The COVID-19 pandemic: some thoughts on integrity in research and communication

Principles of integrity and ethical practice in research have been reinforced and honed over decades. In medical and biomedical fields, they have been shaped by challenges that include endemic, emerging, and re-emerging diseases [1], as well as the scientific responses to each disease as it occurs. These responses include clinical and community prevention trials, vaccine and drug trials for persons with life-threatening diseases, applied and basic research with dangerous microbial agents, and many others. Unexpected fatal pandemics caused by novel agents—for which neither drugs nor vaccines exist— present additional urgent challenges for scientists, defined here to mean biomedical, medical, and public health scientists and practitioners. In addition to conducting research, scientists are also often tasked with communicating research findings, not only to those who make policy decisions, but also to the media and the public.     

Perceived Social Support and Academic Achievement: Cross-Lagged Panel and Bivariate Growth Curve Analyses

As students transition to post-secondary education, they experience considerable stress and declines in academic performance. Perceived social support is thought to improve academic achievement by reducing stress. Longitudinal designs with three or more waves are needed in this area because they permit stronger causal inferences and help disentangle the direction of relationships. This study uses a cross-lagged panel and a bivariate growth curve analysis with a three-wave longitudinal design. Participants include 10,445 students (56% female; 12.6% born outside of Canada) transitioning to post-secondary education from ages 15–19. Self-report measures of academic achievement and a generalized measure of perceived social support were used. An increase in average relative standing in academic achievement predicted an increase in average relative standing on perceived social support 2 years later, but the reverse was not true. High levels of perceived social support at age 15 did not protect against declines in academic achievement over time. In sum, perceived social support appears to have no bearing on adolescents’ future academic performance, despite commonly held assumptions of its importance.     

Efficacy of an Intervention to Reduce the Use of Media Violence and Aggression: An Experimental Evaluation with Adolescents in Germany

Several longitudinal studies and meta-analytic reviews have demonstrated that exposure to violent media is linked to aggression over time. However, evidence on effective interventions to reduce the use of violent media and promote critical viewing skills is limited. The current study examined the efficacy of an intervention designed to reduce the use of media violence and aggression in adolescence, covering a total period of about 12 months. A sample of 683 7th and 8th graders in Germany (50.1% girls) were assigned to two conditions: a 5-week intervention and a no-intervention control group. Measures of exposure to media violence and aggressive behavior were obtained about 3 months prior to the intervention (T1) and about 7 months post-intervention (T2). The intervention group showed a significantly larger decrease in the use of violent media from T1 to T2 than the control group. Participants in the intervention group also scored significantly lower on self-reported aggressive behavior (physical aggression and relational aggression) at T2 than those in the control group, but the effect was limited to those with high levels of initial aggression. This effect was mediated by an intervention-induced decrease in the normative acceptance of aggression. No gender differences in program efficacy were found. The results show that a 5-week school-based intervention can produce changes in the use of media violence, aggressive norms, and behaviors sustained over several months.     

The Chinese Dream

At the end of 2014,Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the strategic layout of the Four Comprehensives—comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society,deepening reform,advancing the rule of law,and strictly governing the Communist Party of China.Later,the new guideline for development became the overall framework for the current leadership's work and has aroused interest at home and abroad.From Issue No.17 onward,Beijing Review publishes a series of commentaries by foreign researchers commissioned by Renmin University of China’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies.