Middle-class Participants Research Articles

Family Quality of Life for Rehabilitated Individuals: Evidence Based on Demographic, Psychological, and Rehabilitation Factors

Objectives: This study explores the effects of demographic, psychological, and rehabilitation factors on rehabilitated individuals’ family quality of life (FQoL). Methods: Fifty-one rehabilitation patients were conveniently sampled in mainland China to complete a demographic sheet, the Psychological Stress Questionnaire, the MSPSS-C Scale, and the Grit Scale. Mean comparison, ANOVA, and regression were used to test the relationships among variables. Results: Occupation and income were demographic factors slightly affecting FQoL. Middle-class participants had the highest FQoL and felt better about family interactions, parenting style, and physical and mental health. Psychological distress, two dimensions of risk perception, and physical and mental responses were psychological factors closely related to their recognition of their FQoL; family support impacted their recognition of the FQoL more directly than friends’ support; and individuals with more perseverance had higher recognition of the FQoL. Rehabilitation factors and treatment methods, duration, and satisfaction impacted family life treatment to varying degrees. Conclusion: During rehabilitation, attention should be paid to the rehabilitation patients’ families, psychological factors, and treatment preferences. More reasonable and flexible rehabilitation programs should be provided.

After All Is Said and Done: On Fluid Solidarity and Survival

After All Is Said and Done: On Fluid Solidarity and Survival

Adult Recreational Demands and Barriers

Aim: Increasing recreational demands primarily depends on eliminating the factors that prevent people from participating in recreational activities . recreation demand depends on the planning of recreational activities by the administration and the development of recreational areas , starting from the choice of recreational activities on line with the leisure time demands of individuals . The main purpose of this study is to determine the recreational demands of middle-aged and older individuals residing in Kahramanmaras, the factors that prevent their participation in recreational activities and the factors that should be considered during the development of recreation areas in Kahramanmaraş and the construction of new recreation areas. Methods: In the research within the scope of the study , the leisure time barriers scale was applied in the recreation areas in Kahramanmaraş and the data collected from 600 volunteer participants were analyzed using the SPSS 21 program. Results: According to to the results of the research, it was determined that the first of the leisure time inhibitors that prevent the recreational demands of the upper middle individuals is the Lack of Knowledge sub-dimension. The sub-dimension of lack of information is followed by the psychology of the individual, lack of interest, lack of facilities, time and friends sub-dimensions, respectively. Conclusion: Across the scale of leisure barriers , it was determined that the leisure time barriers perceptions of the participants did not differ statistically significantly according to to their gender , marital status and income groups . It is seen that the perceptions of leisure time barriers of individuals over middle age differ statistically significantly according to the age groups, level of education and working status. It is seen that the factor affecting the “ facility sub-dimension ” of the leisure time barriers scale the most is the suitability of the facilities for their age group and the perceptions of the recreational participants , the upper middle class participants . Keywords Free time, Recreation Leisure, recreation, recreational demand, middle age and older individuals.

Serial migrant mothers and permanent temporariness in Dubai

Abstract Based on a five-year urban ethnography, this article explores the subjectivities of permanent temporariness that characterize the experience of serial migrant mothers in Dubai. By going beyond approaches that select middle class participants based on fixed category classifications such as ethnicity or citizenship, this article uses a processual lens and sheds light on a sociologically unmarked category of migrants in the city whose experiences of mothering and work have been shaped by shifting intersectionality in the context of multinational migration. Through detailed biographies of four serial migrants, this article offers an illustration of the subjectivities of permanent temporariness and shows how they are reproduced through three mothering practices: propagating roots, reflexive selving, and normalizing movement. Examining serial migrant motherhood practices challenges methodological nationalism and illustrates how the flow and friction of multinational migration gets reconstituted into family and work lives.

“I am not a monster”: An affective–discursive analysis of men's perspectives on their engagement in violence against women

This paper aims to explore how men perform masculinities in their relationships with women and how their behaviour is enabled and/or maintained in modern society. An affective–discursive approach was adopted to analyse six in-depth interviews with men who identified as perpetrators of violence in intimate relationships. The analysis portrays how heteronormative discourses on masculinity frame participants’ understanding of the violence they had committed. However, the most pervasive reference point in the participants’ accounts was the construct of the monster. The participants’ understanding of their violence had an intersectional angle as the monster figured differently in their stories, depending on their social positioning. The middle-class participants believed that the monster essentialised and dehumanised them and called for new ways to talk about violence. The working-class participants experienced their violence as masculinity out of control, referring to past trauma and the intensity of their love for their partners, while dodging accountability for their actions. The findings underline the need for discourses on knowledge that encourage men to take responsibility for their actions without being dehumanised.

Pernambuco and Bahia’s Musical “War”

Abstract This article draws on ethnographic research on contemporary music in Recife, Brazil, to show how people in the northeastern state of Pernambuco are redefining regional identity through engaging in a musically mediated rivalry with the neighboring state of Bahia. While this rivalry is longstanding, during the 2000s and 2010s, it was reconfigured in relation to the state government’s efforts to brand Pernambuco as a multicultural place. Accordingly, I analyze how middle-class participants at events hosted by a government institution that I call the Fundação Cultural de Pernambuco, disparage two Bahian dance genres: axé music and swingueira (a.k.a. pagode baiano), in ways that intertwine racial and class-based stereotypes. I therefore argue that the stigmatization of northeastern people is not exclusive to the hegemonic southeast, but it is also (re)produced within the northeast. This case thus demonstrates how place-based branding enables individuals and institutions to reproduce and justify social inequality.

Validation of pandemic-specific version of the Perceived Stress Scale

A growing amount of evidence indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic influences mental health, including an increased level of perceived stress. To develop and psychometrically investigate a pandemic-specific version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-PAN) that measures stress related to the pandemic. Factor structure as well as convergent and divergent validity of the 10-item PSS-PAN were examined on the data set of an online survey (n = 1164; mean age: 38.57 years; standard deviation: 6.27 years; 84.2% women). A one-factor structure for the PSS-PAN was confirmed. The scale correlated significantly with scores on the Shortened Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.41; n = 1164; p<0.001), the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (r = 0.46; n = 1164; p<0.001), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (r = -0.29; n = 1164; p<0.001). Women's PSS-PAN scores were significantly higher than men's (t(1162) = -7.135; p<0.001) but this difference was trivial (Cohen's d = 0.06). Further, scale scores did not differ significantly across educational attainment (F(6;1157) = 2.035; p = 0.06; η2 = 0.01). Lower middle class participants' mean scores were significantly higher than those of middle-class respondents according to the post hoc test (F(4;1159) = 3.461; p = 0.01; η2 = 0.01). PSS-PAN scores did not correlate significantly with age (r = -0.04; n = 1164; p = 0.13). Cronbach's alpha was 0.89 indicating excellent internal consistency. The PSS-PAN has a single-component structure. Moderately strong and weak correlations with other scales support its convergent and divergent validity and indicate that it is a distinct indicator of pandemic-related perceived stress. Its total score was not or not strongly associated with gender, age, education level, or socioeconomic status. The PSS-PAN is a proper instrument to measure pandemic-specific perceived stress. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(35): 1391-1396.

Generic reference and social ontology in Vietnamese conversation

ABSTRACTGeneric expressions play a key role in the interactional articulation, social circulation, and temporal reproduction of ideology. Here I examine fragments from a conversation between four middle-class participants which took place at a café in Hanoi. After briefly describing the particular grammatico-textual patterns by which specific and generic references are accomplished in Vietnamese, I turn to consider two extended stretches of talk in which these people weave generic reference into the warp and weft of their interaction. I argue that generic reference is intimately tied to social ontology which consists, in part, of ideas about distinct and essentialized ‘kinds of persons’. Deployed in what appears, on the surface at least, as ordinary, mundane conversation, not only does such generic reference serve to position those referred to as ‘ontological other’ (Wynter 1987), it also constitutes an ‘act of alterity’ (Hastings &amp; Manning 2004) by which the participants tacitly characterize themselves. (Reference, Vietnamese, social ontology, alterity, stereotype, essentialism)*

The effect of meditation in building resilience among older widows maltreated by children-in-laws

This article reports a two-year study on the impact of a meditation program in building resilience, optimism, peace, and affirming meaning in life for South Asian older widows who faced maltreatment from their children-in-laws. The customized program for the study was effective (Cohen’s d range= 2.14–4.19, p ≤.01) for the intervention group (pretest n = 232, post-test n = 218) as compared to the control group (pretest n = 232, post-test n = 203). Meditation had greater impact on middle class participants, living alone or with kin, financially independent, in good health, Hindus, better educated, who regularly attended the lessons and practiced at home. Intervention adherence mediated the association between socio-demographic predictors and outcomes. With some context-specific modifications for older widows from the upper class, living in institutions, financially dependent on kin, in poor health, Buddhists, and less educated, the meditation program could be an effective intervention in building psychological resources of older widows to deal with maltreatment.

“Time to Pretend”: The Emerging Adulthood of Indie Rock

ABSTRACT Indie rock has long presented itself as a nontraditional and unconventional genre, one that has served more as an exploratory pathway than a stable career for its postcollegiate twenty-something middle-class participants. In this regard indie closely parallels the developmental life stage of emerging adulthood, a label encompassing the increasingly extended road from adolescence to adulthood. Focusing special attention on the music of noted indie groups MGMT and Vampire Weekend, and the years of the Great Recession (2007–2009) in which they first emerged, this article considers the connections between indie and emerging adulthood from a variety of social, cultural, and musical-stylistic perspectives. As the examples of these groups show, indie musicians have frequently depicted the years of emerging adulthood as a liminal period of optimistic exploration tempered with great instability and ambivalence about the future.

Football Fitness - for the sake of one’s health? The perspectives of female players

ABSTRACTThe aim of the article is to understand the potential of football in health initiatives for women – a topic relatively underrepresented in research. Specifically, this article examines the case of ‘Football Fitness’, a new ‘sport for all’ programme carried out in associative sport clubs in Denmark. The article is based on six focus group interviews with white, middle-class female participants (N = 32, aged 27–56). The study shows that while health may have been the motivation for the women to join the programme, they emphasize the joy of playing football and the fellowship in the club as crucial for their participation. This programme has succeeded in making football more accessible and inclusive by reducing the focus on competencies and competition and changing the organisation to make it more flexible. The playful quest for excitement and social aspects of sport may hold great potential and be worth considering when developing health programmes in a democratic way.

Social class and models of agency: Independent and interdependent agency as educational (dis)advantage

AbstractSocial class continues to be associated with achievement in school and attendance in university and higher education. This qualitative study explores this phenomenon, and reports three focus group interviews with middle and working class secondary school students, in Ireland. We explore cultural and identity factors in educational settings. Specifically, our analysis orients to the models of agency experienced by these students. Middle class participants express independent agency in education, through norms of choice, control, and freedom from constraints. In contrast, working class students orient towards an interdependent model of agency and express psychological, social, and material barriers to opportunity in education. However, independent neo‐liberal individualising and meritocratic discourses were expressed by both groups, suggesting the models are complicated and nuanced. Nevertheless, it is concluded that cultural fit and identity compatibility in educational settings, broadly, constitute middle class advantages and working class disadvantages.

“Quality, Close to Home” and Invisible Zero-Sum Politics: Boston’s Home-Based Student Assignment Policy

In 2013, the Boston Public Schools (BPS) adopted the Home-Based Student Assignment Policy (HBSAP), which replaced elementary and middle-school choice within three large geographic zones with an algorithm that generates a choice basket of schools for each address based on proximity to the student’s home and a guarantee that all baskets will include at least four schools in the top two state test-score quartiles of BPS. Adoption of HBSAP broke a long political stalemate. BPS invited broad public participation in the process but also shaped the agenda to favor what middle-class neighborhood participants wanted. The process obscured the zero-sum politics of student assignment by permitting current students and their younger siblings to continue in their schools after adoption of HBSAP and because the algorithm does not produce winners and losers as obviously as geographically defined student assignment policies do. BPS has not produced a comprehensive evaluation of HBSAP’s effects, but early evidence suggests that it is making enclave schools more white.

The case of the middle class: Social determinants of health in Mumbai.

In India, a growing middle class and rising lifestyle diseases put prevention in the spotlight. This study assesses the impact of health behaviors (tobacco use and exercise) as well as psychological states (positive emotional style, hope, and perceived stress) on the health of 314 middle class participants from Mumbai. Logistic regression predicting objective health revealed that positive emotional style was a protective factor. Linear regression predicting perceived health indicated perceived stress and positive emotional style as the significant factors. An intersectional approach focusing on psychological factors and health behaviors, nested within class and gender, will lead to effective preventive strategies.

A Pilot Implementation of the Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy Group Psychoeducation Program in a South African Setting

ABSTRACTAlthough emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) is one of the few relationship models with a substantial evidence base, these effectiveness studies have mostly been conducted with White middle-class participants living in North American and European contexts. There is, therefore, a need to investigate if couples from different contexts are able to relate to this model that foregrounds the verbal expression of emotion and responsiveness to a partner's expression of emotion. The objective of this qualitative pilot study was to explore how a group of 10 Black South African couples related to and experienced the Hold Me Tight (HMT) relationship psychoeducation program intervention that is based on the principles of EFT. The data consisted of couple interviews with each couple before and after implementation of the program. Thematic analysis of the data indicated that all the couples related very well to the program and reported that it deepened their relationships. We conclude by highlighting a number of factors that program facilitators need to be mindful of when they implement the HMT in similar settings to ours: (i) the need to have a team of cofacilitators to assist couple conversations, (ii) power differentials between facilitators and participants in cases where there are many demographic differences between facilitators and participants, and (iii) implicit constructions of emotions that prevail in a specific social context.

MATERNAL NON-DISCLOSURE OF A CHILD’S BIOLOGICAL FATHER: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS FROM A JOHANNESBURG STUDY

Due to a dearth of research on mothers who have not disclosed the true biological identity of fathers to their children, there is lack of information on suitable methods for studying this topic. This article aims to share some methodological experiences from the field. Eight one-on-one narrative interviews were conducted with participants who were mothers or female guardians of a child who did not know his or her biological father. The study was located in Johannesburg and explored circumstances that contributed to non-disclosure of a biological father. Participants were recruited through snowballing and were a non-probability sample. They were aged between 33 and 60 years. Each participant was interviewed once. Methodological reflections reported here cover recruitment, interviews and ethics. This article reports a challenge with recruiting middle-class participants when gatekeepers felt that the topic was sensitive and may have legal repercussions for participants. We report on successful recruitment via online platforms and face-to-face community-based announcements. Whilst the response to recruitment was vast, not all interested parties were eligible, including men who did not know their fathers. Women in this study mainly opted for one-on-one interviews instead of focus group discussions. There was a challenge with maintaining complete privacy as some participants themselves agreedto have other family members nearby during the interview. Also, working in this community posed challenges with obtaining member-checking and receiving feedback on the transcripts. This article reports on a number of experiences that are relevant for future similar studies with women in low-income settings. The article suggests an adoption of gender-sensitive recruitment strategies with sensitivity regarding the gendered social gaze that is directed at women who have not disclosed the father’s identity to a child. The positive response from prospective participants indicated willingness from the general population to talk to researchers about unknown fathers. Ethical imperatives such as auditory and visual privacy and the imperative to conduct member checking need to be adapted for local contexts.

Social-class differences in one’s sensitivity toward others’ preferences in both young and older adults

I investigated how social-class effects differ with age in the domain of choice. Young (less than 40) and old (over 60) participants from working-class and middle-class backgrounds indicated their preferences and choices about consumer products before and after seeing others’ preferences (consistent or conflicting with their own) for the same products. The result showed that social-class differences in choice were maintained into late adulthood. Replicating the effects among young participants, old working-class participants were more sensitive to social feedback in their choices, preferences, and recognition memory than old middle-class participants although older participants had poorer memory for the feedback, suggesting social cues were implicitly processed.

‘Football Fitness’: constraining and enabling possibilities for the management of leisure time for women

ABSTRACTThe aim of the article is to identify constraining and enabling aspects for the management of leisure time for women participating in ‘Football Fitness’, a new ‘sport for all programme’ carried out in associative sport clubs in Denmark. The article is based on six focus group interviews with white, middle-class female participants (N = 32, aged 27–56). An analysis combining Hochschild’s conceptualization of the second and third shift [1989. The Second Shift. New York: Avon] with Elias and Dunning’s perspective on leisure as part of the spare-time spectrum and leisure sport as a quest for excitement [1986. Quest for Excitement. Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. New York: Basil Blackwell] demonstrates that leisure sport participation must be understood in relation to both spare time, family life, and work life, as these spheres are interrelated. According to the women, both doing and planning housework are constraining for their leisure sport participation. On the other hand, Football Fitness is enabling in the sense that the women experience it as something pleasurable and a ‘free space’.

What should young Black children know about race? Parents of preschoolers, preparation for bias, and promoting egalitarianism

This qualitative study of 26 African American parents and caregivers of preschool children sought to address gaps in the current literature by exploring how the intersection of parents’ racism experiences and social class may play a role in race-related socialization during the early years. Analysis of narrative interviews revealed that egalitarianism surfaced as the most common content of racial socialization (ethnic-racial socialization) messages. We also found that preparation for bias emerged as qualitatively different for the working- and middle-class African Americans, however, and thus, we argue that the ways in which working- and middle-class African American parents of preschoolers made sense of their experiences with racism and discrimination were different and that this shaped their preparation for bias messages differently. To provide a contrast for illustrating this argument, we detail working- and middle-class participants’ use of egalitarianism messages in relationship to their stories about racism, proposing here that parents may have been attuning to their young children’s developmental stage when deciding which messages to promote.

Being seen in your pyjamas: the relationship between fashion, class, gender and space

Over the last decade class has re-emerged as a significant concept within British sociology, with prominent academics calling for a more Bourdieuian approach which focuses on class distinctions in cultural practices and tastes. Within this discussion, several note the important role fashion plays as a means of class distinction, though few have fully explored just how the fashion–class relationship operates. Based on empirical research, carried out as part of qualitative study into fashion practices and fashion discourse, this article examines the fashion–class relationship, by considering its links to both gender and space. It argues that the way in which women judge visibility and public space differs with class status and that this, in turn, has significant implications for women's fashion choices, and more specifically, dressing up. Indeed, whilst middle-class participants tend to view almost any space as public and one in which they are visible, for working-class participants neighbourhood and local spaces are seen to constitute semi-private spaces, whose audiences' opinions and judgements do not matter. As a result, being dressed in your pyjamas is not deeply problematic for these working-class women in the context of their everyday lives, whilst for their middle-class counterparts being seen in your pyjamas is something which should be avoided, at all cost. Moreover, as the article demonstrates, the wearing of pyjamas is often considered by middle-class respondents as indicative of working classness. And thus, being seen in your pyjamas is undesirable on two counts.