Importance Of Significant Others Research Articles

Reflective Functioning and Financial Exploitation Vulnerability in Older Adults: The Importance of Significant Others

ABSTRACT Objectives Financial exploitation of older adults results in devastating economic, social, and psychological losses to older adults, their families, and society at large. This study examined the relationship between reflective functioning and financial exploitation vulnerability (FEV) and whether relationship status moderated the association. Methods A community-based sample of 156 Israeli older adults age 60 and over responded to demographic questions and questionnaires assessing reflective functioning and FEV. Results A hierarchical linear regression analysis covarying for age, sex, education, income, and sum of illnesses, revealed that higher reflective functioning was associated with lower FEV (p = .011). A main effect of relationship status was not found, but a significant interaction of reflective functioning × relationship status was discovered (p = .008), adding 4.2% to the total variance of the model. Probing the interaction revealed that the reflective functioning-FEV association was significant only for older adults not in a relationship. Conclusions Findings suggest that low reflective functioning may be associated with increased risk of financial exploitation, specifically in certain populations of older adults. Clinical Implications Care providers of older adults may consider assessing for, and identifying older adults with low reflective functioning, in order to prevent or intervene in the event of a potentially exploitative situation.

Slovenian children’s perceptions of and attitudes towards foreign languages

ABSTRACT The main aim of the article is to identify Slovenian children’s attitudes towards foreign languages (FL), their motivation for learning languages, the influence of different significant others (teachers, parents, peers) on their language attitudes, and the ways they perceive languages which they are exposed to. The focus is on FLs in general rather than on a particular FL. The study is linked to the project ‘Languages Matter’ whose principal goal is to determine which factors support the creation of a supportive learning environment for the development of plurilingualism in the Slovenian school context. The article presents the results of a survey conducted in different primary schools in Slovenia on a population of 472 pupils aged 8/9 (n = 472). The survey questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part uses the LANGattMini scale (Bratož et al., 2021) to investigate the following factors: FL learning motivation, FL attitudes, and importance of significant others. The second part uses a qualitative paradigm and aims to gain an insight into the respondents’ perceptions of FLs. The results of the study indicate that children‘s attitudes towards FLs are generally positive but at the same time build a complex picture of interdependence between attitudes, motivation, and significant others.

A visual report on what is of value for people with intellectual disabilities in a Flemish care organisation

ABSTRACT Background: This paper presents the findings from a qualitative research project that explored what ten people with intellectual disabilities who receive care and support in a residential care facility deem valuable for living a good life and what the opportunity to manage resources for care and support themselves means to them. Method: With the use of photovoice, the 10 participants documented their care and support, and by extension, their own lives. We describe how the project was carried out and the facilitating and obstructing factors we encountered. Results: The collected images and related personal stories teach us about the central importance of significant others to the lives of the participants and their vital role as “necessary others” who nurture a multitude of possibilities. Conclusions: The increasing policy focus on independence and self-sufficiency is opposed to the vital role of relationships in the participants' view of a good life.

Beneficial self-management support and user involvement in Healthy Life Centres-A qualitative interview study in persons afflicted by overweight or obesity.

BackgroundRelapse is high in lifestyle interventions involving behavioural change and weight loss maintenance. The purpose of lifestyle self‐management interventions offered at Healthy Life Centres (HLCs) is to empower the participants, leading to self‐management and improved health. Exploring beneficial self‐management support and user involvement in HLCs is critical for quality, improving effectiveness and guiding approaches to lifestyle change support in overweight and obesity.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore how persons afflicted by overweight or obesity attending lifestyle interventions in Norwegian HLCs experience beneficial self‐management support and user involvement.MethodSemi‐structured in‐depth interviews were conducted with 13 service users (5 men and 8 women). Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsOne main theme was identified: regaining self‐esteem and dignity through active involvement and long‐term self‐worth support in partnership with others. This main theme comprised four themes: (a) self‐efficacy through active involvement and better perceived health, (b) valued through health‐care professionals (HPs) acknowledgement, equality and individualized support, (c) increased motivation and self‐belief through fellowship and peer support; and (d) maintenance of lifestyle change through accessibility and long‐term support.ConclusionService users’ active involvement, acknowledgement and long‐term self‐worth support from HPs and peers seem to support self‐management and user involvement and may be some of the successful ingredients to lifestyle change. However, prolonged follow‐up support is needed. A collectivistic and long‐term perspective can integrate the importance of significant others and shared responsibility.

The Importance of Significant Others in Preventing Extremism: The Philosophy and Practice of the Swedish Tolerance Project

This article concerns a specific educational programme to reduce recruitment to racist and extreme organizations in Sweden. The programme is called the Tolerance Project, and it functions as an elective course offered to a selected group of young people. Looking into assumptions and ideas underlying the programme, the article describes the importance of significant others in preventing extremism. Data consist of descriptions of the programme and field notes obtained from course participation and talking to course leaders. The tolerance educators express a broad understanding of socialization, in which parents are considered as important conversation partners, and that their own job is to facilitate democratic dialogue. Most notably, the course creates new peer constellations and encourages participants to become ‘ambassadors of tolerance’, able to confront intolerance in the arenas in which they are normally located. The overall idea is to improve the various social contexts in which potential ‘at-risk’ youth are located.

Older adults’ experiences of a reablement process. “To be treated like an adult, and ask for what I want and how I want it”

ABSTRACTThis is a follow-up study of intensive home-based rehabilitation from older people’s perspectives. The aimwas to explore older adults’ descriptions of interactional needs related to autonomy in life. The purpose was also to explore the importance of significant others in the reablement process. The sample consisted of 23 women aged 72–92 who were included consecutivelyin the first project year. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews that were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative latent content analyzes. The results show that regaining autonomy through reablement was achieved by the interviewees although not always to the same extent as before. Three themes related to interactional needs were identified: (1) Transitional relations, referring to encounters with staff in time-limited relations. (2) More stable relations with significant others without limitation of time. (3) The acceptance of growing older and of death as a “natural departure”. Transitional relations with professionals, and more stable relations with significant others, are important parts of the reablement process according to older adults. In conclusion, professionals within gerontology need to recognize the social and historical context including the symbolic meanings each older person gives to life’s necessaries. Older adults appreciate reablement which includes rehabilitation goals related to the person’s stable relationships and larger life context.

Education beyond socialisation: on becoming and being a citizen-subject in everyday life

This article is concerned with a dimension of young people's civic education beyond socialisation that is neither confined to the sphere of political decision-making, nor to the achievement of a particular civic identity. The two case studies emphasise the role and importance of significant others and of democratic and non-democratic relationships, engagements and practices in the everyday lives of the young people. Whilst schools have a duty to teach young people how to act and behave in a responsible way within a democratic society, they also have a unique opportunity to foster and maintain a safe environment where young people can originate action, respond to the actions of others and be citizen-subjects.

Perceived Social Support and the Voluntary, Mixed, or Pressured Use of Mental Health Services

The network-episode model of service utilization and self-labeling theory underscore the importance of significant others in averting or prompting individuals’ entry into mental health treatment. Drawing from these approaches, three hypotheses are tested: (1) Social support generally reduces the likelihood of treatment entry, but (2) when individuals’ mental conditions are more serious, supportive relationships instead raise the probability of mental health utilization, and (3) for persons with greater social support, the more severe their mental disorders, the more likely they will enter treatment under pressure or with mixed volition. Data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication are used to test these hypotheses ( N = 5,692). Results confirm expectations. Findings also show that persons with greater social support perceived less need for mental health services, suggesting that supportive relationships might substitute for formal treatment or perhaps delay treatment seeking. Unmet need for psychiatric services may not be as great as indicated by low rates of service utilization among persons with disorders.

Is informed choice in prenatal testing universally valued? A population‐based survey in Europe and Asia

Informed choice has become an integral part of healthcare provision. We investigated the extent to which informed choice in the context of prenatal testing is universally valued. The value attached to parental choice in prenatal testing and the perceived importance of significant others' views when making test decisions were assessed in a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Male and female participants from general population samples in six countries: the UK (n = 210), the Netherlands (n = 197), Italy (n = 200), Greece (n = 200), China (n = 200) and India (n = 199). The questionnaires assessed values attached to parental involvement and the perceived importance of the views of significant others when making prenatal test decisions. Attitudes towards parental choice and attitudes towards the importance of others' views were analysed by age, gender and education using Chi-squared tests, Analysis of Variances and multiple logistic regression. The majority of respondents from Northern European countries believed that undergoing prenatal tests should reflect parental choice. Conversely, only a minority of respondents from Southern European and Asian countries advocated parental choice, with most expressing the belief that all pregnant women should have the procedure. The perceived importance of significant others' views when making test decisions also varied across countries: those in favour of parental choice perceived others' views as less important in the test decision. A preference for prenatal testing decisions to reflect an informed choice was predicted by (i) country and (ii) the perceived importance of significant others' views. Education, age and gender did not predict decisions. The implications of these findings for policy and practice depend upon whether placing a low value on parental choice, but a high value on the others' views regarding prenatal testing is considered an informed choice. Further research is needed to determine whether cultural variation in values remains significant in a multicultural society.

The Effect of Cohort on Women's Sport Participation: An Intergenerational Study of Collegiate Women Ice Hockey Players

The purpose of this paper was 1) to examine the effect of gender expectations on sport participation by considering the impact of cohort on women's choice to play collegiate ice hockey, a masculine and statistically male-dominated sport, and 2) to show how the “enrichment hypothesis,” habitus, and recreational capital can be used as conceptual frameworks to explain this choice. The findings are based on a survey of 85 women who played collegiate ice hockey, a nontraditional sport for women. The respondents reported the importance of significant others; however, cohort effects were evident in the age at which they started playing ice hockey and extent to which friends or family members had influenced them as well as in the degree of participation in team sports and ice hockey, in particular, prior to playing ice hockey in college. The implications of these findings for practitioners as well as suggestions for future researchers are provided.

The influence of significant others in complementary and alternative medicine decisions by cancer patients

Individuals living with cancer are faced with numerous treatment decisions that encompass both conventional therapies and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Although a beginning body of research has explored the CAM decision-making process by cancer patients, the social context of these treatment decisions has been largely ignored. As a part of a larger grounded theory research project exploring CAM decision-making processes of cancer patients living in British Columbia, Canada, the purpose of this secondary inquiry was to explore how significant others were involved in patients’ decisions related to CAM. In total, 61 patients with early and advanced-stage breast and prostate cancer and 31 significant others participated in semi-structured interviews. Using constant comparative analysis, four main types of decisional involvement by significant others were identified: creating a safe place for the patient to make a decision, “becoming a team”: collaborative decision-making, moving the patient towards a decision, and making the decision for the patient. Significant others were often found to engage in more than one type of decision involvement as a consequence of several key factors. Within the types of decisional involvement, nine distinct roles in the CAM decision-making process were described by the significant others. The findings of this inquiry extend previous research by highlighting the importance of significant others in cancer patients’ CAM decisions and challenge past conceptualizations of autonomy in treatment decision making.

Reflected Appraisals and Perceived Importance of Significant others' Appraisals as Predictors of College Athletes' Self-Perceptions of Competence

This study examined the reflected appraisal process with college athletes (N = 325). Specifically, the study tested: (a) the relative influence of the reflected appraisals of mothers, fathers, coaches, and teammates (i. e., how athletes perceive these others view their ability) on athletes' self-perceptions of competence, and (b) whether the importance placed on these significant others as sources of competence information moderated the relationship. Based on a factor analysis, composite variables were formed representing the reflected appraisals of the athletes'parents (i.e., father, mother) and the reflected appraisals of sport-others (i.e., coach, teammates). Regression analyses revealed that the reflected appraisals of parents (P = .21) and sport-others (/3 = .55) predicted self-perceptions of competence fp < . 05, R2 =. 45). Follow-up analyses determined that the reflected appraisal of sport-others was a significantly stronger predictor. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the interaction of reflected appraisals and the importance of significant others did not significantly add to the prediction of self-perceptions of competence fp > . 05, A R2 = .01) beyond the independent effects of these constructs. Results are discussed in terms of the reflected appraisal process and the influence of significant others on athletes' self-perceptions.

Transcending Potential Antecedent Leisure Constraints: The Case of Women Motorcycle Operators

The purpose of this paper was threefold: 1) to describe past methodological approaches to the study of leisure constraints and evaluate the impact of these approaches on theoretical development, 2) to provide the results of a survey of individuals who have transcended potential antecedent leisure constraints in order to evaluate the applicability of the “enrichment hypothesis”, and 3) to discuss the implications of these findings for future research on leisure constraints. The “enrichment hypothesis” suggests that those making nontraditional leisure choices would need exposure to a special social environment that would provide an awareness of and support for such a choice. The findings from this survey of 453 women who are motorcycle operators, a statistically male-dominated and stereotypically masculine leisure activity, lend support to the “enrichment hypothesis”; most women had been passengers, knew someone close to them who was a motorcyclist, and were taught to ride by a family member, thus emphasizing the importance of significant others. The impact of these findings on the theoretical constructs associated with the literature on leisure constraints is also discussed.

Gender Differences Among Adolescents in Family, and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Weight Loss, and Binge Eating Behaviors

The present study examined perceived family and peer influences on body dissatisfaction, weight loss, and binge eating behaviors in adolescents. Three hundred and six girls aged 11 to 17 years (M = 13.66, SD = 1.12) and 297 boys aged 11 to 18 years (M = 13.89, SD = 1.13) completed a questionnaire that examined the direct influence and quality of family and peer relationships on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Direct influences of family and peers, rather than the quality of these relationships, predicted body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in adolescent boys and girls. Interesting differences were found between girls and boys in the nature of the influences and in the way they were expressed. In particular, parental and peer discussion and encouragement of weight loss predicted disordered eating behaviors in girls, while maternal and peer encouragement predicted binge eating and weight loss behaviors in boys. Fathers played a salient role in the expression of more severe forms of eating problems, while siblings played a small yet significant role in cognitive restraint among girls. The findings highlight gender differences in the importance of significant others in the expression of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in adolescence.

Male Partners of Substance-Abusing Women in Treatment: An Exploratory Study

Despite evidence for the importance of significant others in the recovery process, little is known about male partners of female substance abusers. This paper presents a qualitative exploratory study conducted to learn more about male partners of crack/cocaine-addicted women and specifically examines the men's influence on the treatment and recovery process of their female partners. Subjects were found to have an extensive history of substance abuse and some experience with treatment; three-quarters were active crack/cocaine users. Although their attitude toward women's substance abuse was negative and their opinion of treatment for women positive, men's behavioral support for their partners was usually passive and inconsistent. Reasons are discussed why male partners of female drug users in treatment generally were resistant to active participation in family-oriented treatment: the men's active drug use, their desire to maintain the status quo in the relationship, possible focus on their own recovery, divergent views about treatment goals, and the desire to minimize stigma by association.

The integration of self and significant others.

THIS PAPER is a study of self-conception viewed as an interpersonal construct. A relatively simple but flexible and multilevel design used in the study provides an opportunity to observe the relationship between the usually assumed generalized and global sense of self-conception and the self as perceived when in the presence of significant others. Hypotheses derived from theories of the self were formulated to test the postulated importance of significant others, and particularly the mother figure, in the development, stabilization, and integration of self-conception and, specifically, self-evaluation.

The Importance of Significant others in Youth's Decision Making about Drug Use and other Deviant Acts

The purpose of the study was to investigate youth's decision making processes as related to committing deviant acts as well as acts considered positive. Results indicate a lack of formal decision making prior to committing deviant acts by youth.