It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
AMERIKA; CRT, DEI, BLM
How do land use policies contribute to racial segregation in communities?
New research published in International Studies of Economics sheds light on an important but often overlooked driver of racial segregation in housing: minimum lot size zoning policies, or local regulations requiring a minimum amount of land for a property.
The study focused on the impact of minimum lot size regulations in Connecticut towns on the likelihood of ethnic minorities integrating into a community. Investigators found that households with higher incomes are more willing to pay for larger residential lots, reinforcing economic divides, and that Black households (after controlling for income) show a significantly lower willingness to pay for larger lots compared with white households, highlighting a racial preference effect.
The results indicate that minimum lot size regulations can cause racial segregation not only through income effects but also through voluntary choices by different racial groups.
“Together, these dynamics mean that minimum lot size regulations don’t just shape neighborhoods—they entrench segregation. By quantifying this impact at the household level, the research provides robust, data-driven evidence that these common land use policies have far-reaching social consequences,” said corresponding author Ling Huang, PhD, of the University of Connecticut. “This work is vital for policymakers, urban planners, and housing advocates. It offers a compelling case for reforming zoning laws to promote more equitable and inclusive communities.” Specifically, relaxing minimum lot size regulations and allowing smaller lots could help communities to reduce the extent of racial segregation from housing policies.
Additional Information NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.
About the Journal International Studies of Economics, formerly known as Frontiers of Economics in China, is a general interest open access journal in economics. The journal is double anonymized, peer-reviewed, and edited by the School of Economics at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. We welcome theoretical and empirical papers from all fields of economics, with an emphasis on the Chinese economy and other emerging, developing, or transition economies. We’re a platform to help communications between scholars in China and the rest of the world.
About Wiley Wiley is a global leader in authoritative content and research intelligence for the advancement of scientific discovery, innovation, and learning. With more than 200 years at the center of the scholarly ecosystem, Wiley combines trusted publishing heritage with AI-powered platforms to transform how knowledge is discovered, accessed, and applied. From individual researchers and students to Fortune 500 R&D teams, Wiley enables the transformation of scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact. From knowledge to impact—Wiley is redefining what's possible in science and learning. Visit us at Wiley.com and Investors.Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
A study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology reveals the negative behavioral and psychological consequences of commercial fitness apps reported by users on social media. These impacts may undermine the potential of apps to promote health and wellbeing.
When investigators used artificial intelligence (AI) using a method called Machine-Assisted Topic Analysis (MATA), which combines AI-powered topic modelling with human qualitative analysis, to help them analyze 58,881 X posts referring to the 5 most profitable fitness apps, they identified several negative themes—for example, challenges of quantifying diet and physical activity, the complexity of tracking calories and exercise through oversimplified algorithms, technical challenges and malfunctions, and aversive emotional responses to the apps’ notifications.
As a result, some users noted feelings of shame, disappointment and demotivation, and subsequent disengagement with apps and health behaviors.
The findings highlight the need for a more user-centered and psychologically informed app design that prioritizes wellbeing and intrinsic motivation over rigid, quantitative goals.
“Fitness apps remain some of the most profitable and widely downloaded health tools globally. While they can benefit health, there’s been far less attention to their potential downsides,” said corresponding author Paulina Bondaronek, PhD, of University College London. “When health is reduced to calorie counts and step goals, it can leave people feeling demotivated, ashamed, and disconnected from what truly drives lasting wellbeing. Using AI alongside human analysis, we were able to shed light on these often-overlooked impacts by centering the voices of real users.”
Additional Information NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.
About the Journal The British Journal of Health Psychology is a premier international health psychology journal. We publish cutting-edge research, systematic reviews and meta-analyses on all aspects of psychology related to both positive and negative aspects of physical health and illness across the lifespan. Emphasis is placed on publishing work that advances health psychology theory and at the same time has the potential for real world applications.
About Wiley Wiley is a global leader in authoritative content and research intelligence for the advancement of scientific discovery, innovation, and learning. With more than 200 years at the center of the scholarly ecosystem, Wiley combines trusted publishing heritage with AI-powered platforms to transform how knowledge is discovered, accessed, and applied. From individual researchers and students to Fortune 500 R&D teams, Wiley enables the transformation of scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact. From knowledge to impact—Wiley is redefining what's possible in science and learning. Visit us at Wiley.com and Investors.Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Living Well? Potential negative consequences of popular commercial fitness apps through social listening using Machine-Assisted Topic Analysis: Evidence from X
Article Publication Date
22-Oct-2025
Emotional strain of fitness and calorie counting apps revealed
Some users of popular fitness and calorie counting apps experience shame, disappointment and demotivation, potentially undermining their health and wellbeing, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL (University College London) and Loughborough University.
The study, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, looked at 58,881 posts on Twitter (i.e., posted prior to the platform becoming X) relating to five popular fitness apps*.
The research team used AI models to filter out 13,799 posts judged to contain negative sentiment and then to group these posts into broad themes or topics.
They found users expressing shame at having to log “unhealthy” foods, irritation at notifications to log calories or to keep sugar consumption low, and disappointment at slow progress towards algorithm-generated targets. In some cases, these experiences led to demotivation, with users seemingly giving up on their goals, which is the opposite of what they are intended to be used for.
The researchers called for fitness apps to move away from “rigid” calorie counting and exercise quantification to a more holistic approach focusing on wellbeing.
Senior author Dr Paulina Bondaronek (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) said: “Few studies have looked at the potential detrimental effects of these apps. Social media provides a huge amount of data that could help us understand these effects. By using AI, we were able to analyse this data more quickly.
“In these posts, we found a lot of blame and shame, with people feeling they were not doing as well as they should be. These emotional effects may end up harming people’s motivation and their health.
“Instead of very narrow, rigid measures of success relating to amount of weight lost, health apps should prioritise overall wellbeing and focus on intrinsic motivation – i.e., the inherent enjoyment or satisfaction in activities.
“Many of these apps also ask users to do tasks individually. This misses out the great potential of social connectedness for improving our health and happiness.”
Dr Bondaronek added: “Self-monitoring and action planning are powerful behaviour change techniques. But we over-use them. We need to learn to be kinder to ourselves. We are good at blaming and shaming because we think it will help us to do better but actually it has the opposite effect.
“It is important to note, too, that we only looked at negative posts, so we cannot assess the overall effect of these apps in terms of our wellbeing. The apps may have a negative side, but they likely also provide benefits to many people.”
In their paper, the researchers grouped negative posts into several themes, chosen from a larger group of themes suggested by AI. These included frustration at the complexity of trying to track calories, technical faults and challenges leading to data loss, and the emotional impact of logging daily activity.
In terms of the complexity of tracking calories, the apps lacked the personalisation and tailoring needed to be fully accurate, with one user highlighting that they were unable to log breastfeeding within the app – an activity that can expend significant calories.
The researchers noted users’ surprise regarding the apps’ calorie recommendations, with one individual reporting being told that they needed to consume “−700 (negative 700) calories a day” to reach their goal. Another user said: “If you allow [MyFitnessPal] to prescribe your calories you’ll end up with a deficit that’s unachievable, unsustainable and very unhealthy. You could also starve to death ....”
Goals set by fitness apps were not based on public health recommendations (e.g. NHS recommendations for daily calorie intake), but were dictated by the user’s weight goals, which could lead to unrealistic or unsafe recommendations being given.
In terms of the emotional impact of logging daily activity, the researchers observed that some users felt “pestered” by app notifications, and that the difficulty of sticking to rigid goals led to loss of motivation.
They wrote: “Where individuals faced difficulties in keeping within the targets set by the app (e.g. losing a ‘streak’ or not meeting their daily goal) this appeared to contribute to avoidant behaviours (‘do NOT put Percy pigs into MyFitnessPal’)or complete disengagement (‘back to eating lotus biscoff spread out of jar’).”
The team found that some of the negative sentiment expressed in the posts were in line with previous research finding that measuring an activity might decrease the enjoyment of it. They cited a Strava user who had achieved their personal best for a half marathon but, in their Twitter post, had focused on the disappointment of this time not being recorded on the app.
Another user, they said, “expressed an intention to go to the gym in response to not meeting their calorie intake goals, describing themselves as ‘miserably’ stuffed, indicating that their decision to exercise was driven by negative emotions and the external prompt of the app’s feedback”, rather than by the inherent enjoyment of the exercise.
Co-author Dr Lucy Porter, from the UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, said: “When we send behaviour change tools out into the world, it’s so important that we check if they have any unintended consequences. Listening to users’ reports on social media has shown that fitness apps can sometimes leave users feeling demoralised and ready to give up - which is the exact opposite of what these tools are supposed to do!
“We know from previous research that feeling ashamed and miserable about yourself is not going to support healthy, long-term behaviour change - what we need to know now is how pervasive these effects on morale and emotional wellbeing are, and whether there is anything that can be done to adapt fitness apps so that they better meet people's needs.”
Co-author Trisevgeni Papakonstantinou, also from UCL Psychology & Language Sciences, said: “Unsupervised machine learning (or we can say AI) lets us analyse insights from real-world social media data that would otherwise be inaccessible. By using these tools, we can turn naturalistic data into actionable insights for public benefit - and do so at scale, and at no cost.”
The study involved researchers at UCL, the University of Westminster, and Loughborough University. The lead author is funded by Wellcome to investigate large-scale textual data analysis using AI.
*The research team chose the five fitness apps that had the highest revenue. They were: MyFitnessPal, Strava, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Workouts by Muscle Booster, Fitness Coach & Diet and FitCoach. However, most of the posts (8,464) related to MyFitnessPal, with Strava and WW also accounting for a large portion of the posts (2,264 and 2,902 respectively).
Journal
British Journal of Health Psychology
It’s not just diet: where a child lives also raises type 2 diabetes risk
Findings reveal strong links between risk and environmental factors like walkability, litter, and access to processed foods. Children in food-insecure homes or areas with limited green space showed higher risk indicators.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D), once considered an adult-onset disease, is increasing at alarming rates in children and adolescents. Before the mid-1990s, just 1% to 2% of youth with diabetes had T2D. Today, that number has skyrocketed to between 24% and 45%, with the average age of diagnosis hovering around 13 years old.
This troubling trend closely tracks with the ongoing rise in childhood obesity. While genetics, diet and physical activity all play roles in T2D risk, new research from Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine highlights another key factor in T2D risk: where a child lives.
Researchers conducted a large-scale study to explore how T2D is emerging in the youngest children. Using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health spanning 2016 to 2020, the team focused on a subgroup of children from birth to age 5 – a rarely studied demographic in T2D research.
The study analyzed responses from caregivers of more than 174,000 children nationwide, including nearly 50,000 in the early childhood group. Researchers examined not only diet and physical activity but also broader influences like neighborhood conditions, caregiver health, food security, and participation in government assistance programs. Their goal: to better understand how early life experiences and environments might shape the risk of developing T2D.
The results, published in the journal Pediatric Research, found that while the overall prevalence of T2D in children under age 5 remained low and relatively stable over the five-year period, the disease’s development appears to be tied more to social and environmental factors than to individual behaviors alone.
Certain neighborhood and household characteristics stood out. For example, in both 2016 and 2020, having a library nearby was significantly associated with childhood T2D diagnoses. This association is thought to reflect broader neighborhood and behavioral patterns that encourage sedentary, indoor activities rather than outdoor physical engagement. Libraries tend to reflect more urban environments compared to areas with high neighborhood walkability and green space.
“Research has shown that neighborhood environments – such as the presence of sidewalks, parks or other green spaces – can directly influence a child’s ability to engage in physical activity, and in turn, affect their risk of developing chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes,” said Lea Sacca, Ph.D., senior author and an assistant professor of population health in the Schmidt College of Medicine.
Caregivers also increasingly reported neighborhood issues like litter and vandalism. These environmental concerns grew steadily between 2016 and 2020 and were evident across both the overall sample and the youngest age group. Other notable associations emerged in early childhood include receiving help from neighbors in 2016 and neighborhood walkability in 2019.
Study findings also showed that in 2017, access to free or reduced-cost meals showed a similar link to neighborhood and household characteristics. From 2019 to 2020, there was a marked increase in the use of government assistance programs such as food stamps, free meal plans and cash support. While these programs may help address food insecurity, their impact on nutrition quality is more complicated.
Participation in programs like SNAP and school meals has been linked to increased intake of processed, energy-dense foods high in sugar and fat, which may contribute to the risk of T2D.
“While this finding could suggest improved access to food, previous research shows that relying on food assistance doesn’t always equate to better nutrition,” said Sacca. “For instance, children in food-insecure households tend to have poorer blood sugar control and higher hospitalization rates. Some research even suggests that participants in programs like SNAP may have worse diet quality than non-participants from similarly low-income households.”
The researchers say effective T2D prevention and early detection efforts must consider both environmental factors and food quality – particularly neighborhood design and access to nutritious options – for lasting and widespread impact.
Nonetheless, obesity remains the strongest and most common risk factor for TD2 in children. Children who are significantly overweight are four times more likely to develop the disease by age 25 than those with a healthy weight.
“With obesity rates continuing to rise, especially among young children, prevention efforts are critical,” said Sacca.
One particularly urgent target is reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which are closely linked to both obesity and diabetes risk. Notably, nearly 70% of children aged 2 to 5 consume sugar-sweetened beverages daily. While some school-based policies like vending machine restrictions and small beverage taxes have led to slight decreases in consumption on school grounds, overall intake remains high.
The researchers suggest that more assertive policies, including full bans in schools and larger taxes, may be needed. At the same time, evidence from successful school-based programs shows that improving dietary habits and increasing physical activity among children is achievable with the right support.
“The rise in early-onset type 2 diabetes is a growing public health concern,” said Sacca. “Addressing it requires a comprehensive strategy. That includes improving access to nutritious foods, creating healthier neighborhood environments, and investing in policies that promote long-term wellness from the very start of life.”
Study co-authors are FAU medical students Ayden Dunn, Paige Brinzo, Sahar Kaleem, Austin Lent, Madison Etzel, Jennifer Mendonca, Vama Jhumkhawala and Milad Khoury, M.D., a clinical affiliate assistant professor of endocrinology in FAU’s Department of Medicine.
- FAU -
About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:
Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 159 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 170 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,400 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 80 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. The college offers M.S. (thesis and non-thesis) and Ph.D. programs in biomedical science, along with a certificate in genomics and precision medicine. Taught by top researchers, the curriculum combines innovative coursework with hands-on learning, preparing graduates for careers in medicine, research, industry, and academia. To further Florida Atlantic’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology, and five fellowships in cardiology, hospice and palliative care, geriatrics, vascular surgery, and pulmonary disease and critical care medicine. The college also manages the Florida Atlantic University Medical Group, offering comprehensive primary care, and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health specializes in integrative pain management, precision therapies, and mental health.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University serves more than 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses along Florida’s Southeast coast. Recognized as one of only 21 institutions nationwide with dual designations from the Carnegie Classification - “R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production” and “Opportunity College and University” - FAU stands at the intersection of academic excellence and social mobility. Ranked among the Top 100 Public Universities by U.S. News & World Report, FAU is also nationally recognized as a Top 25 Best-In-Class College and cited by Washington Monthly as “one of the country’s most effective engines of upward mobility.” As a university of first choice for students across Florida and the nation, FAU welcomed its most academically competitive incoming class in university history in Fall 2025. To learn more, visit www.fau.edu.
