Life Choices Research Articles

Struggles of vehicle residents in Squamish: Challenging the capitalist and colonial institution of housing

In this conversation, Thomasina Pidgeon discusses her decision to live in a vehicle in Squamish, north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. This was a choice originally driven by the lack of affordable housing, but she continued with it after falling in love with life on the road. Her story sheds light on the broader issues of housing, gentrification, and societal attitudes toward non-sedentary life choices. For Thomasina, living in a vehicle offered a sense of freedom for her and her daughter, despite occasional problems, as well as a deep connection with nature that conventional housing couldn’t provide. However, as Squamish has grown more gentrified, particularly after the 2010 Olympics, the town has increasingly cracked down on vehicle residents, categorising them as unhoused and treating them as a problem. These restrictive regulations, according to Thomasina, are part of a larger system that prioritizes property values and profits over human needs, echoing colonial practices that forced nomadic communities to settle for the benefit of those in power. Her story calls for a shift in how we think about housing, urging us to go beyond housing as a capitalist and colonial institution, and towards a deeper understanding of the systemic issues that lead to the so-called housing crisis. Despite facing stress and anxiety due to these crackdowns, Thomasina continues to advocate for the rights of vehicle residents with the organization Vehicle Residents of Squamish, and to connect different struggles from Palestinian solidarity work to struggles against an LNG terminal.

Research on Women's Educational Inequality

Education is a tool to achieve social equality. To achieve educational equality, it is necessary to prevent inequalities caused by student capital (such as gender, family, city where one lives and studies, etc.). This paper focuses on the inequalities faced by women in education. This paper uses online interviews to invite participants to discuss their educational disparities. This paper found that females are easily bound by the stereotypes around them in the process of making choices, such as major choices, schools, and life choices. This kind of constraint pushes females in the direction of the social stereotype that women are more suitable. However, some women rebel against these constraints. Stereotypes influence women's professional choices and, indirectly, their job choices. Finally, it leads to a gap for women in STEM fields.

Exploring the lived experience and coping strategies of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) among emerging adults

AbstractThe Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent in the 21st century, fueled by the rise of social media. FoMO, characterized by the apprehension that others may be having more rewarding experiences and a desire to stay continually connected, has significant implications for mental health, particularly among emerging adults. This qualitative study aims to explore the subjective lived experiences of FoMO and the coping strategies employed by emerging adults. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, and thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. The findings revealed that participants experienced FoMO as involving feelings of exclusion, disconnection, and inadequacy upon becoming aware of experiences peers were having. However, FoMO was also perceived as an important signal of unmet needs, prompting reflection on the misalignment between one’s actual life and desired life. FoMO was amplified in contexts involving identity formation and pivotal life choices, such as social, professional (education/work/career), and dating situations. Participants described various spontaneous coping strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and perspective-taking to reframe it constructively, emotional coping through self-soothing, and behavioral approaches like temporarily disconnecting from social media. These self-initiated coping methods suggest a potential for developing new interventions aimed at empowering emerging adults to manage the effects of FoMO on their well-being. While most research emphasizes the connection between FoMO and technology, this study advances the understanding of FoMO by highlighting its characteristics as an everyday experience in various life domains along with ways of coping during the developmental period of emerging adulthood.

Keynes and the Long Run — to ‘Live Wisely and Agreeably and Well’

ABSTRACT This paper revisits Keynes’s essay titled ‘The economic possibilities for our grandchildren’, featuring Keynes both as a growth theorist and a moral and social philosopher of capitalism. We discuss the three broader trends identified by Keynes that he expected would come to characterize the socio-economic evolution of advanced countries under capitalism: first, continued technological progress and capital accumulation as the main drivers of exponential growth in economic possibilities; second, a gradual general rebalancing of life choices away from work; and third, a change in the code of morals in societies approaching an envisioned stationary state of zero net capital accumulation in which mankind has solved its economic problem and enjoys a lifestyle predominantly framed by leisure rather than disutility-yielding work. We assess actual outcomes by 2024 and attempt to peek into the future economic possibilities for this generation’s grandchildren.

Demise of fossil fuels part I: Supply and demand

According to United Nations , the world needs to reduce the emission of CO2 and other global warming gases by 45 % by 2030 and to negligible amount by 2050. According to UN, this is necessary to keep the goal of keeping earth temperature not exceeding 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial level temperatures.To achieve this objective means reducing the fossil fuel consumption. Fossil fuels are largely responsible for emitting CO2; therefore, without significant reduction in fossil fuels consumption by 2050, the net zero emission by 2050 is not possible.One argument advanced in support of reducing fossil fuels consumption is limited supply. Using the principle of “Peak Oil Theory,” proponents state that fossil fuels is a limited resource and the world will simply run out of it. Based on the available data, we demonstrate that supply of fossil fuels is relatively abundant, and we will not run out of fossil fuels in near term. Using shale formations as an example, we demonstrate how the success of drilling horizontal wells with hydraulic fractures have significantly increased the oil and gas resource available for exploitation. To reduce fossil fuels demand, the available solutions include improving energy efficiency, reducing subsidies on fossil fuels, imposing carbon tax and life choice changes. We discuss some of those alternatives. Fossil fuel supply is relatively abundant and only possible solution to reduce the consumption is to reduce the demand. By comparing developed countries' consumption with developing countries’ consumption, we see a pathway where growth in GDP can be achieved without significant increase in fossil fuels consumption. Because of efficiency gains in energy usage, GDP in developed countries continues to grow without increase in fossil fuels consumption. Faster we reach the efficiency stage in developing countries, easier it would be reduce the fossil fuel consumption in the world.

318 - Examining the Impact of Intermittent Self-Catheterization on Quality of Life and Catheter Choice Preferences: Insights from the Continence Care Registry

318 - Examining the Impact of Intermittent Self-Catheterization on Quality of Life and Catheter Choice Preferences: Insights from the Continence Care Registry

Exploring the early experiences of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative study protocol

IntroductionIncreasing numbers of jurisdictions are legalising assisted dying (AD). Developing research protocols to study the experiences and outcomes of legislation is imperative. AD is a topic that, by nature of...

Apakah Masuk Akal untuk Berdoa: Kajian Filsafat Agama

Human anxiety about life leads to a prayer ritual for religious people. Praying is considered an effective way to realize dreams, but there is also an assumption that it is unreasonable. The purpose of this study is to present a perspective on prayer. The research methodology uses literature studies to support the achievement of research objectives. The results of the study are that prayer is not a shortcut to solving problems that require mastery of all relevant facts. Someone who prays only with the aim of using God to solve their own problems, means violating the basic principles of all social and moral relationships. Prayer has a great influence on humans psychologically, such as being able to calm, soothe and convince themselves of the life choices that have been decided to be lived. The essence of prayer is an extension of togetherness and community concern.

Apakah Masuk Akal untuk Berdoa: Kajian Filsafat Agama

Human anxiety about life leads to a prayer ritual for religious people. Praying is considered an effective way to realize dreams, but there is also an assumption that it is unreasonable. The purpose of this study is to present a perspective on prayer. The research methodology uses literature studies to support the achievement of research objectives. The results of the study are that prayer is not a shortcut to solving problems that require mastery of all relevant facts. Someone who prays only with the aim of using God to solve their own problems, means violating the basic principles of all social and moral relationships. Prayer has a great influence on humans psychologically, such as being able to calm, soothe and convince themselves of the life choices that have been decided to be lived. The essence of prayer is an extension of togetherness and community concern.

Apakah Masuk Akal Untuk Berdoa: Kajian Filsafat Agama

Human anxiety about life leads to a prayer ritual for religious people. Praying is considered an effective way to realize dreams, but there is also an assumption that it is unreasonable. The purpose of this study is to present a perspective on prayer. The research methodology uses literature studies to support the achievement of research objectives. The results of the study are that prayer is not a shortcut to solving problems that require mastery of all relevant facts. Someone who prays only with the aim of using God to solve their own problems, means violating the basic principles of all social and moral relationships. Prayer has a great influence on humans psychologically, such as being able to calm, soothe and convince themselves of the life choices that have been decided to be lived. The essence of prayer is an extension of togetherness and community concern.

Study on the Impact of Urban-Rural Education Resource Equitability and Student Endowment Differences on Promoting Educational Equity

Based on the empirical analysis of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this paper explores the impact of the equitability of urban-rural education resources and student endowment differences on educational equity. The findings not only provide a new perspective and empirical support for the study of the theory of educational equity but also offer valuable references for policymaking and education reform to promote social equity and harmonious development. It is empirically found that cognitive abilities and parents' educational expectations have a positive impact on students' educational expectations, while the dropout situation of friends has a negative impact. Additionally, although health status has a positive influence on educational expectations, it does not significantly affect the choice of future residence. These factors together reveal the significant impact of the family environment, personal ability, and social relationships on students' education and life choices, emphasizing the necessity to optimize educational resources and family education support, holding significant theoretical and practical significance.

Социальный выбор личности в повседневности

The article examines the peculiarities of a person’s social choice in an everyday situation. Against the back-ground of global transformations, daily life is the most sustainable social education. However, information technologies in various spheres of society have also affected the daily existence of a person, which has led to an interest in an area that previously acted as a background for more significant processes. The study of the phenomenon of social choice in everyday life is interdisciplinary in nature due to its multidimensional and mul-tilevel nature. Analyzing everyday life allows for the identification of the principles governing decision-making processes. The article highlights both the negative and positive consequences of these choices in the context of human activity: anonymity, avoidance of responsibility, and stereotyping. Furthermore, it examines the influ-ence of everyday life as an essential attribute of social existence on the stages of individual decision-making.

Родительская зрелость: содержание и структура концепта в разрезе отечественных и зарубежных исследований

<p>The author analyzes the concept of parental maturity with the aim to operationalize it and define the structure. The construct is based on maturity understanding in the context of parenthood. Parental maturity is a complex, diversified form that reflects personal maturity. The structure of the construct is presented as a set of instrumental, motivational, and value components, integrating in the internal position of a parent in life choices regarding the birth, upbringing of children, and responsibility for the decisions made. The development of parental maturity is facilitated by the development of the parent’s internal position, including self-reflection. It helps to assess the level of personal maturity and analyze parental position, resiliency, involvement, control of a child’s development, and taking risks associated with children growing up. Within parenthood, the development of semantic and life-meaning orientations activates the setting of new self-development tasks by the parents themselves.</p>

Labour as a component of carceral circuitry: The case of asylum seekers

Building upon insights from carceral geography, this article conceptualises the ‘carceral’ as permeating beyond the prison walls to other areas of life through law and policymaking that confines and incarcerates without necessarily ‘imprisoning’. 1 Utilising the case study of asylum applicants in the UK, this article traces the role of ‘work’ as a component of carceral circuitry which enmeshes asylum seekers’ lives. Outside of immigration detention, this includes work exclusions which hinder mobility, life choices and economic independence, as well as fuelling engagement in both ‘voluntary’ unpaid work arrangements, and/or unregulated ‘criminal’ labour practices which arise as a result of exclusionary laws intent on creating a hostile environment. Inside of immigration detention analysis extends to the practice of ‘paid activities’ in which immigration detainees undertake millions of hours of work at a rate of £1.00 per hour, ostensibly ‘for their own benefit’. Labour law and its explicit exclusions, as well as the social welfare framework, thereby intersect with immigration control and the criminal law to construct, shape and reproduce this carceral sphere which seeks to control and govern asylum seekers’ lives as well as entrenching their vulnerability as an easily exploitable workforce from which value can be extracted.

An Analysis of Parenting Style which are Reflected in Movie “Run” by Aneesh Chaganty

The aim of this study is to understand deeper about how psychology affects directly to parenting styles especially in a mother figure, thus eventually affect children's behaviors in their social stand towards themselves and people around them, as well as the kind of manners and actions they take when they are faced with problems. The researcher used qualitative method to collect data based on the research problem. Journals, websites, previous researches and other articles were used as data sources to analyze this film. In conclusion, Diane teaches us that loving means trusting and supporting each other with care, giving without expecting something in return, and that loving to family is always on greatest importance. She states how she always believes in Chloe’s capabilities regardless how fragile Chloe seems to be with her countless diseases. She proves how care she does and how supportive she is to her daughter. But in the end of the day, all those sacrifices and considerably amount of love and care she gives to Chloe, her impulsive lies ruin everything she built for 17 years and gone in an instant. Ultimately, giving the loved ones freedom for their life choice and keeping honesty lives in between are the best thing someone could do to support them. The purpose of this study is to focus on the parenting styles of single mothers towards her daughter with disabilities. The researcher applies the theory from Diana Baumrind (1971) about parenting styles.

The Impact of Surgical Training on Residents’ Relationships and Life Choices

Our study investigated the effects of surgical training on residents' personal relationships. It aimed to address the gaps in understanding of how the surgical training commitment can influence relationship stability, decision-making, and life planning within this unique professional group. We used cross-sectional survey methodology to gather data on the intricacies of relationship dynamics amid the rigors of surgical training. The survey focused on marital status, relationship dynamics, personal life choices, the challenges and rewards of dual-healthcare relationships, and the support networks that individuals and couples rely on. All surgical departments at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The study comprised 111 participants, including residents, fellows, and attending surgeons. Of those reporting sex, 56/105 (53%) were female, and the predominant age category was 25 to 34 years, making up 61/104 (59%) of respondents. The majority (73/105, 70%) of respondents were or had been married, and 50/96 (52%) had partners in the medical field. Among those in a dual-healthcare relationship, 38/46 (83%) reported that their relationship was strengthened through understanding and empathy, yet 37/46 (80%) acknowledged complications in work-life balance. However, women were significantly more likely than men to report at least one negative effect of a dual-healthcare relationship (84% [16/19] versus 22% [6/27], p = .003). Among those with partners outside medicine, 39/46 (85%) acknowledged that their partner had to adjust their lifestyle significantly. A considerable number (73/92, 79%) postponed life events such as starting a family, and 57/85 (67%) experienced relationship strain due to long working hours. Residents in dual-healthcare couples derived support from their relationships, but surgical training placed a significant strain on residents' personal relationships and often prompted residents to postpone major life events such as starting a family. Enhanced support systems and targeted interventions are needed to assist surgical professionals in navigating the complexities of balancing a demanding career with personal life.

Well-being amid (im)mobility struggles: Youth’s experiences in Casamance, Senegal

BackgroundLarge numbers of young people worldwide, especially in the Global South, wish to migrate but lack the capacity to do so, with potentially detrimental consequences for their well-being and mental health. Termed ‘involuntary immobility’, this phenomenon is numerically larger than migration, but remains for now a largely underexplored area of research. Focusing on young Senegalese living in Casamance, this paper contributes to the limited literature on the implications of immobility for subjective well-being. It does so by (i) considering different degrees and types of involuntary immobility and their intersections, (ii) laying out the implications of (interacting) social and spatial immobilities for well-being with particular attention to youth’s agency in navigating a lack of capabilities, and (iii) by accounting for heterogenous experiences taking a gendered approach.MethodsFor this study, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18- to 39-year-olds in Ziguinchor region, recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Thematic analysis was employed on verbatim transcriptions of audio-recorded interviews.ResultsOur study reveals a nuanced reality where aspirations to (temporarily) move abroad coexist with aspirations to stay in Casamance. Participants’ life aspirations and overarching projects clash, however, both with a lack of capabilities to move abroad and to enact these locally. This pervasive immobility decreases life satisfaction and generates negative emotions, such as stress, anxiety, discouragement, and distress. Despite these obstacles, our findings also underscore the agency and resourcefulness displayed by the youth as they navigate their limited control over life choices and paths.ConclusionsInvoluntary spatial immobility exacerbates the dominant experience of social immobility, magnifying its effect on youth’s well-being, revealing a previously unacknowledged phenomenon. Our findings further emphasize the pressing need for a more cohesive alignment between migration policies and information campaigns on one hand and the real experiences and challenges encountered by their intended audience on the other.

An Analysis of Linkages between Literacy and Economic Participation of Women in India

An increase in women’s economic empowerment increases access and control over their strategic life choices, which affects their ability to effectively utilize available opportunities and understand their abilities. Education is one of the critical factors influencing women's economic empowerment. Due to several interventions for promoting female literacy, school enrolment of girls has increased, and the literacy rate improved significantly in India, especially in rural areas. However, this has no impact on female work participation when we compare it to male work participation. An attempt is made in the present paper to analyze the linkages between literacy and economic participation of women to understand the inter-state disparities in India. The study observed a weak correlation between literacy and female work participation rate, suggesting that higher literacy will not lead to a high female work participation rate due to the gender norms deeply rooted in the culture.

Sustainable Lifestyle Among Office Workers (the SOFIA Study): Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Society is facing multiple challenges, including lifestyle- and age-related diseases of major public health relevance, and this is of particular importance when the general population, as well as the workforce, is getting older. In addition, we are facing global climate change due to extensive emissions of greenhouse gases and negative environmental effects. A lifestyle that promotes healthy life choices as well as climate and environmentally friendly decisions is considered a sustainable lifestyle. This study aims to evaluate if providing information about a sustainable lifestyle encourages individuals to adopt more nutritious dietary habits and increase physical activity, as compared to receiving information solely centered around health-related recommendations for dietary intake and physical activity by the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and the World Health Organization. Novel features of this study include the use of the workplace as an arena for health promotion, particularly among office workers-a group known to be often sedentary at work and making up 60% of all employees in Sweden. The SustainableOfficeIntervention (SOFIA) study is a 2-arm, participant-blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial that includes a multilevel sustainable lifestyle arm (intervention arm, n=19) and a healthy lifestyle arm (control arm, n=14). The eligibility criteria were being aged 18-65 years and doing office work ≥20 hours per week. Both intervention arms are embedded in the theoretically based behavioral change wheel method. The intervention study runs for approximately 8 weeks and contains 6 workshops. The study focuses on individual behavior change as well as environmental and policy features at an organizational level to facilitate or hinder a sustainable lifestyle at work. Through implementing a citizen science methodology within the trial, the participants (citizen scientists) collect data using the Stanford Our Voice Discovery Tool app and are involved in analyzing the data, formulating a list of potential actions to bring about feasible changes in the workplace. Participant recruitment and data collection began in August 2022. As of June 2024, a total of 37 participants have been recruited. The results of the pilot phase are expected to be published in 2024 or 2025. Given the ongoing climate change, negative environmental effects, and the global epidemic of metabolic diseases, a sustainable lifestyle among office workers holds important potential to help in counteracting this trend. Thus, there is an urgent unmet need to test the impact of a sustainable lifestyle on food intake, physical activity, and environmental and climate impacts in a worksite-based randomized controlled trial. This study protocol responds to a societal need by addressing multilevel aspects, including individual behavior changes as well as environmental and organizational changes of importance for the successful implementation of sustainable lifestyle habits in an office setting. DERR1-10.2196/57777.

A study on occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of a selected school of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh

Background: Life is full of struggles and an individual has to face numerous challenging situations where there is need to make right decisions. In the era of advancement of scientific knowledge and gradual development of materialistic outlook, it is believed that education should enable the individual to earn his living. Occupational aspirations in the early years of life influence the vocational choice in the later life, which determine individual’s success in regard to job satisfaction, productivity and adjustment. Hence this study was undertaken with a view to make an attempt to study the occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of Mandi district. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional survey method was used. A sample of 100 students (50 girls and 50 boys) of senior secondary level (classes XI and XII) was randomly selected from the selected Government senior secondary school. Occupational aspiration scale by Dr. J. S. Grewal was used to collect data for the study. For data analysis, percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used. Results: Majority, i.e., 76% senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level. No significant difference was found in occupational aspiration level between urban and rural senior secondary students. Conclusions: Majority of senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level, thus highlighting the importance of guiding the students from secondary education stage towards selection of a right career according to their occupational aspirations.