Search

Objective digital measurement of gamblers visiting gambling venues is conducted using cashless cards and facial recognition systems, but these methods are confined within a single gambling venue. Hence, we propose an objective digital measurement method using a transformer, a state-of-the-art machine learning approach, to detect total gambling venue visitations for gamblers who visit multiple gambling venues using sounds in gamblers' environments. We sampled gambling and nongambling event datasets from websites to create a gambling play classifier. We also sampled gambling and nongambling location datasets for a gambling location detector. Further, we sampled practical dataset with four different recording conditions and two different recording devices. Our Swin transformer model with 54 classes (4 gambling play classes and 50 nongambling event classes) achieved highest accuracy (0.801). The gambling location detector of the Swin transformer also achieved high performance; the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for bingo, mahjong, pachinko, and electronic gambling machine plays were 0.845, 0.780, 0.826, and 0.833, respectively. Moreover, gambling visitation detector of the Swin transformer showed high performance especially in Pachinko (AUCs 0.972–0.715) regardless of their recording conditions and devices. These preliminary findings highlight the potential of environmental sounds to detect visits to gambling venues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrimination and prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) individuals exacerbate social anxiety. Communication via avatars in virtual communities may be an effective strategy to reduce related symptoms. This study measured social anxiety in LGBTQIA+ and non‐LGBTQIA+ individuals among Japanese users of Pigg Party, a massively multiplayer online game, in physical and virtual communities that use avatars for communication. They answered questions on social anxiety in physical and virtual communities and avatar identification (i.e., the degree of identification of the avatar with the self). The number of avatar customizations and amount of communication via avatars (indexed by the number of virtual peers) were collected based on game logs. The results revealed that the LGBTQIA+ group exhibited significantly higher rates of social anxiety in physical but not virtual communities than the non‐LGBTQIA+ group. Moreover, the LGBTQIA+ group displayed higher levels of identification with avatars than the non‐LGBTQIA+ group. Increased identification with avatars and avatar customization correlated with an increased number of communications via avatars, which was consequently linked to reduced social anxiety in physical and virtual communities. These findings suggest that communication using avatars can reduce social anxiety among LGBTQIA+ individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether or not the avoidant attachment style indicates job adaptation of people with High Functional Autistic Spectrum Disorders (HFASD). HFASD are groups of developmental disorders characterized by impairment of social interaction and normal level of intelligence. Twenty-two people with HFASD answered questionnaires, including the Autism Spectrum Quotient, Perceived Emotional Support Network Scales in a family, Avoidant scale of the Internal Working Model Scales, and queries about their employment years. Results revealed that people with HFASD who had obtained better job adaptation had a more avoidant style, regardless of their perceived support and autistic tendencies. The avoidant style might be the optimal coping style for people with HFASD who obtained competitive employment. (Contains 1 table.)

The effect of educational level on employment of people with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) was examined. If education augments natural abilities to accomplish tasks in people with HFASD, then those with more education would have comparative advantages in both obtaining and retaining jobs. In contrast, if education did not augment natural abilities and only signaled unobservable abilities, one would expect an advantage only in obtaining a job, but not in retention. 22 people with HFASD replied to questionnaires regarding their history of education and employment. Those with job experience had higher educational levels than those with no job experience, but educational level was not significantly different between groups with and without more than one year of job experience. Educational level seems to be associated with abilities, but probably the unobserved abilities underlie both educational attainment and employment history. DOI 10.2466/11.13.15.PR0.107.4.227-235

Data sets on gameplay, called digital biomarkers, contain many characteristics of game players and are associated with mental health problems. In fact, an avatar's behavior during an online game is said to be related to its player's mental health. Based on this information, we estimated the depressive state of players based on their avatar's behavioral logs. There were 3,361 participants who were players of Pigg Party, a popular Japanese online game application. In April 2020, the players logged into the Pigg Party and answered a questionnaire on depression. In May 2020, of the 3,361 participants, 658 players again logged into the Pigg Party and answered the depression questionnaire. Their responses to the questionnaire and behavioral logs of Pigg Party for April and May comprised the data sets used in the study. The data set from April showed that individuals without depression were more likely to perform activities in a 24-hour cycle than individuals with depression. Furthermore, the popular model of the time series data set trained on the April data set predicted depression in the May data set with an accuracy of around 0.3 to 0.4. The results suggest that these models are difficult to predict for sparse time series data sets, such as the study's data set, and require refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study clarified the advantages of virtual communities on non‐victim experiences among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals in Japan. A total of 3504 Pigg Party users, including 1390 LGBTQIA individuals, reported their experiences of victimization, perceived emotional support, and concealment of their gender/sexual identity in both physical and virtual communities. Japanese individuals with multiple minority statuses had more victim experiences than those with a single or without minority status. Furthermore, differences in victim experiences by gender/sexual minority status were lower in the virtual community than in physical communities. Similar tendencies were also confirmed on perceived emotional support and concealment. Virtual communities provided a more bias‐free social resource to Japanese LGBTQIA individuals than physical communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social rhythms have been considered as relevant to mood disorders, but detailed analysis of social rhythms has been limited. Hence, we aim to assess social rhythms via social media use and predict users' psychiatric symptoms through their social rhythms. A two-wave survey was conducted in the Pigg Party, a popular Japanese avatar application. First and second waves of data were collected from 3504 and 658 Pigg Party users, respectively. The time stamps of their communication were sampled. Furthermore, the participants answered the General Health Questionnaire and perceived emotional support in the Pigg Party. The results indicated that social rhythms of users with many social supports were stable in a 24-h cycle. However, the rhythms of users with few social supports were disrupted. To predict psychiatric symptoms via social rhythms in the second-wave data, the first-wave data were used for training. We determined that fast Chirplet transformation was the optimal transformation for social rhythms, and the best accuracy scores on psychiatric symptoms and perceived emotional support in the second-wave data corresponded to 0.9231 and 0.7462, respectively. Hence, measurement of social rhythms via social media use enabled detailed understanding of emotional disturbance from the perspective of time-varying frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Virtual Agents (VAs) is currently a popular topic in mental health interviews. Advantages of VA over Real Expert (RE) in the interview were reported. However, the advantages of audio-visual VAs over REs during comprehensive mental health interviews remain unclear, and their clarification is important to promote the practical application of VAs in these settings. To explore the advantages, we triangulated data using mixed methods design, aiming to show quantitative advantages of the VAs in their perceived rapport and eye movement, and to describe the qualitative advantages of the VAs in their disclosed mental symptoms during the interview. A total of 55 Japanese university students participated in comprehensive mental health interviews conducted by the VA and RE. Findings show that participants perceived rapport and moved their right eyes more often, along with disclosing numerous mental symptoms, with the RE than the VA. However, they disclosed more sex-related symptoms to the VA than the RE. The VA can be used most practically in sex-related health fields. The anonymity conditions in the VA setting might be relevant to patients' self-disclosure of sex-related topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese young adults' forms of address for their parents (e.g., Dad) reportedly demonstrate their respect for their parents. Such respect has been linked to young adults' interpersonal attitudes as well as depressive symptoms. Given these relationships, the present study identified possible links between young adults' forms of address for their parents, perceived parent-child relationships, interpersonal attitudes, and depressive symptoms. Participants were 226 Japanese college students. Young adults' disrespectful forms of address for parents were positively correlated with feelings of rejection and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, young adults' disrespectful forms of address for fathers predicted the adults' feelings of rejection and depressive symptoms, although there were no such relationships for disrespectful forms of address for mothers. These findings indicated that young adults' disrespectful forms of address for parents, especially fathers, were linked to their negative interpersonal attitudes and depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impolite forms of address to others are linked with impolite behaviors. The present study sought to examine a possible link between spousal forms of address and intimate partner violence (IPV). Study 1 validated impolite scale ratings of spousal forms of address. Study 2 examined the links between spousal forms of address and IPV. Thirty-six heterosexual couples were sampled (N = 72). Husbands’ negative impoliteness ratings were positively linked with physical IPV against their wives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Predicting offenders and victims and the timing of their offenses and damages has become a perennial challenge in global cyberspace. This study aimed to solve this challenge through analyses of routine chat times and online social networks. We sampled more than 550,000 online users over 6 months. We also used unsupervised and supervised machine learning to predict cyber offenders and victims and their offense and damage times, respectively. Our predictors, based on routine chat times and online social network inputs, identified future cyber offenders and victims within 2 months. Furthermore, we predicted the hours and days of their offenses and damages within a week. Extraction of routine chat times and online social networks from chat data can help predict future cyber offenders and victims. Our cyber offense and damage time predictor could help prevent future cyber offenses and damages and promote a safer cyberspace for everyone. • We tracked more than 550,000 online Pigg Party users for 6 months. • Our predictors identified future cyber offenders and victims within 2 months. • We predicted the hours and days of their offenses and damages within a week. • Chat data were useful for extracting routine chat times and online social networks. • Routine chat times were useful for predicting future offense and damage times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyzed 263,491 Pigg Party users, 182,227 offences, and 12,780 suspensions. • Suspensions decreased offence risks of suspended offenders and their peers. • Suspensions decreased damage risks of suspended offenders and their peers. • Permanent suspension decreased offence risks for popular suspended offenders. • Popularity was a negative mediator of suspension effect on offenders' offence risk. • Popularity was a positive mediator of suspension effect on their peers' offence risk. While suspensions of online chat offenders occur regularly, it is not known whether the suspensions reduce future offences by them and their peers. Our study aims to clarify the effects of suspensions using a simulation network model on Pigg Party, a popular Japanese online chat platform that uses avatars and has private, group, and public chat channels. The participants were 263,491 Pigg Party users. Data were collected over six months and involved 182,227 offences and 12,780 suspensions. We estimated the offence/damage probabilities and latencies of offences/damage after suspension in both the actual and simulation networks. The results showed that all suspensions, including 24-h, 48-h and permanent suspensions, decreased the risk of offence of offenders and their peers after suspension. Furthermore, these suspensions also decreased the damage of offenders and their peers after suspension. In particular, permanent suspension was effective in reducing the offence and damage risks of popular offenders and their peers. Online suspensions were effective in decreasing future offenses and damage by suspended offenders and their peers. Permanent suspensions may be required for popular offender groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyberbullying is a social problem in the digital age. Online social networks have been reported to be linked with cyberbullying, but the links remain unclear. Our research question is "Do social norms that allow cyberbullying spread via online social networks?" The objectives of our study are to answer this research question and clarify the effects of online social networks on cyberbullying from the perspective of a complex contagion model. Participants were 129,164 users in Pigg Party, which is a Japanese online chat platform with avatar. Their status of cyberbullying perpetrators and victims was estimated using a combination of questionnaire and machine learning methods. Results showed that both cyberbullying perpetrator and victim rates among their peers and among the peers of their peers increased participants' risk of becoming cyberbullying perpetrators. Similarly, these rates increased their risk of becoming cyberbullying victims. As their intimacy with cyberbullying perpetrators increased, their risks of perpetrating cyberbullying increased. However, as their intimacy with the perpetrators increased, their risks of becoming cyberbullying victims decreased. The social contagion of cyberbullying via online peer networks and the perpetrator's rational choice of cyberbullying victims are discussed. • We analyzed the online social networks of 129,164 users with elaborated avatars. • Cyberbullying perpetrator rates among their online peer networks increased their risk of the perpetrator. • Cyberbullying victim rates among their online peer networks increased their risk of the victim. • Their intimacy with cyberbullying perpetrators was positively linked with their risks of cyberbullying perpetrator. • Their intimacy with cyberbullying perpetrators was negatively linked with their risks of cyberbullying victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Change and sustain talks (negative and positive comments) on gambling have been relevant for determining gamblers' outcomes but they have not been used to clarify the abstinence process in anonymous gambler meetings.Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a change talk model for abstinence based on data extracted from web-based anonymous gambler chat meetings by using an automatic change talk classifier.Methods: This study used registry data from the internet. The author accessed web-based anonymous gambler chat meetings in Japan and sampled 1.63 million utterances (two-sentence texts) from 267 abstinent gamblers who have remained abstinent for at least three years and 1625 nonabstinent gamblers. The change talk classifier in this study automatically classified gamblers' utterances into change and sustain talks.Results: Abstinent gamblers showed higher proportions of change talks and lower probability of sustain talks compared with nonabstinent gamblers. The change talk model for abstinence, involving change and sustain talks, classified abstinent and nonabstinent gamblers through the use of a support vector machine with a radial basis kernel function. The model also indicated individual evaluation scores for abstinence and the ideal proportion of change talks for all participants according to their previous utterances.Conclusions: Abstinence likelihood among gamblers can be increased by providing personalized evaluation values and indicating the optimal proportion of change talks. Moreover, this may help to prevent severe mental, social, and financial problems caused by the gambling disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]