Current Research in Social Psychology

Editors: michael lovaglia, university of iowa; shane soboroff, st. ambrose university.

Current Research in Social Psychology  ( CRISP ) is a peer reviewed, electronic journal publishing theoretically driven, empirical research in major areas of social psychology. Publication is sponsored by the  Center for the Study of Group Processes  at the  University of Iowa,  which provides free access to its contents. Authors retain copyright for their work. CRISP is permanently archived at the Library of the University of Iowa and at the Library of Congress. Beginning in April, 2000,  Sociological Abstracts  publishes the abstracts of CRISP articles.

Citation Format:  Lastname ,  Firstname . 1996. "Title of Article."  Current Research in Social Psychology  2:15-22 https://crisp.org.uiowa.edu

RECENT ISSUES

Finding Positives in the Pandemic: The Role of Relationship Status, Self-Esteem, Mental Health, and Personality.

Examining Public Attitudes And Ideological Divides Through Media Engagement: An Empirical Analysis of Moral Foundations Theory Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.

When Race is Not Enough: Lessons Learned Using Racially Tagged Names.

Formation of a Positive Social Identity: How Significant are Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Similarity Concerning Group Identification?

Passive Social Network Usage and Hedonic Well-Being Among Vietnamese University Students: A Moderated Mediation Model Involving Self-Esteem and Sense of Self.

Cognitive Dissonance and Depression: A Qualitative Exploration of a Close Relationship.

Gender Differences in Support for Collective Punishment: The Moderating Role of Malleability Mindset.

Hard Feelings? Predicting Attitudes Toward Former Romantic Partners.

Perceived Control in Multiple Option Scenarios: Choice, Control, and the Make-a-Difference Metric.

Drivers of Prosocial Behavior: Exploring the Role of Mindset and Perceived Cost.

Malleability of Laïcité: People with High Social Dominance Orientation Use Laïcité to Legitimize Public Prayer by Catholics but not by Muslims.

Differences and Predictive Abilities of Competitiveness Between Motivation Levels, Contexts, and Sex.

Parental Rejection and Peer Acceptance: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Bias.

A Novel Approach for Measuring Self-Affirmation.

Ingroup Bias in the Context of Meat Consumption: Direct and Indirect Attitudes Toward Meat-Eaters and Vegetarians.

Perceptions of Case Complexity and Pre-Trial Publicity Through the Lens of Information Processing.

"Muslims' Desire for Intergroup Revenge in the Aftermath of the Christchurch Attack: The Predictive Role of Ingroup Identification, Perceived Intergroup Threat, and the Norm of Reciprocity. "

"Personal Networks and Social Support in Disaster Contexts."

"Aggressive and Avoidant Action Tendencies Towards Out-Groups: The Distinct Roles of In-Group Attachment vs. Glorification and Cognitive vs. Affective Ambivalence."

"We (Might) Want You: Expectations of Veterans' General Competence and Leadership."

"Situation Attribution Mediates Intention to Overlook Negative Signals Among Romantic Partners."

"Software Program, Bot, or Artificial Intelligence? Affective Sentiments across General Technology Labels"

"Privilege is Invisible to Those Who Have It": Some Evidence that Men Underestimate the Magnitude of Gender Differences in Income.

"Perceived Control and Intergroup Discrimination."  

"Leadership, Gender, and Vocal Dynamics in Small Groups."

Taking Responsibility for an Offense: Being Forgiven Encourages More Personal Responsibility, More Empathy for the Victim, and Less Victim Blame.

Potential Factors Influencing Attitudes Toward Veterans Who Commit Crimes: An Experimental Investigation of PTSD in the Legal System.

"Is that Discrimination? I'd Better Report it!" Self-presentation Concerns Moderate the Prototype Effect.

Relation Between Attitudinal Trust and Behavioral Trust: An Exploratory Study

Comparing Groups' Affective Sentiments to Group Perceptions.

Perceived Autonomous Help and Recipients' Well-Being: Is Autonomous Help Good for Everyone.

S tudying Gay and Straight Males' Implicit Gender Attitudes to Understand Previously Found Gender Differences in Implicit In-Group Bias.

Nepotistic Preferences in a Computerized Trolley Problem.

Telecommuting, Primary Caregiving, and Gender as Status .

You're Either With Us or Against Us: In-Group Favoritism and Threat .

 Impact of the Anticipation of Membership Change on Transactive Memory and Group Performance.

Mindfulness Increases Analytical Thought and Decreases Just World Beliefs .

Status, Performance Expectations, and Affective Impressions: An Experimental Replication.

The Effects of African-American Stereotype Fluency on Prejudicial Evaluation of Targets .

Status Characteristics and Self-Categoriation: A Bridge Across theoretical Traditions.

Why do Extraverts Feel More Positive Affect and Life Satisfaction? The Indirect Effects of Social Contribution and Sense of Power.

In-group Attachment and Glorification, Perceptions of Cognition-Based Ambivalence as Contributing to the Group, and Positive Affect.

Mentoring to Improve a Child's Self-Concept: Longitudinal Effects of Social Intervention on Identity and Negative Outcomes.

Affect, Emotion, and Cross-Cultural Differences in Moral Attributions.

The Effects of Counterfactual Thinking on College Students' Intentions to Quit Smoking Cigarettes .

Self-Enhancement, Self-Protection and Ingroup Bias.

The Moderating Effect of Socio-emotional Factors on the Relationship Between Status and Influence in Status Characteristics Theory.

What We Know About People Shapes the Inferences We Make About Their Personalities.

The Pros and Cons of Ingroup Ambivalence: The Moderating Roles of Attitudinal Basis and Individual Differences in Ingroup Attachment and Glorification.

Effects of Social Anxiety and Group Membership of Potential Affiliates on Social Reconnection After Ostracism.

"Yes, I Decide You Will Recieve Your Choice": Effects of Authoritative Agreement on Perceptions of Control.

Being Generous to Look Good: Perceived Stigma Increases Prosocial Behavior in Smokers.

Acting White? Black Young Adults Devalue Same-Race Targets for Demonstrating Positive-but-Stereotypically White Traits

Looking Up for Answers: Upward Gaze Increases Receptivity to Advice

Which Judgement Do Women Expect from a Female Observer When They Claim to be a Victim of Sexism?

Neighborhood Deterioration and Perceptions of Race

The Use of Covert and Overt Jealousy Tactics in Romantic Relationships: The Moderating Role of Relationship Satisfaction

The Impact of Status Differences on Gatekeeping: A Theoretical Bridge and Bases for Investigation

Reducing Prejudice with (Elaborated) Imagined and Physical Intergroup Contact Interverventions

Are Depressed Individuals More Susceptible to Cognitive Dissonance?

Gender Differences in the Need to Belong: Different Cognitive Representations of the Same Social Groups

Fight The Power: Comparing and Evaluating Two Measures of French and Raven's (1959) Bases of Social Power

Mother Knows Best So Mother Fails Most: Benevolent Stereotypes and the Punishment of Parenting Mistakes

Blame Attributions about Disloyalty

Attitudes Towards Muslims are More Favorable on a Survery than on an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure

Attributions to Low Group Effort can Make You Feel Better: The Distinct Roles of In-group Identification, Legitimacy of Intergroup Status, and Controllability Perceptions

The Role of Collective and Personal Self-Esteem in a Military Context

On Bended Knee: Embodiment and Religious Judgments

Identity Salience and Identity Importance in Identity Theory

Sexist Humor and Beliefs that Justify Societal Sexism

Future-Oriented People Show Stronger Moral Concerns

Further Examining the Buffering Effect of Self-Esteem and Mastery on Emotions

Group-Based Resiliency: Contrasting the Negative Effects of Threat to the In-Group

You Validate Me, You Like Me, You're Fun, You Expand Me: "I'm Yours!"

Pleading Innocents: Laboratory Evidence of Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem

The Moral Identity and Group Affiliation

Threat, Prejudice, and Stereotyping in the Context of Japanese, North Korean, and South Korean Intergroup Relations

Exams may be Dangerous to Grandpa's Health: How Inclusive Fitness Influences Students' Fraudulent Excuses

To View Archived CRISP Issues Click here

To View the Notice for Contributors Click here . Includes formatting and citation guidelines.

To View the Editorial Board Click here

empirical social research journal

J. Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 4(1) Vol. 4 No. 1 (2020)

Call for Papers 2020:

The Journal of Empirical Social Science Research (JESSR) is pleased to announce a call for original research articles that employ empirical methods to explore a wide array of social phenomena. We invite the submission of high-quality studies utilizing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to investigate social issues from diverse disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, psychology, political science, economics, and anthropology.

JESSR seeks to publish articles that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the social sciences, with a specific focus on empirical research that deepens our understanding of human behavior and social dynamics. We encourage studies that address significant social problems, offer innovative theoretical insights, or have practical implications for policy and practice.

empirical social research journal

Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 8(2) Vol. 8 No. 2 (2024)

empirical social research journal

Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 7(4) Vol. 7 No. 4 (2023)

empirical social research journal

J. Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 7(1) Vol. 7 No. 1 (2023)

Call for Papers 2023:

The Journal of Empirical Social Science Research (JESSR) invites submissions of original research articles that use empirical methods to examine a wide range of social phenomena. We welcome high-quality studies that use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to investigate social issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, psychology, political science, economics, and anthropology.

JESSR publishes articles that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the social sciences, with a focus on empirical research that enhances our understanding of human behavior and social dynamics. We are particularly interested in studies that address important social problems and issues, offer novel theoretical insights, or have practical implications for policy and practice.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Social inequality and stratification
  • Politics and public policy
  • Education and human development
  • Health and healthcare
  • Social networks and social capital
  • Family and gender dynamics
  • Race, ethnicity, and immigration
  • Crime and criminal justice
  • Methodological innovations in social science research

JESSR publishes articles that meet high standards of rigor and scholarship, and we encourage authors to use best practices in research design, data collection, and analysis. All articles undergo a rigorous peer-review process, and we strive to provide timely and constructive feedback to authors.

Submission Guidelines:

Manuscripts should be prepared according to JESSR's formatting guidelines, which can be found on our website. Submissions should be made electronically via our online submission system.

empirical social research journal

J. Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 6(1) Vol. 6 No. 1 (2022)

Call for Papers 2022:

The Journal of Empirical Social Science Research (JESSR) invites submissions of original research articles that utilize empirical methods to explore diverse social phenomena. We encourage the submission of high-quality studies employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to investigate social issues from various disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, psychology, political science, economics, and anthropology.

JESSR aims to publish articles that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the social sciences, with a particular emphasis on empirical research that enhances our comprehension of human behavior and societal dynamics. We welcome studies that address significant social problems, offer novel theoretical insights, or have practical implications for policy and practice.

Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Social change and transformation
  • Governance and public administration
  • Education and learning processes
  • Mental health and well-being
  • Social media and digital society
  • Cultural diversity and multiculturalism
  • Environmental sustainability and resource management
  • Technological impact on society
  • Social movements and collective action
  • Methodological advancements in social science research

JESSR maintains rigorous standards of rigor and scholarship for publication, and we encourage authors to adhere to best practices in research design, data collection, and analysis. All submissions undergo a meticulous peer-review process, and we strive to provide prompt and constructive feedback to authors.

Manuscripts must conform to JESSR's formatting guidelines, which are available on our website. Submissions should be made electronically through our online submission system.

Published: 2022-01-12

empirical social research journal

J. Empir. Soc. Sci. Stud. 5(1) Vol. 5 No. 1 (2021)

Call for Papers 2021:

Possible topics of interest encompass, but are not limited to:

  • Social identity and group dynamics
  • Governance and public policy analysis
  • Education and educational policies
  • Health disparities and healthcare access
  • Social media and online communities
  • Gender roles and relations
  • Migration, multiculturalism, and integration
  • Crime, justice, and rehabilitation
  • Innovations in social science research methods
  • Social impact of technology and artificial intelligence

JESSR upholds rigorous standards of rigor and scholarly excellence, and we encourage authors to employ best practices in research design, data collection, and analysis. All submissions undergo a rigorous peer-review process, ensuring timely and constructive feedback for authors.

Manuscripts should adhere to JESSR's formatting guidelines, available on our website. Submissions must be made electronically through our online submission system.

Published: 2021-01-12

empirical social research journal

Empirical Social Research

An Introduction

  • © 2022
  • 1st edition
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  • Michael Häder 0

Philosophische Fakultät – Institut für Soziologie, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

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  • All about empirical social research
  • Comprehensive, up-to-date and easy to understand Completely revised and supplemented with the topics of river sampling
  • Digital methods, research ethics and data protection

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About this book

Social science methods such as surveys, observations and content analyses are used in market research, studies of contemporary history, urban planning and communication research. They are all the more needed by sociologists and empirically working political scientists. Whether in the context of evaluating a prevention programme or for surveying health behaviour or for a study on social mobility, the confident handling of the social science instruments is always a prerequisite for obtaining reliable results. This book provides important information for users and developers of these instruments. It deals with the theoretical foundations of the methods, the steps in the conception and implementation of a project, the many variants of data collection, the methods to be used in the selection of study units, as well as the principles to be observed in the evaluation and documentation of the findings. With the help of numerous examples, a particularly clear presentation is achieved.

In the fourth, updated edition, river sampling has now been included in the selection process, digital methods are increasingly presented and, against the background of the new data protection regulation, research ethics and data protection are also updated.

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empirical social research journal

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Does ‘bigger’ mean ‘better’ pitfalls and shortcuts associated with big data for social research.

empirical social research journal

Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics

  • Data analysis
  • Data collection methods
  • Knowledge of methods
  • Research design
  • Philosophy of science

Table of contents (10 chapters)

Front matter, the structure of this book: an introduction.

Michael Häder

The Importance of Methodological Knowledge for Understanding Empirical Data

Philosophy of science, research and investigation planning, sampling procedure, survey methods, complex designs, preparation and evaluation of the data, documentation of empirical projects, back matter.

"The compact and very understandable summary of research methods as well as the good examples." (B.A. Lena Modrow,FB Wirtschaft, Fachhochschule Westküste)

Authors and Affiliations

About the author.

Prof. em. Dr. Michael Häder was head of the Department of Methods of Empirical Social Research at the Institute of Sociology at the TU Dresden until 2018.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Empirical Social Research

Book Subtitle : An Introduction

Authors : Michael Häder

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37907-0

Publisher : Springer Wiesbaden

eBook Packages : Social Sciences , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2022

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-658-37906-3 Published: 12 November 2022

eBook ISBN : 978-3-658-37907-0 Published: 11 November 2022

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : IX, 470

Number of Illustrations : 1 b/w illustrations

Topics : Methodology of the Social Sciences , Psychological Methods/Evaluation , Statistical Theory and Methods , Research Methods in Education , Research Methodology

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Penn State University Libraries

Empirical research in the social sciences and education.

  • What is Empirical Research and How to Read It
  • Finding Empirical Research in Library Databases
  • Designing Empirical Research
  • Ethics, Cultural Responsiveness, and Anti-Racism in Research
  • Citing, Writing, and Presenting Your Work

Contact the Librarian at your campus for more help!

Ellysa Cahoy

Introduction: What is Empirical Research?

Empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief. 

How do you know if a study is empirical? Read the subheadings within the article, book, or report and look for a description of the research "methodology."  Ask yourself: Could I recreate this study and test these results?

Key characteristics to look for:

  • Specific research questions to be answered
  • Definition of the population, behavior, or phenomena being studied
  • Description of the process used to study this population or phenomena, including selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (such as surveys)

Another hint: some scholarly journals use a specific layout, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. Such articles typically have 4 components:

  • Introduction: sometimes called "literature review" -- what is currently known about the topic -- usually includes a theoretical framework and/or discussion of previous studies
  • Methodology: sometimes called "research design" -- how to recreate the study -- usually describes the population, research process, and analytical tools used in the present study
  • Results: sometimes called "findings" -- what was learned through the study -- usually appears as statistical data or as substantial quotations from research participants
  • Discussion: sometimes called "conclusion" or "implications" -- why the study is important -- usually describes how the research results influence professional practices or future studies

Reading and Evaluating Scholarly Materials

Reading research can be a challenge. However, the tutorials and videos below can help. They explain what scholarly articles look like, how to read them, and how to evaluate them:

  • CRAAP Checklist A frequently-used checklist that helps you examine the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose of an information source.
  • IF I APPLY A newer model of evaluating sources which encourages you to think about your own biases as a reader, as well as concerns about the item you are reading.
  • Credo Video: How to Read Scholarly Materials (4 min.)
  • Credo Tutorial: How to Read Scholarly Materials
  • Credo Tutorial: Evaluating Information
  • Credo Video: Evaluating Statistics (4 min.)
  • Credo Tutorial: Evaluating for Diverse Points of View
  • Next: Finding Empirical Research in Library Databases >>
  • Last Updated: Aug 13, 2024 3:16 PM
  • URL: https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/emp

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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Journal scope statement

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ® publishes original papers in all areas of personality and social psychology and emphasizes empirical reports, but may include specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers.

The journal is divided into three independently edited sections.

Attitudes and Social Cognition publishes articles concerning attitudinal and social cognitive processes (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping and prejudice, cognition, emotion, and motivation) that take place in micro- and macrolevel social contexts.

Topics include, but are not limited to, attitudes, persuasion, attributions, stereotypes, prejudice, person memory, motivation and self-regulation, communication, social development, cultural processes, and the interplay of moods and emotions with cognition.

We accept papers using traditional social-personality psychology methods. However, we also strongly welcome innovative, theory-driven papers that utilize novel methods (e.g., biological methods, neuroscience, large-scale interventions, social network analyses, or "big data" approaches).

All papers will be evaluated with criteria that are consistent with those of the best empirical outlets in social, behavioral, and biological sciences.

Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes focuses on the psychology of (interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup) social relations and relationships, whether enduring or fleeting.

Submissions may address one type of social relation (e.g., close romantic relationships) or they may address multiple types of social relation (e.g., status within a team and across an institution). Submissions may employ one method or multiple methods. Submissions may examine one context or multiple contexts (e.g., countries, developmental period).

Although a multiplicity of methods and contexts will likely be considered a strength, all submissions should address the implications of the chosen method and context for the power and quality of inference.

For more on the orientation of the section please refer to the Editor's Editorial: Colin Wayne Leach, editor, JPSP-IRGP section, December 2019 (PDF, 85KB) .

Personality Processes and Individual Differences publishes research on all aspects of personality psychology. It includes studies of individual differences and basic processes in behavior, emotions, coping, health, motivation, and other phenomena that reflect personality.

Articles in areas such as personality structure, personality development, and personality assessment are also appropriate to this section of the journal, as are studies of the interplay of culture and personality and manifestations of personality in everyday behavior.

Disclaimer: APA and the editors of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology assume no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the authors of its articles.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology supports equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in its practices. More information on these initiatives is available under EDI Efforts .

Open science

The APA Journals Program is committed to publishing transparent, rigorous research; improving reproducibility in science; and aiding research discovery. Open science practices vary per editor discretion. View the initiatives implemented by this journal .

Editor’s Choice

Each issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ® will honor one accepted manuscript per issue by selecting it as an “ Editor’s Choice ” paper. Selection is based on the discretion of the editor if the paper offers an unusually large potential impact to the field and/or elevates an important future direction for science.

Call for papers

  • Generative AI as a New Human Relationship ( Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes )

Author and editor spotlights

Explore journal highlights : free article summaries, editor interviews and editorials, journal awards, mentorship opportunities, and more.

Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines may be returned without review.

General submission guidelines

The editorial team of the  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is committed to both transparency and rigor in conducting and reporting research. We believe that science advances through a cyclical and recursive process that includes both (i) a theory-building, exploratory/descriptive phase and (ii) a theory-testing, confirmatory phase. Further, we recognize that replication efforts are the part and parcel of the science that is empirically valid and socially responsible. We therefore support and encourage research that is informed by both phases. Guided by this overarching philosophy, we set out some concrete submission standards.

Transparency and openness

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines by a community working group in conjunction with the Center for Open Science ( Nosek et al. 2015 ). Effective July 1, 2021, empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology must at least meet the “requirement” level (Level 2) for citation; data, code, and materials transparency; design and analysis transparency; and study and analysis plan preregistration. Authors should include a subsection in the method section titled “Transparency and Openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to comply with the TOP guidelines.

For example:

  • We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions (if any), all manipulations, and all measures in the study, and we follow JARS (Appelbaum et al., 2018). All data, analysis code, and research materials are available at [stable link to repository]. Data were analyzed using R, version 4.0.0 (R Core Team, 2020) and the package ggplot , version 3.2.1 (Wickham, 2016). This study’s design and its analysis were not pre-registered.

Links to preregistrations and data, code, and materials should also be included in the author note.

Data, materials, and code

Authors must state whether data, code, and study materials are posted to a trusted repository and, if so, how to access them, including their location and any limitations on use. If they cannot be made available, authors must state the legal or ethical reasons why they are not available. Trusted repositories adhere to policies that make data discoverable, accessible, usable, and preserved for the long term. Trusted repositories also assign unique and persistent identifiers. Recommended repositories include APA’s repository on the Open Science Framework (OSF), ResearchBox.org, or authors can access a full list of other recommended repositories .

In a subsection titled “Transparency and Openness” at the end of the method section, specify whether and where the data and materials are available or note the legal or ethical reasons for not doing so. For submissions with quantitative or simulation analytic methods, state whether the study analysis code is posted to a trusted repository, and, if so, how to access it (or the legal or ethical reason why it is not available).

  • All data have been made publicly available at the [trusted repository name] and can be accessed at [persistent URL or DOI].
  • Materials and analysis code for this study are not available.
  • The code behind this analysis/simulation has been made publicly available at the [trusted repository name] and can be accessed at [persistent URL or DOI].

If you cannot make your data available on a public site, authors are required to follow current APA policy to make the materials and data used in a published study available in a timely manner to other researchers upon request.

If an author has multiple studies, the repository landing page should clearly identify how to access the specific type of information for each study and the links.

  • Download a quick guide on how to organize this information (PDF, 310KB)

Disclosure of prior uses of data

Upon submission of a manuscript, the authors must disclose any prior uses in published, accepted, or under review papers of data reported in the manuscript. The cover letter should include a complete reference list of these articles as well as a description of the extent and nature of any overlap between the present submission and the previous work.

Citation standards

Upon submission, all data sets, materials, and program code created by others must be appropriately cited in the text and listed in the reference section. Such materials should be recognized as original intellectual contributions and afforded recognition through citation.

Where possible, references for data sets and program code should include a persistent identifier assigned by digital archives, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Data set citation example: Campbell, Angus, and Robert L. Kahn. American National Election Study, 1948. ICPSR07218v3. Ann Arbor, MI: Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1999. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07218.v3

Design and analysis transparency

Authors must adhere to the  Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) (PDF, 220KB) . See also the specific section editorials and instructions on information to include in method and results sections. It is particularly important to provide justifiable power considerations and specific details related to sample characteristics.

Preregistration of studies and analysis plans

Preregistration of studies and specific hypotheses can be a useful tool for making strong theoretical claims. Likewise, preregistration of analysis plans can be useful for distinguishing confirmatory and exploratory analyses. Investigators may preregister prior to conducting the research via a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network). There are many available templates; for example, AsPredicted.org; and APA, the British Psychological Society, and the German Psychological Society partnered with the Leibniz Institute for Psychology and Center for Open Science to create Preregistration Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology (Bosnjak et al., 2022).

At the same time, we recognize that there may be good reasons to change a study or analysis plan after it has been preregistered, and thus encourage authors to do so when appropriate so long as all changes are clearly and transparently disclosed in the manuscript.

The journal also acknowledges that preregistration may not always be appropriate, especially in the exploratory phases of a research project. If authors choose to preregister their research and analyses plans, all documents should be succinct, specific, and targeted, as well as anonymized to maintain double-blind peer review.

Articles must state whether or not any work was preregistered and, if so, where to access the preregistration. Preregistrations must be available to reviewers; authors may submit a masked copy via stable link or supplemental material. Links in the method section should be replaced with an identifiable copy on acceptance.

  • This study’s design was preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
  • This study’s design and hypotheses were preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
  • This study’s analysis plan was preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
  • This study was not preregistered.

Whether or not a study is preregistered, the  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  stresses the importance of transparency in reporting and expects researchers to fully disclose in their manuscript all decisions that were data-dependent (e.g., deciding when to stop data collection, what observations to exclude, what covariates to include, and what analyses to conduct after rather than before seeing the data).

Replication and Registered Reports

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology acknowledges the significance of replication in building a cumulative knowledge base in our field. We therefore encourage submissions that attempt to replicate important findings, especially research previously published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .

Major criteria for publication of replication papers include (i) theoretical significance of the finding being replicated, (ii) statistical power of the study that is carried out, and (iii) the number and power of previous replications of the same finding.

Other factors that would weigh in favor of a replication submission include: pre-registration of hypotheses, design, and analysis; submissions by researchers other than the authors of the original findings; and attempts to replicate more than one study of a multi-study original publication.

Please note in the Manuscript Submission Portal that the submission is a replication article; submissions should include “A Replication of XX Study” in the subtitle of the manuscript as well as in the abstract. Replication manuscripts, if accepted, will be published online only and will be listed in the Table of Contents in the print journal.

Papers that make a substantial novel conceptual contribution and also incorporate replications of previous findings continue to be welcome as regular submissions.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology will also publish Registered Reports. Such submissions will consist of a detailed research proposal, including an abstract, introduction, hypotheses, method, planned analyses, and implications of the expected results.

We recommend that authors initially contact the editor before submitting a Registered Report. The proposed research will be reviewed and, if approved, should then be carried out in accordance with the proposed plan. For the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition section, all manuscripts and preregistered reports/proposals should be submitted only through the portal and not via email to the editorial office. We cannot provide feedback based on emails to the office or the editor. Instead, the triage/ preliminary review is designed to make rapid determinations of fit for the journal. In addition, the sample manuscripts may be useful for potential authors who wish to determine the types of papers that might be appropriate for JPSP: ASC .

To the extent that the study is judged to have been competently performed, the paper will be accepted (pending any necessary revisions) regardless of the outcome of the study.

Section submission guidelines

Submit manuscripts to the appropriate section editor. Section editors reserve the right to redirect papers as appropriate. When papers are judged as better suited for another section, editors ordinarily will return papers to authors and suggest resubmission to the more appropriate section.

Rejection by one section editor is considered rejection by all; therefore a manuscript rejected by one section editor should not be submitted to another.

All three sections of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology are now using a software system to screen submitted content for similarity with other published content.

The system compares the initial version of each submitted manuscript against a database of 40+ million scholarly documents, as well as content appearing on the open web.

This allows APA to check submissions for potential overlap with material previously published in scholarly journals (e.g., lifted or republished material).

Attitudes and Social Cognition

To submit to the editorial office of Dolores Albarracín, please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Word Document format (.doc).

Submit Manuscript to Attitudes and Social Cognition Section

Dolores Albarracín, PhD University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center 200 S. 36th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104

General correspondence may be directed to the editor's office .

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition publishes articles concerning attitudinal and social cognitive processes (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping and prejudice, cognition, emotion, and motivation) that take place in micro- and macrolevel social contexts.

Type of manuscripts

  • Empirical : Experimental, correlational, and qualitative studies may be considered, and a combination of different methods is strongly encouraged.
  • Meta-analysis : Quantitative research synthesis.

Publication criteria

Major theoretical contribution and/or discovery demonstrated with rigorous methods.

Articles can make a major theoretical contribution by:               

  • developing a new theory (new theory);
  • developing a conceptualization of social-psychological phenomenon not previously studied within the field (new theory for new phenomenon);
  • using an existing theory to explain a new phenomenon (existing theory for new phenomenon);
  • making novel connections between two theories to address new empirical questions (combination of theories to address new phenomenon);
  • providing a novel integration of phenomena under an existing theory originally designed to understand a different phenomenon in another area of research (theoretical integration to explain multiple phenomena);
  • establishing the operation of psychological processes to explain a phenomenon that’s currently understood as implicating different processes (new processes to explain prior understanding of a phenomenon);
  • conceptualizing the conditions that give way to different processes previously studied independently (novel identification of conditions under which different processes occur);
  • conceptualizing moderators that explain conflicting predictions in the literature (identification of conditions that reconcile prior theoretical conflicts);
  • introducing a new moderator that help us to understand the conditions under which a previously established phenomenon occurs (new moderator);
  • introducing new elements to a theory that failed to explain a phenomenon (increasing generalizability via theoretical development);
  • introducing a new theoretical construct and demonstrate its import (new construct);
  • replicating seminal research that has made any of the contributions above, ideally contributing to explaining variability in past findings; or
  • another theoretical contribution specified by the author (other).

Articles may also make empirical contributions via discovery , which involves the demonstration of a new, significant empirical phenomenon (e.g., a particular pattern of social behavior; a type of response not previously identified; and a new, surprising implication of an existing theory). Sometimes a new discovery goes hand in hand with a new conceptual development, but other times prior theories are used to draw new empirical implications. Given the scope of JPSP: ASC, discovery articles should still provide evidence of psychological processes.

Rigorous methods are defined by the literature at a particular time and include the validation of measures and experimental manipulation, sound statistical methods, and adequate statistical power.

Findings that have the potential to impact societal outcomes are encouraged. For example, a theoretical innovation or discovery will be seen as more significant if it has the potential to change how aspects of the social world may be modified with this knowledge. The inclusion of diverse samples, nationally representative samples, interventions, and behavioral endpoints or objective outcomes increase the potential impact of the research on contemporary society.

Of note, authors and reviewers will be asked to describe what criterion/a met by each manuscript. JPSP-ASC seeks to acknowledge the research context in evaluating manuscripts. In some cases, a single large-scale survey accompanied by a well-powered, pre-registered experiment may be appropriate for publication without further data. Similarly, studies with smaller, difficult to obtain samples may be appropriate in the context of other studies.

Statement of limitations following the abstract

A statement of limitations should follow the abstract. Using up to 200 words, this statement should detail the internal, construct, statistical, and external validity limitations of the research for nonspecialized audiences.

Statement of authors contributions

Please provide a statement of the contributions of each author in terms of conceptualization, design and data collection, and writing.

We strongly recommend that introductory materials (the introduction and any introduction to studies) along with the discussion of findings ( Discussion and General Discussion sections) total no more than 3,500 words .

General conciseness of Methods and Results Sections

The Methods and Results sections should be as concise as possible and details that might be of interest when replicating the study should appear in a supplement. For example, headings for each dependent measure within the Results section should typically be avoided. Materials should not be included in the Methods sections.

Statement and table of limitations

All empirical research has limitations, and we strive to avoid overclaiming and communicate the boundaries of our knowledge to the public, including the press. The examples of a statement and a table of limitations below were developed based on a published paper. Authors may find different ways of conveying the same information and provide further details as required by the research they report. The general goal is to convey limitations as completely and succinctly as possible.

Connor, P., Weeks, M., Glaser, J., Chen, S., & Keltner, D. (2023). Intersectional implicit bias: Evidence for asymmetrically compounding bias and the predominance of target gender. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124(1) :22-48. 10.1037/pspa0000314. Epub 2022 May 19. PMID: 35587425.

Statement of limitations

Our research examined implicit evaluations of complex social targets who differ in demographic dimensions such as gender, race, and social class. Although we examined implicit measures of bias, the absence of behavioral measures makes our results silent to overt consequences of bias or interpersonal interactions in the real world. Our conclusions about the dominance of gender and class had high statistical power and should be reproducible with similar US samples in the short term. However, evolving social conditions for different demographic groups may change these findings in the longer term. The analyses concerning the absence of interactions among dimensions are less highly powered and need to be replicated with larger samples or more sensitive experimental methods. Also, although the studies were conducted with both headshots and full-body photographs, we did not study target differences in behavior, including how members of different groups communicate and themselves respond to different perceivers. Similarly, we did not study the different contexts of social targets, including differential levels of exclusion that can affect how they are perceived beyond their photographs.

Assessment of limitations

Internal validity.

Dimension: Is the phenomenon diagnosed with experimental methods? Assessment: Yes

Dimension: Is the phenomenon diagnosed with longitudinal methods? Assessment: No

Dimension: Were the manipulations validated with manipulation checks, pretest data, or outcome data? Assessment: Outcome data in Study 1 and pretest data in Study 2

Dimension: What possible artifacts were ruled out? Assessment: We ruled out the possibility that our results were due to using headshots instead of full-body photographs displaying richer information. We also ruled out the possibility that low levels of racial bias produced our results.

Statistical validity

Dimension: Was the statistical power at least 80%? Assessment: It was for the main effects but not for interactions

Dimension: Was the reliability of the dependent measure established in this publication or elsewhere in the literature? Assessment: Yes, we obtained split-half reliability coefficients in this paper.

Dimension: If covariates are used, have the researchers ensured they are no affected by the experimental manipulation before including them in comparisons across experimental groups? Assessment: Not applicable

Dimension: Were the distributional properties of the variables examined and did the variables have sufficient variability to verify effects? Assessment: Yes

Generalizability to different methods

Dimension: Were different experimental manipulations used? Assessment: We used headshots and full-body photos. However, we did used a single measure of bias, which is implicit. We used only the IAT and no other measures of attitudes. We did not use measures of behavior.

Generalizability to field settings

Dimension: Was the phenomenon assessed in a field setting? Assessment: No

Dimension: Are the methods artificial? Assessment: Yes, the methods are highly artificial

Generalizability to times and populations

Dimension: Are the results generalizable to different years and historic periods? Assessment: This was not tested, but, given changing contexts of social biases, results may be different for other historic periods.

Dimension: Are the results generalizable across populations (e.g., different ages, cultures, or nationalities)? Assessment: This was not tested, but, given that all studies included US samples, results will likely differ in other populations.

Theoretical limitations

Dimension: What are the main theoretical limitations? Assessment: Our studies tested hypotheses about additive and interactive combinations of demographic attributes as well as differences in the dominance of some attributes versus others. However, imitations include (a) the lack of consideration of different contexts in which intersectional biases might emerge and (b) lack of investigation of the underlying processes leading to our results.

Table of limitations

To ensure that limitations are properly considered and concisely communicated, the manuscript should include a table of limitations in which authors will list points of uncertainty, including aspects of reproducibility and generalizability to future and different settings as well as different samples. One paragraph of the General Discussion should complement the content of the table, explaining how the methods and sampling may shape the conclusions that can be drawn from the present work, boundaries of the current theory, and/or new hypotheses stemming from these considerations. This table, which does not count toward the limit of 3,500 words, should be creatively used to offset the word limit and respond to reviewers’ concerns.

Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes

Sandra L. Murray, PhD Department of Psychology University at Buffalo, State University of New York Buffalo, NY, 14260-4110

Submit Manuscript to Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes Section

Please submit manuscripts to the editorial office of Sandra L. Murray, PhD, electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Microsoft Word (.docx) or LaTex (.tex) as a zip file with an accompanied Portable Document Format (.pdf) of the manuscript file.

Relationships between people, whether between friends, romantic partners, parents and children, coworkers, ingroups, outgroups, communities, or cultural groups, constitute the essential fabric of human existence. Submissions to JPSP:IRGP should advance understanding of how such relationships function; submissions that increase our understanding of how such relationships function in different sociocultural contexts will be especially welcomed.

In evaluating submissions (both original research and meta-analyses), our editorial team will prioritize science that offers novel theoretical insights and makes new and important discoveries that further our understanding of the relationships that unite/ divide humanity. Published articles will represent the best (i.e., most theoretically innovative and empirically rigorous) of the papers that our community of scholars submits.

Published articles will be written to reach the widest possible audience, putting a premium on the concise and clear communication of theory and limiting the number of studies presented in the manuscript itself to those that provide the most methodologically rigorous tests of the study hypotheses (to a maximum of 5). In evaluating submissions, our editorial team will hold high, but attainable standards. We will heavily weigh the difficulty of the hypothesis test, recognizing that especially rigorous/intensive methodologies may yield compelling conclusions with fewer than 5 studies. That is, all else being equal, we will prioritize the quality of the studies over the quantity of the studies. We will also recognize that papers can make innovative theoretical contributions without addressing every alternative or mechanism and that nonsignificant or anomalous effects can arise even when the overall support for the study hypotheses is robust.

Submissions can make innovative theoretical contributions in a number of ways (adapted from JPSP: ASC ), including:

(a) developing a new theory and offering new evidence to support it, (b) using an existing theory to explain a new phenomenon, (c) making novel connections between two theories to address new empirical questions, (d) using an existing theory to integrate previously unconnected phenomena, (e) providing a new mechanistic explanation for established phenomena, (f) conceptualizing moderators that explain conflicting predictions in the literature or help us understand the conditions under which an established phenomenon occurs,(g) introducing new elements to a theory that failed to explain a phenomenon, (h) introducing a new theoretical construct and demonstrating its importance, and (i) examining an existing/new theory or phenomenon in an understudied population because the power of our explanatory models rests on research that represents the diversity of human experiences.

Submission guidelines

  • Submissions can report a maximum of 5 studies in the manuscript text. Any studies conducted to test the study hypotheses that are not reported in the manuscript must be reported in the supplemental materials, with the results of these studies summarized briefly in the manuscript text. The reports of any such studies in the supplemental document should be complete, with the main measures of interest (those overlapping with measures reported in the main text) and associated results reported first, followed by a listing of any additional measures collected.
  • Introductory and discussion sections are limited to no more than 5,000 words in total (including general and study-specific introductions and discussions). This word count must be noted on the title page.
  • Results sections are to be written to be accessible to readers with general statistical expertise, relying on figures and explanatory text to communicate the findings and relegating any more complex and detailed justification of the statistical methods to tables, notes, and/or supplementary materials. Authors are to prioritize integrative analyses across data sets and/or meta-analyses whenever possible, also including the main measures of interest from any studies reported only in the supplemental materials.
  • Authors are to include a focused discussion of salient alternative explanations for the reported findings. Alternative explanations may include questions of construct validity (e.g., an alternative conceptualization of the meaning of a manipulation/measure), alternative/additional mechanisms or mediators, or alternative causal models, etc. Whenever possible, authors are to describe how the reported study design/data can be used to address such limitations and/or the type of study design/data needed to address such alternatives in the future. Details about analyses conducted to rule out alternative explanations can be provided in the supplementary online materials. Alternative explanations can be raised/addressed in the discussion text and/or tables. Information provided in tables will not contribute to the word limit.
  • Authors are to acknowledge (a) points of theoretical connection/disconnection to related theories and (b) how readily the findings may generalize to non-studied populations.
  • Authors are to embed tables and figures in the manuscript text.
  • Any supplementary online materials must include a table of contents.

Personality Processes and Individual Differences

To submit to the editorial office of Richard Lucas, PhD, please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Word Document format (.doc).

Submit Manuscript to Personality Processes and Individual Differences Section

Richard Lucas Department of Psychology  Michigan State University  East Lansing, MI 48824

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences now requires that a cover letter be submitted with all new submissions.

The cover letters should:

  • Include the author's postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number for future correspondence
  • State that the manuscript is original, not previously published, and not under concurrent consideration elsewhere
  • Indicate whether a previous version of the submitted manuscript was previously rejected from any section of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ; and if so, identify the action editor handling the previous submission, provide the prior manuscript #, and describe how the present article differs from the previously rejected one
  • State that the data were collected in a manner consistent with ethical standards for the treatment of human subjects
  • Inform the journal editor of the existence of any published work using the same data (in whole or in part) as was used in the present manuscript; if such publications exist, describe the extent and nature of any overlap between the present submission and the previously published work
  • Mention any supplemental material being submitting for the online version of the article

Authors are also required to embed tables and figures within the manuscript, instead of providing these after the references.

Manuscript preparation

Review APA's Journal Manuscript Preparation Guidelines before submitting your article.

Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual . Additional guidance on APA Style is available on the APA Style website .

Cumulative line numbers must be included with all submissions.

Masked review policy

The journal has adopted a policy of masked review for all submissions. The cover letter should include all authors' names and institutional affiliations. The first page of text should omit this information but should include the title of the manuscript and the date it is submitted. Every effort should be made to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to the authors' identity, including grant numbers, names of institutions providing IRB approval, self-citations, and links to online repositories for data, materials, code, or preregistrations (e.g., Create a View-only Link for a Project ).

Word limits

Although papers should be written as succinctly as possible, there is no formal word limit on submissions.

Author contributions statements using CRediT

The APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) stipulates that “authorship encompasses…not only persons who do the writing but also those who have made substantial scientific contributions to a study.” In the spirit of transparency and openness, the  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  has adopted the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to describe each author's individual contributions to the work. CRediT offers authors the opportunity to share an accurate and detailed description of their diverse contributions to a manuscript.

Submitting authors will be asked to identify the contributions of all authors at initial submission according to this taxonomy. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the CRediT designations will be published as an author contributions statement in the author note of the final article. All authors should have reviewed and agreed to their individual contribution(s) before submission.

CRediT includes 14 contributor roles, as described below:

  • Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
  • Data curation: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later reuse.
  • Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
  • Funding acquisition: Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication.
  • Investigation: Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection.
  • Methodology: Development or design of methodology; creation of models.
  • Project administration: Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution.
  • Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools.
  • Software: Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
  • Supervision: Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team.
  • Validation: Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs.
  • Visualization: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
  • Writing—original draft: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
  • Writing—review and editing: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary or revision—including pre- or post-publication stages.

Authors can claim credit for more than one contributor role, and the same role can be attributed to more than one author.

Abstract and keywords

All manuscripts must include an abstract containing a maximum of 250 words typed on a separate page. After the abstract, please supply up to five keywords or brief phrases.

List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the references section.

Examples of basic reference formats:

Journal article

McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review , 126 (1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

Authored book

Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

Chapter in an edited book

Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones. K. P., & Safren, S. A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012

All data, program code and other methods must be cited in the text and listed in the References section.

Data set citation

Alegria, M., Jackson, J. S., Kessler, R. C., & Takeuchi, D. (2016). Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001–2003 [Data set]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20240.v8

Software/Code citation

Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package.  Journal of Statistical Software , 36(3), 1–48. https://www.jstatsoft.org/v36/i03/

Wickham, H. et al., (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4 (43), 1686, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686

All data, program code, and other methods must be appropriately cited in the text and listed in the references section.

Use Word's insert table function when you create tables. Using spaces or tabs in your table will create problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors.

Preferred formats for graphics files are TIFF and JPG, and preferred format for vector-based files is EPS. Graphics downloaded or saved from web pages are not acceptable for publication. Multipanel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file. When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.

  • All color line art and halftones: 300 DPI
  • Black and white line tone and gray halftone images: 600 DPI

Line weights

  • Color (RGB, CMYK) images: 2 pixels
  • Grayscale images: 4 pixels
  • Stroke weight: 0.5 points

APA offers authors the option to publish their figures online in color without the costs associated with print publication of color figures.

The same caption will appear on both the online (color) and print (black and white) versions. To ensure that the figure can be understood in both formats, authors should add alternative wording (e.g., “the red (dark gray) bars represent”) as needed.

For authors who prefer their figures to be published in color both in print and online, original color figures can be printed in color at the editor's and publisher's discretion provided the author agrees to pay:

  • $900 for one figure
  • An additional $600 for the second figure
  • An additional $450 for each subsequent figure

Display equations

We strongly encourage you to use MathType (third-party software) or Equation Editor 3.0 (built into pre-2007 versions of Word) to construct your equations, rather than the equation support that is built into Word 2007 and Word 2010. Equations composed with the built-in Word 2007/Word 2010 equation support are converted to low-resolution graphics when they enter the production process and must be rekeyed by the typesetter, which may introduce errors.

To construct your equations with MathType or Equation Editor 3.0:

  • Go to the Text section of the Insert tab and select Object.
  • Select MathType or Equation Editor 3.0 in the drop-down menu.

If you have an equation that has already been produced using Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and you have access to the full version of MathType 6.5 or later, you can convert this equation to MathType by clicking on MathType Insert Equation. Copy the equation from Microsoft Word and paste it into the MathType box. Verify that your equation is correct, click File, and then click Update. Your equation has now been inserted into your Word file as a MathType Equation.

Use Equation Editor 3.0 or MathType only for equations or for formulas that cannot be produced as Word text using the Times or Symbol font.

Computer code

Because altering computer code in any way (e.g., indents, line spacing, line breaks, page breaks) during the typesetting process could alter its meaning, we treat computer code differently from the rest of your article in our production process. To that end, we request separate files for computer code.

In online supplemental materials

We request that runnable source code be included as supplemental material to the article. For more information, visit Supplementing Your Article With Online Material .

In the text of the article

If you would like to include code in the text of your published manuscript, please submit a separate file with your code exactly as you want it to appear, using Courier New font with a type size of 8 points. We will make an image of each segment of code in your article that exceeds 40 characters in length. (Shorter snippets of code that appear in text will be typeset in Courier New and run in with the rest of the text.) If an appendix contains a mix of code and explanatory text, please submit a file that contains the entire appendix, with the code keyed in 8-point Courier New.

Submitting supplemental materials

APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the PsycArticles ® database. Please see Supplementing Your Article With Online Material for more details.

Permissions

Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work, including test materials (or portions thereof), photographs, and other graphic images (including those used as stimuli in experiments).

On advice of counsel, APA may decline to publish any image whose copyright status is unknown.

  • Download Permissions Alert Form (PDF, 13KB)

Academic writing and English language editing services

Authors who feel that their manuscript may benefit from additional academic writing or language editing support prior to submission are encouraged to seek out such services at their host institutions, engage with colleagues and subject matter experts, and/or consider several vendors that offer discounts to APA authors .

Please note that APA does not endorse or take responsibility for the service providers listed. It is strictly a referral service.

Use of such service is not mandatory for publication in an APA journal. Use of one or more of these services does not guarantee selection for peer review, manuscript acceptance, or preference for publication in any APA journal.

Publication policies

For full details on publication policies, including use of Artificial Intelligence tools, please see APA Publishing Policies .

APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.

See also APA Journals ® Internet Posting Guidelines .

APA requires authors to reveal any possible conflict of interest in the conduct and reporting of research (e.g., financial interests in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research).

  • Download Full Disclosure of Interests Form (PDF, 41KB)

In light of changing patterns of scientific knowledge dissemination, APA requires authors to provide information on prior dissemination of the data and narrative interpretations of the data/research appearing in the manuscript (e.g., if some or all were presented at a conference or meeting, posted on a listserv, shared on a website, including academic social networks like ResearchGate, etc.). This information (2–4 sentences) must be provided as part of the author note.

See APA’s Publishing Policies page for more information on publication policies, including information on author contributorship and responsibilities of authors, author name changes after publication, the use of generative artificial intelligence, funder information and conflict-of-interest disclosures, duplicate publication, data publication and reuse, and preprints.

Ethical Principles

It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish “as original data, data that have been previously published” (Standard 8.13).

In addition, APA Ethical Principles specify that “after research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release” (Standard 8.14).

APA expects authors to adhere to these standards. Specifically, APA expects authors to have their data available throughout the editorial review process and for at least 5 years after the date of publication.

Authors are required to state in writing that they have complied with APA ethical standards in the treatment of their sample, human or animal, or to describe the details of treatment.

  • Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

The APA Ethics Office provides the full Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct electronically on its website in HTML, PDF, and Word format. You may also request a copy by emailing or calling the APA Ethics Office (202-336-5930). You may also read "Ethical Principles," December 1992, American Psychologist , Vol. 47, pp. 1597–1611.

Other information

Visit the Journals Publishing Resource Center for more resources for writing, reviewing, and editing articles for publishing in APA journals.

  • View Attitudes and Social Cognition Section Editorial Board
  • View Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes Section Editorial Board
  • View Personality Processes and Individual Differences Section Editorial Board

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Transparency and Openness Promotion

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines by a community working group in conjunction with the Center for Open Science ( Nosek et al. 2015 ). The TOP Guidelines cover eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting that can be followed by journals and authors at three levels of compliance.

  • Level 1: Disclosure—The article must disclose whether or not the materials are posted to a trusted repository.
  • Level 2: Requirement—The article must share materials via a trusted repository when legally and ethically permitted (or disclose the legal and/or ethical restriction when not permitted).
  • Level 3: Verification—A third party must verify that the standard is met.

As of July 1, 2021, empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  must, at a minimum, meet Level 2 (Requirement) for all aspects of research planning and reporting. Authors should include a subsection in their methods description titled “Transparency and Openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to comply with the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines.

The list below summarizes the minimal TOP requirements of the journal. Please refer to the Center for Open Science TOP guidelines for details, and contact the editors with any further questions:

  • Attitudes and Social Cognition : Shinobu Kitayama, PhD
  • Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes : Colin Wayne Leach, PhD
  • Personality Processes and Individual Differences : Richard Lucas, PhD

Authors must share data, materials, and code via  trusted repositories (e.g., APA’s repository on the Open Science Framework (OSF)), and APA encourages investigators to preregister their studies and analysis plans prior to conducting the research. There are many available preregistration forms (e.g., the APA Preregistration for Quantitative Research in Psychology template, ClininalTrials.gov , or other preregistration templates available via OSF ). Completed preregistration forms should be posted on a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF , ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network). Trusted repositories adhere to policies that make data discoverable, accessible, usable, and preserved for the long term. Trusted repositories also assign unique and persistent identifiers.

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The following list presents the eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting, the TOP level required by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , and a brief description of the journal's policy.

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The Social Consequences of Poverty: An Empirical Test on Longitudinal Data

Carina mood.

Institute for Futures Studies, Box 591, 101 31 Stockholm, Sweden

Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Jan O. Jonsson

Nuffield College, OX1 1NF Oxford, England, UK

Poverty is commonly defined as a lack of economic resources that has negative social consequences, but surprisingly little is known about the importance of economic hardship for social outcomes. This article offers an empirical investigation into this issue. We apply panel data methods on longitudinal data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey 2000 and 2010 (n = 3089) to study whether poverty affects four social outcomes—close social relations (social support), other social relations (friends and relatives), political participation, and activity in organizations. We also compare these effects across five different poverty indicators. Our main conclusion is that poverty in general has negative effects on social life. It has more harmful effects for relations with friends and relatives than for social support; and more for political participation than organizational activity. The poverty indicator that shows the greatest impact is material deprivation (lack of cash margin), while the most prevalent poverty indicators—absolute income poverty, and especially relative income poverty—appear to have the least effect on social outcomes.

Introduction

According to the most influential definitions, poverty is seen as a lack of economic resources that have negative social consequences—this is in fact a view that dominates current theories of poverty (Townsend 1979 ; Sen 1983 ; UN 1995 ), and also has a long heritage (Smith 1776 /1976). The idea is that even when people have food, clothes, and shelter, economic problems lead to a deterioration of social relations and participation. Being poor is about not being able to partake in society on equal terms with others, and therefore in the long run being excluded by fellow citizens or withdrawing from social and civic life because of a lack of economic resources, typically in combination with the concomitant shame of not being able to live a life like them (e.g., Sen 1983 ). Economic hardship affects the standard of life, consumption patterns, and leisure time activities, and this is directly or indirectly related to the possibility of making or maintaining friends or acquaintances: poverty is revealed by not having appropriate clothes, or a car; by not being able to afford vacation trips, visits to the restaurant, or hosting dinner parties (e.g., Mack and Lansley 1985 ; Callan et al. 1993 )—in short, low incomes prevent the poor from living a life in “decency” (Galbraith 1958 ).

The relational nature of poverty is also central to the social exclusion literature, which puts poverty in a larger perspective of multiple disadvantages and their interrelationships (Hills et al. 2002 , Rodgers et al. 1995 ; Room 1995 ). While there are different definitions of the social exclusion concept, the literature is characterized by a move from distributional to relational concerns (Gore 1995 ) and by an emphasis on the importance of social integration and active participation in public life. The inability of living a decent or “ordinary” social life may in this perspective erode social networks, social relations, and social participation, potentially setting off a downward spiral of misfortune (Paugam 1995 ) reinforcing disadvantages in several domains of life. This perspective on poverty and social exclusion is essentially sociological: the playing field of the private economy is social. It is ultimately about individuals’ relations with other people—not only primary social relations, with kin and friends, but extending to secondary relations reflected by participation in the wider community, such as in organizations and in political life (UN 1995 ).

Despite the fact that the social consequences of limited economic resources are central to modern perspectives on poverty and marginalization, this relation is surprisingly seldom studied empirically. Qualitative research on the poor give interesting examples on how the negative effects of poverty works, and portray the way that economic problems are transformed into social ones (Ridge and Millar 2011 ; Attree 2006 ). Such studies, however, have too small sample sizes to generalize to the population, and they cannot tell us much about the range of the problem. The (relatively few) studies that have addressed the association between poverty and social outcomes on larger scale tend to verify that the poor have worse social relations (Böhnke 2008 ; Jonsson and Östberg 2004 ; Levitas 2006 ), but Barnes et al. ( 2002 ) did not find any noteworthy association between poverty (measured as relative income poverty, using the 60 %-limit) and social relations or social isolation. Dahl et al. ( 2008 ) found no relation between poverty and friendships, but report less participation in civic organizations among the poor. All these studies have however been limited to cross-sectional data or hampered by methodological shortcomings, and therefore have not been able to address the separation of selection effects from potentially causal ones.

Our aim in this study is to make good these omissions. We use longitudinal data from the Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU) 2000 and 2010 to study how falling into poverty, or rising from it, is associated with outcomes in terms of primary and secondary social relations, including participation in civil society. These panel data make it possible to generalize the results to the Swedish adult population (19–65 in 2000; 29–75 in 2010), to address the issue of causality, and to estimate how strong the relation between economic vulnerability and social outcomes is. Because the data provide us with the possibility of measuring poverty in several ways, we are also able to address the question using different—alternative or complementary—indicators. Poverty is measured as economic deprivation (lack of cash margin, self-reported economic problems), income poverty (absolute and relative), and long-term poverty, respectively. The primary, or core, social outcomes are indicated by having social support if needed, and by social relations with friends and relatives. We expand our analysis to secondary, or fringe, social outcomes in terms of participation in social life at large, such as in civil society: our indicators here include the participation in organizations and in political life.

Different Dimensions/Definitions of Poverty

In modern welfare states, the normal take on the issue of poverty is to regard it as the relative lack of economic resources, that is, to define the poor in relation to their fellow citizens in the same country at the same time. Three approaches dominate the scholarly literature today. The first takes as a point of departure the income deemed necessary for living a life on par with others, or that makes possible an “acceptable” living standard—defined as the goods and services judged necessary, often on the basis of consumer or household budget studies. This usage of a poverty threshold is often (somewhat confusingly) called absolute income poverty , and is most common in North America (cf. Corak 2006 for a review), although most countries have poverty lines defined for different kinds of social benefits. In Europe and in the OECD, the convention is instead to use versions of relative income poverty , defining as poor those whose incomes fall well behind the median income in the country in question (European Union using 60 % and OECD 50 % of the median as the threshold). As an alternative to using purchasing power (as in the “absolute” measure), this relative measure defines poverty by income inequality in the bottom half of the income distribution (Atkinson et al. 2002 ; OECD 2008 ).

The third approach argues that income measures are too indirect; poverty should instead be indicated directly by the lack of consumer products and services that are necessary for an acceptable living standard (Mack and Lansley 1985 ; Ringen 1988 ; Townsend 1979 ). This approach often involves listing a number of possessions and conditions, such as having a car, washing machine, modern kitchen; and being able to dine out sometimes, to have the home adequately heated and mended, to have sufficient insurances, and so on. An elaborate version includes information on what people in general see as necessities, what is often termed “consensual” poverty (e.g., Mack and Lansley 1985 ; Gordon et al. 2000 ; Halleröd 1995 ; van den Bosch 2001 ). Other direct indicators include the ability to cover unforeseen costs (cash margin) and subjective definitions of poverty (e.g., van den Bosch 2001 ). The direct approach to poverty has gained in popularity and measures of economic/material deprivation and consensual poverty are used in several recent and contemporary comparative surveys such as ECHP (Whelan et al. 2003 ) and EU-SILC (e.g., UNICEF 2012 ; Nolan and Whelan 2011 ).

It is often pointed out that, due to the often quite volatile income careers of households, the majority of poverty episodes are short term and the group that is identified as poor in the cross-section therefore tends to be rather diluted (Bane and Ellwood 1986 ; Duncan et al. 1993 ). Those who suffer most from the downsides of poverty are, it could be argued, instead the long-term, persistent, or chronically poor, and there is empirical evidence that those who experience more years in poverty also are more deprived of a “common lifestyle” (Whelan et al. 2003 ). Poverty persistence has been defined in several ways, such as having spent a given number of years below a poverty threshold, or having an average income over a number of years that falls under the poverty line (e.g., Duncan and Rodgers 1991 ; Rodgers and Rodgers 1993 ). The persistently poor can only be detected with any precision in longitudinal studies, and typically on the basis of low incomes, as data covering repeated measures of material deprivation are uncommon.

For the purposes of this study, it is not essential to nominate the best or most appropriate poverty measure. The measures outlined above, while each having some disadvantage, all provide plausible theoretical grounds for predicting negative social outcomes. Low incomes, either in “absolute” or relative terms, may inhibit social activities and participation because these are costly (e.g., having decent housing, needing a car, paying membership fees, entrance tickets, or new clothes). Economic deprivation, often indicated by items or habits that are directly relevant to social life, is also a valid representation of a lack of resources. Lastly, to be in long-term poverty is no doubt a worse condition than being in shorter-term poverty.

It is worth underlining that we see different measures of poverty as relevant indicators despite the fact that the overlap between them often is surprisingly small (Bradshaw and Finch 2003 ). The lack of overlap is not necessarily a problem, as different people may have different configurations of economic problems but share in common many of the experiences of poverty—experiences, we argue, that are (in theory at least) all likely to lead to adverse social outcomes. Whether this is the case or not is one of the questions that we address, but if previous studies on child poverty are of any guidance, different definitions of poverty may show surprisingly similar associations with a number of outcomes (Jonsson and Östberg 2004 ).

What are the Likely Social Consequences of Poverty?

We have concluded that poverty is, according to most influential poverty definitions, manifested in the social sphere. This connects with the idea of Veblen ( 1899 ) of the relation between consumption and social status. What you buy and consume—clothes, furniture, vacation trips—in part define who you are, which group you aspire to belong to, and what view others will have of you. Inclusion into and exclusion from status groups and social circles are, in this view, dependent on economic resources as reflected in consumption patterns. While Veblen was mostly concerned about the rich and their conspicuous consumption, it is not difficult to transfer these ideas to the less fortunate: the poor are under risk of exclusion, of losing their social status and identity, and perhaps also, therefore, their friends. It is however likely that this is a process that differs according to outcome, with an unknown time-lag.

If, as outlined above, we can speak of primary and secondary social consequences, the former should include socializing with friends, but also more intimate relations. Our conjecture is that the closer the relation, the less affected is it by poverty, simply because intimate social bonds are characterized by more unconditional personal relations, typically not requiring costs to uphold.

When it comes to the secondary social consequences, we move outside the realm of closer interpersonal relations to acquaintances and the wider social network, and to the (sometimes relatively anonymous) participation in civil or political life. This dimension of poverty lies at the heart of the social exclusion perspective, which strongly emphasizes the broader issues of societal participation and civic engagement, vital to democratic societies. It is also reflected in the United Nation’s definition, following the Copenhagen summit in 1995, where “overall poverty” in addition to lack of economic resources is said to be “…characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social, and cultural life” (UN 1995 , p. 57). Poverty may bring about secondary social consequences because such participation is costly—as in the examples of travel, need for special equipment, or membership fees—but also because of psychological mechanisms, such as lowered self-esteem triggering disbelief in civic and political activities, and a general passivity leading to decreased organizational and social activities overall. If processes like these exist there is a risk of a “downward spiral of social exclusion” where unemployment leads to poverty and social isolation, which in turn reduce the chances of re-gaining a footing in the labour market (Paugam 1995 ).

What theories of poverty and social exclusion postulate is, in conclusion, that both what we have called primary and secondary social relations will be negatively affected by economic hardship—the latter supposedly more than the former. Our strategy in the following is to test this basic hypothesis by applying multivariate panel-data analyses on longitudinal data. In this way, we believe that we can come further than previous studies towards estimating causal effects, although, as is the case in social sciences, the causal relation must remain preliminary due to the nature of observational data.

Data and Definitions

We use the two most recent waves of the Swedish Level-of-living Survey, conducted in 2000 and 2010 on random (1/1000) samples of adult Swedes, aged 18–75. 1 The attrition rate is low, with 84 % of panel respondents remaining from 2000 to 2010. This is one of the few data sets from which we can get over-time measures of both poverty and social outcomes for a panel that is representative of the adult population (at the first time point, t 0 )—in addition, there is annual income information from register data between the waves. The panel feature obviously restricts the age-groups slightly (ages 19–65 in 2000; 29–75 in 2010), the final number of analyzed cases being between 2995 and 3144, depending on the number of missing cases on the respective poverty measure and social outcome variable. For ease of interpretation and comparison of effect sizes, we have constructed all social outcome variables and poverty variables to be dichotomous (0/1). 2

In constructing poverty variables, we must balance theoretical validity with the need to have group sizes large enough for statistical analysis. For example, we expand the absolute poverty measure to include those who received social assistance any time during the year. As social assistance recipients receive this benefit based on having an income below a poverty line that is similar to the one we use, this seems justifiable. In other cases, however, group sizes are small but we find no theoretically reasonable way of making the variables more inclusive, meaning that some analyses cannot be carried out in full detail.

Our income poverty measures are based on register data and are thus free from recall error or misreporting, but—as the proponents of deprivation measures point out—income poverty measures are indirect measures of hardship. The deprivation measure is more direct, but self-reporting always carries a risk of subjectivity in the assessment. To the extent that changes in one’s judgment of the economic situation depend on changes in non-economic factors that are also related to social relations, the deprivation measure will give upwardly biased estimates. 3 As there is no general agreement about whether income or deprivation definitions are superior, our use of several definitions is a strength because the results will give an overall picture that is not sensitive to potential limitations in any one measure. In addition, we are able to see whether results vary systematically across commonly used definitions.

Poverty Measures

  • Cash margin whether the respondent can raise a given sum of money in a week, if necessary (in 2000, the sum was 12,000 SEK; in 2010, 14,000 SEK, the latter sum corresponding to approximately 1600 Euro, 2200 USD, or 1400 GBP in 2013 currency rates). For those who answer in the affirmative, there is a follow-up question of how this can be done: by (a) own/household resources, (b) borrowing.
  • Economic crisis Those who claim that they have had problems meeting costs for rent, food, bills, etc. during the last 12 months (responded “yes” to a yes/no alternative).
  • Absolute poverty is defined as either (a) having a disposable family income below a poverty threshold or (b) receiving social assistance, both assessed in 1999 (for the survey 2000) or 2009 (for the survey 2010). The poverty line varies by family type/composition according to a commonly used calculation of household necessities (Jansson 2000 ). This “basket” of goods and services is intended to define an acceptable living standard, and was originally constructed for calculating an income threshold for social assistance, with addition of estimated costs for housing and transport. The threshold is adjusted for changes in the Consumer Price Index, using 2010 as the base year. In order to get analyzable group sizes, we classify anyone with an income below 1.25 times this threshold as poor. Self-employed are excluded because their nominal incomes are often a poor indicator of their economic standard.
  • Deprived and income poor A combination of the indicator of economic deprivation and the indicator of absolute poverty. The poor are defined as those who are economically deprived and in addition are either absolute income-poor or have had social assistance some time during the last calendar year.
  • Long - term poor are defined as those interviewed in 2010 (2000) who had an equivalized disposable income that fell below the 1.25 absolute poverty threshold (excluding self-employed) or who received social assistance in 2009 (1999), and who were in this situation for at least two of the years 2000–2008 (1990–1998). The long-term poor (coded 1) are contrasted to the non-poor (coded 0), excluding the short-term poor (coded missing) in order to distinguish whether long-term poverty is particularly detrimental (as compared to absolute poverty in general).
  • Relative poverty is defined, according to the EU standard, as having a disposable equivalized income that is lower than 60 % of the median income in Sweden the year in question (EU 2005). 4 As for absolute poverty, this variable is based on incomes the year prior to the survey year. Self-employed are excluded.

Social and Participation Outcomes

Primary (core) social relations.

  • Social support The value 1 (has support) is given to those who have answered in the positive to three questions about whether one has a close friend who can help if one (a) gets sick, (b) needs someone to talk to about troubles, or (c) needs company. Those who lack support in at least one of these respects are coded 0 (lack of support).
  • Frequent social relations This variable is based on four questions about how often one meets (a) relatives and (b) friends, either (i) at ones’ home or (ii) at the home of those one meets, with the response set being “yes, often”, “sometimes”, and “no, never”. Respondents are defined as having frequent relations (1) if they have at least one “often” of the four possible and no “never”, 5 and 0 otherwise.

Secondary (fringe) Social Relations/Participation

  • Political participation : Coded 1 (yes) if one during the last 12 months actively participated (held an elected position or was at a meeting) in a trade union or a political party, and 0 (no) otherwise. 6
  • Organizational activity : Coded 1 (yes) if one is a member of an organization and actively participate in its activities at least once in a year, and 0 (no) otherwise.

Control Variables

  • Age (in years)
  • Educational qualifications in 2010 (five levels according to a standard schema used by Statistics Sweden (1985), entered as dummy variables)
  • Civil status distinguishes between single and cohabiting/married persons, and is used as a time-varying covariate (TVC) where we register any changes from couple to single and vice versa.
  • Immigrant origin is coded 1 if both parents were born in any country outside Sweden, 0 otherwise.
  • Labour market status is also used as a TVC, with four values indicating labour market participation (yes/no) in 2000 and 2010, respectively.
  • Global self - rated health in 2000, with three response alternatives: Good, bad, or in between. 7

Table  1 shows descriptive statistics for the 2 years we study, 2000 and 2010 (percentages in the upper panel; averages, standard deviations, max and min values in the lower panel). Recall that the sample is longitudinal with the same respondents appearing in both years. This means, naturally, that the sample ages 10 years between the waves, the upper age limit being pushed up from 65 to 75. Both the change over years and the ageing of the sample have repercussions for their conditions: somewhat more have poor health, for example, fewer lack social support but more lack frequent social relations, and more are single in 2010 (where widows are a growing category). The group has however improved their economic conditions, with a sizeable reduction in poverty rates. Most of the changes are in fact period effects, and it is particularly obvious for the change in poverty—in 2000 people still suffered from the deep recession in Sweden that begun in 1991 and started to turn in 1996/97 (Jonsson et al. 2010 ), while the most recent international recession (starting in 2008/09) did not affect Sweden that much.

Table 1

Descriptive statistics of dependent and independent variables in the LNU panel

Categorical variables% in 2000% in 2010N
Social support93953150
Frequent social relations89843157
Civic participation (organizations)52443139
Political participation27243157
Economically deprived15103083
Poor (“absolute”)1563156
Poor (relative)19103139
Long-term poor/social assistance1253156
Deprived + income-poor/social assistance733082
Unemployed533153
Woman493157
Single25293157
Immigrant origin113157
3149
Comprehensive school15
Vocational secondary28
Academic upper secondary17
Short-cycle tertiary16
University degree24
3157
Good7875
In between1820
Poor45
Metric variableMeanStddevMinMaxN
Age 2010521329753157

N for variables used as change variables pertains to non-missing observations in both 2000 and 2010

The overall decrease in poverty masks changes that our respondents experienced between 2000 and 2010: Table  2 reveals these for the measure of economic deprivation, showing the outflow (row) percentages and the total percentages (and the number of respondents in parentheses). It is evident that there was quite a lot of mobility out of poverty between the years (61 % left), but also a very strong relative risk of being found in poverty in 2010 among those who were poor in 2000 (39 vs. 5 % of those who were non-poor in 2000). Of all our respondents, the most common situation was to be non-poor both years (81 %), while few were poor on both occasions (6 %). Table  2 also demonstrates some small cell numbers: 13.3 % of the panel (9.4 % + 3.9 %), or a good 400 cases, changed poverty status, and these cases are crucial for identifying our models. As in many panel studies based on survey data, this will inevitably lead to some problems with large standard errors and difficulties in arriving at statistically significant and precise estimates; but to preview the findings, our results are surprisingly consistent all the same.

Table 2

Mobility in poverty (measured as economic deprivation) in Sweden between 2000 and 2010

Poor in 2010Not poor in 2010Total
Row %39.160.9100.0
Total %6.09.415.4
(n)(186)(290)(476)
Row %4.695.4100.0
Total %3.980.784.6
(n)(119)(2488)(2607)
9.990.1100.0
(n)(305)(2778)(3083)

Outflow percentage (row %), total percentage, and number of cases (in parentheses). LNU panel 2000–2010

We begin with showing descriptive results of how poverty is associated with our outcome variables, using the economic deprivation measure of poverty. 8 Figure  1 confirms that those who are poor have worse social relationships and participate less in political life and in organizations. Poverty is thus connected with both primary and secondary social relations.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is 11205_2015_983_Fig1_HTML.jpg

The relation between poverty (measured as economic deprivation) and social relations/participation in Sweden, LNU 2010. N = 5271

The descriptive picture in Fig.  1 does not tell us anything about the causal nature of the relation between poverty and social outcomes, only that such a relation exists, and that it is in the predicted direction: poor people have weaker social relations, less support, and lower levels of political and civic participation. Our task now is to apply more stringent statistical models to test whether the relation we have uncovered is likely to be of a causal nature. This means that we must try to rid the association of both the risk for reverse causality—that, for example, a weaker social network leads to poverty—and the risk that there is a common underlying cause of both poverty and social outcomes, such as poor health or singlehood.

The Change Model

First, as we have panel data, we can study the difference in change across two time-points T (called t 0 and t 1 , respectively) in an outcome variable (e.g., social relations), between groups (i.e. those who changed poverty status versus those who did not). The respondents are assigned to either of these groups on the grounds of entering or leaving poverty; in the first case, one group is non-poor at t 0 but experiences poverty at t 1 , and the change in this group is compared to the group consisting of those who are non-poor both at t 0 and t 1 . The question in focus then is: Do social relations in the group entering poverty worsen in relation to the corresponding change in social relations in the group who remains non-poor? Because we have symmetric hypotheses of the effect of poverty on social outcomes—assuming leaving poverty has positive consequences similar to the negative consequences of entering poverty—we also study whether those who exit poverty improve their social outcomes as compared to those remaining poor. We ask, that is, not only what damage falling into poverty might have for social outcomes, but also what “social gains” could be expected for someone who climbs out of poverty.

Thus, in our analyses we use two different “change groups”, poverty leavers and poverty entrants , and two “comparison groups”, constantly poor and never poor , respectively. 9 The setup comparing the change in social outcomes for those who change poverty status and those who do not is analogous to a so-called difference-in-difference design, but as the allocation of respondents to comparison groups and change groups in our data cannot be assumed to be random (as with control groups and treatment groups in experimental designs), we take further measures to approach causal interpretations.

Accounting for the Starting Value of the Dependent Variable

An important indication of the non-randomness of the allocation to the change and comparison groups is that their average values of the social outcomes (i.e. the dependent variable) at t 0 differ systematically: Those who become poor between 2000 and 2010 have on average worse social outcomes already in 2000 than those who stay out of poverty. Similarly, those who stay in poverty both years have on average worse social outcomes than those who have exited poverty in 2010. In order to further reduce the impact of unobserved variables, we therefore make all comparisons of changes in social outcomes between t 0 and t 1 for fixed t 0 values of both social outcome and poverty status.

As we use dichotomous outcome variables, we get eight combinations of poverty and outcome states (2 × 2 × 2 = 8), and four direct strategic comparisons:

  • Poverty leavers versus constantly poor, positive social outcome in 2000 , showing if those who exit poverty have a higher chance of maintaining the positive social outcome than those who stay in poverty
  • Poverty leavers versus constantly poor, negative social outcome in 2000 , showing if those who exit poverty have a higher chance of improvement in the social outcome than those who stay in poverty
  • Poverty entrants versus never poor, positive social outcome in 2000 , showing if those who enter poverty have a higher risk of deterioration in the social outcome than those who stay out of poverty, and
  • Poverty entrants versus never poor, negative social outcome in 2000 , showing if those who enter poverty have a lower chance of improvement in the social outcome.

Thus, we hold the initial social situation and poverty status fixed, letting only the poverty in 2010 vary. 10 The analytical strategy is set out in Table  3 , showing estimates of the probability to have frequent social relations in 2010, for poverty defined (as in Table  2 and Fig.  1 above) as economic deprivation.

Table 3

Per cent with frequent social relations in “comparison” and “change” groups in 2000 and 2010, according to initial value on social relations in 2000 and poverty (measured as economic deprivation) in 2000 and 2010

Non-frequent social relations 2000Frequent social relations 2000
0–0 (never poor)0.590.90
0–1 (became poor)0.520.72
−0.07−0.17
1–1 (constantly poor)0.390.72
1–0 (escaped poverty)0.720.86
0.330.14

LNU panel 2000–2010. N = 3083

The figures in Table  3 should be read like this: 0.59 in the upper left cell means that among those who were poor neither in 2000 nor in 2010 (“never poor”, or 0–0), and who had non-frequent social relations to begin with, 59 % had frequent social relations in 2010. Among those never poor who instead started out with more frequent social relations, 90 per cent had frequent social relations in 2010. This difference (59 vs. 90) tells us either that the initial conditions were important (weak social relations can be inherently difficult to improve) or that there is heterogeneity within the group of never poor people, such as some having (to us perhaps unobserved) characteristics that support relation building while others have not.

Because our strategy is to condition on the initial situation in order to minimize the impact of initial conditions and unobserved heterogeneity, we focus on the comparisons across columns. If we follow each column downwards, that is, for a given initial social outcome (weak or not weak social relations, respectively) it is apparent that the outcome is worse for the “poverty entrants” in comparison with the “never poor” (upper three lines). Comparing the change group [those who became poor (0–1)] with the comparison group [never poor (0–0)] for those who started out with weak social relations (left column), the estimated probability of frequent social relations in 2010 is 7 % points lower for those who became poor. Among those who started out with frequent relations, those who became poor have a 17 % points lower probability of frequent relations in 2010 than those who stayed out of poverty.

If we move down Table  3 , to the three bottom lines, the change and comparison groups are now different. The comparison group is the “constantly poor” (1–1), and the change group are “poverty leavers” (1–0). Again following the columns downwards, we can see that the change group improved their social relations in comparison with the constantly poor; and this is true whether they started out with weak social relations or not. In fact, the chance of improvement for those who started off with non-frequent social relations is the most noteworthy, being 33 % units higher for those who escaped poverty than for those who did not. In sum, Table  3 suggests that becoming poor appears to be bad for social relations whereas escaping poverty is beneficial.

Expanding the Model

The model exemplified in Table  3 is a panel model that studies change across time within the same individuals, conditioning on their initial state. It does away with time-constant effects of observed and unobserved respondent characteristics, and although this is far superior to a cross-sectional model (such as the one underlying Fig.  1 ) there are still threats to causal interpretations. It is possible (if probably unusual) that permanent characteristics may trigger a change over time in both the dependent and independent variables; or, put in another way, whether a person stays in or exits poverty may be partly caused by a variable that also predicts change in the outcome (what is sometimes referred to as a violation of the “common trend assumption”). In our case, we can for example imagine that health problems in 2000 can affect who becomes poor in 2010, at t 1 , and that the same health problems can lead to a deterioration of social relations between 2000 and 2010, so even conditioning on the social relations at t 0 will not be enough. This we handle by adding control variables, attempting to condition the comparison of poor and non-poor also on sex, age, highest level of education (in 2010), immigrant status, and health (in 2000). 11

Given the set-up of our data—with 10 years between the two data-points and with no information on the precise time ordering of poverty and social outcomes at t 1 , the model can be further improved by including change in some of the control variables. It is possible, for example, that a non-poor and married respondent in 2000 divorced before 2010, triggering both poverty and reduced social relations at the time of the interview in 2010. 12 There are two major events that in this way may bias our results, divorce/separation and unemployment (because each can lead to poverty, and possibly also affect social outcomes). We handle this by controlling for variables combining civil status and unemployment in 2000 as well as in 2010. To the extent that these factors are a consequence of becoming poor, there is a risk of biasing our estimates downwards (e.g., if becoming poor increases the risk of divorce). However, as there is no way to distinguish empirically whether control variables (divorce, unemployment) or poverty changed first we prefer to report conservative estimates. 13

Throughout, we use logistic regression to estimate our models (one model for each social outcome and poverty definition). We create a dummy variable for each of the combinations of poverty in 2000, poverty in 2010 and the social outcome in 2000, and alternate the reference category in order to get the four strategic comparisons described above. Coefficients do thus express the distance between the relevant change and comparison groups. The coefficients reported are average marginal effects (AME) for a one-unit change in the respective poverty variable (i.e. going from non-poor to poor and vice versa), which are straightforwardly interpretable as percentage unit differences and (unlike odds ratios or log odds ratios) comparable across models and outcomes (Mood 2010 ).

Regression Results

As detailed above, we use changes over time in poverty and social outcomes to estimate the effects of interest. The effect of poverty is allowed to be heterogeneous, and is assessed through four comparisons of the social outcome in 2010 (Y 1 ):

  • Those entering poverty relative to those in constant non-poverty (P 01  = 0,1 vs. P 01  = 0,0) when both have favourable social outcomes at t 0 (Y 0  = 1)
  • Those exiting poverty relative to those in constant poverty (P 01  = 1,0 vs. P 01  = 1,1) when both have favourable social outcomes at t 0 (Y 0  = 1)
  • Those entering poverty relative to those in constant non-poverty (P 01  = 0,1 vs. P 01  = 0,0) when both have non-favourable social outcomes at t 0 (Y 0  = 0)
  • Those exiting poverty relative to those in constant poverty (P 01  = 1,0 vs. P 01  = 1,1) when both have non-favourable social outcomes at t 0 (Y 0  = 0)

Poverty is a rare outcome, and as noted above it is particularly uncommon to enter poverty between 2000 and 2010 because of the improving macro-economic situation. Some of the social outcomes were also rare in 2000. This unfortunately means that in some comparisons we have cell frequencies that are prohibitively small, and we have chosen to exclude all comparisons involving cells where N < 20.

The regression results are displayed in Table  4 . To understand how the estimates come to be, consider the four in the upper left part of the Table (0.330, 0.138, −0.175 and −0.065), reflecting the effect of poverty, measured as economic deprivation, on the probability of having frequent social relations. Because these estimates are all derived from a regression without any controls, they are identical (apart from using three decimal places) to the percentage comparisons in Table  3 (0.33, 0.14, −0.17, −0.07), and can be straightforwardly interpreted as average differences in the probability of the outcome in question. From Table  4 it is clear that the three first differences are all statistically significant, whereas the estimate −0.07 is not (primarily because those who entered poverty in 2010 and had infrequent social relations in 2000 is a small group, N = 25).

Table 4

Average marginal effects (from logistic regression) of five types of poverty (1–5) on four social outcomes (A-D) comparing those with different poverty statuses in 2000 and 2010 and conditioning on the starting value of the social outcome (in 2000)

Economically deprived (1)Absolute poor (2)Deprived and abs. poor (3)Long-term poor (4)Relative poor (5)
No controlsControlsNo controlsControlsNo controlsControlsNo controlsControlsNo controlsControls
P11 versus P10, Y0 = negative 0.172 0.291 0.1340.0820.130
(0.000)(0.029)(0.000)(0.114)(0.000)(0.052)(0.008)(0.251)(0.479)(0.240)
P11 versus P10, Y0 = positive 0.0500.035−0.048 0.0650.0260.034
(0.002)−0.048−0.005(0.260)(0.676)(0.374)(0.003)(0.225)(0.546)(0.455)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = positive−0.070−0.0910.013−0.013
(0.000)(0.002)(0.009)(0.084)(0.001)(0.012)(0.012)(0.082)(0.583)(0.645)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = negative−0.065−0.0480.1160.042
(0.536)(0.635)(0.241)(0.668)
P11 versus P10, Y0 = negative 0.1020.2000.1020.2000.108
(0.030)(0.190)(0.079)(0.177)(0.133)(0.235)
P11 versus P10, Y0 = positive0.0300.002 0.0180.056−0.006 0.0210.0420.052
(0.248)(0.928)−0.039(0.532)(0.356)(0.882)(0.039)(0.524)(0.147)(0.105)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = positive−0.045−0.063−0.045
(0.023)(0.050)(0.050)(0.089)(0.025)(0.037)(0.112)(0.176)(0.002)(0.022)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = negative
P11 versus P10, Y0 = negative 0.0470.032
(0.001)(0.006)(0.003)(0.038)(0.391)(0.616)(0.005)(0.041)(0.015)−0.034
P11 versus P10, Y0 = positive
P00 versus P01, Y0 = negative−0.066−0.077−0.058−0.044−0.034−0.044−0.036
(0.008)(0.023)(0.029)(0.090)(0.140)(0.343)(0.374)(0.516)(0.113)(0.222)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = positive−0.0508−0.0230.1110.104−0.121−0.121
(0.589)(0.815)(0.301)(0.334)(0.113)(0.115)
P11 versus P10, Y0 = negative 0.0910.0480.0290.0930.1080.0890.0830.0260.012
(0.032)(0.091)(0.408)(0.680)(0.155)(0.188)(0.164)(0.295)(0.636)(0.845)
P11 versus P10, Y0 = positive0.0680.047 0.1880.1490.151−0.017−0.067
(0.372)(0.543)(0.041)(0.055)(0.157)(0.167)(0.843)(0.396)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = negative−0.078−0.0390.0090.029
(0.126)(0.493)(0.000)(0.001)(0.008)(0.042)(0.003)(0.017)(0.853)(0.570)
P00 versus P01, Y0 = positive−0.125−0.0080.032−0.080−0.056−0.0080.054−0.0390.002
(0.035)(0.107)(0.920)(0.682)(0.478)(0.625)(0.943)(0.611)(0.453)(0.973)

Right columns control for sex, education, age, immigrant status, health in 2000, civil status change between 2000 and 2010, and unemployment change between 2000 and 2010. P values in parentheses. Excluded estimates involve variable categories with N < 20. Shaded cells are in hypothesized direction, bold estimates are statistically significant ( P  < 0.05). N in regressions: 1A: 3075; 1B: 3073; 1C: 3075; 1D: 3069; 2A: 3144; 2B: 3137; 2C: 3144; 2D: 3130; 3A: 3074, 3B: 3072; 3C: 3074; 3D: 3068; 4A: 2995; 4B: 2988; 4C: 2995; 4D: 2981; 5A: 3128; 5B: 3121; 5C: 3128; 5D: 3114

In the column to the right, we can see what difference the controls make: the estimates are reduced, but not substantially so, and the three first differences are still statistically significant.

The estimates for each social outcome, reflecting the four comparisons described above, support the hypothesis of poverty affecting social relations negatively (note that the signs of the estimates should differ in order to do so, the upper two being positive as they reflect an effect of the exit from poverty, and the lower two being negative as they reflect an effect of entering poverty). We have indicated support for the hypothesis in Table  4 by shading the estimates and standard errors for estimates that go in the predicted direction.

Following the first two columns down, we can see that there is mostly support for the hypothesis of a negative effect of poverty, but when controlling for other variables, the effects on social support are not impressive. In fact, if we concentrate on each social outcome (i.e., row-wise), one conclusion is that, when controlling for confounders, there are rather small effects of poverty on the probability of having access to social support. The opposite is true for political participation, where the consistency in the estimated effects of poverty is striking.

If we instead follow the columns, we ask whether any of the definitions of poverty is a better predictor of social outcomes than the others. The measure of economic deprivation appears to be the most stable one, followed by absolute poverty and the combined deprivation/absolute poverty variable. 14 The relative poverty measure is less able to predict social outcomes: in many instances it even has the non-expected sign. Interestingly, long-term poverty (as measured here) does not appear to have more severe negative consequences than absolute poverty in general.

Because some of our comparison groups are small, it is difficult to get high precision in the estimates, efficiency being a concern particularly in view of the set of control variables in Table  4 . Only 14 out of 62 estimates in models with controls are significant and in the right direction. Nonetheless, with 52 out of 62 estimates in these models having the expected sign, we believe that the hypothesis of a negative effect of poverty on social outcomes receives quite strong support.

Although control variables are not shown in the table, one thing should be noted about them: The reduction of coefficients when including control variables is almost exclusively driven by changes in civil status. 15 The time constant characteristics that are included are cross-sectionally related to both poverty and social outcomes, but they have only minor impacts on the estimated effects of poverty. This suggests that the conditioning on prior values of the dependent and independent variables eliminates much time invariant heterogeneity, which increases the credibility of estimates.

Conclusions

We set out to test a fundamental, but rarely questioned assumption in dominating definitions of poverty: whether shortage of economic resources has negative consequences for social relations and participation. By using longitudinal data from the Swedish Level-of-living Surveys 2000 and 2010, including repeated measures of poverty (according to several commonly used definitions) and four social outcome variables, we are able to come further than previous studies in estimating the relation between poverty and social outcomes: Our main conclusion is that there appears to be a causal relation between them.

Panel models suggest that falling into poverty increases the risk of weakening social relations and decreasing (civic and political) participation. Climbing out of poverty tends to have the opposite effects, a result that strengthens the interpretation of causality. The sample is too small to estimate the effect sizes with any precision, yet they appear to be substantial, with statistically significant estimates ranging between 5 and 21 % units.

While these findings are disquieting insofar as poverty goes, our results also suggest two more positive results. First, the negative effects of poverty appear to be reversible: once the private economy recovers, social outcomes improve. Secondly, the negative consequences are less for the closest social relations, whether there is someone there in cases of need (sickness, personal problems, etc.). This is in line with an interpretation of such close relations being unconditional: our nearest and dearest tend to hang on to us also in times of financial troubles, which may bolster risks for social isolation and psychological ill-being,

Our finding of negative effects of poverty on civic and political participation relates to the fears of a “downward spiral of social exclusion”, as there is a risk that the loss of less intimate social relations shrinks social networks and decreases the available social capital in terms of contacts that can be important for outcomes such as finding a job (e.g., Lin 2001 ; Granovetter 1974 ). However, Gallie et al. ( 2003 ) found no evidence for any strong impact of social isolation on unemployment, suggesting that the negative effects on social outcomes that we observe are unlikely to lead to self-reinforcement of poverty. Nevertheless, social relations are of course important outcomes in their own right, so if they are negatively affected by poverty it matters regardless of whether social relations in turn are important for other outcomes. Effects on political and civic participation are also relevant in themselves beyond individuals’ wellbeing, as they suggest a potentially democratic problem where poor have less of a voice and less influence on society than others.

Our results show the merits of our approach, to study the relation between poverty and social outcomes longitudinally. The fact that the poor have worse social relations and lower participation is partly because of selection. This may be because the socially isolated, or those with a weaker social network, more easily fall into poverty; or it can be because of a common denominator, such as poor health or social problems. But once we have stripped the analysis of such selection effects, we also find what is likely to be a causal relation between poverty and social relations. However, this effect of poverty on social outcomes, in turn, varies between different definitions of poverty. Here it appears that economic deprivation, primarily indicated by the ability of raising money with short notice, is the strongest predictor of social outcomes. Income poverty, whether in absolute or (particularly) relative terms, are weaker predictors of social outcomes, which is interesting as they are the two most common indicators of poverty in existing research.

Even if we are fortunate to have panel data at our disposal, there are limitations in our analyses that render our conclusions tentative. One is that we do not have a random allocation to the comparison groups at t 0 ; another that there is a 10-year span between the waves that we analyze, and both poverty and social outcomes may vary across this time-span. We have been able to address these problems by conditioning on the outcome at t 0 and by controlling for confounders, but in order to perform more rigorous tests future research would benefit from data with a more detailed temporal structure, and preferably with an experimental or at least quasi-experimental design.

Finally, our analyses concern Sweden, and given the position as an active welfare state with a low degree of inequality and low poverty rates, one can ask whether the results are valid also for other comparable countries. While both the level of poverty and the pattern of social relations differ between countries (for policy or cultural reasons), we believe that the mechanisms linking poverty and social outcomes are of a quite general kind, especially as the “costs for social participation” can be expected to be relative to the general wealth of a country—however, until comparative longitudinal data become available, this must remain a hypothesis for future research.

1 http://www.sofi.su.se/english/2.17851/research/three-research-departments/lnu-level-of-living .

2 We have tested various alternative codings and the overall pattern of results in terms of e.g., direction of effects and differences across poverty definitions are similar, but more difficult to present in an accessible way.

3 Our deprivation questions are however designed to reduce the impact of subjectivity by asking, e.g., about getting a specified sum within a specified time (see below).

4 In the equivalence scale, the first adult gets a weight of one, the second of 0.6, and each child gets a weight of 0.5.

5 We have also tried using single indicators (either a/b or i/ii) without detecting any meaningful difference between them. One would perhaps have assumed that poverty would be more consequential for having others over to one’s own place, but the absence of support for this can perhaps be understood in light of the strong social norm of reciprocity in social relations.

6 We have refrained from using information on voting and membership in trade unions and political parties, because these indicators do not capture the active, social nature of civic engagement to the same extent as participation in meetings and the holding of positions.

7 We have also estimated models with a more extensive health variable, a s ymptom index , which sums responses to 47 questions about self-reported health symptoms. However, this variable has virtually zero effects once global self-rated health is controlled, and does not lead to any substantive differences in other estimates. Adding the global health measure and the symptom index as TVC had no effect either.

8 Using the other indicators of poverty yields very similar results, although for some of those the difference between poor and non-poor is smaller.

9 We call these comparison groups ”never poor” and ”constantly poor” for expository purposes, although their poverty status pertains only to the years 2000 and 2010, i.e., without information on the years in between.

10 With this design we allow different effects of poverty on improvement versus deterioration of the social outcome. We have also estimated models with a lagged dependent variable, which constrains the effects of poverty changes to be of the same size for deterioration as for improvement of the social outcome. Conclusions from that analysis are roughly a weighted average of the estimates for deterioration and improvement that we report. As our analyses suggest that effects of poverty differ in size depending on the value of the lagged dependent variable (the social outcome) our current specification gives a more adequate representation of the process.

11 We have also tested models with a wider range of controls for, e.g., economic and social background (i.e. characteristics of the respondent’s parents), geography, detailed family type and a more detailed health variable, but none of these had any impact on the estimated poverty effects.

12 It is also possible that we register reverse causality, namely if worsening social outcomes that occur after t 0 lead to poverty at t 1 . This situation is almost inevitable when using panel data with no clear temporal ordering of events occurring between waves. However, reverse causality strikes us, in this case, as theoretically implausible.

13 We have also estimated models controlling for changes in health, which did not change the results.

14 If respondents’ judgments of the deprivation questions (access to cash margin and ability to pay rent, food, bills etc.) change due to non-economic factors that are related to changes in social relations, the better predictive capacity of the deprivation measure may be caused by a larger bias in this measure than in the (register-based) income measures.

15 As mentioned above, this variable may to some extent be endogenous (i.e., a mediator of the poverty effect rather than a confounder), in which case we get a downward bias of estimates.

Contributor Information

Carina Mood, Phone: +44-8-402 12 22, Email: [email protected] .

Jan O. Jonsson, Phone: +44 1865 278513, Email: [email protected] .

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empirical social research journal

Empirical Research in the Social Sciences and Education

What is empirical research.

  • Finding Empirical Research
  • Designing Empirical Research
  • Ethics & Anti-Racism in Research
  • Citing, Writing, and Presenting Your Work

Academic Services Librarian | Research, Education, & Engagement

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Thank you to librarians at Penn State for serving as the inspiration for this library guide

An empirical research article is a primary source where the authors reported on experiments or observations that they conducted. Their research includes their observed and measured data that they derived from an actual experiment rather than theory or belief. 

How do you know if you are reading an empirical article? Ask yourself: "What did the authors actually do?" or "How could this study be re-created?"

Key characteristics to look for:

  • Specific research questions  to be answered
  • Definition of the  population, behavior, or phenomena  being studied
  • Description of the  process or methodology  used to study this population or phenomena, including selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (example: surveys, questionnaires, etc)
  • You can readily describe what the  authors actually did 

Layout of Empirical Articles

Scholarly journals sometimes use a specific layout for empirical articles, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. There are four main components:

  • Introduction : aka "literature review". This section summarizes what is known about the topic at the time of the article's publication. It brings the reader up-to-speed on the research and usually includes a theoretical framework 
  • Methodology : aka "research design". This section describes exactly how the study was done. It describes the population, research process, and analytical tools
  • Results : aka "findings". This section describes what was learned in the study. It usually contains statistical data or substantial quotes from research participants
  • Discussion : aka "conclusion" or "implications". This section explains why the study is important, and also describes the limitations of the study. While research results can influence professional practices and future studies, it's important for the researchers to clarify if specific aspects of the study should limit its use. For example, a study using undergraduate students at a small, western, private college can not be extrapolated to include  all  undergraduates. 
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  • Last Updated: May 8, 2024 3:28 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.stthomas.edu/empiricalresearcheducation

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empirical social research journal

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empirical social research journal

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Adopted by AERA Council in June 2006, Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications are directed to authors, editors, reviewers, and readers of AERA journals, but their substance and the breadth of methodological coverage are not particular to education research. Thus, in publishing these standards, the Association seeks to offer an educational document that can be useful to other research societies and journal publishers that disseminate empirical work using these same social science methods. Also, as part of the AERA's broader educational mission to advance high-quality research in education and to foster excellence in reporting on empirical research, the Association commends use of these standards in the training and preparation of researchers in publishing research.
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Adopted by AERA Council in January 2009, Standards for Humanities-Oriented Research in AERA Publications has been developed to complement AERA’s Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications. The purpose of providing standards for humanities-oriented research in education is to assist researchers who are preparing manuscripts that are humanities oriented, editors and reviewers who are charged with evaluating such manuscripts for publication, and readers of humanities-oriented publications who are interested in learning from and building on such work. An additional aim of these standards is to educate newcomers and others in the broader education research community who may not be familiar with humanities-oriented genres or with the purposes, goals, and methods of humanities-oriented research. This additional aim is particularly important because humanities-oriented research in education has a long history and continues to play a unique and indispensable role.
(PDF)

  • DOI: 10.5922/2074-9848-2016-1-7
  • Corpus ID: 146964192

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Social conflicts as seen by residents of saint petersburg: an empirical study, related papers.

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COMMENTS

  1. Empirical Social Research

    Empirical Social Research, History of. Hynek Jerabek, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2015. Abstract. Empirical social research (ESR) uses empirical data on social formations and their members as a basis for explaining social phenomena. Historically it developed in three stages. The first stage was represented by the changes introduced into ...

  2. Journal of Empirical Social Science Studies

    The Journal of Empirical Social Science Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes empirical research in the social sciences. The journal covers a wide range of topics, including sociology, psychology, political science, economics, education, and communication. Its main focus is on original research that employs rigorous ...

  3. The Psychology of Morality: A Review and Analysis of Empirical Studies

    We review empirical research on (social) psychology of morality to identify which issues and relations are well documented by existing data and which areas of inquiry are in need of further empirical evidence. An electronic literature search yielded a total of 1,278 relevant research articles published from 1940 through 2017.

  4. Social Science Research

    About the journal. Social Science Research publishes papers devoted to quantitative social science research and methodology. The journal features articles that illustrate the use of quantitative methods to empirically test social science theory. The journal emphasizes research concerned with issues or methods that …. View full aims & scope.

  5. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics

    The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics (JERHRE) is the only journal in the field of human research ethics dedicated exclusively to empirical research.Empirical knowledge translates ethical principles into procedures appropriate to specific cultures, contexts, and research topics. The journal's distinguished editorial and advisory board brings a range of expertise and ...

  6. Empirical Research

    Hence, empirical research is a method of uncovering empirical evidence. Through the process of gathering valid empirical data, scientists from a variety of fields, ranging from the social to the natural sciences, have to carefully design their methods. This helps to ensure quality and accuracy of data collection and treatment.

  7. Current Research in Social Psychology

    Current Research in Social Psychology (CRISP) is a peer reviewed, electronic journal publishing theoretically driven, empirical research in major areas of social psychology. Publication is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Iowa, which provides free access to its contents.

  8. PDF What Is Empirical Social Research?

    teristics that set research apart. First, social research is systematic; that is, the researcher devel-ops a plan of ac. ion before beginning the research. Second, social research involves data, which are the pieces of informa. ion gathered from primary sources. This is what makes it empirical—based not on ideas or theory b.

  9. Empirical Research

    One important aim of research in social science is to reach empirically supported and substantiated judgments concerning social reality that are not based on personal experience, presuppositions, norms, or desires of the researcher but, rather, on facts. The aim of using empirical research is to generate reliable and valid information or data.

  10. Agent-Based Models in Empirical Social Research

    Abstract. Agent-based modeling has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there is still no codified set of recommendations or practices for how to use these models within a program of empirical research. This article provides ideas and practical guidelines drawn from sociology, biology, computer science, epidemiology, and statistics.

  11. Archives

    The Journal of Empirical Social Science Research (JESSR) is pleased to announce a call for original research articles that employ empirical methods to explore a wide array of social phenomena. We invite the submission of high-quality studies utilizing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to investigate social issues from diverse ...

  12. The Journal of Social Psychology

    Journal overview. Since John Dewey and Carl Murchison founded it in 1929, The Journal of Social Psychology has published original empirical research in all areas of basic and applied social psychology. Most articles report laboratory or field research in core areas of social and organizational psychology including the self and social identity ...

  13. A note on empirical social research and interdisciplinary relationships

    Founded by UNESCO, the International Social Science Journal publishes current reviews and discussions of global social science research. A review of the techniques of empirical social research is called for, especially as there are wide national variations in the degree of their acceptance. The importance of collaborative trends bet...

  14. Empirical Social Research: An Introduction

    eBook ISBN 978-3-658-37907- Published: 11 November 2022. Edition Number 1. Number of Pages IX, 470. Number of Illustrations 1 b/w illustrations. Topics Methodology of the Social Sciences, Psychological Methods/Evaluation, Statistical Theory and Methods, Research Methods in Education, Research Methodology.

  15. Empirical Research in the Social Sciences and Education

    Another hint: some scholarly journals use a specific layout, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. Such articles typically have 4 components: Introduction: sometimes called "literature review" -- what is currently known about the topic -- usually includes a theoretical framework and/or discussion of previous studies

  16. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    Effective July 1, 2021, empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology must at least meet the "requirement" level (Level 2) for citation; data, code, and materials transparency; design and analysis transparency; and study and analysis plan preregistration. Authors should include a ...

  17. The Social Consequences of Poverty: An Empirical Test on Longitudinal

    Abstract. Poverty is commonly defined as a lack of economic resources that has negative social consequences, but surprisingly little is known about the importance of economic hardship for social outcomes. This article offers an empirical investigation into this issue. We apply panel data methods on longitudinal data from the Swedish Level-of ...

  18. Empirical Research in the Social Sciences and Education

    Scholarly journals sometimes use a specific layout for empirical articles, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. There are four main components: Introduction: aka "literature review". This section summarizes what is known about the topic at the time of the article's publication.

  19. Content analysis in empirical social research

    Accordingly, without describing in detail the general research procedures in empirical social research (see, for example, Friedrichs, 1973; Koolwijk and Wieken-Mayser, 1974), a procedure for analyzing content centered on category formation, with its specific problems and features, can be outlined (see Fig. 1).The procedure is initially made operational based on the areas included at the ...

  20. Standards for Research Conduct

    Standards for Research Conduct. AERA developed guidance for ensuring high-quality research by education researchers. Adopted by AERA Council in June 2006, Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications are directed to authors, editors, reviewers, and readers of AERA journals, but their substance and the ...

  21. Olga NIKIFOROVA

    Olga Alexandrovna Nikiforova. The article presents the results of a sociological research of sports priorities of St. Petersburg residents in the focus of the real and spectator participation ...

  22. Social conflicts as seen by residents of Saint Petersburg: An empirical

    Semantic Scholar extracted view of "Social conflicts as seen by residents of Saint Petersburg: An empirical study" by Е. О. Негров ... Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at Ai2. Learn More. About

  23. A framework for using social media for organisational learning: An

    The authors would like to acknowledge that the submission to the journal is derived from the work presented in the author's doctoral thesis (Citation: Moongela Citation 2022): "Towards the Development of a Social Media-supported Organisational Learning Framework" (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).

  24. Social conflicts as seen by residents of Saint Petersburg: an empirical

    Social conflicts as seen by residents of Saint Petersburg: an empirical study ... and political turbulence. The research aims to examine the existing threats and identify opportunities for reducing social tension. The article makes a practical contribution to the development of social policy and civil society. ... Journal Baltic Region (2016) 1 ...