Understanding Ant Forest continuance: effects of user experience, personal attributes and motivational factors

PurposeTechnology has emerged as a leading tool to address concerns regarding climate change in the recent era. As a result, the green mobile application – Ant Forest – was developed, and it has considerable potential to reduce negative environmental impacts by encouraging its users to become involved in eco-friendly activities. Ant Forest is a novel unexplored green mobile gaming phenomenon. To address this gap, this study explores the influence of user experience (cognitive experience and affective experience), personal attributes (affection and altruism) and motivational factors in game play (reward for activities and self-promotion) on the continuation intention toward Ant Forest.Design/methodology/approachThe authors assessed the data using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for understanding users' continuation intention toward Ant Forest.FindingsThrough a survey of 337 Ant Forest users, the results reveal that cognitive and affective experiences substantially affect Ant Forest continuation intention. Personal attributes and motivational factors also stimulate users to continue using Ant Forest.Originality/valueThe authors build and confirm a conceptual framework to understand users' continuation intention toward a novel unexplored Ant Forest phenomenon.

Assessing Mechanisms Underlying the Sharing of Official and Unofficial Information during a Pandemic

The COVID-19 disease outbreak has seen mixed information flows comprising top-down communication from health authorities to the public and citizen-to-citizen communication. This study aimed to identify mechanisms underlying the sharing of official versus unofficial information during the outbreak. Survey findings based on a nationally representative U.S. sample (N = 856) showed that individuals’ predispositions affected their information consumption and affective experiences, leading to distinct types of information-sharing behaviors. While anger toward the U.S. government’s outbreak response was directly associated with unofficial information sharing, anxiety was directly associated with official information sharing. These findings enhance our understanding of the propagation of different kinds of pandemic information and provide implications for public education on information verification based on source authoritativeness.

The Complexities of Student Engagement for Historically Marginalized Youth in an After-School Program

As researchers continue to address issues of equity within educational settings, it is important to also consider the role of equity in high-quality after-school programs. Evidence suggests that families from communities with fewer resources, along with families that identify as Black or Hispanic, report less access to quality after-school programming for their youth (Afterschool Alliance, 2020). This is especially problematic, as after-school programming has been associated with a number of positive outcomes for youth. In this study, researchers highlight youth perspectives to illuminate the challenges related to engaging historically marginalized youth in a school-based after-school program. Findings suggest that youth from marginalized backgrounds typically discuss engagement in terms of behavioral and affective experiences. Further, youth identified a few barriers to engagement, including repetition of program content and disruptive behavior. As a result of these findings, researchers suggest that practitioners integrate youth perspectives, work collaboratively to develop curriculum that fosters growth, and adopt policies and training that support staff in implementing culturally appropriate discipline approaches in after-school programs.

The Interplay Between Affect, Dog's Physical Activity and Dog–Owner Relationship

Leaving a dog home alone is part of everyday life for most dog owners. Previous research shows that dog–owner relationship has multifarious effects on dog behavior. However, little is known about the interplay between dog–owner relationship, physical activity of the dog, and affective experiences at the time of the owner leaving home and reunion when the owner comes home. In this paper, we explored how the general (daily, home alone, and over the 2-week study period) physical activity of the dog, and owner's perceptions of the dog's affective state were correlated at those particular moments. Nineteen volunteer dog owners had their dogs (N = 19) wear two activity trackers (ActiGraph wGT2X-GT and FitBark2) for 2 weeks 24 h/day. Prior to the 2-week continuous physical activity measurement period, the owners filled in questionnaires about the dog–owner relationship and the dog behavior. In daily questionnaires, owners described and assessed their own and their perception of the emotion-related experiences of their dog and behavior of the dog at the moment of separation and reunion. The results indicated that the dog–owner relationship has an interplay with the mean daily and weekly physical activity levels of the dog. An indication of strong emotional dog–owner relationship (especially related to the attentiveness of the dog, continuous companionship, and time spent together when relaxing) correlated positively with the mean daily activity levels of the dog during the first measurement week of the study. Results also suggest that the mean daily and over the 2-week measurement period physical activity of the dog correlated the affective experiences of the dog and owner as reported by the owner when the dog was left home alone. More research is needed to understand the interplay between affect, physical activity of the dog, dog–owner relationship, and the effects of these factors on, and their interplay with, the welfare of dogs.

The Pattern of Affective Responses to Dance-Based Group Exercise Differs According to Physical Fitness, as Measured by a Smartwatch

The present study investigated the effect of a dance-based aerobic exercise, on the affective experiences of participants with different fitness levels. Thirty-two college students were enrolled in the same dance fitness course, tested using a physical fitness test (the National Fitness Project 100) and grouped accordingly to 15 sports majors (high-fit group) and 17 non-sports majors (low-fit group). Together, they participated in a single-session dance fitness program using 11 basic dance steps incorporated in Zumba rhythms of merengue and reggaeton for 47 min including warm-up and cool-down. Pre- and post-exercise affects were measured using the PANAS-X transmitted to each participant’s smartphone. During exercise, participants’ heart rate (HR) and their responses to the felt arousal scale (FAS) and the feeling scale (FS) by exercise section were measured using tailor-made applications on a smartwatch. Results showed that the intensity of exercise for the same exercise program was lower in the high-fit group than in the low-fit group, as evidenced by %HRmax. In addition, the pattern of affective change throughout the exercise sections was different according to the groups’ fitness levels, while the affective improvement was greater in the high-fit group. This study confirmed that physical fitness is a major variable influencing the relationship between exercise and affect.

Age Group Differences in Response to Repeated Exposure to Laboratory Stress Tasks

Research examining age differences in affect reactivity (i.e. how much affective experiences change in response to stressors) has produced mixed results, suggesting that there are areas of relative strength and weakness in regulatory processes across age-groups. The present study’s goals were to examine potential age-group differences in affect reactivity and subjective task-appraisals across repeated exposures to a psychosocial laboratory stressor. In the Health and Daily Experiences (HEADE) study, younger (18-35 years old; n=107) and older adults (60-90 years old; n=90) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test on three occasions in a laboratory setting over a five-day period. Current affective experiences and task-appraisals were assessed at each session using validated self-report scales, with current affective experiences measured at baseline and task periods to determine affect reactivity. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses were conducted to examine age-group differences in affect reactivity and task-appraisals across sessions. In support of our hypotheses, younger adults showed greater reductions in their negative affect reactivity over time compared to older adults [F(2, 390)= 8.18, p<.001]. Additionally, younger adults’ appraisals of task-difficulty decreased [F(2, 384)= 14.79, p<.001] and appraisals of task-performance increased [F(2,384)= 13.39, p<.001] across sessions, while older adults’ task-appraisals remained stable. Age-group differences in negative affect reactivity and task-difficulty appraisals were not evident for the first session and only emerged after repeated exposure to the stressors. These results highlight the importance of identifying age-related vulnerabilities in adapting to repeated stressors, with implications for designing effective interventions aimed at improving health and well-being for older adults.

Interpersonal Associations Between Affect and Depressive Symptoms in Persons With Early Dementia and Their Spouses

Positive and negative affect have independent effects on health and occur frequently in close relationships. No research to our knowledge has examined self-reported affective experiences of persons with dementia (PWD) and their spouses and interpersonal associations with their psychological health. Secondary analysis of baseline interviews from a randomized clinical trial testing a stress reduction intervention in 45 couples (n=90) examined whether individuals’ positive and negative affect were associated with their own depressive symptoms (actor effects) as well as their partner’s depressive symptoms (partner effects) and whether these associations differed for PWD and spouses. Actor partner interdependence model results showed that for PWDs and spouses, one’s own positive affect was related to one’s own lower depressive symptoms (B=-3.10, SE=.59, df=58.70, p<.001), and one’s own negative affect was associated with one’s own greater depressive symptoms (B=6.62, SE=.60, df=65.67, p<.001). These effects were independent from each other. Partner effects were not significant.