Mental health help‐seeking and refugee adolescents: Qualitative findings from a mixed‐methods investigation

There is general agreement in Australia and other Western resettlement countries that many refugee adolescents with social, behavioural, and mental health problems are not accessing mental health care. There is, however, a paucity of research on refugee adolescent mental health service utilisation and help‐seeking. Most research to date has centred on adolescents in the general population, and even then is still very limited. This paper presents the findings of 13 focus groups held with 85 refugee adolescents aged 13–17 years from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Serbia, and Sudan. The study was part of a wider investigation of mental health service utilisation by refugee parents of children aged 4–17 years, and by adolescents aged 13–17 years. With respect to adolescents, the focus group findings indicate that most are very reluctant to venture beyond their close friendship networks for help with their psychosocial problems due to a range of individual, cultural, and service‐related barriers. Implications for mental health policymakers, service planners, and service providers are discussed.     

Effects of basic human values on host community acculturation orientations

Although literature provides evidence for the relationship between values and acculturation, the relationship between host community acculturation orientations has not yet been investigated. In this study we tested the effects of four high-order values (openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement, devised according to Schwartz's model) on host community acculturation orientations towards immigrants (devised according the interactive acculturation model) in the public domain of employment and the private domain of endogamy/exogamy. Participants were 264 Italian University students, who completed a questionnaire containing the Portrait Values Questionnaire, a measure of personal values, and the Host Community Acculturation Scale, aimed at measuring Italian acculturation strategies towards three groups of immigrants: Immigrants (the general category), Chinese (the valued immigrant group), and Albanians (the devalued immigrant group). Results showed that personal values are related to the adoption of acculturation orientations: In particular, the values that mostly impacted on acculturation orientations were self-transcendence and conservation. Values concerning self-transcendence encourage the adoption of integrationism, integrationism-transformation, and individualism and reduce the adoption of assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism. Values concerning conservation encourage the adoption of assimilation, segregation and exclusion orientations and reduce the adoption of both types of integrationism and individualism. Minor effects were found regarding self-enhancement and openness to change.     

L’adaptation transculturelle d’une échelle de mesure Cas de l’échelle des ancres de carrière

The objective of this research is to achieve a transcultural adaptation of a measure scale of professional values, particularly Schein’s (1985) career anchors from a north American context where it has been conceived to an arab-islamic culture, Tunisian’s environment. For this, this research follows a rigorous methodological process, that enable it to establish a new measure scale, offering good psychometric qualities and building up professional values adapted to Tunisian employees.     

Examining regional variability in work ethic within Mexico: Individual difference or shared value

Despite the acceptance of work ethic as an important individual difference, little research has examined the extent to which work ethic may reflect shared environmental or socio‐economic factors. This research addresses this concern by examining the influence of geographic proximity on the work ethic experienced by 254 employees from Mexico, working in 11 different cities in the Northern, Central and Southern regions of the country. Using a sequence of complementary analyses to assess the main source of variance on seven dimensions of work ethic, our results indicate that work ethic is most appropriately considered at the individual level.     

Prosperity Beliefs and Value Orientations: Fueling or Suppressing Entrepreneurial Activity

Entrepreneurs tend to think differently than nonentrepreneurs. Among the differences are values prizing achievement and self‐direction, while downplaying tradition and conformity. Religion is an important correlate to human values. Nevertheless, previous research has failed to explore adequately the connections among religious beliefs, human values, and entrepreneurial outcomes. The purpose of this study is to test these relationships with a focus on beliefs that God rewards the faithful with material prosperity. We test eight hypotheses using a national survey of working adults. Results of a multigroup path model reveal that value orientations of self‐enhancement, openness to change, and conservation are associated with entrepreneurial attitudes of opportunity recognition and risk willingness. These attitudes likewise correlate with new business creation. Prosperity beliefs moderate the impact of values and entrepreneurial attitudes on the likelihood of starting a new business, but prosperity beliefs by themselves show little direct impact on entrepreneurial attitudes or action.     

Pathways to intercultural accuracy: Social projection processes and core cultural values

The present research examines intercultural accuracy—people's ability to make accurate judgments about outgroup values—and the role of social projection processes. Across four studies, U.S. and British participants showed low overall levels of intercultural accuracy for Chinese students’ individualistic and collectivistic values. In line with recent changes toward individualism in China, we observed different levels of intercultural accuracy, hinging on whether the criterion values of Chinese were assessed before (2001) or after (2015) this shift. Important for the study of social projection, we observed that U.S./British participants projected their values onto the outgroup. Social projection tendency (measured in Study 2 and manipulated in Study 3) was associated with greater intercultural accuracy. The relationship between projection and accuracy also depended on the shifts in individualistic values of Chinese. Important for the study of intergroup relations, accuracy was positively associated with interest in future relationships with the Chinese.     

REACTING TO CONSECRATING SCIENCE: WHAT MIGHT AMATEURS DO?

In Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World, Lisa H. Sideris makes a compelling case that a new cosmology movement advocates for a new, universal, creation story grounded in the sciences. She fears the new story reinforces elite power structures and anthropocentrism and thus environmental degradation. Alternatively, she promotes genuine wonder which occurs in experiences of the natural world. As Sideris focuses on the likely logical outcome of the assumptions and arguments of the new cosmologies, she does not investigate whether and how people react to these new myths. I suggest that methods of documentary studies, applied to popular book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, shed light on the ramifications of the new cosmologies among the general public. While many reviewers exhibit attitudes and behaviors that would concern Sideris, responses are far from univocal. Using this case as a guide, I suggest that attention to the experience of laypeople could contribute productively to religion and science research in general.