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Prejudicial behaviors toward female journalists are on the rise, yet few instruments are available to measure stereotyping of female journalists. The present work validates a new scale for measuring the prominent sexual stereotype that female journalists have sex with their sources using exploratory (N = 561) and confirmatory factor analysis (N = 580). Results reveal that the proposed scale has a reliable and replicable factor structure that is distinct from measures of sexism and journalist mistrust, attesting to concurrent and discriminant validity. The proposed scale also negatively predicts the credibility of news written by women, which demonstrates predictive validity. Theoretical and practical implications of these results for journalism studies is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hostile attitudes toward refugees are on the rise, yet individuals who hold negative beliefs toward out-groups are the most difficult to persuade. Is an explicit persuasive appeal effective for such groups, or should fictional narratives with implicit messages be used instead? An online experiment (N = 1, 749) was conducted to test this possibility with three possible media-based interventions: a fictional sympathetic portrayal, a fictional hostile portrayal, or a documentary-based portrayal. Hostile portrayals increased negative attitudes toward refugees, while documentary portrayals increased positive attitudes and promoted stereotype reversal. These effects were observed regardless of nationalism or social dominance orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite calls for journalists and media agencies to address a disconnect between news audiences and news prose, content continues to increase in its difficulty to read and comprehend for the masses. While readability is often associated with audience comprehension and engagement, studies have neglected to assess whether readability is a factor in audience assessments of the credibility of content. Using an online experimental design, this study examines whether readability acts as a heuristic that helps news consumers make credibility judgments of news. Results show that readability tends not to be a predictor of credibility perception, regardless of partisanship strength or media use preferences. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increase in media portrayals of transracial adoption, little is understood about how viewers perceive these portrayals. Therefore, 36 interviews were conducted (20 with transracially adoptive parents and 16 with non-transracially-adoptive parents) to discover the perceived realism and learning outcomes of three entertainment transracial adoption portrayals. While transracially adoptive parents were generally more inclined to deem the clips realistic, the two groups reported similar elements of realism/unrealism. In line with social cognitive theory, several learning outcomes were reported by both groups of parents in addition to anticipated positive and negative effects of these portrayals. Results extend the applicability of perceived realism to transracial adoption portrayal and highlight nuances of social cognitive theory and the extended elaboration likelihood model among adoptive and biological parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do family communication patterns or family conflict history affect the intention to correct misinformation shared by family members? A pre-registered online survey with a U.S. sample (N = 595) was conducted to answer this question. Results revealed that conversation orientation and conformity orientation positively predicted the intention to correct misinformation shared by a family member while family history was negatively related with intent. Theoretical implications for family communication research and study of misinformation correction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An estimated 55.5% and 37.3% of people globally with type 2 diabetes (T2D) will have concomitant non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the more severe fibroinflammatory stage, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD and NASH prevalence is projected to increase exponentially over the next 20 years. Bayesian Networks (BNs) offer a powerful tool for modelling uncertainty and visualising complex systems to provide important mechanistic insight. Methods: We applied BN modelling and probabilistic reasoning to explore the probability of NASH in two extensively phenotyped clinical cohorts: 1) 211 participants with T2D pooled from the MODIFY study & UK Biobank (UKBB) online resource; and 2) 135 participants without T2D from the UKBB. MRI-derived measures of visceral (VAT), subcutaneous (SAT), skeletal muscle (SMI), liver fat (MRI-PDFF), liver fibroinflammatory change (liver cT1) and pancreatic fat (MRI-PDFF) were combined with plasma biomarkers for network construction. NASH was defined according to liver PDFF >5.6% and liver cT1 >800ms. Conditional probability queries were performed to estimate the probability of NASH after fixing the value of specific network variables. Results: In the T2D cohort we observed a stepwise increase in the probability of NASH with each obesity classification (normal weight: 13%, overweight: 23%, obese: 36%, severe obesity: 62%). In the T2D and non-T2D cohorts, elevated (vs. normal) VAT conferred a 20% and 1% increase in the probability of NASH, respectively, while elevated SAT caused a 7% increase in NASH risk within the T2D cohort only. In those with T2D, reducing HbA1c from the ‘high’ to ‘low’ value reduced the probability of NASH by 22%. Conclusion: Using BNs and probabilistic reasoning to study the probability of NASH, we highlighted the relative contribution of obesity, ectopic fat (VAT and liver) and glycaemic status to increased NASH risk, namely in people with T2D. Such modelling can provide insights into the efficacy and magnitude of public health and pharmacological interventions to reduce the societal burden of NASH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is a powerful economic driver for communities, but there are dangers of overtourism in tourism-dependent destinations. The study proposes an approach to detect early signs of overtourism by integrating census and industry data with residents' perceptions of tourism benefits. The indicators include industry performance, its economic impacts, and indirect measures related to quality of life. The public perceptions are collected through surveying four different tourism-dependent communities in Florida. We found that in general local residents are highly positive about the tourism industry benefits to their communities, yet many respondents would like the tourism levels reduced. Especially concerning are negative sentiments toward tourism among the younger population groups and racial minorities. The findings are interpreted as early signs of overtourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a synthesis and interpretation of research on character portrayals in digital game content using a systematic review of existing studies (N = 30) based on a larger database search (N = 1,127). Character sex and gender has been the most frequently studied dimension, followed by character sexualization and character race and ethnicity. Other characteristics studied include characters from the LGBTQ community, body size, age, and mental well-being, along with character behaviors such as violence, profanity, and gambling. Overall, studies consistently observe that portrayals under-represent female and nonwhite characters and include problematic depictions. Methodological recommendations are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A troubling trend in television and film is the female reporter who uses sexual temptation to unethically obtain information from male sources. Which viewers are most likely to believe that sexist tropes about female reporters are realistic? A pre-registered online survey (N = 580) revealed that stereotypes about female journalists were the largest predictor of perceived realism, followed by hostile sexism and journalist mistrust. Given that perceived realism is theorized to bolster the impact of media, these results suggest that viewers scoring highly in stereotyping or sexism are the most likely to be impacted by sexualized portrayals of journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]