scholarly journals Social differentiation and well-being in the Italian Iron Age: exploring the relationship between sex, age, biological stress, and burial complexity among the Picenes of Novilara (8th–7th c. BC)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zita Laffranchi ◽  
Michael A. Beck De Lotto ◽  
C. Delpino ◽  
Sandra Lösch ◽  
Marco Milella
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Porotic Hyperostosis ◽  
Skeletal Changes ◽  
Biological Stress ◽  
Funerary Treatment

Abstract The possible association between “biological” and “social” status in the past is a central topic in bioarchaeological studies. For the Italian Iron Age, previous research comparing skeletal and funerary variables depicts a multifaceted scenario consistent with nuanced biocultural patterns. This calls for additional studies on a broader series of archaeological contexts and skeletal assemblages. Here, we contribute new data about the biological correlates of social differentiation during the Italian Iron Age by comparing paleopathological and funerary variables in the Picene necropolis of Novilara (Marche region, 8th–7th c. BC). Novilara is one of the largest Picene necropolises in the Italian Peninsula and one of the most important funerary sites of the Italian Iron Age. The skeletal sample includes 147 individuals (females: 70; males: 35; 10 unsexed adults; 32 non-adults). We use linear enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, non-specific periosteal lesions, and stature to approximate non-specific stressors and compare them with archaeological variables summarizing funerary variability by means of logistic models, Mann–Whitney and Spearman tests. Results are heterogeneous and vary according to the considered variables. On average, they however show that (a) adults featuring a more complex funerary treatment have a lower probability of showing stress-related skeletal changes, and (b) even though funerary features suggests a strong gender differentiation, frequencies of paleopathological variables do not differ between sexes. Our analyses point to a complex link between biological and social status in this population and call for a critical reflection about the theoretical and methodological issues affecting similar studies.

The Social Structuring of Biological Stress in Contact-Era Spanish Florida

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Winkler ◽  
Clark Spencer Larsen ◽  
Victor D. Thompson ◽  
Paul W. Sciulli ◽  
Dale L. Hutchinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Long Bone ◽  
Stress Markers ◽  
Biological Stress ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spanish Florida ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Social Structuring ◽  
The Relationship

Winkler and colleagues investigate the relationship between social status and well-being among the Guale from St. Catherines Island in Spanish Florida (A.D. 1607–1680). Specifically, they examine stress through dental caries, linear enamel hypoplasias, tooth size, and long bone length. Their analysis of mortuary data identifies postcontact social status variation on the basis of funerary offerings and proximity to the altar, and they integrate ethnohistorical evidence to enrich their interpretations. While Winkler and colleagues do not find any direct relationship between stress markers and mortuary offerings, there were spatial relationships between involving well-being and proximity (or distance) from the altar. While the study of colonialism in Spanish Florida has a long history, this work at St. Catherines Island represents new directions involving the spatial dimensions of mortuary and skeletal data on an intracemetery level. Winkler and colleagues conclude with discussions about their findings within the context of Spanish colonialism in Spanish Florida and the implications for bioarchaeology of colonialism.

scholarly journals From the Eurasian Steppes to the Roman Circuses: A Review of Early Development of Horse Breeding and Management

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1859
Author(s):  
Weronika Klecel ◽  
Elżbieta Martyniuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Striking Resemblance ◽  
Training Systems ◽  
Horse Breeding ◽  
Breeding Practices

The domestication of the horse began about 5500 years ago in the Eurasian steppes. In the following millennia horses spread across the ancient world, and their role in transportation and warfare affected every ancient culture. Ownership of horses became an indicator of wealth and social status. The importance of horses led to a growing interest in their breeding and management. Many phenotypic traits, such as height, behavior, and speed potential, have been proven to be a subject of selection; however, the details of ancient breeding practices remain mostly unknown. From the fourth millennium BP, through the Iron Age, many literature sources thoroughly describe horse training systems, as well as various aspects of husbandry, many of which are still in use today. The striking resemblance of ancient and modern equine practices leaves us wondering how much was accomplished through four thousand years of horse breeding.

scholarly journals The COVID Connection: Pandemic Anxiety, COVID-19 Comprehension, and Digital Confidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110031
Author(s):  
Laura Robinson ◽  
Jeremy Schulz ◽  
Øyvind N. Wiborg ◽  
Elisha Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Models ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
Partner Status ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Nationally Representative

This article presents logistic models examining how pandemic anxiety and COVID-19 comprehension vary with digital confidence among adults in the United States during the first wave of the pandemic. As we demonstrate statistically with a nationally representative data set, the digitally confident have lower probability of experiencing physical manifestations of pandemic anxiety and higher probability of adequately comprehending critical information on COVID-19. The effects of digital confidence on both pandemic anxiety and COVID-19 comprehension persist, even after a broad range of potentially confounding factors are taken into account, including sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, metropolitan status, and partner status. They also remain discernable after the introduction of general anxiety, as well as income and education. These results offer evidence that the digitally disadvantaged experience greater vulnerability to the secondary effects of the pandemic in the form of increased somatized stress and decreased COVID-19 comprehension. Going forward, future research and policy must make an effort to address digital confidence and digital inequality writ large as crucial factors mediating individuals’ responses to the pandemic and future crises.

Religious-Commitment Signaling and Impression Management amongst Pentecostals: Relationships to Salivary Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 299-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Dana Lynn ◽  
Jason Joseph Paris ◽  
Cheryl Anne Frye ◽  
Lawrence M. Schell
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
Alpha Amylase ◽  
Socially Desirable Responding ◽  
Biological Stress ◽  
Communal Orientation ◽  
Willingness To Cooperate

Religious-commitment signaling is thought to indicate willingness to cooperate with a religious group. It follows that a desire to signal affiliation and reap concomitant benefits would lend itself to acting in socially desirable ways. Success or failure in such areas, especially where there is conscious intent, should correspond to proximal indicators of well-being, such as psychosocial or biological stress. To test this model, we assessed religious-commitment signaling and socially desirable responding among a sample of Pentecostals with respect to salivary biomarkers of stress and arousal. Results indicate that cortisol levels on worship and non-worship days were significantly influenced by religious-commitment signaling when moderated by impression management, a conscious form of socially desirable responding. No significant influences on salivary alpha-amylase were detected. These findings are important for understanding how religious-commitment signaling mechanisms may influence stress response when moderated by socially desirable responding and the role of communal orientation to psychosocial health.

scholarly journals Social trust and emotional health in rural older adults in China: The mediating and moderating role of subjective well-being and subjective social status

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongsheng Chen ◽  
Zhenjun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Subjective Social Status ◽  
Rural Elderly ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Impact

Abstract BackgroundChina is becoming an aging society. The emotional health of the elderly is gaining importance. Social trust is an important factor affecting emotional health, but existing studies have rarely considered the various effects of different types of social trust on rural elderly emotional health. Few studies have analysed the role of subjective well-being and subjective social status in the relationship between social trust and elderly emotional health.MethodsUsing the data of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey 2016 (CLDS 2016) and regression models, this study selected 2084 rural respondents aged 60 years and above to analyse the impact of social trust on their emotional health. Social trust was divided into three categories: trust in family members, trust in friends, and trust in neighbours. This study also examined the mediating and moderating effects of subjective well-being and subjective social status on the relationship between social trust and emotional health.ResultsTrust in family members was significantly and positively associated with emotional health (coefficient=0.194, P<0.01) and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.177, P<0.01). Trust in friends was significantly and positively associated with emotional health and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.097, P<0.01; coefficient=0.174, P<0.01, respectively). Trust in neighbours was significantly and positively associated with emotional health and subjective well-being (coefficient=0.088, P<0.01; coefficient=0.177, P<0.01; respectively). Subjective well-being effectively reduced the impact of social trust in family, friends, and neighbours on the emotional health of the elderly by 0.023, 0.022, and 0.023, respectively. Trust in friends and neighbours significantly and positively affected respondents’ subjective social status (coefficient=0.120, P<0.05; coefficient=0.090, P<0.10; respectively). Subjective social status effectively reduced the impact of social trust in friends and neighbours on the emotional health of the elderly both by 0.004. The positive relationship between trust in family members and emotional health is weakened by subjective well-being.ConclusionsSocial trust, especially family relationships, play an important role in maintaining the emotional health of the rural elderly. In response to population ageing, more social policies must be introduced to care for the rural elderly and help them lead a happy and satisfactory life.

Rising above It: Status Ambivalence in Older Adults

Gerontology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 576-588
Author(s):  
Deirdre A. Robertson ◽  
David Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Protective Mechanism ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Social ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

Background: Social status is the standing of a person or group in the social hierarchy, and is perceived to change across the life span from low social status in early life, to peak in midlife, and to a decline thereafter. As threats to subjective social status are known to be detrimental to individuals’ health, it is important to better understand how older adults perceive themselves and others in terms of age-related social status. Objective: We examined status ambivalence – the potential discrepancy between how older adults’ perceive social status for themselves compared to older adults in general. Method: Study 1 used qualitative data from 37 semi-structured interviews with older adults to assess perceptions of social status. Study 2 used quantitative survey data from 114 older adults who completed explicit and implicit measures of social status. Results: Study 1 (n = 37, meanage = 71.72, SDage = 5.69; 81.1% women) provided preliminary evidence for status ambivalence such that older adults reported unequivocal low social status for other older adults but a more ambivalent perception of their own social status. Study 2 (n = 114, meanage = 64.32, SDage = 8.98, 57.9% women) compared implicit and explicit measures of social status revealing that older adults consistently perceive older adults to have low social status but again show a more ambivalent perception of their own social status. Conclusion: We discuss status ambivalence as a potential protective mechanism in the context of negative societal perceptions of age-related social status that may be important for well-being in later life.

Balancing Identities: How Economic Inequality and Class Affect Work-life Balance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Filippi ◽  
Caterina Suitner ◽  
Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara ◽  
Davide Pirrone ◽  
Mara A. Yerkes
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
European Policy ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Fundamental Part

Work-Life Balance (WLB) is recognized as a fundamental part of people’s well-being and prioritized in European policy making. Until recently, little attention was given to the role of economic inequality in people's inferences of WLB. In Study 1, we experimentally tested and confirmed a) the effect of economic inequality on WLB, and b) the role of status anxiety in mediating this relationship. In Study 2, we provided a replication and advancement of Study 1 by manipulating socioeconomic class in addition to economic inequality. Results showed that in the inequality condition, people expected less WLB through a partial mediation of status anxiety and competitiveness. We also found that class mattered, with economic inequality mainly affecting participants in the low-class condition. In sum, economic inequality enhanced participants’ competitiveness and concern about their social status, which in turn affected WLB. This demonstrates the need for policies promoting WLB in those countries characterized by high inequality.

Hierarchical or Egalitarian?

2019 ◽  
pp. 144-164
Author(s):  
D. W. Harding
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Historic Archaeology ◽  
Economic Competition ◽  
Grave Goods

The model of social structure in British prehistory still owes much to the legacy of Gordon Childe, for whom economic competition was the catalyst of social inequalities. Even from the Neolithic, however, control of land or stock would have conveyed status, and the construction of major works such as tombs or henges implies authority over labour and resources, even if it was religious rather than temporal. Classical sources indicated that late pre-Roman Iron Age society was stratified, but recent opinion has questioned how far back this extended into earlier prehistory. Using grave goods as a proxy for social status may be simplistic, though whether explained as possessions of the dead, debts repaid by dependents, dedications to deities or ancestors, or displays of communal wealth consumption, they surely indicate social complexity. Settlements in British prehistory or early historic archaeology seldom display clear evidence of social hierarchy, since social status was evidently not expressed in the same terms as in contemporary materialistic and capitalistic societies. Anthropological models of social development from simple communities to chiefdoms and state societies can now be seen as neither consistent nor uniform in progression.

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