Book bans in political context: Evidence from US schools.

In the 2021-2022 school year, more books were banned in US school districts than in any previous year. Book banning and other forms of information censorship have serious implications for democratic processes, and censorship has become a central theme of partisan political rhetoric in the United States. However, there is little empirical work on the exact content, predictors of, and repercussions of this rise in book bans. Using a comprehensive dataset of 2,532 bans that occurred during the 2021-2022 school year from PEN America, combined with county-level administrative data, multiple book-level digital trace datasets, restricted-use book sales data, and a new crowd-sourced dataset of author demographic information, we find that (i) banned books are disproportionately written by people of color and feature characters of color, both fictional and historical, in children's books; (ii) right-leaning counties that have become less conservative over time are more likely to ban books than neighboring counties; and (iii) national and state levels of interest in books are largely unaffected after they are banned. Together, these results suggest that rather than serving primarily as a censorship tactic, book banning in this recent US context, targeted at low-interest children's books featuring diverse characters, is more similar to symbolic political action to galvanize shrinking voting blocs.

Explaining Political Differences in Attitudes to Vaccines in France: Partisan Cues, Disenchantment with Politics and Political Sophistication.

CONTEXT: The role of political identities in determining attitudes to vaccines has attracted a lot of attention in the last decade. Explanations have tended to focus on the influence of party representatives on their sympathizers (partisan cues). METHODS: Four representatives samples of the French adult population completed online questionnaires between July 2021 and May 2022 (N = 9,177). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to test whether partisan differences in attitudes to vaccines are best explained by partisan cues or by parties' differences in propensity to attract people who distrust the actors involved in vaccination policies. FINDINGS: People who feel close to parties at the far left, the far right and to green parties are more vaccine hesitant. We found a small evidence for the effect of partisan cues and a much stronger effect of trust. But more importantly, we show that the more politically sophisticated are less vaccine hesitant and that the non-partisan are the biggest and most vaccine-hesitant group. CONCLUSIONS: The literature has focused on the case of the USA but turning the attention towards countries where disenchantment with politics is more marked helps better understand the different ways trust, partisanship and political sophistication can affect attitudes to vaccines.

The influence of political disagreements and corruption on state health leader turnover during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

PURPOSE: Governments faced formidable challenges in coordinating public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to enhance the understanding of effective organizational leadership during crises by investigating the factors influencing the turnover of health leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Using primary data encompassing all appointments and dismissals of federal and state health secretaries, this paper conducted a quantitative analysis of the relational and reputational factors that contributed to leader turnover during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper also examined whether leaders' management and public health experience increase the duration of tenure. FINDINGS: States encountered significant challenges in retaining experienced and effective leadership during the health emergency, primarily due to political conflicts in policymaking and, to a lesser extent, allegations of corruption. Furthermore, leaders with expertise in public health were found to be less likely to be removed from office. However, managerial experience did not prolong the tenure of state health secretaries during the emergency. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Since most health leaders have public health and management experience, the contributions of each factor to the duration of a secretary's tenure are difficult to separate and analyze separately. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study provides empirical insights into what factors drive health leader turnover during major health emergencies. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: During major health emergencies, health leaders often strongly disagree with elected officials on the response. This paper test how crisis leadership theories help explain state health leaders' duration in one of the world's largest public health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper find that policy disagreements contributed to significant turnover. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first that are aware of that uses novel primary data on public health executive leader characteristics and turnover causes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides empirical evidence contributing to the crisis leadership literature by examining health leader turnover in one of the world's largest public health systems.

Medical education needs a new model for global leadership.

BACKGROUND: Like other fields in medicine, medical education relies on collaboration and cooperation between countries and regions of the world, although no single institution or position unifies the global medical education community in the way that the WHO does in public health, for example. Recent research in medical education has drawn attention to many injustices that exist in the field, where power and influence is held in relatively few Global North countries, although most practice happens in Global South countries. METHODS: In this article, we examine three positions that hold global prominence in medical education, including the presidents of the World Federation for Medical Education and the Association for Medical Education in Europe, and winners of the Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education. FINDINGS: We highlight that these positions have problematic histories and have perpetuated the current power disparities in the field. We argue that an alternative model for global leadership is required that should be determined democratically by those involved in medical education all around the world. Such a model should prioritise diversity and inclusivity, empowering leaders from countries who have previously been peripheral to the decision-making platforms in the field. CONCLUSION: Given the shortcomings of existing leadership positions and organisations, we suggest that a new institution is required to realise this new vision, and that the principles that govern it should be determined through debate and democracy, with a focus on inviting those voices that have not previously been heard in global medical education circles.

Putting Health care Where the Kids Are: US Public Attitudes About School-Based Health Centers.

BACKGROUND: School-based health centers (SBHCs) have been shown to offer substantial benefits to students but we know little about how the public thinks about them. We sought to assess US public attitudes about SBHCs and the provision of 7 health service lines-primary care, preventive care, vaccinations, preventive dental care, preventive vision care, mental health care, and nutrition counseling. METHODS: We administered a national online survey (N = 4196) of US adults using Lucid, a large, internet-based, opt-in panel to assess public attitudes about SBHCs as well as 7 commonly offered health services in SBHCs. We then used t-tests and weighted linear regression models to carry out our study objectives. RESULTS: Unadjusted analysis revealed that more than 2 in 3 respondents supported SBHCs in general as well as the provision of all health services in SBHCs. Regression analysis indicated that ideology, partisanship, and trust in public school principals served as consistent predictors of attitudes when controlling for demographic and health characteristics. The provision of vaccinations stood out as particularly controversial. Subanalysis of parents found even higher levels of support as well as a more subdued role of ideology and partisanship. CONCLUSIONS: The US public broadly supports the provision of health services in SBHCs. Our results should inform policymakers, advocates, and providers seeking to improve access to health care among school-aged children, particularly for underserved populations. Increasing knowledge about SBHCs and providing stable funding should be a priority. In the immediate future, SBHCs may offer an important buffer against ongoing Medicaid disenrollments.

Attachment and Political Personality are Heritable and Distinct Systems, and Both Share Genetics with Interpersonal Trust and Altruism.

The attachment and caregiving domains maintain proximity and care-giving behavior between parents and offspring, in a way that has been argued to shape people's mental models of how relationships work, resulting in secure, anxious or avoidant interpersonal styles in adulthood. Several theorists have suggested that the attachment system is closely connected to orientations and behaviors in social and political domains, which should be grounded in the same set of familial experiences as are the different attachment styles. We use a sample of Norwegian twins (N = 1987) to assess the genetic and environmental relationship between attachment, trust, altruism, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO). Results indicate no shared environmental overlap between attachment and ideology, nor even between the attachment styles or between the ideological traits, challenging conventional wisdom in developmental, social, and political psychology. Rather, evidence supports two functionally distinct systems, one for navigating intimate relationships (attachment) and one for navigating social hierarchies (RWA/SDO), with genetic overlap between traits within each system, and two distinct genetic linkages to trust and altruism. This is counter-posed to theoretical perspectives that link attachment, ideology, and interpersonal orientations through early relational experiences.

Facebook reactions in the context of politics and social issues: a systematic literature review.

In February 2016, Facebook expanded the original "Like" button by introducing five additional "Reactions"-Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry-using modified versions of Unicode emojis. These reactions enable users to express more nuanced emotions towards posts. This literature review investigates scholarly research on user behavior in response to these reactions, with a focus on a broad spectrum of socioeconomic and psychological issues. We conducted a systematic search across databases including Scopus and Google Scholar, using keywords such as "Facebook" and "Reaction," combined with various key phrases and Boolean operators. Our review synthesizes sixty-four articles published from 2016 to 2023, exploring diverse topics such as political news, far-right and extremist parties, racism, and hate speech during the COVID-19 pandemic. We organized these articles by theme and publication date. Our meta-analysis reveals that lifestyle and entertainment posts predominantly receive positive reactions, while sociopolitical content tends to elicit a broader spectrum of emotions, including negative sentiments. Furthermore, emotionally charged content consistently attracts higher volumes of reactions, regardless of sentiment. This research highlights the intricate relationship between user reactions and content characteristics, providing deeper insights into the dynamics of online engagement. By understanding these interaction patterns, we gain a better grasp of emotional responses and engagement levels, which ultimately shape online discourse and user interactions.

Can exposure to sexual objectification impact policy attitudes? Evidence from two survey experiments.

Research in social psychology has long argued that exposure to objectifying portrayals of women can lead to increasingly misogynist attitudes and behavior. We argue that such images can also impact on gendered policy attitudes. We suggest that objectifying images prime sexist attitudes and reduce perceptions of women's agency, warmth, and competence. We argue that this may translate into decreased support for reproductive rights and other gender-salient policies. Furthermore, these effects may vary by the gender of those exposed to these images. In two survey experiments with brief exposures to objectifying images, we find mixed support for these predictions. Although we find some negative effects as predicted, we also find positive effects of objectification among women in the sample that are suggestive of a backlash effect. We discuss potential explanations for this heterogeneity. Overall, our results suggest interesting avenues to further explore the effects of objectification on political outcomes.