Conference Agenda

In the past decade, policy changes permitted US states to legalize sports betting and new gambling products were developed that allow people to place bets online. It is unclear whether and how these evolving technopolitics will impact people’s experiences with gambling disorder (GD), an addictive condition recognized by the DSM-V. The current project brings new insight to the rapidly changing sporting betting landscape by evaluating how people discuss topics related to GD on two recreational sports betting forums from the social media website Reddit. We scraped an original sample of over 7500 Reddit comments from 194 threads published between 2012 and 2024 that mention key terms related to GD (e.g., “addicted,” “problem,” “hotline”). For each thread of interest, we reconstructed these data into user-based social networks where actors represent Reddit users and directed edges indicate that one user replied to another’s comment. Then, we applied sentiment analyses, exponential random graph models, and meta-analyses to explore whether the network patterns of discussions about GD changed over time. Authors who wrote posts characterized by negative sentiment tended to be more central in the Reddit threads, but this association became weaker over time. Our findings uncover new insight about the ways recreational sports betting forums both normalize risky gambling behaviors and create safety nets that encourage responsible practices.

Organizational research has traditionally emphasized goal-directed workplace communication, yet the blurring of professional and personal boundaries has led employees to engage more in informal, socially-oriented, nonwork-related communication with colleagues (Holmes, 2003; Koch & Denner, 2022). Drawing from literature on cross-domain multiplex relationships—“multifaceted relationships that occupy a blended work–nonwork role space by superimposing work and nonwork interactions, roles, and exchanges” (Methot, Parker, & Hubbard, 2024, p.259)—and “across-the-border” communication (Clark, 2002)—conversations that extend beyond one domain, e.g., sharing family issue with coworkers—we refer to relationships involving blended conversations as cross-domain multiplex communication ties. To understand the effects of engaging in blended communication, we integrate boundary theory and social network perspectives to examine how and why a focal actor’s cross-domain multiplex communication ties influence their personal network structure. We propose employees with larger cross-domain multiplex communication networks will experience high network constraint—the extent to which a focal actor's direct ties are interconnected (Burt, 1992)—which may, then, limit creativity by restricting access to unique information and perspectives due to “over-embeddedness” (Krackhardt, 1999). However, it may also increase others’ awareness of the focal actor’s nonwork activities (Clark, 2002), creating opportunities for coworker support. We will collect ego network data to test our full mediated model by path analysis. This research advances the work-nonwork interface and organizational communication literature by employing a social network lens to examine how ties involving blended conversations influence individuals’ productivity and well-being through their structural network positions.

Wellbeing research is a multifaceted and evolving field that encompasses a wide range of disciplines such as health sciences, social sciences, and economics. In general, there has been quite limited strand of literature providing an insight into understanding of evolution of wellbeing studies of a systemic nature. It is still argued that many attempts to conceptualize wellbeing studies focus not on the definition itself, but primarily at expressing its nature through wellbeing dimensions (research topics and themes).

For the current study, the data are collected from OpenAlex database using the query “wellbeing” OR “well-being” in titles and abstracts to include publications with different form of the word into the dataset (all types of publications are considered). The dataset contains over 619,000 items for 1750-2025.

For older literature items, the historical intervals were selected with the motivation to follow the time slices presented in the theoretical studies. To cope with the challenge of growing number of publications, we adopt an approach by Kullenberg & Nelhans (2015) to divide the material in 15-year intervals for the period 1946-1989 and starting with 1990 to employ 5-year intervals to detect wellbeing studies developments. VOSviewer software as well as R libraries are used to build and analyze keywords co-occurrence, co-authorship, citation, and bibliographic coupling networks for 12 historical intervals to detect thematic evolution, the most influential authors and documents.

The relationship between social participation and subjective well-being (SWB) has gained attention in recent years. Social participation is believed to improve SWB through expanding social networks and improving self-efficacy. Furthermore, personality traits have been suggested to influence social participation and SWB, but few studies have considered personality traits. We aim to clarify the mechanisms linking social participation and SWB while accounting for personality traits. Using questionnaire data from an internet survey conducted in Japan (N=11,002), we performed clustering based on personality traits and analyzed the mechanisms by which social participation contributes to SWB. We applied probabilistic latent semantic analysis to cluster participants based on the Japanese version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). We conducted mediation analysis for each cluster to examine how social participation (independent variable) influenced SWB (dependent variable) through social networks and self-efficacy (mediators). As a result, four personality clusters were identified. In all clusters, social participation had a significant positive total effect on SWB. Additionally, the expansion of social networks and improvement in self-efficacy significantly mediated this relationship. Focusing on the types of social participation, in the "high neuroticism" cluster, participation in "community activities" had a significant positive indirect effect on SWB, but the direct effect was negative. Even when considering personality traits, social participation was linked to SWB, but the mechanisms differed. This study contributes to the literature on social participation and SWB by exploring how social participation affects SWB while considering personality traits.

This study explores the determinants of loneliness and perceived social isolation, focusing on the roles of personal networks and social context characteristics. Perceived social isolation is an individual’s subjective feeling of disconnection, regardless of actual social interactions. Loneliness arises from a perceived gap between desired and actual social relationships, encompassing both the quantity and quality of connections. We examine the associations between these feelings and specific characteristics of personal networks, including their structure and composition of social roles, support exchange, temporal dynamics, and modes of communication.

First, we focus on personal network characteristics as potential determinants of perceived isolation and loneliness: network size; emotional closeness; geographic distance; network cohesion; diversity of roles and interaction foci; sociodemographic diversity; and network turnout. Second, we investigate the role of online interactions, exploring whether virtual communication mitigates or exacerbates these feelings. While online platforms expand the reach of social networks, their effects on perceived connection and satisfaction with relationships remain mixed. We hypothesize that reliance on online communication weakens social bonds typically fostered through face-to-face interactions, potentially leading to a greater sense of isolation and loneliness. Finally, we consider whether the effects of personal network characteristics on perceived isolation and loneliness vary by gender, race/ethnicity, and migration status.

Using three waves of egocentric network data from the UC Berkeley Social Network Study (UCNets), which provides detailed longitudinal measurements of personal networks and individual-level observations, this study makes both theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it refines and advances theories about social and relational determinants of loneliness. Second, it provides new insights into how modern modes of social interaction, particularly online communication, influence negative feelings associated with social interactions. Ultimately, this study enhances understanding of the complex interplay between social context, individual characteristics, and modes of interaction in shaping experiences of loneliness and social isolation.