Psychology,population, and reproductive behavior

This special section on international perspectives in psychology focuses on population issues and reproductive behavior across national and cultural boundaries, emphasizing the responsibility of psychologists and colleagues in related disciplines to generate and communicate culturally mindful findings likely to shape public health policy and improve human well-being. After considering the historical and policy context, it highlights internationally collaborative research projects in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States that address reproductive behavior, women's roles and status, responsible parenthood, and abortion legislation in terms of cultural context, gender equity, the needs of adolescents, and public health policy. The articles illustrate the importance of the cultural context within which psychological research is conducted and how psychology can be informed by international perspectives.     

Food,faith, social service and institution building: the Annamrita programme of the Hare Krishna movement in India

Based on fieldwork with the Annamrita programme, a food-based social service of ISKCON or the Hare Krishna movement in India, I look at the intricate connection between food, faith, social service and institution building. Formally known as the ISKCON Food Relief Foundation, the Annamrita programme has partnered with the government’s midday meal scheme for school children. From the point of view of sociology of food and sociology of religion, I propose that food is a cultural, moral and emotional investment for ISKCON. I describe how a faith-based social service through the instrument of food becomes a mode of bridging and institution building. The governmentality of this food service and the sacred public–private partnership is a specific kind of cultural and macroeconomic intervention in a resource-limited setting such as India. Camouflaged and embedded in this programme is an element of cultural hegemony and a Krishna consciousness-governed nationalism, with the ideas of the nation as a sacred land. Krishna is considered as the vanguard of sacralisation and the faith messages of ISKCON inevitably accompany the service package.     

Policy Frames, Metaphorical Reasoning, and Support for Public Policies

This article evaluates the predictive value of a new theory for understanding public support for alternative solutions to policy problems, which we call policy metaphors. A policy metaphor represents a particular form of cognitive framing that makes use of commonly understood social institutions and judgments about their effectiveness to form "archetypes" against which proposed solutions to new policy problems are compared. We test the extent to which both understanding of and preference for particular policy frames predicts the nature and strength of policy choices by a representative sample of the American public. After controlling for factors that past research has shown to be important in understanding public opinion, including general partisan and ideological attitudes, self-interest, political values, and emotions, the cognitive frames specified by the general theory of policy metaphors are shown to strongly predict public support for hypothetical solutions to three different policy problems. These frames also predict support for President Clinton's 1993–94 health care reforms after controlling for those same conventional predictors. Most importantly, we demonstrate that these cognitive frames help constrain the beliefs of even the least politically aware members of the general public. Discussion centers on the implications of this new approach for understanding public opinion.     

医疗社会工作：现实意义和发展趋向

医疗社会工作是社会工作专业的重要实务领域之一,在西方发达国家的医疗事业中扮演着不可替代的角色,具有解决患者及其家属问题、处理医患关系,并促进公共卫生政策的改善等多种功能。从我国目前的发展来看,尚处于起步阶段,还有诸多需要努力的方面,包括完善相关政策、提高服务质量、修正教育模式、突出中国特色等。     

The roles of empathy,anger, and gender in predicting attitudes toward punitive,reparative, and preventative public policies

Four studies tested for gender differences in support for punitive policies, reparative human services, and preventative social policies, and explored potential emotional and attitudinal mediators of differences that were found. In Study 1, participants' relative preferences for punitive, reparative human service, and preventative political actions were measured. Women preferred human service actions more than did men, and men preferred punitive and preventative actions more than did women. Study 2 found that men support punitive political policies more than do women. Study 3 found that again, men supported punitive actions more than did women, and women supported human service actions more than did men, and that among men, state anger predicted support for punitive actions, and among women, state empathy predicted willingness to volunteer. In Study 4, among both men and women state anger predicted support for punitive actions, and trait empathy predicted support for human service actions. Trait empathy mediated the gender difference found in support for human service actions. Results provide evidence that emotional dispositions and reactions play an important role in shaping political attitudes, and more specifically, that gender differences in emotion influence gender differences in policy preferences.     

Needs, Wants and Goals: Wellbeing, Quality of Life and Public Policy

This paper considers the possible contribution of Quality of Life methods in international development policy and practice. It discusses the role of theories of human needs in how public policy makers and implementors might distinguish between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. There is a good case for extending theories of human need to encompass social and psychological needs, but when we do so the ability of theory to distinguish between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ begins to evaporate. Rather, by virtue of the core relationship between needs denial and harm, it is argued that a theory of human need can provide a framework for reasoning about what constitute needs. Empirical quality of life data can then assist policy makers to identify what constitute needs satisfiers in particular societal and cultural contexts. They also can provide important information to enable processes of public reasoning about the relative societal importance of different needs claims. The paper uses data generated through the application of two Quality of Life methods in Southern and Northeast Thailand, which were employed as part of a comprehensive study of the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in developing countries, to illustrate its arguments. The paper concludes that if routinely incorporated into local policy process, such quality of life methods have a possible contribution to make to effective democratic governance for development.     

Mismatched Lovers: Exploring the Compatibility Between LGBTQ+ Identity Theories and Gender and Sexual Plurality in Sri Lanka

Sexual and gender identity development theories in psychology and sociology exert considerable influence over discourse on gender and sexuality, shaping key domains such as counseling, education, and social work, as well as public policy and advocacy. While a robust body of literature has developed in critique of such theories and models, they continue to be applied in the Global South without much thought for their relevance to various non-Western cultural contexts. The current study explores the fit of these identity development theories to the experiences of 15 non-heterosexual and transgender individuals in Sri Lanka, gathered through a qualitative study of the question in 2016. These participants articulated gender and sexual self-conceptions that were incongruent with major identity development theories in significant ways. A broad majority failed to endorse central or salient sexual identities, while demonstrating a fluidity in object choice, sex roles, and sex acts, thus rupturing the theoretical notion of stable and coherent identities. Transgender participants did not demonstrate identity synthesis or pride and complicated theoretical understandings of sexual intimacy. These findings highlight the necessity of considering individual differences and cultural contexts when studying gender and sexuality and the dangers of universalizing theories across cultural differences.     

Dispositional optimism and physical wellbeing: The relevance of culture,gender, and socioeconomic status

The present study examined the relationship between dispositional optimism and physical wellbeing (as reflected in physical symptom reporting) in two groups of American and Jordanian college students. It also assessed moderation effects of culture, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Participants were administered a questionnaire consisting of items pertaining to dispositional optimism (as measured by the Revised Life Orientation Test, LOT‐R) along with items assessing physical symptom reporting and sociodemographic factors (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status). The results revealed significant negative correlations between dispositional optimism and physical symptom reporting for both American and Jordanian participants, although the magnitude of the correlation for the American group was noticeably larger than that for the Jordanian group. The results also showed that women, especially Jordanians, were more likely than men to report physical symptoms. Among Jordanians, physical symptom reporting was more common among those of lower SES. No statistically significant differences in physical symptom reporting were found between American men and women or between the two cultural groups. Multiple regression analyses revealed no statistically significant interactions between optimism and cultural background, optimism and gender, or optimism and SES. Overall, the results suggest that optimism is the factor most predictive of physical symptom reporting, followed by SES and gender. These results corroborate previous findings on the relationship between dispositional optimism and physical wellbeing, and point to crosscultural differences in relationship patterns. These differences suggest that although personality characteristics such as optimism may play an important role in the physical wellbeing of both Western and non‐Western groups, the influence of sociodemographic factors such as gender and SES and their interaction with cultural variables must not be overlooked.     

Eating disorders in a nonclinical adolescent population: implications for treatment

The present study investigates the prevalence of adolescent eating disorders across gender, cultural groupings, and socioeconomic status. The Eating Attitudes Test, the Binge-Eating Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire were administered to students at two high schools. The results indicate a high rate of eating disorders in a nonclinical adolescent population. The rates for binge eating are comparable to those found in studies of college students--found at a younger age. With regard to SES, cross-cultural and gender findings, it is clear that eating disorders cross socioeconomic class and ethnic groups, and have a higher rate of occurrence in males than previously reported. Given such high rates of eating problems in a nonclinical population, the issue of prevention and early detection must be addressed. Additionally, more specific information on male eating disorders is needed.     

新时代青少年羞怯对同伴侵害的影响：依存型和独立型自我建构的作用

本研究的主要目的是考察羞怯对同伴侵害的影响及潜在机制。1036名青少年(52%是男孩; M = 12.97 岁, SD = .76)完成了自评问卷。结果发现：(1)羞怯显著地正向预测青少年的同伴侵害;(2)自我建构调节了这一关系,依存型自我建构对羞怯个体的同伴问题具有保护作用,而独立型自我建构具有破坏作用;(3)性别对这一关系的调节作用并不显著。这些发现强调了在羞怯的适应功能研究中考虑文化的个人层面因素的重要性。     

Southern Appalachia: Analytical models,social services,and native support systems

Conclusions The model of ethnicity has been applied in this paper to Appalachian natives. The problems suffered by Appalachians in terms of high dropout rates, institutional discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping are familiar to other ethnic minority groups. Yet because the majority of the population in Appalachia are racially indistinct from mainstream Americans, there is resistance to the notion of ethnic difference. This has significant repercussions. Ironically, service providers and others in the region often recognize the distinctive nature of native Appalachians while, at the same time, reaffirming that they are white Americans like anywhere else. This is often said with good intentions. The result, however, justifies a lack of action taken to improve services for native Appalachians. If they are perceived as no different, inequalities go unrecognized and unredressed. If, on the other hand, differences are perceived only on the basis of socioeconomic class and/or rural residence, social services may miss the cultural dimension that may be all-important in identifying problems and potential means of improvement. It is hoped that application of the notion of ethnicity to mountain people will be helpful in the structuring of human services in the region.I am indebted to Mae Reck and Gregory Reck who have greatly contributed to my thinking on Appalachian ethnicity. I also thank two graduate students, Mildred Dunevant and Stephanie Perrin, who read and commented on this paper.     

Career aspirations of youth: Untangling race/ethnicity, SES, and gender

This study examined the influence of gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity on the career aspirations of over 22,000 8th and 10th grade youth. The top five occupations identified by youth as aspirations included artist, lawyer, musician, FBI agent, and actor/actress. Top occupations were also reported for each gender × socioeconomic status × race/ethnicity group. Aspirations were coded by social prestige level, minimum education requirements, and median salary. Results revealed significant main effects for socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity as well as significant interaction effects. Further, significant gender main effects and a significant gender × ethnicity interaction were found for occupational prestige and educational requirements.     

Cultural Dimensions,Gender, and the Nature of Self-concept: A Fourteen-country Study

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the self were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergraduates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according to the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and by correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures placed greater salience for their self-concepts on “family values” than did those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural difference was not found for “social relationships”. The expected gender differences, with females valuing “family values” and “social relationships” more highly, were found only for the individualist countries. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level interaction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the nature of self-conceptions, and that the “family” and “social” aspects of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered separately.     

Personal Adjustment to Acculturative Transitions: The Turkish Experience

This research examines personal adjustment to acculturative transitions. Internal adjustment, or well-being, and external adjustment, or effectiveness, are analyzed in two acculturation contexts: migration from rural to urban settings in Turkey, and international migration from Turkey to Belgium. Comparisons are made between low-SES (socioeconomic status) and high-SES youth in Istanbul, as well as between these youngsters and Turkish youth in Belgium. Adjustment is explained by collectivism and achievement values among acculturating persons, and by social inequality and cultural distance between acculturating and dominant cultural groups. Full causal models are used to test individual-level and group-level explanations of acculturative adjustment. It is found that Turkish youngsters with a collectivistic value orientation have fewer adjustment problems. Second, social inequality increases internal adjustment problems of low-SES youth in Turkey, and cultural distance adds to external adjustment problems of Turkish immigrant youth in Belgium. Third, social inequality reinforces collectivism of low-SES youth in Turkey, whereas in Belgium, collectivism is reinforced by cultural distance. Simultaneously, cultural distance in Belgium lowers achievement values of Turkish immigrant youth.     

The Secret of Confucian Wuwei Statecraft: Mencius's Political Theory of Responsibility

Despite his strong commitment to the ideal of wuwei statecraft, Mencius advanced a distinct yet cohesive theory of Confucian youwei statecraft that can serve the ideal of wuwei, first by means of the principled application of individual and social responsibility under unfavorable socioeconomic conditions, and second by offering a concrete public policy (i.e. the well-field system) that contributes to a decent socioeconomic condition on which the society can be self-governing and where individuals (and families) can fully exercise their individual moral and socioeconomic responsibility. My central claim is that Confucian wuwei statecraft has a practical and social background, namely, a socioeoconomically and morally self-governing civil society.     

Psychological,sociocultural, and marital adaptation of Turkish immigrant couples in Canada

The study examined the acculturation and adaptation of 200 married Turkish immigrants in Toronto, Canada, using self‐report questionnaires. As an extension of research from sojourners to immigrants, and from individuals to married couples, marital adaptation was introduced and three facets of adaptation were differentiated: psychological, sociocultural, and marital. The findings support the contention that adaptation is multifaceted. Consistent with stress and coping models, psychological adaptation of married couples was associated with the personality variable of hardiness, social support, acculturation attitudes, and discrimination. On the other hand, in line with social learning perspectives, sociocultural adaptation was mostly related to the variables instrumental in acquiring social skills in the new culture, namely, language proficiency and contact with members of the dominant group. Marital adaptation was mostly associated with marital stressors and marital support. The lack of research on gender differences in the differentiation of adaptation was addressed. This differentiation was clearer in men than in women; there were also different variables associated with the facets of men's and women's adaptation. The effects of socioeconomic status and gender have also been examined. The findings made it evident that Turkish immigrants did not acculturate uniformly. Two groups of Turkish immigrants, working class and professionals were clearly distinguished in their acculturation experiences and adaptation. Gender differences were most apparent in the low socioeconomic status group. Women in general were psychologically more vulnerable than men; the group that faced more risk factors were those women of low socioeconomic status. In terms of acculturation attitudes, Turkish immigrant couples strongly endorsed separation; however, those of high socioeconomic status preferred integration and assimilation to a greater, and separation to a lesser extent than those of low socioeconomic status.     

Human Rights,Cultural Pluralism,and International Health Research

In the field of bioethics, scholars have begun to consider carefully the impact of structural issues on global population health, including socioeconomic and political factors influencing the disproportionate burden of disease throughout the world. Human rights and social justice are key considerations for both population health and biomedical research. In this paper, I will briefly explore approaches to human rights in bioethics and review guidelines for ethical conduct in international health research, focusing specifically on health research conducted in resource-poor settings. I will demonstrate the potential for addressing human rights considerations in international health research with special attention to the importance of collaborative partnerships, capacity building, and respect for cultural traditions. Strengthening professional knowledge about international research ethics increases awareness of ethical concerns associated with study design and informed consent among researchers working in resource-poor settings. But this is not enough. Technological and financial resources are also necessary to build capacity for local communities to ensure that research results are integrated into existing health systems. Problematic issues surrounding the application of ethical guidelines in resource-poor settings are embedded in social history, cultural context, and the global political economy. Resolving the moral complexities requires a commitment to engaged dialogue and action among investigators, funding agencies, policy makers, governmental institutions, and private industry.     

Acceptability of fertility regulating methods in cross-cultural perspective1

The purpose of this paper is to provide a limited overview of the evolving concept of cultural acceptability, describe research conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization Task Force on Acceptability of Fertility Regulating Methods, and offer some examples of social marketing in community based contraceptive distribution programs. Within a context of socioeconomic development, awareness of local cultural preferences, and increasing working opportunities for women, social scientists are joining with biomedical colleagues in modifying contraceptive techniques and service delivery systems to meet the growing demands of couples and individuals to control their own fertility in a safe, satisfying, and dignified manner.     

中国特色社会心理服务体系建设的路径分析

社会心理服务体系作为培育良好社会心态的公共服务体系，有着公共服务体系具有的基本特征：普惠性、公平性和动态性。同时，作为社会治理体系的有机组成部分，这个体系的功能是促进社会治理现代化和科学化，营造和谐的社会心态。中国特色社会心理服务体系建设需要立足我国国情，注重以下方面：党政集中统一领导、针对性的心理服务内容、多元化的心理服务载体、专兼职互补的心理服务队伍、循序渐进的建设重点。     

Personal conceptions of intelligence, self-esteem, and school achievement in Italian and Portuguese students

Educational research places emphasis on the fact that different cultures have different self-construals. These construals can influence cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes in individuals. Great importance is attached to individuals' implicit conceptions of the nature of their intelligence (incremental or entity) and self-esteem. In general, both representation of intelligence and self-esteem seem to play an important role in scholastic performance in terms of both a predispostion to learning and the results actually achieved. The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between variables such as school, and socioeconomic level and gender in Italian and Portuguese students. A questionnaire was administered to 1,540 high school and university students assessing socioeconomic level and school performance, the Personal Conceptions of Intelligence Test (Faira & Fontaine, 1997), and the Self-Esteem Test (Rosenberg, 1965). In general, results show that Portuguese subjects are more incremental than Italians. Moreover, significant differences have to be determined regarding motivational factors linked to school and socioeconomic level and gender.The research highlights the importance of macro-contextual factors in the social, economic, and political organizations that influence how people develop their motivational beliefs.