Research

How Are Teen Social Circles Transformed in Crisis? Exploring the Impact of Influential Peers on High School Students' Networks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

17th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, & Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (Poster Presentation)

Tsai, C. S.

• This study explores the impact of influential peers on high school students' networks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• These influential peers play a crucial role in the structure of the network and its efficiency in spreading and connecting information, and the online likes-shared network outperforms other networks in terms of their correlations with the offline friendship network.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, friendship networks, Instagram, influential peers

To Stay or to Leave? A Study of Noncompliance With COVID-19 Quarantine Regulations in Taiwan

Governance, Governmentality, and the Global Pandemic: Taiwan's COVID-19 Experience (June 2024)

Tsai, C. S., Leng, C. H., & Lee, H. W. (equal authorship)

• This study investigates the effect of people’s quarantine experiences on their inclination to violate the regulations during quarantine.

• This paper finds that people’s inclination to leave quarantine increased with age, income, and the cumulative number of quarantine days, contributing to the development of targeted policies to improve compliance with public health measures during pandemics. 

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, noncompliance, negative emotions, quarantine, social support, social responsibility

Staying Connected & Healthy: Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Friendship Networks and Well-Being of High School Students

16th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, & Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (Poster Presentation)

Tsai, C. S.

• This study examines the impact of school closures during the pandemic on the friendship networks of high school students and their well-being by proposing new network metrics.

• This paper addresses a gap in the existing literature by investigating the potential impact of asymmetric perceptions on students' well-being, showing that closeness is a significant factor in explaining both happiness and health.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, friendship networks, cognitive social structures, asymmetric perceptions, well-being

Quality of Life in Multiple Scenarios: The Impact of Work Mode and Social Contact Quantity

Frontiers in Psychology Sec. Organizational Psychology

Leng, C. H., Tsai, C. S., Chan, T. C., & Lee, H. W.

• This study explores the impact of changes in work mode (WFH vs. WIO) and social contact quantity on quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• This paper demonstrates that employees working from home (WFH) had a significantly higher quality of life compared to those working in the office (WIO), contributing to the growing body of research on remote work.

KEYWORDS: work from home, quality of life, COVID-19, item response theory, differential item functioning, social contact