HPV vaccination among young adults before and during the pandemic

JAMA Network Open

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage among young adults did not increase during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with prior years. This finding likely reflects pandemic-related disruptions in initiating the HPV vaccine among young adults. 

Authors: Kalyani Sonawane, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, is the corresponding author. 

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ 

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.56875)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication. 

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

Socioeconomically advantaged individuals less likely to seek out HPV vaccination for their children, Hollings researchers find

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

 

IMAGE: 

DR. SONAWANE SAID THAT HPV VACCINE HESITANCY AMONG SOCIOECONOMICALLY ADVANTAGED PARENTS COULD AFFECT AN ENTIRE AGE COHORT. 

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CREDIT: MUSC HOLLINGS CANCER CENTER

The parents of millions of teens have no intention of getting their children vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Parents with higher socioeconomic status are less likely than parents of lower income or educational attainment to plan to vaccinate their children.

HPV can cause six types of cancer in both males and females, which is why public health advocates want to see more people vaccinated. The U.S.’s Healthy People 2030 set a goal of 80% of adolescents receiving the full vaccine series, but that rate has stagnated at about 63% for teens.

Researchers from MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, aware of the so-called “reverse disparity,” in which people from low-income or minority communities have better HPV vaccination coverage than people from more advantaged communities, wanted to understand the level of vaccine hesitancy and uncover the reasons that might lead to differences in vaccination coverage. They used the survey results of the National Immunization Survey-Teen, an annual telephone survey that covers several routine adolescent vaccines. Their findings are published this week in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

The researchers found that a majority of socioeconomically advantaged parents – 65% – did not intend to seek out the vaccine for their teens, compared with 40% of parents in the disadvantaged group.

The reasons differed by group. Advantaged parents generally cited safety concerns, while disadvantaged parents cited lack of knowledge about the vaccine, lack of recommendation by a primary care provider or the feeling that the vaccine isn’t necessary.

“Parents from socioeconomically advantaged households could be undermining HPV infection risk for their child,” said lead author Kalyani Sonawane, Ph.D., a Hollings researcher and an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. “The side effects of HPV vaccine are also possibly exaggerated in the minds of parents.”

Senior author Ashish Deshmukh, Ph.D., co-leader of the Cancer Control Research Program at Hollings, noted that white parents, regardless of whether they were advantaged or disadvantaged, showed a “pervasive” lack of intent to vaccinate.

Given that just over half of all adolescents are white, their parents’ vaccination decisions have a significant impact on the herd immunity of the entire age group.

“It has implications at the population level because if most adolescents are white and from middle- or high-income families, and if their parents perceive the vaccine not to be safe, then that impacts vaccine coverage,” Sonawane said.

Previous studies have indicated that minority parents were more likely to accept the vaccine and perceive the threat of HPV infection to be greater. They are not necessarily wrong – Black and Hispanic women have higher rates of both incidence and death from cervical cancer, which is almost always caused by HPV.

At the same time, Deshmukh has published studies over the past year showing that incidence rates of cervical cancer are increasing among white women in low-income counties and among women in their early 30s. Problems accessing preventive care and treatment could be behind the higher death rates of all of these groups.

The HPV vaccine was first approved in 2006. It is recommended for adolescents but can be given as a catch-up vaccine up to age 26. Because HPV is so widespread – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that nearly everyone will be exposed at some point – the recommendation is to give the vaccine well before one is likely to be exposed. However, after discussion with a doctor, it can be given to adults up to age 45.

There are hundreds of strains of HPV, most of which the human body will clear on its own. Some of those strains, however, can go on to develop into cervical, head and neck, anal, penile, vaginal or vulvar cancer.

Sonawane said that future studies may further subdivide the advantaged group by income or education. This study included a middle group, in which the parents either had less than a high school education or made less than 200% of the federal poverty level. In that mixed group, the researchers found that a higher education level contributed to HPV vaccine hesitancy more than income.

About  MUSC Hollings Cancer Center 

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center with the largest academic-based cancer research program in the state. The cancer center comprises more than 130 faculty cancer scientists and 20 academic departments. It has an annual research funding portfolio of more than $44 million and sponsors more than 200 clinical trials across the state. Dedicated to preventing and reducing the cancer burden statewide, the Hollings Office of Community Outreach and Engagement works with community organizations to bring cancer education and prevention information to affected populations. Hollings offers state-of-the-art cancer screening, diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques within its multidisciplinary clinics. Hollings specialists include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, psychologists and other clinical providers equipped to provide the full range of cancer care. For more information, visit hollingscancercenter.musc.edu. 

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas

DOI

10.1016/j.lana.2024.100694 

ARTICLE TITLE

Factors associated with parental human papillomavirus vaccination intentions among adolescents from socioeconomically advantaged versus deprived households: a nationwide, cross-sectional survey

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Feb-2024

COI STATEMENT

Drs. Sonawane and Deshmukh have provided consultancy to Value Analytics Labs on unrelated projects. Dr. Giuliano received honoraria, and grant funding, and served as a member of the scientific advisory board on unrelated projects for Merck Sharp and Dohme. All other authors declare no competing interests.

 

U$A

Wide variation in rates of police killings suggests unnecessary deaths

PNAS NEXUS

One in three police homicides could have been avoided without endangering police or the public, according to a study. 

Eight percent of all homicides of adult men in the United States are committed by police. 

Using data from 2008–2017 from the National Officer-Involved Homicide Database, Josh Leung-Gagné compared police homicide rates across the 711 local police departments serving 50,000 or more residents in the United States. One explanation for differing rates of police killings is that some jurisdictions are riskier than others, which necessitates more force to keep the public and officers safe. Leung-Gagné compared police homicide rates among departments with similar levels of risk and projected what each department’s rate would have been under average risk conditions, which he quantified using data on violence against officers and officer exposure to violent and other crimes. Leung-Gagné also controlled for differing likelihoods of surviving uses of deadly force, by factoring in access to a trauma care facility. Comparing adjusted rates, Leung-Gagné finds police departments facing similar risks kill at substantially different rates. The deadliest departments kill 6.91 times more frequently than the least deadly departments. If no police departments killed more people than their average peer that faces similar risks, then there would be about a third fewer police homicides overall. Leung-Gagné interprets the data to suggest that at least 1 in 3 police homicides by mid-to-large local police departments are excess police homicides, unnecessary to maintain officer or public safety. According to Leung-Gagné, police homicides can be reduced without reducing officer safety and effectiveness. 

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JOURNAL

PNAS Nexus

ARTICLE TITLE

The deadliest local police departments kill 6.91 times more frequently than the least deadly departments, net of risk, in the United States

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2024

 

Even very low levels of pesticide exposure can affect fish for generations, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHER SARA HUTTON, A PH.D. GRADUATE OF OSU, EXTRACTS RNA FOR QPCR TO TEST GENE EXPRESSION OF GENES EFFECTED BY PYRETHROID EXPOSURE IN THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS OF INLAND SILVERSIDE FISH.

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CREDIT: SARA HUTTON

NEWPORT, Ore. — Fish exposed to some pesticides at extremely low concentrations for a brief period of time can demonstrate lasting behavioral changes, with the impact extending to offspring that were never exposed firsthand, a recent study found.

The findings raise concerns not just for fish, but for all vertebrates that are exposed to commonly used pesticides — including humans, said study co-author Susanne Brander, an associate professor and ecotoxicologist in Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.  

“This exposure is happening not just to these fish, but to all aquatic organisms in areas that are receiving runoff from areas populated by humans,” Brander said. “It’s safe to say that we’re seeing influences at the population level if fish that were exposed for a few days as embryos and larvae are then producing offspring that are developmentally deformed, or males that are not able to produce as much sperm.”

Climate change is also expanding the geographic range of many insect species, leading to increased and more widespread pesticide use in both agricultural and residential settings, and increasing the potential for more organisms to be exposed to harmful chemicals.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, used inland silversides as a model fish species common in North American estuaries and marine waterways, with a specific focus on the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-Joaquin Delta. OSU researchers chose three commonly used pyrethroid pesticides (bifenthrin, cyfluthrin and cyhalothrin) due to their high neurotoxicity and consistent presence in Bay-Delta waters. These pesticides are also widely used and detected nationwide.

For the experiment, researchers exposed silverside embryos to the different pesticides for 96 hours, at a concentration of 1 nanogram of pesticide per liter of water. That’s approximately a teaspoon of pesticide in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, Brander said.

After 96 hours, the fish larvae were placed in clean water and reared until they were five weeks post-hatch. They were then kept in larger tanks until they reached reproductive maturity at about eight months old. At that time, researchers spawned the adult fish and collected their offspring to be reared in clean water. Behavioral responses were measured in larval parents as well as the larval offspring.  

Researchers found the fish that were originally exposed to pesticides demonstrated hypoactive behavior, or decreased activity, at the larval stage, which could lead to them not seeking food as much as the control group, if they were in the wild. Conversely, the second generation of fish — the generation that was never exposed to pesticides, except through their parents — demonstrated hyperactive behavior, swimming more and acting overstimulated compared to the control. Researchers hypothesize this was a compensatory response to the hypoactive behavior of the previous generation.

The tests also found that adult male fish exposed to bifenthrin an cyhalothrin as larvae had smaller gonads than the control group, while the second generation had increased fecundity.

While a lot of research focuses on zebrafish as a model for human health, Brander says many fish species share a large percentage of their genes with humans, and thus can be used as models to predict how humans might respond to a chemical.

“This study is another demonstration of how early-life exposure to these chemicals can affect fish for months and, in the case of humans, for potentially years,” Brander said. “We could potentially use this as a model for how human babies or humans in utero could respond to these chemicals — fish use the same hormone receptors as we do; the same steroids. So something that interferes with reproduction in fish could potentially have the same effect on humans.”

The results showed that the fish were able to adapt in some ways to the exposure, but they might also have been overcompensating, and such changes can come at a cost to success in other biological processes like growth or predation, Brander said.

“In terms of environmental regulation, if we put stricter controls into effect because of studies like this, it’s going to take a few generations of fish — or whatever the organism is — for them to completely recover,” she said.

Lead author on the study was OSU doctoral student Sara Hutton, who graduated last year and now works in environmental consulting. Other co-authors were Samreen Siddiqui, Emily Pederson and Christopher Markgraf at Oregon State; Amelie Segarra and Richard Connon at the University of California, Davis; and Michelle Hladik at the U.S. Geological Survey in California. The study was funded by the Delta Stewardship Council in California.

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JOURNAL

Environmental Science & Technology

 

Microplastics in every human placenta, new UNM Health Sciences research discovers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER

A flurry of recent studies has found that microplastics are present in virtually everything we consume, from bottled water to meat and plant-based food. Now, University of New Mexico Health Sciences researchers have used a new analytical tool to measure the microplastics present in human placentas.

In a study published February 17 in the journal Toxicological Sciences, a team led by Matthew Campen, PhD, Regents’ Professor in the UNM Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, reported finding microplastics in all 62 of the placenta samples tested, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.

Although those numbers may seem small (a microgram is a millionth of a gram), Campen is worried about the health effects of a steadily rising volume of microplastics in the environment.

For toxicologists, “dose makes the poison,” he said. “If the dose keeps going up, we start to worry. If we’re seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this plant could be impacted. That’s not good.”

In the study, Campen and his team, partnering with colleagues at the Baylor College of Medicine and Oklahoma State University, analyzed donated placenta tissue. In a process called saponification, they chemically treated the samples to “digest” the fat and proteins into a kind of soap.

Then, they spun each sample in an ultracentrifuge, which left a small nugget of plastic at the bottom of a tube. Next, using a technique called pyrolysis, they put the plastic pellet in a metal cup and heated it to 600 degrees Celsius, then captured gas emissions as different types of plastic combusted at specific temperatures.

“The gas emission goes into a mass spectrometer and gives you a specific fingerprint,” Campen said. “It’s really cool.”

The researchers found the most prevalent polymer in placental tissue was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. It accounted for 54% of the total plastics. Polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and nylon each represented about 10% of the total, with the remainder consisting of nine other polymers.

Marcus Garcia, PharmD, a postdoctoral fellow in Campen’s lab who performed many of the experiments, said that until now, it has been difficult to quantify how much microplastic was present in human tissue. Typically, researchers would simply count the number of particles visible under a microscope, even though some particles are too small to be seen.

With the new analytical method, he said, “We can take it to that next step to be able to adequately quantify it and say, ‘This is how many micrograms or milligrams,’ depending on the plastics that we have.”

Plastic use worldwide has grown exponentially since the early 1950s, producing a metric ton of plastic waste for every person on the planet. About a third of the plastic that has been produced is still in use, but most of the rest has been discarded or sent to landfills, where it starts to break down from exposure to ultraviolet radiation present in sunlight.

“That ends up in groundwater, and sometimes it aerosolizes and ends up in our environment,” Garcia said. “We’re not only getting it from ingestion but also through inhalation as well. It not only affects us as humans, but all off our animals – chickens, livestock – and all of our plants. We’re seeing it in everything.”

Campen points out that many plastics have a long half-life – the amount of time needed for half of a sample to degrade. “So, the half-life of some things is 300 years and the half-life of others is 50 years, but between now and 300 years some of that plastic gets degraded,” he said. “Those microplastics that we’re seeing in the environment are probably 40 or 50 years old.”

While microplastics are already present in our bodies, it is unclear what health effects they might have, if any. Traditionally, plastics have been assumed to be biologically inert, but some microplastics so small they are measured in nanometers – a billionth of a meter – and are capable of crossing cell membranes, he said.

Campen said the growing concentration of microplastics in human tissue might explain puzzling increases in some types of health problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer in people under 50, as well as declining sperm counts.

The concentration of microplastics in placentas is particularly troubling, he said, because the tissue has only been growing for eight months (it starts to form about a month into a pregnancy). “Other organs of your body are accumulating over much longer periods of time.”

Campen and his colleagues are planning further research to answer some of these questions, but in the meantime he is deeply concerned by the growing production of plastics worldwide.

“It’s only getting worse, and the trajectory is it will double every 10 to 15 years,” he said. “So, even if we were to stop it today, in 2050 there will be three times as much plastic in the background as there is now. And we’re not going to stop it today.”

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JOURNAL

Toxicological Sciences

DOI

10.1093/toxsci/kfae021 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Quantitation and identification of microplastics accumulation in human placental specimens using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Feb-2024

 

Smiling is the secret to seeing happiness, new research reveals

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

 

VIDEO: 

THE GROUNDBREAKING TECHNIQUE EXPLAINED

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CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Smiling for just a split second makes people more likely to see happiness in expressionless faces, new University of Essex research has revealed. 

The study led by Dr Sebastian Korb, from the Department of Psychology, shows that even a brief weak grin makes faces appear more joyful. 

The pioneering experiment used electrical stimulation to spark smiles and was inspired by photographs made famous by Charles Darwin. 

A painless current manipulated muscles momentarily into action – creating a short uncontrollable smile. 

This is the first time facial electrical stimulation has been shown to affect emotional perception. 

Dr Korb hopes the research can explore potential treatments for depression or disorders that affect expression, like Parkinson’s and autism.  

He said: “The finding that a controlled, brief and weak activation of facial muscles can literally create the illusion of happiness in an otherwise neutral or even slightly sad looking face, is ground-breaking. 

“It is relevant for theoretical debates about the role of facial feedback in emotion perception and has potential for future clinical applications.” 

Dr Korb used a modernised version of a technique first developed in the 19th century by the French physician Duchenne de Boulogne. 

Darwin published drawings of Duchenne’s work in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals – his third major work on evolution. 

However, the voltage was dialled down for the new experiments to ensure the safety of participants and better control the smiles. 

By using computers, the team were able to control the onset of smiles with millisecond precision. 

In total 47 people took part in the Essex study which was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 

They were shown digital avatars and asked to assess whether they looked happy or sad. In half the trials, smiling muscles were activated at the onset of the face. 

It emerged that producing a weak smile for 500 milliseconds was enough to induce the perception of happiness. 

Dr Korb says the results help us understand facial feedback and he hopes to expand the study. 

He said: “We are currently conducting more al research to further explore the phenomenon in healthy participants.  

“In the future, however, we hope to apply this technique to explore facial emotion recognition, for people with conditions like Parkinson’s, who are known to have reduced spontaneous facial mimicry and impaired facial emotion recognition.  

“Moreover, we have published guidelines to allow other researchers to safely start using electrical facial muscle stimulation.” 

A close up of the stimulation

CREDIT

University of Essex

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JOURNAL

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

DOI

10.1093/scan/nsae013 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Zygomaticus activation through facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) induces happiness perception in ambiguous facial expressions and affects neural correlates of face processing

 

Time watching videos may stunt toddler language development, but it depends on why they're watching

Study analyzes how, why young children use digital media

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

DALLAS (SMU) – A new study from SMU psychologist Sarah Kucker and colleagues reveals that passive video use among toddlers can negatively affect language development, but their caregiver’s motivations for exposing them to digital media could also lessen the impact.

Results show that children between the ages of 17 and 30 months spend an average of nearly two hours per day watching videos – a 100 percent increase from prior estimates gathered before the COVID pandemic. The research reveals a negative association between high levels of digital media watching and children’s vocabulary development.

Children exposed to videos by caregivers for their calming or “babysitting” benefits tended to use phrases and sentences with fewer words. However, the negative impact on language skills was mitigated when videos were used for educational purposes or to foster social connections – such as through video chats with family members.

“In those first couple years of life, language is one of the core components of development that we know media can impact,” said Kucker, assistant professor of psychology in SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities & Sciences. “There’s less research focused on toddlers using digital media than older ages, which is why we’re trying to understand better how digital media affects this age group and what type of screen time is beneficial and what is not.”

Published in the journal Acta Paediatrica, the study involved 302 caregivers of children between 17 and 30 months. Caregivers answered questions about their child's words, sentences, and how much time they spend on different media activities each day. Those activities included video/TV, video games, video chat, and e-books, with caregivers explaining why they use each activity with their child. Print book reading was also compared.

Researchers looked at the amount of media use and the reasons provided by caregivers for their children’s media use. These factors were then compared to the children's vocabulary and length using two or more words together (the mean length of utterance).

Kucker suggests that caregivers need to consider what kind of videos their children are watching (whether for learning or fun) and how they interact with toddlers watching videos. She acknowledges that parents often use digital media to occupy children while they complete tasks. Kucker recommends caregivers consider how much digital media they allow young children and if they can interact with them while using it.

The study's findings underscore the need for parents, caregivers, and educators to be aware of the potential effects of digital media on language development in children 30 months and under. By understanding the types of digital media children are exposed to and the reasons behind its usage, appropriate measures can be taken to ensure more healthy language development.

Future research by Kucker and her colleagues will continue to explore the types of videos young children watch, how they use screens with others, and if young children watching digital media for two hours is the new normal and, if so, how that impacts language development.

Research team members included Rachel Barr, from Georgetown University and Lynn K. Perry, from the University of Miami. Research reported in this press release was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15HD101841. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About SMU

SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and more than 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.

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JOURNAL

Acta Paediatrica

DOI

10.1111/apa.17100 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Variability and patterns in children's media use and links with language development

 

Study finds students, designers have different perceptions of masculine, feminine traits of classrooms

Difference in perception of learning spaces can affect student sense of belonging

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

 

IMAGE: 

IMAGES SHOWN TO STUDY PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE FOUR CLASSROOMS WITH FEATURES RANGING FROM TRADITIONALLY MASCULINE TO TRADITIONALLY FEMININE.

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CREDIT: MICHAEL RALPH, STUDY AUTHORS

LAWRENCE — The way people interact with the built environment can influence whether they feel comfortable in a space or if they feel they belong among people who gather there. But the people who design learning spaces and those who use them might not feel the same about them.

A new study from the University of Kansas finds that students and classroom designers had different perceptions of the masculine and feminine traits of classroom spaces and how those features influenced their sense of belonging therein.

Researchers asked undergraduates and classroom design professionals about their perceptions of classrooms with design features classified as masculine and feminine, finding they had strong, opposite correlations between their perceptions of femininity and sense of belonging in the spaces. The authors said the findings emphasize the need for better understanding of how students perceive learning spaces and how learning spaces can foster a sense of belonging.

Studies have shown that how students perceive learning spaces influences their sense of belonging and that when they feel they belong they have better educational outcomes. But little work has been done on specific design features and how people perceive them as being associated with masculinity or femininity and how such traits influence their sense of belonging in classes conducted in the rooms that include them. In two new studies, researchers surveyed undergraduates and design professionals about their reactions to four learning spaces.

“We say masculine and feminine and those conjure images in people’s minds, but not necessarily the same images from person to person,” said Michael Ralph, vice president and director of research with Multistudio, one of the study’s authors. “When we asked students and designers about the same spaces, we didn’t see a small difference in perception. Their thoughts were very different. I think that emphasizes there is an important personal component about how we interact with these spaces.”

Cheryl Wright, lecturer specializing in best practices in learning in KU’s School of Education & Human Sciences and a study co-author, said she regularly sees the difference a classroom makes in how students engage with a class. When students learn about polarizing topics that can be personally or politically charged, those who are not comfortable in the space may not feel like they belong in a discussion.

“We definitely want to have interactions and dialogue where people feel safe. We don’t just mean physically safe, but safe to share their thoughts,” Wright said. “On topics that are difficult to discuss, the space in which they learn is critical.”

The researchers addressed their questions in two studies. For the first, they collected data from undergraduates at five institutions of higher education across the United States. In the second, they collected data from professionals at design firms across the United States and Canada. 

Respondents were asked to share their reactions to four computer-generated images of classrooms meant to strongly evoke masculinity with features such as black and white color palettes and angular/linear space features or femininity with soft colors, additional windows, curvilinear tables and shifts away from dark woods. Other spaces incorporated those features to a lesser extent.

Respondents were shown one of the four spaces at random and asked how much they felt 14 one-word prompts were associated with the shown space. They were then asked four questions about how much they felt they would belong in that space. Results showed the students’ perceptions of feminine traits in the rooms coincided with a higher sense of belonging, but perceptions of femininity among professionals coincided with the opposite — a lower sense of belonging.

The study, written by Ralph, Wright, Julia Pascutto, design director with Lemay x FLDWORK, a Canadian design firm; and Rebecca Pedrosa Martinez, a designer at Multistudio during the study, was published in the Journal of Interior Design.

The authors said that student respondents who reported feeling a sense of belonging in the more feminine spaces was represented across genders. 

The authors also found that there was not antagonism toward the more masculine spaces, or responses of feeling that they would not belong there — only that their sense of belonging was higher when they perceived more femininity in a space.

The fact that students and design professionals had opposite reactions in terms of their perceptions of the class environments shows that architects, designers and others who shape and create learning environments for others cannot assume their designs and choices will resonate with others the way they do with themselves. And those choices could potentially reinforce negative hierarchies or make some students feel unwelcome or uncomfortable, Ralph said.

For their part, educators are often assigned a room in which to hold their classes and cannot control design elements such as how many windows a room has, their placement, paint colors or if furniture is affixed in place. However, they can influence how students interact with each other and teachers in a space, such as encouraging collaborative groups or moving furniture to encourage discussion when possible.

“A sense of belonging has to be intentional. I want students to have a transformational education,” Wright said. “Students come in with different backgrounds and life experiences. For me, it is critical that we form a sense of belonging. And my students have said they feel more comfortable discussing controversial or difficult issues in spaces that facilitate them.”

The study also adds to a body of research showing that students will select to take certain classes based on the type of room it is offered in, that women tend to prefer active learning spaces to traditional lecture halls and similar studies Ralph and KU colleagues have conducted.

“We want to learn more about what we can do to make a difference in design, in terms of learning spaces, student housing and across the built environment and what makes good design that helps students feel like they belong,” Ralph said.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Interior Design

DOI

10.1177/10717641231211544 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Perceptions of Gender in Classrooms and Associated Expectations of Belonging

 

Unlike men, for professional women, having high-status connections can backfire

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Women working in organizations are frequently encouraged to cultivate connections to high-status individuals based on a prominent social network theory. But new research conducted in China and the United States suggests that having high-status connections can backfire for women.

The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan, appears in Organizational Science.

“Our findings reveal a social-network dilemma for women that is contrary to a widely accepted belief that women should build their network with high-status individuals,” said Catherine Shea, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, who coauthored the study. “High-status network contacts may be necessary for success, but they create an extra social perceptual hurdle for women to overcome.”

Women working in organizations are, on average, less successful than men: They are proportionally under-represented in management, receive less credit for their contributions, and are not as valued for their expertise. A common recommendation for women to gain prominence in organizations is to forge connections with high-status others, by seeking advice from them or obtaining mentorship or sponsorship from high-status people. By having these networks, it is assumed, women can close the status gap with their male counterparts.

Social networks are valuable for two reasons. First, high-status connections can provide valuable information and resources, which can help women achieve. Second, individuals’ networks may also shape how they are perceived and evaluated by people around them. In this way, having a network with many high-status contacts should ostensibly enhance individuals’ status (e.g., respect, admiration, influence). But this is where things do not work as planned for women: women with high-status contacts actually lose status.

This is a surprising finding given that there’s an established scientific literature showing that high-status networks positively shape the status of the individual. However, a closer look at this research shows that most studies demonstrating this effect have been of male participants, and have simply assumed that the same effects accrue to women.

In this work, researchers examined the gender-differentiated perceptions of observers as they evaluated an individual’s network. In doing so, they sought to form a more complete picture of how women’s network ties affected their attainment of status in groups. They conducted five studies (three in China and two in the United States) with a total of nearly 2,800 individuals. Participants included employees of firms in Eastern China and an engineering college in Northern China, undergraduates at an engineering school in Eastern China, and U.S. adults recruited from a crowdsourcing marketplace.

The studies concluded that compared to women with ties to lower-status contacts, women with ties to high-status contacts had less respect and admiration from other group members. Women who made ties to higher-status people were seen as being higher in dominance. Women who are dominant are subject to social penalties. This is because dominant women are seen as violating gender norms of communality (an individual’s focus on others’ needs over self-interests). The findings clarify the important yet underdeveloped aspect of how social perceptions of networks combine with gender roles in predicting the effects of networks at the interpersonal level.

“By revealing an unfortunate obstacle that women may face—the natural tendency of people to socially penalize women with high-status contacts—our research increases awareness of this bias so organizations can work against it and eradicate this form of gender inequality,” explained Shea. Managers should strive for greater structural changes to organizations (e.g., by promoting formal mentor programs, initiating sensitivity training to reduce biases) to help women harness the benefits of high-status contacts while reducing the status costs, Shea said.

One bright side was that women who explicitly demonstrated that they were forming high-status ties for the sake of the group were spared the social backlash. This means that women and organizations can take tangible steps to reframe network building activities to protect the status perception of women building their networks. For instance, reframing network events to “lunch and learn” events could ease the social pressures off of agentic women.

The authors of the research note that their research took an audience-centric approach by focusing on how observers interpreted individuals’ network contacts. They did not consider how women feel and act when they have different kinds of contacts.

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JOURNAL

Organization Science

DOI

10.1287/orsc.2020.14640 

ARTICLE TITLE

The Company She Seeks: How the Prismatic Effects of Ties to High-Status Network Contacts Can Reduce Status for Women in Groups