📄 social science

Is It Okay to Reintegrate Institutionalised Orphan Students into Families? Teachers’ Perceptions in Urban Secondary Schools, Tanzania

This qualitative study of teachers in urban Tanzanian secondary schools reveals that while reintegration offers significant psychosocial and cultural benefits for institutionalized orphans, educators perceive substantial challenges such as family absence and economic hardship, leading them to recommend delaying reintegration until after graduation alongside stricter regulatory frameworks.

Victor Vedasto, Joyce Mkongo2026-07-28
📄 social science

An Experimental Study of Persuasive Design’s Effects on Children’s In-App Choices and Play

This experimental study of 554 children demonstrates that while persuasive design features like character recommendations effectively influence in-app choices, their impact varies significantly by feature type, with locked options often deterring engagement and combined effects showing that deterrence can outweigh persuasion.

Daniel Johnson, Steven Howard, Sumudu Mallawaarachchi, Cody Phillips, Sonia White, Lisa Kervin, Stephanie Tobin2026-07-28
📄 social science

Hedging under siege: Rethinking Vietnam's small-state agency and coercive erosion in the South China Sea

This paper argues that Vietnam's hedging strategy in the South China Sea is eroding not merely due to external great-power pressure, but through a structural feedback loop where defensive measures trigger coercive responses that compress ambiguity, ultimately forcing smaller states toward de facto alignment as ambiguity-based strategies become unviable.

Roksana Islam Sujana, Md Imran Hosen2026-07-28
📄 social science

Between Policy and Precarity: Platform Nationalism and Creator Struggles in Turkey

Drawing on digital ethnography and interviews with Turkish creators, this article argues that "platform nationalism"—the convergence of nationalist governance, algorithmic moderation, and geopolitical policy—creates a "doubled precarity" where political vulnerability and economic instability intersect, forcing creators to adopt adaptive strategies to navigate the gap between TikTok's stated values and the realities of state censorship and inconsistent moderation.

Nora Suren2026-07-28
📄 social science

A Scoping Review of Immersive Experiences on Psychosocial Outcomes, Well-being, and Health Promotion in Museums and Interactive Centers

This scoping review synthesizes heterogeneous evidence indicating that digitally mediated immersive experiences in museums and interactive centers show promise for enhancing emotional engagement, well-being, and health promotion, though future research requires more robust longitudinal designs to fully validate their effectiveness.

Mariana Flores-Constantino, Silvia Carreño García, Tania Real-Quintanar, Francisco Lorenzo Juárez-García, Consuelo Garcí (…)2026-07-28
📄 social science

Youth Development and Psychosocial Outcomes Among Gen Z in Nepal’s 2025 Protest Movement

This cross-sectional study of 146 Gen Z youth in Nepal's 2025 protest movement reveals that developmental maturity, academic engagement, and socioemotional competencies are more strongly associated with psychosocial well-being than family, educational, or digital factors, while highlighting the need for culturally informed research on politically engaged emerging adults in South Asia.

Bhoj B. Balayar2026-07-28