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PubMed2006

Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health.

There has been much speculation about a possible association between the social and built environment and health, but the empirical evidence is still elusive. The social and built environments are best seen as contextual concepts but they are usually estimated as an aggregation of individual compositional measures, such as perceptions on trust or the desirability to live in an area. If these aggregated compositional measures were valid measures, one would expect that they would evince correlations at higher levels of data collection (e.g., neighbourhood). The aims of this paper are: (1) to investigate the factor structure of a self-administered questionnaire measuring individual perceptions of trust, social participation, social cohesion, social control, and the built environment; (2) to investigate variation in these factors at higher than the individual level (households and postcodes) in order to assess if these constructs reflect some contextual effect; and (3) to study the association between mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and these derived factors. A cross-sectional household survey was undertaken during May-August 2001 in a district of South Wales with a population of 140,000. We found that factor analysis grouped our questions in factors similar to the theoretical ones we had previously envisaged. We also found that approximately one-third of the variance for neighbourhood quality and 10% for social control was explained at postcode (neighbourhood) level after adjusting for individual variables, thus suggesting that some of our compositional measures capture contextual characteristics of the built and social environment. After adjusting for individual variables, trust and social cohesion, two key social capital components were the only factors to show statistically significant associations with GHQ-12 scores. However, these factors also showed little variation at postcode levels, suggesting a stronger individual determination. We conclude that our results provide some evidence in support of an association between mental health (GHQ-12 scores) and perceptions of social capital, but less support for the contextual nature of social capital.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Expressed emotion, social skill, and response to negative affect in schizophrenia.

The social skills and social perception of schizophrenia patients in response to negative affect was examined as a function of family expressed emotion (EE). Patients participated in a role-play test, a social perception test, and a problem-solving discussion with a family member and were assessed on several measures of symptomatology. EE of family members was evaluated with the Camberwell Family Interview. On the role-play test, patients with less critical relatives became more assertive in response to increased negative affect from a confederate portraying either a family member or friend, but patients with highly critical relatives did not. Patients with highly critical relatives were also less assertive when confronted with negative affect from a confederate portraying a family member rather than a friend. The behaviors of both relatives and patients during a family problem-solving interaction were related to the EE dimensions of criticism, emotional overinvolvement, and warmth. Patient gender was also related to family problem solving but was independent of EE. Patient ratings of affect on a videotaped social perception task were not related to family EE, and there were few differences in psychopathology between patients with high and low EE relatives. The results support the validity of the EE construct as an index of relatives' affective behavior and suggest that patients' social skills, such as assertiveness, may mediate negative affective exchanges in their families.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1983

Locus of control and peer status: a scale for Children's Perceptions of Social Interactions.

A total of 985 third through sixth grade children participated in the development of a 48-item Locus of Control Scale for Children's Perceptions of Social Interactions (LOC-CPSI). Scores are based on the number of positive, negative, and total social reinforcers a child attributes to his or her own behavior (internal control). A social desirability subscale is included. Reliability coefficients were comparable to or greater than those of existing locus of control measures. Convergent validity was demonstrated by low, significant correlations with other locus of control measures. Internal scores correlated significantly with sociometric measures of popularity and predicted peer status better than other locus of control measures. Theoretical implications and potential clinical application are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Women's perceptions and social barriers determine compliance to cervical screening: results from a population based study in India.

BACKGROUND: Success of cervical screening initiatives depends on high participation of the target population, which in turn is determined by the women's perceptions, health orientation and other socio-cultural issues. The present study identifies the immediate social and cultural barriers that prevent women to attend cervical screening facilities. METHODS: Women non-compliant to a community-based cervical screening program were identified. From them 500 were randomly selected for interview using a structured questionnaire that was designed on the basis of feedbacks received from several focused group discussions. Questionnaire listed 24 possible reasons for non-compliance. The women were asked to select the most pertinent reason(s) for her non-attendance or to reveal if they had any reason other than the listed ones. RESULTS: A total of 469 non-compliant women were interviewed. They had significantly lower literacy rate compared to the compliant women (OR=2.25; 95% CI: 1.23-4.13). Nearly half of the interviewed women responded that they themselves opted to stay away from the program. Most common reasons cited for non-attendance in this group were reluctance to go for medical test in the absence of any symptoms and apprehension to have a test that detects cancer. Second major group of responders comprised of women who were willing, yet could not attend due to various hurdles. Most common hurdles were inability to leave household chores, pre-occupation with family problems and lack of approval from husbands. CONCLUSIONS: Modification of health behavior through education and social empowerment of women are essential for a population based cervical screening program to succeed in India.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Meeting goals and confronting conflict: children's changing perceptions of social comparison.

It was proposed that previously observed grade-related changes in children's social comparison behavior could be explained by the changing goals and meanings children assign to this behavior. Specifically, it was suggested that, as children progress through the school system, they become increasingly aware of the negative and positive aspects of social comparison and adjust their behavior in response to this awareness, as well as to increasingly salient self-evaluation goals. To examine these propositions, 106 elementary school children were observed in their classrooms and interviewed once a year for 3 years. Consistent with previous research, overt forms of social comparison were most frequent among younger children, whereas subtle forms of social comparison were most frequent among older children. Furthermore, with increasing grade children were likely to view overt forms of social comparison negatively and subtle forms as useful in meeting self-evaluation goals. Additional analyses revealed little association between perceptions of social comparison and actual social comparison behavior, except that perceiving subtle social comparison as useful for self-evaluative goals predicted engagement in such behavior 2 years later.

Child↗
PubMed1998

The relationship between perceptions of social support and adherence to dietary recommendations among African-American elders with hypertension.

Social support is generally thought to facilitate adherence to recommended treatment regimens. Despite a well-documented tradition of social support among African Americans, much of the existing research indicates a very limited level of adherence, especially to dietary modification. To account for this seeming contradiction, forty-one rural-dwelling African Americans with hypertension age 65+ participated in a series of structured and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that 1) informants perceived themselves to be well-supported by family and friends; 2) most informants have achieved a moderate to high level of dietary adherence; and 3) no statistically significant relationship existed between perceived social support and dietary adherence. The discussion focuses on three reasons for this lack of association, including: 1) modest sample size; 2) informants' identification of helpful others who defied standard evaluations of support; and 3) incremental and gradual dietary changes that required little need for social support.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1995

Perceptions of social support and psychological adaptation to sexually acquired HIV among white and African American men.

Although the research literature documents the impact of social support on the mental health of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), the assumption that relationships between social support and mental health functioning are comparable across ethnically distinct populations with HIV/AIDS has been challenged. This study reports preliminary data on the relationship between perceptions of social support and mental health in a sample of African American and white men with sexually acquired HIV. Data from 33 respondents revealed considerable differences within the sample. Data from white men revealed strong positive relationships between mental health measures and social support from friends and family, whereas data from African American men revealed negative relationships. Further, measures of social support seem to adequately reflect the support systems of white men but not those of African American men. Implications of these and additional findings for research and practice are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

[Influencing factors on quality of life of middle-aged women living in rural area].

PURPOSE: This study was to investigate the factors influencing quality of life of middle-aged women in rural area, to provide the basic data for health promoting intervention in order to improve quality of life. METHOD: The subjects were 469 middle-aged women by 40-64 from 7 rural areas in Gyeonggi-do, Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do. Data collection was conducted by using 6 questionnaires. RESULT: There were significant differences in the quality of life by age, educational level, marital status, religion, family pattern, and economic level. There were positive relationships between quality of life and health perception, social support, and negative relationships between quality of life and depression and stress. Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis for quality of life revealed that the most powerful predictor was depression. Depression, health perception, social support, stress and economic level explained 51.5% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Depression, health perception, social support, stress and economic level were related with quality of life of middle-aged women in rural area. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the nursing intervention these psycho-social aspects to increase the quality of life.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1990

Interpersonal perception in a social context.

Interpersonal perception among well-acquainted individuals in a social context was studied. High acquaintance was expected to provide perceivers with a large sample of target behaviors across situations. In turn, memory for acquaintances should be organized by social group and personality characteristics, as predicted by the social context-personality index theory. Differentiation of the target's traits in memory should produce a target effect on perception that is stronger than the perceiver effect. Furthermore, evidence for accuracy, meta-accuracy, independence of self- and other-perception, and reciprocity of affect were anticipated. A social relations analysis of data from a multiple-interaction, reciprocal design was used to study these phenomena. At the individual level, analyses indicated that perceptions of targets were determined primarily by target characteristics and secondarily by perceiver construction of the judgment. Also, perceivers judged targets as targets judged themselves, and targets knew in general how perceivers viewed them. Self- and other-perceptions were largely independent. Surprisingly, we did not observe dyadic meta-accuracy.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Are rich people or poor people more likely to be ill? Lay perceptions, by social class and neighbourhood, of inequalities in health.

Research in the UK has suggested that people in lower social classes or from poorer neighbourhoods are less likely than their more socially advantaged counterparts to agree that health and life expectancy are worse among more deprived population groups. The small body of previous research has either used qualitative approaches or coded open-ended responses to survey questions about causes of health and illness or of inequalities between areas. We examined lay perceptions by asking a direct question and using a quantitative, multivariate approach. Residents in three age groups (25, 45 and 65 years old) living in two socially contrasting localities in Glasgow, Scotland, were asked who were more likely to have accidents, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, to be fitter, and to live longer: rich people, poor people, or both equally. Across all the health categories, those in lower social classes or from poorer neighbourhoods were equally or less likely than their more socially advantaged counterparts to say the poor had worse health. In a model containing age, sex, class and locality, those in lower social classes and in the poorer locality were significantly less likely to say that richer people live longer (OR: 0.5). We have therefore confirmed earlier observations that those most at risk of ill health may be less likely to acknowledge the social gradient in health. We suggest a need to examine this apparent paradox in other contexts and in more detail, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Accidents↗
PubMed2005

Social networks, perceptions of risk, and changing attitudes towards HIV/AIDS: new evidence from a longitudinal study using fixed-effects analysis.

The study presented here is an investigation of the importance of social interactions to perceptions of the risk of AIDS, and explores spousal communication about the AIDS epidemic in rural Malawi. A fixed-effects analysis based on longitudinal data collected in 1998 and 2001 shows that social interactions on the subject of HIV/AIDS have significant and substantial effects on respondents' perceptions of the risk of HIV/AIDS, even after controlling for unobserved factors that affect the selection of social networks. These effects are more complex than previously thought. The dominant mechanisms--social learning and social influence--are found to vary by sex and by region, because of regional variations in the marriage pattern and the resulting implications for the formation of local social networks. The conclusion of the study is that rather than fostering denial and inaction, social interactions are an important vector of change in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

The Impact of Perceived Loafing and Collective Efficacy on Group Goal Processes and Group Performance.

This paper presents two studies investigating the influence of social perceptions (perceived loafing, collective efficacy, and cohesion) on group goal processes (difficulty and commitment) and group performance. The role of group goal processes as mediators of the relationships between social perception variables and group performance was also tested. The first study involved a sample of 247 college students in 59 groups working on a team interdependent, divisible academic task. Results supported all but one hypothesis. The mediation hypothesis was not supported as both group goal and social perception variables related similarly to group performance. The second study employed a different design to address some limitations of the first study and to extend those findings. Results from the second study, using 383 college students in 101 groups, were consistent with Study 1 with two exceptions. First, the mediation hypothesis was supported in Study 2, replicating the findings of Klein and Mulvey (1995). Second, anticipated lower effort and the sucker effect, additional intervening variables examined in Study 2, partially mediated the relationship between perceived loafing and collective goal difficulty as hypothesized. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Journal Article↗