easy access to health information. Much health information they encounter online is of poor quality and even contains potentially harmful health information. The ability to identify the quality of health messages disseminated online technologies is needed in terms of health attitudes and behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBastian et al. (2014) found that sharing a painful experience promoted later intergroup cooperation. In Bastian et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Habitual behaviours are triggered automatically, with little conscious forethought. Theory suggests that making healthy behaviours habitual, and breaking the habits that underpin many ingrained unhealthy behaviours, promotes long-term behaviour change. This has prompted interest in incorporating habit formation and disruption strategies into behaviour change interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Drug Policy
December 2021
Background: People have been using hallucinogens for thousands of years and interest in these substances has grown in recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the basic socio-demographic data, preferences, experiences, and attitudes associated with hallucinogen use in Slovakia.
Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used whereby an online survey included participants who had had at least one experience with hallucinogens (N = 422, age M = 27.
A growing tendency to refuse child vaccination is commonly regarded as a reason for concern. Attempts to promote vaccination by authorities often prove to be unsuccessful or even counter-productive. The aim of this study was to explore how parents perceived four messages used to promote vaccination.
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