Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science)

Performance-based funding systems (PBFSs) are widely used to steer national research, but their effects vary significantly, particularly in countries with emerging research ecosystems. Relatively little attention has been paid to PBFSs and their concomitant policy dynamics in these countries, where the pressure to internationalise creates unique challenges. This paper presents a detailed study of the development of the Lithuanian PBFS from 2005 to 2022. Using a multi-level, multi-actor, and multi-issue framework, we combine policy analysis, semi-structured interviews, and bibliometric data to analyse the system’s evolution. Our findings reveal a dynamic of ‘insular policy feedback,’ where a concentrated scientific elite, operating across all levels of governance, shapes policy to its advantage. This results in predictable cycles of strategic gaming, such as the proliferation of domestic journals, by reactive and often inconsistent state countermeasures. The Lithuanian case serves as a model for understanding how concentrated power structures can undermine reform, offering a crucial insight for policymakers: meaningful reform must address the governance structures that empower performance metrics, not just the metrics themselves.

Nature connectedness, a widely used psychological construct which encompasses affective and cognitive aspects of the relationship a person has with nature, has become a central variable of interest in environmental psychology literature. This interest is motivated partially by its enhancing effects on well-being outcomes. However, comprehensive international evaluations of the link between nature connectedness and well-being remain sparse. In this registered report, we propose a secondary analysis of previously collected data to examine how individual differences in nature connectedness relate to multiple aspects of well-being (i.e., purpose in life, hope, mindfulness, life satisfaction, and optimism) across 75 countries (N = 36,803). Within-country and between-country analyses (linear and mixed regressions) suggested that nature connectedness is a robust positive predictor of well-being. Our findings highlight the importance of nature connected for well-being globally, especially for communities with low access to nature and social resources.

Renewable energy is a key driver of the sustainable energy transition. To accelerate deployment, the Renewable Energy Directive was amended by Directive (EU) 2023/2413, commonly referred to as ‘RED III’, which raised the Union’s renewable energy target and introduced territorial instruments such as coordinated mapping and renewables acceleration areas. This article examines the legal mechanisms of RED III that have a territorial impact and assesses their interaction with spatial-planning, asking how implementation reshapes the relationship between EU-level regulatory influence and Member State discretion. Utilising doctrinal legal research and concepts from spatial-planning scholarship, the article analyses how RED III operationalises these area-based planning instruments and links them to project authorisation. Lithuania is used as an illustrative implementation example. The findings suggest that RED III does not establish an EU spatial-planning system but strengthens the territorially oriented governance of renewables by connecting plan-level choices to permitting. At the same time, it leaves Member States with substantial discretion over legal form and integration into national planning hierarchies. The article concludes that RED III is a turning point in a specific sense: it makes territorial steering a more explicit and legally structured component of EU renewables governance, without harmonising national spatial planning systems.

Cross-cultural empirical evidence on the validity of measures of depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents is scarce and inconclusive. The present study investigated the cross-national measurement invariance and convergent validity evidence of the Depression and Anxiety scales of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21). We sampled 16,802 adolescents (58.1% female) aged 14–19 years across 30 countries from five continents. Both exact and approximate measurement invariance were tested. The results provided evidence for the exploratory structural equation model (ESEM) as the best representation of the data in most countries. Full scalar invariance was not supported when tested across all countries, but only among two Southern Asian countries (Bangladesh, India), two Northern European countries (Estonia, Lithuania), the six former republics of Yugoslavia, and European and American countries grouped by UN subregions. Results of the alignment method supported the approximate invariance of the ESEM model across 29 countries. Associations between Depression and Anxiety ESEM factors and life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect conformed to the theoretical expectations in most countries. Our findings indicate that the Depression and Anxiety scales of the DASS-21 have potential for use in cross-national research on adolescent internalizing symptoms, but we highlight issues of using it outside of Western (European, North American) settings.

The profound physical, emotional, and social changes that accompany adolescence typically coincide with increases in maternal stress and decreases in the quality of the mother–child relationship. Does one follow from the other? The present longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that perceived changes in adolescent children forecast increases in maternal stress, which contribute to deteriorating mother–child relationship quality, anticipating more perceived changes in children. Participants were 299 mothers (Mage = 40.19, SD = 5.01 years) in two-parent households, with children (152 boys and 147 girls; ages 9–13) attending public primary and middle schools in an eastern Lithuanian community. Nearly all participants were ethnic Lithuanian. Maternal reports of stress, perceived changes in children, and mother–child relationship quality (i.e., negativity and social support) were collected three times over the course of a year. Direct longitudinal associations emerged from maternal perceptions of changes in the child to heightened maternal stress, from maternal stress to deteriorating mother–child relationship quality, and from diminished relationship quality to escalating changes in children. Full-longitudinal mediation analyses confirmed each of the hypothesized indirect effects: (a) Time 1 perceived changes in the child → Time 2 maternal stress → Time 3 mother–child relationship quality, (b) Time 1 maternal stress → Time 2 mother–child relationship quality → Time 3 perceived changes in the child, and (c) Time 1 mother–child relationship quality → Time 2 perceived changes in the child → Time 3 maternal stress.

Due to the presumed high risk for prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in people bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to examine how grief develops over time in this population. This is the first study examining longitudinal symptom-profiles of PGD severity in people bereaved during the pandemic. We aimed to identify latent trajectories of DSM-5-TR PGD severity and predictors thereof in Dutch adults bereaved during the pandemic. Latent class growth modeling was employed to identify differential trajectories of PGD severity in 266 people bereaved on average 115 days prior when entering the study. Participants completed a PGD measure online (using the Traumatic Grief Inventory-Self Report-Plus) at three time-intervals six months apart. Associations between class-membership and socio-demographic, loss-related, health-related, and trauma-related characteristics were examined using multinomial logistic regression. Three trajectories were identified: Low/decreasing PGD symptoms (74%), Mild/stable PGD symptoms (18%), and High/decreasing PGD trajectory (8%). Closer kinship to the deceased, poorer self-rated health status, and having a mental disorder increased the likelihood of belonging to the Mild/stable PGD symptoms and High/decreasing PGD trajectories. This study provides insights in longitudinal PGD symptom-profiles in people bereaved during the pandemic. We found that PGD severity either remained low/mild or eventually decreased over time.

The contemporary world is increasingly shaped by multiple overlapping threats, including pandemics, socio-economic inequality, geopolitical tensions, climate change, and technological risks. These challenges create new forms of uncertainty that affect both individuals and societies. In this context, strengthening human and societal resilience has become an important condition for sustainable development. This paper examines the impact of this new complex of threats on human and societal resilience in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) countries during periods of shocks. The aim of the study is to assess how major global threats influence human development and resilience in the BSR countries and to identify possible directions for strengthening resilience. The analysis focuses on ten countries of the region: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, and Iceland. The research relies on the analytical framework of the United Nations Development Programme and uses indicators such as the Human Development Index (HDI), the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), and the Planetary Pressures-adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI). The results show that although human development in the BSR countries has generally improved, significant differences remain between country groups. Inequality and planetary pressures reduce the potential of human development and weaken resilience, while countries with higher development levels demonstrate greater capacity to withstand shocks. The findings highlight the importance of reducing inequality, strengthening human potential, and integrating social, economic, and environmental policies in order to build more resilient societies in the Baltic Sea Region.

Brand value co-creation is one of the most influential concepts in modern marketing. The involvement of consumers in a range of active activities, including development, feedback, advocacy, and support, can co-create brand value. Brands engage consumers in brand value co-creation by satisfying their needs. The benefits of brand value co-creation for companies include increased sales, market share, brand awareness, brand satisfaction, and consumer loyalty. The present article analyses brand value co-creation through Pierre Bourdieu“s approach to the structures of power. The investigative problem of this study is expressed through the following research question: What power structures do brands use in the brand value co-creation? The main objective of this paper is to analyse brand value co-creation through Pierre Bourdieu“s approach to the structures of power. The methods employed include scientific literature review, systematic and comparative analyses, semi-structured interviews, and generalization. The results of the study reveal that brand value co-creation functions as a power structure. This power manifests through the satisfaction of consumer desires and needs. In the case of the BMW brand, the brand allows consumers to express and create their identity, improve their image, belong to a community, and feel part of it. The BMW brand creates an attractive image that influences consumers“ thinking and behaviour in the direction desired by the brand, and consumers do not directly experience the effects of this power structure, as it exists in a way that is not directly understood. The study conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with members of the BMW brand community. It is revealed that most informants associated the brand with exclusivity, power, and high status. By internalising brand values and conforming to community norms, consumers may unconsciously recreate and reinforce brand power structures. This may involve symbolic violence, as the pressure to conform to brand-related standards may reinforce social inequality. Thus, brand value co-creation may function not only as a collaborative process but also as a mechanism that recreates power structures.

The article analyzes the approach of UN bodies and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to “conversion therapy” – practices that aim to change sexual identity. While only the UN has previously analyzed “conversion therapy”, this article shows that the ECtHR shares a similar approach. While UN bodies do not support “conversion therapy”, they have different approaches. Although the ECtHR has yet to rule on “conversion therapy” cases, the European Convention on Human Rights offers several relevant articles that victims can rely on. Organizers may attempt to invoke specific European Convention on Human Rights articles. Still, it is unlikely that the ECtHR would interpret them as protecting any form of “conversion therapy” or its promotion. The article argues that international bodies call on states to take more than just legal action and to adopt a comprehensive approach to protection against “conversion therapy”.

Friends and popular peers are important sources of influence across the transition into adolescence. The present study examines the assertion that the magnitude of influence from friends and popularity-based norms varies across behavioral domains. Participants were 543 (268 girls, 275 boys) students from 29 5th–8th grade (ages 10 to 14) classrooms in three Lithuanian public middle schools. Most were ethnic Lithuanians. Self-reports of socioemotional adjustment, including emotional problems, lack of emotional clarity, problem behaviors, social media use, and weight concerns, were collected in the fall and winter of a single academic year, approximately three months apart. Popularity and academic achievement were assessed through peer nominations. Top-ranked best friends were identified from outgoing nominations. Status-based norms, calculated separately for each socioemotional adjustment variable in the fall (Time 1), represented popularity-weighted classroom averages. Results from longitudinal Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model analyses indicated that best friends and status-based norms exerted differing amounts of influence over different behaviors. When both were included in the same model (with shared effects removed), best friends influenced emotional problems, lack of emotional clarity, and problem behaviors. Among older adolescents, best friends also influenced academic achievement. Status-based norms influenced social media use and, among older adolescents, weight concerns.