The mediating role of parental expectations in culture and well-being

In two studies, we examined the role of perceived fulfillment of parental expectations in the subjective well-being of college students. In Study 1, we found that American college students reported having higher levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem than did Japanese college students. American college students also reported having fulfilled parental expectations to a greater degree than did Japanese college students. Most importantly, the cultural difference in well-being was mediated by perceived fulfillment of parental expectations. In Study 2, we replicated the mediational finding with Asian American and European American college students. Asian American participants also perceived their parents' expectations about their academic performance to be more specific than did European Americans, which was associated with the cultural difference in perceived fulfillment of parental expectations. In short, perceived parental expectations play an important role in the cultural difference in the well-being of Asians and European Americans.     

Asian Indian Immigrant and White American Maternal Emotion Socialization and Child Socio-Emotional Functioning

Previous research provides an inadequate account of parental emotion socialization and its relation to child functioning among ethnic minority groups in the United States. This study compared reports of Asian Indian immigrant and White American mothers’ emotion socialization and examined relations between mothers’ emotion socialization and child outcomes in these two groups. Indian immigrant (n = 34) and White American (n = 38) mothers completed measures of child behavior problems and social competence, as well as self-report measures of two types of emotion socialization, responses to children’s negative emotions and emotion expressivity. Children completed a self-report measure of social competence. Results revealed that Indian immigrant mothers were more likely than White American mothers to report responding nonsupportively to their children’s negative emotions. However, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were not related to child outcomes in the Indian immigrant group. In the White American group, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were positively related to child behavior problems. Mothers’ self-reported negative emotion expressivity was positively related to child behavior problems and negatively related to mother-rated child social competence for Indian immigrants, while no significant relation was found between mothers’ negative emotion expressivity and child outcomes for White Americans. Moderation analyses were performed with these variables but were nonsignificant. Results are discussed in the context of cultural influences on emotion socialization and subsequent impact on child functioning.     

Flourishing is Associated with Higher Academic Achievement and Engagement in Filipino Undergraduate and High School Students

Flourishing emphasizes the importance of integrating subjective well-being and psychological well-being to offer a more comprehensive view of mental health. Recognizing the potential advantage of flourishing, previous empirical studies have examined the relations of flourishing to positive psychological outcomes such as hope, life satisfaction, mental health, and positive emotions. However, it appears that limited research has been carried out to assess the role of flourishing in the educational context. Hence, the current research examined the association of flourishing with relevant academic outcomes (i.e., perceived academic achievement, academic achievement, behavioral engagement, and emotional engagement) after controlling for relevant demographic variables, life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect among Filipino undergraduate and high school students. Study 1 showed that flourishing positively predicted self-report academic achievement of Filipino undergraduate students after controlling for age, gender, and subjective well-being domains (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). Similarly, Study 2 showed that flourishing positively predicted objective measure of academic achievement, behavioral engagement, and emotional engagement in Filipino high school students even after controlling for the influence of demographic variables and subjective well-being domains. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The relationship between momentary emotions and well-being across European Americans,Hispanic Americans,and Asian Americans

Cultural differences in the emphasis on positive and negative emotions suggest that the impact of these emotions on well-being may differ across cultural contexts. The present study utilised a momentary sampling method to capture average momentary emotional experiences. We found that for participants from cultural contexts that foster positive emotions (European Americans and Hispanic Americans), average momentary positive emotions predicted well-being better than average momentary negative emotions. In contrast, average momentary negative emotions were more strongly associated with well-being measures for Asian Americans, the group from a cultural context that emphasises monitoring of negative emotions. Furthermore, we found that acculturation to American culture moderated the association between average momentary positive emotions and well-being for Asian Americans. These findings suggest the importance of culture in studying the impact of daily emotional experiences on well-being.     

The Role of Gender Role Attitudes and Immigrant Generation in Ethnic Minority Women’s Labor Force Participation in Britain

Although substantial research shows that in Britain some ethnic minority women have significantly lower labor force participation (LFP) rates than White British women, even after controlling for demographic characteristics and education levels, little is known about the reasons underlying the remaining ethnic differences. Using nationally representative data (2010–2011), I investigate the role of gender role attitudes in explaining the ethnic as well as generational differences in women’s LFP rates. The results show that after controlling for demographic characteristics and education levels, LFP rates of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are significantly lower than that of White British women and about half of the ethnic gap can be explained by differences in gender role attitudes. Moreover, I show that the ethnic gap is less pronounced for second generation Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian women whose LFP rates are significantly higher than those of their first generation counterparts. Importantly, the higher LFP rates of second generation South Asian women can be largely explained by their relatively less traditional gender role attitudes. Drawing on my results, public policies could provide appropriate childcare services and flexible work arrangements to alter traditional gender role attitudes, thereby improving minority women’s labor market opportunities.

     

Social agents,achievement goals,satisfaction and academic achievement in youth sport

ObjectivesThis study examined the contribution of motivational climate created by mothers, coaches, and best friends in the explanation of variance of athletes’ achievement goals, sport satisfaction and academic performance.DesignCross-sectional; participants completed self-reports assessing achievement goals in sport, perceptions of goals that are endorsed by mother, coach and best friend, satisfaction in sport and academic achievement.MethodsParticipants were 863 current Greek athletes (488 males, 372 females, 3 did not provide gender) aged 14.5±.60 (n=420) and 11.5±.60 (n=443).ResultsFactor, reliability and correlation analyses supported the psychometric properties of the instruments. All socialization agents had unique contribution to the explained variance of athletes’ achievement goals in sport. Mastery goals and perceptions corresponded positively to satisfaction in sport and they had low positive relationship with academic performance. Perceptions of performance approach goals endorsed by significant others had low negative relationship with academic performance and they were unrelated to sport satisfaction.ConclusionsMastery oriented climates should be established in sport, family, and peer contexts because all social contexts seem responsible for the formation of athletes’ achievement goals, emotions, and behaviours.     

Perceived social support and life satisfaction among freshmen: Mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic adjustment

This study investigated the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic adjustment in the relationship between perceived social support and life satisfaction among Nigerian university freshmen. A total of 621 beginning university students (females = 50.4%, mean age = 19.67years, SD = 4.56) completed surveys of their academic self-efficacy, academic adjustment, perceived social support, and life satisfaction. Results, following regression analysis with partial mediation, revealed only academic adjustment to significantly mediate the relationship between perceived social support and life satisfaction. Social support networks from family and faculty members might enhance freshmen’s academic adjustment related life satisfaction.     

The parenting dimensions of British Pakistani and White mothers of primary school children

There is increasing emphasis internationally on the use of parenting programmes to support the development of appropriate social behaviour in children. However, in such programmes diversity is often ignored. Research into the parenting styles and practices (dimensions) of different ethnic groups is needed in order to investigate the applicability of universal programmes, to guide their design and implementation in the future. Thirty‐four British Pakistani and 34 British White mothers of primary aged children, comprising equal numbers of males and females, completed English or Urdu versions of the Parental Dimensions Inventory—Short Version (PDI‐S), (Power, Int. J. Behav. Dev. 67 : 302–313) and a child behavioural screening instrument, the SDQ (Goodman, J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 38 : 581–586). More similarities than differences between the parenting dimensions of Pakistani and White mothers were found overall. However, compared with White mothers, Pakistani mothers reported more ‘following through on discipline’ as well as ‘reminding’ as a disciplinary action. Further, Pakistani mothers reported following through on discipline more with boys than White mothers did and the more they reported inconsistent parenting, the more their children reportedly had behaviour problems. It is concluded that while these findings provide some support for the cross‐cultural applicability of generic parenting programmes, programme efficacy studies are also needed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Working Hours and Life Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Latin America and the United States

This paper compares the life satisfaction and working hours of Latin Americans and U.S. Americans using the AmericasBarometer and General Social Survey. While there are many common determinants of happiness, hours worked is not among them. Differences in cultural values, especially the distinction between collectivism (familism) and individualism that has long been a foundation of social development theory, may be why married Latin American males are less happy than married U.S. American males when working longer hours. The distinction is not apparent among females or the unmarried.     

PERPETUAL FOREIGNER IN ONE'S OWN LAND: POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR IDENTITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT

The perpetual foreigner stereotype posits that members of ethnic minorities will always be seen as the "other" in the White Anglo-Saxon dominant society of the United States (Devos & Banaji, 2005), which may have negative implications for them. The goal of the present research was to determine whether awareness of this perpetual foreigner stereotype predicts identity and psychological adjustment. We conducted a series of studies with 231 Asian Americans and 211 Latino/as (Study 1), 89 African Americans (Study 2), and 56 Asian Americans and 165 Latino/as (Study 3). All participants completed measures of perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype, conflict between ethnic and national identities, sense of belonging to American culture, and demographics. In Study 3, participants also completed measures of psychological adjustment: depression, hope, and life satisfaction. All participants were students at a large, public university on the West Coast of the United States. Across studies, we found that even after controlling for perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype was a significant predictor of identity conflict and lower sense of belonging to American culture. From Study 3, we also found that, above and beyond perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype significantly predicted lower hope and life satisfaction for Asian Americans, and that it was a marginal predictor of greater depression for Latino/as. These results suggest that the perpetual foreigner stereotype may play a role in ethnic minority identity and adjustment.     

Perceived interpersonal sources of life satisfaction in Chinese and American students: Cultural or gender differences?

This study evaluated cultural and gender differences in perceived interpersonal sources of life satisfaction between 341 Chinese and 222 American college students. Comparative analyses indicated overall lower life satisfaction in Chinese, than in Americans. However, Chinese, compared to Americans, reported greater life satisfaction derived from perceived sources involving the self, parents, teachers and peers. Results of regression analyses indicated that, for both Chinese and Americans, the self and parents were unique sources associated with life satisfaction. However, for Americans, close friends also emerged as an additional unique source. When gender differences were examined, additional nuances were found within each cultural group. Thus, some evidence for both cultural and gender differences in perceived interpersonal sources of life satisfaction across Chinese and Americans was found. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.     

Cultural differences in emotion regulation during self-reflection on negative personal experiences

Reflecting on negative personal experiences has implications for mood that may vary as a function of specific domains (e.g., achievement vs. interpersonal) and cultural orientation (e.g., interdependence vs. independence). This study investigated cultural differences in the social-cognitive and affective processes undertaken as Easterners and Westerners reflected on negative interpersonal and performance experiences. One hundred Asian Americans and 92 European-American college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: interpersonal rejection, achievement failure, or a control condition. Results revealed that Asian Americans experienced greater distress than European Americans after self-reflecting over a failed interpersonal experience, suggesting cultural sensitivity in the relational domain. Consistent with theoretical predictions, analysis of the social cognitive and affective processes that participants engaged in during self-reflection provided some evidence that self-enhancement may buffer distress for European Americans, while emotion suppression may be adaptive for Asian Americans.     

Youth Developmental Assets and Perceived Life Satisfaction: Is There a Relationship?

This study explored associations between youth developmental assets (i.e., support by parents/other adults; accountability to adults; empowerment; school support; values regarding risk behaviors; quantity of other adult support; empathetic relationships) and adolescents’ perceptions of overall life satisfaction. Public high school students (N = 3,477) completed a self-report questionnaire. Analyses were conducted to examine relationships between developmental assets and perceived life satisfaction while controlling for socioeconomic status. Results indicated that significant (p ≤ .05) associations were established for perceived support by parents/other adults for all four race/gender groups, self and peer values regarding risk behavior for black females, quality of other adult support for black males and white females and life satisfaction for adolescents. Significant (p ≤ .05) associations were also established for perceived support by parents/other adults for White males and Black males, accountability to parents/other adults for White females, quality of other adult support for White males and Black females and for empathetic relationships for all four race/gender groups. Results suggest that perceived life satisfaction is related to youth developmental assets, although moderated by gender and race differences. Further research is necessary to identify the particular characteristics of youth and specific aspects of adolescent life satisfaction associated with youth developmental assets in order to develop gender appropriate and culturally sensitive health promotion programs.     

学习环境、成就目标定向对学业情绪和学业成就的影响:基于物理学科的研究

以733名中学生为被试,采用结构方程模型对物理环境目标结构、成就目标定向、物理学业情绪及物理学业成就的关系建构模型.结果发现:(1)物理环境掌握目标结构对积极高唤醒、积极低唤醒和消极高唤醒学业情绪皆有显著积极预测作用,而物理环境表现目标结构则只对消极高唤醒和消极低唤醒物理学业情绪有显著积极预测作用;(2)通过成就目标定向中介对物理学业情绪的影响效果,物理学业情绪在成就目标和物理学业成就之间起中介作用,但影响模式不同;(3)研究结果支持学业情绪控制-价值扩展模型.     

Differences between African American and European American first-year college students in the relationship between self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and academic achievement

First-year African American and European American college students were surveyed to examine ethnic differences in how their social cognitive beliefs (self-efficacy and outcome expectations) influenced their academic achievement. It was hypothesized that outcome expectations may better explain academic achievement for African Americans due to the fact that they may perceive that external factors such as discrimination may influence their academic outcomes. Because European Americans are less likely to anticipate discrimination, they are more likely to believe that their outcomes would be the result of their own behavior. Higher levels of self-efficacy were related to better academic achievement for both ethnic groups. However, African Americans with negative outcome expectations (e.g. my education will not lead to a well paying job) had better achievement than those with more positive outcome expectations. This pattern was not found for European Americans. Potential explanations for the relationship between outcome expectations and academic achievement for African Americans such as racial socialization for preparation for bias are discussed and implications for interventions are addressed.     

Personality,social support,and anxiety among adolescents preparing for university entrance examinations in turkey

This study aimed to investigate the importance of different sources of perceived social support, sociotropic and autonomic personality dispositions, achievement expectation, and importance of academic achievement in predicting anxiety symptoms of male and female students who were preparing for the university entrance exam. Three hundred and forty students with ages varying from 16 to 21 participated in the study. Separate multiple regression analyses were run for males and females in predicting anxiety symptoms. The total Sociotropy score and the total Social Support score predicted anxiety for females, whereas for males, anxiety was predicted by four variables, namely, Achievement Expectancy, Concern over Approval, Social Support from Family, and Social Support from Friends. Implications of these results were discussed. This study was supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences under the Young Scientist Award Program. (TG-TUBA-GEB>P/2002-l-ll).     

Personality, social support, and anxiety among adolescents preparing for university entrance examinations in turkey

This study aimed to investigate the importance of different sources of perceived social support, sociotropic and autonomic personality dispositions, achievement expectation, and importance of academic achievement in predicting anxiety symptoms of male and female students who were preparing for the university entrance exam. Three hundred and forty students with ages varying from 16 to 21 participated in the study. Separate multiple regression analyses were run for males and females in predicting anxiety symptoms. The total Sociotropy score and the total Social Support score predicted anxiety for females, whereas for males, anxiety was predicted by four variables, namely, Achievement Expectancy, Concern over Approval, Social Support from Family, and Social Support from Friends. Implications of these results were discussed. This study was supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences under the Young Scientist Award Program. (TG-TUBA-GEB>P/2002-l-ll).     

Ethnic and gender differences in the labour market perceptions of post‐higher education job seekers: ‘Double jeopardy’ or ‘ethnic prominence’?

Ethnic and gender differences in perceptions of graduate job acquisition difficulty among U.K. post‐higher education job seekers were investigated. Two main hypotheses were compared: the double jeopardy hypothesis (DJH), suggesting an additive or interactive increase in perceived difficulty associated with membership of different disadvantaged demographic categories; and the ethnic prominence hypothesis, arguing for the salience of ethnicity over gender in perceptions. Graduates and final year students (N= 800) from Black, Indian, Pakistani/Bangladeshi, and White ethnic backgrounds rated the level of difficulty that a suitably qualified man and woman from their own ethnic background would encounter in attaining 10 graduate jobs. Interactions between participant ethnic background and gender of job seeker rated were examined in the context of the competing hypotheses. The perceptions of men, and Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi women, were consistent with the additive DJH, whereas Black women's perceptions were not. It is concluded that: (1) the perceptions of the latter group may reflect knowledge of Black male disadvantage, or negative stereotyping with respect to employment in the U.K. graduate labour market; and (2) perceptions of double jeopardy by some female graduates may have negative effects on their job seeking endeavours.     

Whose Decision is it? Organ Donation Attitudes Among Young UK South Asians

A questionnaire study examined organ donor card holding rates and attitudes to organ donation among young adult British South Asians and Whites attending institutions of higher education in the UK. There were 382 respondents (166 male, 216 female, average age 21.8 years): 107 Indian (Hindu or Sikh), 104 Pakistani/Bangladeshi (Muslim) and 171 White (Christian or of no religion). Overall, 33% of White but only 9% of South Asian respondents had a donor card. Among Whites, only 6% thought their parents would find it emotionally very upsetting to discuss organ donation, and of the White card holders 70% had told their parents that they had a card. In contrast 18% of Indians and 52% of Pakistanis/Bangladeshis thought that their parents would find it emotionally very upsetting to discuss organ donation, and only 39% of South Asian card holders had told their parents that they had a card. Finally, 41% of White, 54% of Indian and 91% of Pakistanis/Bangladeshi respondents doubted that they would take steps to obtain an organ donor card. White respondents proffered inertia as the main explanation for their not being likely to get a card. The factors underlying South Asian respondents not planning to obtain a card were more varied and included disinterest, emotional distaste, family opposition and religion. These reasons can be interpreted as relating to an interdependent conception of self and donor decisions being a family as well as an individual matter.     

I fear your envy, I rejoice in your coveting: on the ambivalent experience of being envied by others

We present 2 studies on being envied. Study 1 used an emotional narrative methodology. We asked 44 Spanish (23 women, 21 men) and 48 European American (36 women, 12 men) participants to tell us about a recent experience in which others envied them. We classified the antecedents, relationship context, markers of envy, coping strategies, and positive and negative implications of being envied. In Study 2, 174 Spanish (88 women, 86 men) and 205 European American (106 women, 99 men) participants responded to a situation in which they had something someone else wanted. We manipulated the object of desire (academic achievement or having "a better life"). We measured individual differences in orientation to achievement (i.e., vertical individualism), cooperation and interpersonal harmony (i.e., horizontal collectivism), a zero-sum view of success, beliefs that success begets hostile coveting, fear of success, and dispositional envy. We also measured participants' appraisals, positive and negative emotions, and coping strategies. The findings from both studies indicate that being envied has both positive (e.g., increased self-confidence) and negative consequences (e.g., fear of ill will from others). Being envied had more positive and more negative psychological and relational consequences among those participants who were achievement oriented (European Americans) than among participants who were oriented to cooperation and interpersonal harmony (Spanish).