Ambivalent Experiences Research Articles

Unveiling the stressful experiences faced by asexual individuals in South Korea: a consensual qualitative study

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores the stressful experiences faced by asexual individuals in South Korea. We conducted in-depth interviews with 12 South Korean adults who identified as asexual and analysed their data using consensus qualitative research. The analyses revealed 20 categories across five domains, including difficulties in defining and articulating asexual identity due to a lack of language and representation, facing denial and invalidation, navigating ambivalent experiences of invisibility, combating misconceptions, and encountering difficulties in connecting with asexual individuals and other members of the queer community. The study identified several stressors reported by South Korean asexual individuals, such as the dearth of language and representation regarding asexuality, lack of access to asexual networks, misconception that experiencing little or no sexual attraction is caused by a lack of love, casual use of the term ‘asexual’, and fear of increasing invisibility by concealing one’s asexual identity. Although these stressors have not been widely documented in other contexts, further research is needed to determine whether they are unique to the South Korean context. These findings highlight the need for greater awareness and understanding of asexuality in South Korea to promote the well-being and inclusion of asexual individuals.

Women academics' ambivalent experiences of singlehood and international mobility

This article explores the lived experiences of nine women scholars who are single, childfree and internationally mobile. Mobilising Laurent Berlant's work on ambivalence and ‘cruel optimism,’ we show how experiences of singlehood and academic international mobility are never only good or bad, but always both at the same time. Ambivalence emerges in the women's experiences because singlehood can facilitate academic careers by enabling high productivity and mobility, whereas mobility can inhibit finding committed relationships through an absence of stability and prevalent gendered expectations of women in heterosexual relationships. Most of the interviewed women hope for a life which has both careers, mobility and romantic relationships, however, the simultaneity of benefits and struggles associated with singlehood and a mobile academic life places them in an ambivalent situation that precludes the option of letting go of either of their affective attachments, namely, to gendered couple norms and the academic institution.

The Techno-Optics of Safety: Surveillance and Women's Ambivalent Experiences in South Korea's “Smart Safe City”

The Techno-Optics of Safety: Surveillance and Women's Ambivalent Experiences in South Korea's “Smart Safe City”

Making Sense of Recovery From First Psychosis With Antipsychotic Medication: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study.

Recovering from a first psychosis is a highly individual process and requires the person to make sense of their experiences. Clinicians, in turn, need to comprehend these first-person perspectives, creating a mutual sense-making dynamic. Antipsychotic medication is a substantial part of psychosis treatment. Providing insight in the lived experience of recovery with antipsychotics could improve the mutual understanding and help bridge the gap between the perspective of the clinician and that of the person recovering from psychosis. 14 persons in recovery from a first psychosis with the use of antipsychotics were interviewed. Their narratives were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five overarching themes were found, representing important and meaningful experiences in recovering with antipsychotic medication. Theme 1: antipsychotics as external dampening (4 subthemes); Theme 2: shifting of realities; Theme 3: pace of recovery; Theme 4: antipsychotics' influence on identity; and Theme 5: is it truly the antipsychotics? Our findings show that recovery from psychosis with antipsychotics is an all-encompassing, multi-faceted, and ambivalent experience. The themes found in this research could inspire clinicians to discuss less obvious aspects of the experience of recovering with antipsychotics. Even more so, paying attention to the first-person perspective could lead to a more thorough understanding and benefit therapeutic relationships.

Narrating Loneliness: Isolation, Disaffection, and the Contemporary Novel.

This article focuses on the ways in which narrative accounts of loneliness in literature problematize current definitions of this important and yet underexplored determinant of health. I argue that the prevailing conceptualization of loneliness in health research, with a general emphasis on social prescribing, obscures other dimensions of loneliness beyond social connectedness that also need to be accounted for in its definition. Drawing on narrative approaches to health and care and taking as a case study Santiago Lorenzo's Spanish novel Los asquerosos (2018), the article gestures toward a more political-rather than exclusively subjective and relational-reading of loneliness. It shows how the novel's exploration of loneliness as an ambivalent experience of tranquility and disaffection questions whether there is any direct causation between loneliness and aloneness or social isolation, presenting loneliness not so much as a problem or a social pain in need of curing, but as a symptom of a larger structural crisis. The article also reflects on the ability of literary narratives to illuminate, discuss, and ultimately challenge the underlying dynamics of loneliness, raising questions about how we understand these narratives and the type of agency we attribute to them.

Marital Conflict and Healthy Dietary Habits Among Preschoolers: A Study of the Experience of Coupled Women in Urban Mexico

ABSTRACT In Mexico social dynamics are changing toward less traditional arrangements. With a qualitative interview study, we explore the link between marital conflict and mothers’ ability to foster healthy dietary habits. Sample consisted of 21 middle-class cohabitating mothers of preschoolers. Results suggests that marital conflict leads women to experiences of tension, ambivalence, or inaction on fostering healthy eating habits. Parents’ mismatch in gender beliefs, food preferences, time orientation, and risk aversion play a role in creating disagreements. When men participate, women feel “helped” and grateful, but the forms and extent of desired participation may vary among traditional, ambivalent and non-traditional women.

Children’s Experiences of Undergoing Forensic Interviews and Forensic Medical Examinations in a Danish Child Advocacy Center

Child abuse is a severe global problem associated with various negative consequences. It is therefore important that the services received at Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) are perceived as positive as possible by children affected by abuse. Preliminary research indicates that CACs are successful in terms of providing coordinated, professional services. However, existing research has primarily focused on service and criminal justice system outputs, rather than documenting the experiences of the target group: i.e., children undergoing the CAC proceedings. The present study seeks to investigate the children’s experiences of the forensic procedures in a CAC. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 children undergoing case proceedings at a Danish CAC. The overall experiences of the children of the forensic interview and forensic medical examination were documented. Additionally, five overall themes were constructed using Thematic Analysis: Localities and surroundings, Relational and communicative work, Ambivalent experiences, Need of information and overview, and Missing out on everyday life. The findings of the current study underline the importance of the physical environment of the CAC, the need of information and overview as well as strong relational and communicative skills among professional as core elements in establishing positive encounters with the CAC. Furthermore, the results indicate how negative experiences of visiting a CAC are not necessarily directly linked to the CAC but may be a result of the children experiencing missing out on well-liked everyday activities. Altogether these results are important to consider when planning future CAC visits to support the well-being of the child.

The end of ambivalence. A narrative perspective on ambivalence in the suicidal process.

Suicidal ambivalence is a recognized phenomenon in suicidology, yet not much is known about it in the context of progression from suicidal ideation to action. The current study addresses this gap. We explore narrative dynamics of suicidal ambivalence in stories about transition from suicidal ideation to action. We employ an experiential qualitative approach to gain in-depth understanding of narrated experience of suicidal ambivalence. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 patients hospitalized after a suicide attempt. For a detailed analysis, we selected 11 interviews in which the interviewees' accounts spontaneously referred to their ambivalence about attempting suicide. We used a text-oriented version of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) to analyze the semantics and syntax, as well as the functions of what was said within the local context, and the social actions thus accomplished. Our study shows primarily that ambivalence is not resolved. Rather, it is set aside and removed from the narrative and replaced by an action-focused narrative with no references to mental activities. We propose that ambivalence recedes and gives way to action and that qualitative research provides a useful evidence base for conceptualizing and understanding the role of ambivalence in transition from suicidal ideation to action.

Predictive genetic testing for Huntington's disease: Exploring participant experiences of uncertainty and ambivalence between clinic appointments.

Ambivalence and uncertainty are key themes throughout the psychology of healthcare literature. This is especially so for individuals at risk of Huntington's disease (HD) deliberating the decision to undergo genetic testing because there is currently no treatment that modifies disease progression. A better understanding of the experience of making a decision about genetic prediction will help practitioners support and guide individuals through this process. Our aim was to capture participants' experiences of uncertainty and ambivalence in between their genetic counseling appointments. We explored these issues through the experiences of nine participants who were referred for predictive HD testing at four regional genetics services in England and Wales. Data consisted of recordings of clinic consultations, diaries, and an in-depth interview conducted at the end of the testing process. Data were analyzed thematically. Four themes were identified representing four possible futures, each future dependent on the decision to undergo testing and the result of that test. Our results showed that participants, as well as attending more to a future that represents their current situation of not having undergone predictive testing, also attended more to a distant future where a positive predictive result is received and symptoms have started. Participants attended less to the two futures that were more immediate once testing was undertaken (a future where a positive result is received and symptoms have not started and a future where a negative result is received). The use of diaries gave us a unique insight into these participants' experiences of ambivalence and uncertainty, psychological distress, and the emotional burden experienced. These findings help inform discussions within the clinic appointment as well as encourage researchers to consider diary use as a method of exploring what happens for individuals outside of clinical encounters.

중등학교 예비 진로전담교사의 MSCI 참여경험과 학교적용방안 탐색

Objectives This study was conducted to explore the program participation experience and school field application methods of secondary school prospective career teachers who participated in My System of Career Influences (MSCI), one of the constructivist career counseling programs.
 Methods For these purposes, the MSCI program, which consists of 5 sessions of 90 minutes per session, was implemented as a group counseling method to secondary prospective career teachers, and the contents of the reflection journals submitted by 16 research participants after each session and the last session were analyzed using the CQR. The CQR is a method that inductively organizes and categorizes the statements made by research participants, and is an appropriate method for revealing the inner experiences of research participants that cannot be easily detected with quantitative methods.
 Results The research participants’ experience of participating in the MSCI program consisted of three categories such as ‘discovery and enlightenment’, ‘experience of ambivalence in group activities’, ‘learning constructivist career guidance and counseling methods’ and nine subcategories. MSCI’s school application plan consisted of two categories such as ‘Program modification and supplementation plan’ and ‘Application to school curriculum’ and six subcategories.
 Conclusions These results suggest that learning through the MSCI experience can help participating prospective career teachers gain confidence and specific application plans for implementing constructivist career counseling in school settings.

استراتيجيات اللامركزية والتهجين عند شعب يوليو عند نادين جورديمر

The dichotomy of centre vs periphery is a central idea in postcolonial theory and an important model to describe the relationship between colonizer and colonized. The aim of this paper is to examine the dichotomy of centre and periphery in postcolonial theory and how this dialectic is manifested in July's People by the South African prolific writer Nadine Gordimer. The African novel is an important off shoot of postcolonial novel since it documents the native`s struggle to restore their lost identities. South African novel written by white authors is a unique version of this trend of fiction since it dramatizes the awkward ambivalent experience of white authors being torn between two opposing traditions : the European and the indigenous. The dichotomy of centre and periphery becomes subject to modification and revision in the newly born multicultural society especially after the apartheid.

Does Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Ambivalence Influence Employees' Constructive Deviance?

The ambivalent experience of superior-subordinate relationships is widespread in organisations and has gradually become an important factor influencing employees to actively engage in extra-role behaviours. However, employees' constructive deviance is extremely important for organisational development as they are important extra-role behaviours for organisational innovation and change. Owing that academic research on the antecedents of employees' constructive extra-role behaviours has lacked attention to individual emotional variables such as the leader-member exchange ambivalence, by drawing on self-control resource theory and social cognitive theory, this study examined the effects of leader-member exchange ambivalence on employees' constructive deviance, as well as the role of ego depletion and role-breadth self-efficacy. Based on a two-point questionnaire survey of 332 employees from different industries in China, the study tested hypotheses with SPSS 27 and AMOS 27 and found that the more leader-member exchange ambivalence, the less likely they were to engage in employees' constructive deviance, leader-member exchange ambivalence affected employees' constructive deviance through ego depletion, and when role-breadth self-efficacy is high, the lower the ego depletion of employees with leader-member exchange ambivalence, the more likely they are to engage in employees' constructive deviance. This study is intended to guide organisations to pay attention to the problem of individual internal conflict arising from superior-subordinate relationships, to remove the barriers to constructive transgression by individuals, and to truly exploit the innovative capacity of individual organisations. The study suggests that managers should pay attention to the negative effects of employees' perceived ambivalent experiences of supervisor-subordinate relationships, maintain consistency, and build positive social exchange relationships with their employees. Organisations should strengthen the training of leaders and employees to eliminate the serious internal attrition that organisations face from social network relationships. And employees should face the limitations of resources and reduce dependence on the leader-member exchange relationship as the dependence for their work attitudes and behaviours.

OTHERTONGUES: MULTILINGUALISM, NATALITY AND EMPOWERMENT IN SHARON DODUA OTOO'S ADAS RAUM

ABSTRACTWritten in German by the Black British author and activist Sharon Dodua Otoo, the novel Adas Raum (2021) intervenes in contemporary debates on colonial legacies to forge ‘a critical multilingualism’ (Yildiz 2012), challenging master‐narratives and tropes of founding fathers which privilege linear constructions of time and bounded concepts of nation and peoples. This article examines how Otoo foregrounds diasporic female figures as material agents by focusing on ambivalent experiences of childbearing, then argues that the multilingual feminist text rejects dualistic heteropatriarchal models to reconceive community in terms of intersubjective encounters and shared spaces. To illuminate the politics of Otoo's structural concern with rebirth, I take up the concept of ‘natality’ developed in the writings of Hannah Arendt and Adriana Cavarero, which offers a model for imagining possibilities of political action that defy forms of domination. Black feminist thought further informs the ambivalent figuration of motherhood in Otoo's narrative and its central preoccupation with intertwined issues of gender, racial and class discrimination. Challenging the ethnocentricity that has been identified throughout Arendt's oeuvre, Otoo reveals instead how fifteenth‐century West African concepts of space and time can be understood as in dialogue with the post‐war philosopher's understanding of natality as the central category of political thought.

Strengthening Parents' and Children's Wellbeing Through Positive Psychology: A Qualitative Study of Parents' Experiences of a Structured Training in Mindfulness and Character Strength

Few studies have examined how positive psychology can be implemented in a family context. Further, there is a lack of qualitative research of participant's experiences of mindfulness and character strengths. This study examined how Flourishing Families, a structured training in mindfulness and character strengths, may improve parental wellbeing and family life. Data were gathered through questionnaires and a total of 37 parents participated. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to examine the parents' experiences. Three main themes arose from the analysis: positive, negative and ambivalent experiences. The results demonstrated that a majority of the parents experienced positive effects on their wellbeing, parenthood and family dynamics after the training. Some parents reported stress and performance anxiety while others were uncertain if they had benefited from the course. These findings offer insights into how individuals experience mindfulness and character strengths and shed light on some common obstacles with the practices. The results contribute to the positive psychology literature by offering insights into how parents build their wellbeing and grow as parents.

Socio-Phenomenological Reflections on What Digital Death Brings and Denies in Terms of Relational Experiences to Orthodox Romanians

Informed by Alfred Schütz’s phenomenology of social relations and its recent developments addressing online relationality, this essay reflects on the differences between online and offline death-related experiences in contemporary Romania. In Orthodox death cultures, religious, social, and familial bonds overlap. Orthodox Christianity is sceptical about body–mind separation and values unmediated liturgical communities. It is, thus, pertinent to ask what death online brings and denies in terms of experience to Romanian internet users. Some preliminary findings from our fieldwork are discussed. So far, on Romanian Facebook, three clusters of experience emerged widely: 1. A realm of belief where faith, unchallenged by digital practices, “decodes” deadly events across life-worlds; 2. Experiences of resistance and ambivalence of those who are stuck “in-between“, that is, those less competent in their traditions, yet sceptical about digital change; 3. Death experiences seem less synchronised across life-worlds for those who value electronic proximity: digital death and real death obey different rules. Historical specificity, we shall conclude, sets typified combinations of motives for what Romanians do in the proximity of death and how they do it. Digital technologies modulate the “hows” and, less notably, the “whats”.

Unpacking dual effects of ambivalence toward technologies in online live streaming learning

PurposeShifting to OLSL classes during the pandemic can bring learners ambivalent experiences: negative, positive or both appraisals toward the technologies. However, few studies have examined how ambivalent experiences can influence students' learning behaviors, specifically cyberslacking and active participation. Using the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study investigates the impact of challenge and hindrance appraisals on these learning behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a mixed methods approach to answer research questions. An interview was conducted to identify the key components of ambivalent appraisals, and a survey was conducted to empirically examine the impact of challenge and hindrance appraisals on learners' behaviors in online live streaming learning (OLSL) contexts. The data of 675 university students were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsThis study found that hindrance appraisal leads to cyberslacking while challenge appraisal leads to active participation, but it can also cause cyberslacking. Social presence has a double-edged effect, acting as both a facilitator and inhibitor, strengthening the effect of hindrance appraisal on cyberslacking and the impact of challenge appraisal on active participation.Originality/valuePrior studies have primarily focused on the negative side (techno-distress) of technology appraisals. This study simultaneously examines the positive side, techno-eustress, on learners' behaviors in OLSL contexts, and explores the moderating effects of social presence. This study contributes to the technostress and technology adaptation literature by revealing how technology-induced ambivalent appraisals impact behavioral responses. It offers important theoretical and practical implications for education tool designers.

Ambivalence Toward the Implementation of Preventive Measures in (Un-)Vaccinated German Citizens

Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life around the world. To fight the pandemic, preventive measures were implemented. Despite being accepted by a majority of citizens in Germany, these measures elicited fierce protest from others. It seems that people either like or dislike them. Given the immense complexity of the topic, it is also likely that people hold ambivalent attitudes (i.e., simultaneously positive and negative). Aims: The purpose of this study is to explore ambivalence toward the (non-)implementation of preventive measures in vaccinated and unvaccinated German citizens. Method: Vaccinated ( N = 136) and unvaccinated ( N = 170) participants indicated their positivity, negativity and experienced ambivalence toward the (non-)implementation of preventive measures (e.g., mask mandatory). Results: The structure of positive and negative evaluations (i.e., objective ambivalence) indicates that unvaccinated people are more univalent (negative) and vaccinated people are neutral toward the preventive measures. Interestingly, results indicate a dissociation between objective ambivalence and experienced ambivalence. Limitation: The results are limited by the measurement choice, data collection time, and sample. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the experienced ambivalence increases with increasing personal costs. Implications for behavior change interventions and health psychology are discussed.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Pregnancy-Related Anxiety: A Systematic Review

Background: Pregnancy is a unique period of life that can overwhelm an expectant mother with experiences of psychological ambivalence, concretized by emotional disturbances, sudden transitions from exhaustion to exaltation, or even mixed anxiety. Objective: To determine the prevalence of pregnancy-related anxiety and its associated factors among pregnant women. Methods: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A structured literature review was carried out using the component of the PICO framework. The literature search was conducted in Medline, Ovid, Embase, Google Scholar, and PubMed. A combination of relevant search terms was used. Electronic searches were supplemented by manual searches of references of included studies and review articles. The duplicate citations were identified and removed. Results: A total of 69 articles were identified through the searches, while 13 articles met the inclusion criteria. The characteristics and results of included studies were discussed, regarding the study design, screening tools, prevalence, onset, and risk factors of pregnancy-related anxiety. Conclusions: Anxiety disorders are common during pregnancy. There is wide variability in its measurement, with a subsequently wide range in reported prevalence rates. Several risk factors are associated with pregnancy-related anxiety, such as younger age, low income, past history of stillbirth, unwanted pregnancy, current comorbidity, or mental illness. Key words: Pregnancy, anxiety, onset, prevalence, risk factors, systematic review, PRISMA.

Algorithm dependency in platformized news use

Previous research has highlighted the ambiguous experience of algorithmic news curation whereby people are simultaneously comfortable with algorithms, but also concerned about the underlying data collection practices. The present article builds on media dependency theory and news-finds-me (NFM) perceptions to explore this tension. Empirically, we analyze original survey data from six European countries (Germany, Sweden, France, Greece, Poland, and Italy, n = 2,899) to investigate how young Europeans’ privacy concerns and attitudes toward algorithms affect NFM. We find that a more positive attitude toward algorithms and more privacy concerns are related to stronger NFM. The study highlights power asymmetries in platformized news use and suggests that the ambivalent experiences might be a result of algorithm dependency, whereby individuals rely on algorithms in platformized news use to meet their information needs, despite accompanying risks and concerns.

Working through (mis)recognition: Understanding vulnerability as ambivalence in precarious worker subjectivity

Most workers around the world are part of the precariat, characterized by non-permanent, informal, short-term, low-pay, low-skill, and insecure jobs. While there have been many socio-economic critiques of the negative impacts of precarity on workers, the literature has increasingly asked how precarious workers actually live their lives and how their subjectivities are produced on a daily basis. We contribute to this literature by providing a psychosocial account of the ambivalent experiences of precarious workers. We contend that the interplay of recognition and misrecognition plays a crucial role, as the vulnerable, working subject becomes entangled in a complex web of recognizability. We present insights from 104 in-depth interviews, providing a Lacanian analysis of how precarious workers develop unconscious attachments to neoliberal values that are central to the logic of precarity. Understanding this ambivalence helps us develop a more nuanced view of an ethics of precarious workers’ vulnerability.