scholarly journals A brief social-belonging intervention in college improves adult outcomes for black Americans

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (18) ◽  
pp. eaay3689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon T. Brady ◽  
Geoffrey L. Cohen ◽  
Shoshana N. Jarvis ◽  
Gregory M. Walton
Keyword(s):  
Community Involvement ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Well Being ◽  
First Year ◽  
Adult Outcomes ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Long Term Follow Up ◽  
The Life Course

Could mitigating persistent worries about belonging in the transition to college improve adult life for black Americans? To examine this question, we conducted a long-term follow-up of a randomized social-belonging intervention delivered in the first year of college. This 1-hour exercise represented social and academic adversity early in college as common and temporary. As previously reported in Science, the exercise improved black students’ grades and well-being in college. The present study assessed the adult outcomes of these same participants. Examining adult life at an average age of 27, black adults who had received the treatment (versus control) exercise 7 to 11 years earlier reported significantly greater career satisfaction and success, psychological well-being, and community involvement and leadership. Gains were statistically mediated by greater college mentorship. The results suggest that addressing persistent social-psychological concerns via psychological intervention can shape the life course, partly by changing people’s social realities.

A Social-Belonging Intervention Benefits Higher Weight Students’ Weight Stability and Academic Achievement

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062095923
Author(s):  
Christine Logel ◽  
Joel M. Le Forestier ◽  
Eben B. Witherspoon ◽  
Omid Fotuhi
Keyword(s):  
College Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Intervention Trial ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Weight Stability

Psychological interventions can narrow college achievement gaps between students from nonstigmatized and stigmatized groups. However, no intervention we know of has investigated effects for one highly stigmatized group: people of higher bodyweights. We analyzed data from a prematriculation social-belonging intervention trial at 22 colleges, which conveyed that adversity in the college transition is normative, temporary, and nondiagnostic of lack of belonging. Nine months postintervention, higher weight participants in a standard belonging treatment had higher first-year grade point averages (GPAs) than controls and maintained more stable weights, an indicator of physical well-being. Effects of a belonging treatment customized to specific colleges were directionally similar but nonsignificant. Exploratory analyses revealed that effects did not differ by race and that weight effects were driven by women. Together, results show that higher weight students contend with belonging concerns that contribute to a weight gap in GPA, but belonging interventions can raise GPA and promote healthy weight stability.

scholarly journals The Life Course Construction of Inequalities in Health and Wealth in Old Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Michel Oris ◽  
Marie Baeriswyl ◽  
Andreas Ihle
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Cumulative Processes ◽  
The Life Course

AbstractIn this contribution, we will mobilize the interdisciplinary life course paradigm to consider the processes through which individual heterogeneity in health and wealth is constructed all along life, from the cradle to old age. Considering altogether historical, family and individual times, the life course perspective has been developed in sociology, (lifespan) psychology and epidemiology, and has framed many important studies during the last four decades. The theory of cumulative disadvantage is for sure the most popular in social sciences, explaining how little inter-individual differences early in life expand all along life to reach maximal amplitude among the “young old” (before the selection by differential mortality at very old age). In lifespan psychology, the theory of cognitive reserve (educational level being a proxy) and its continuation, the theory of use or disuse (of cognition during adult life) have more or less the same explanatory power, cognition being a decisive precondition for active ageing and quality of life in old age. However, in spite of the success of those theoretical bodies, a prominent figure in the field, Glen Elder, recently observed that there is surprisingly little evidence for cumulative processes and that a wide variety of model specifications remain completely untested. This finding makes even more important a critical review of the literature which summarize several robust evidences, but also discuss contradictory results and suggest promising research tracks. This exercise considers the life course construction of inequalities in the distribution of objective resources older adults have (or not) “to live the life they own value” (to quote A. Sen 2001). But it is also crucial to consider the subjective component that is inherent to the understanding of well-being.

scholarly journals Family Relationships and Well-Being

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia A Thomas ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Debra Umberson
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Important Influence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Relationship Strain

Abstract Family relationships are enduring and consequential for well-being across the life course. We discuss several types of family relationships—marital, intergenerational, and sibling ties—that have an important influence on well-being. We highlight the quality of family relationships as well as diversity of family relationships in explaining their impact on well-being across the adult life course. We discuss directions for future research, such as better understanding the complexities of these relationships with greater attention to diverse family structures, unexpected benefits of relationship strain, and unique intersections of social statuses.

New Territories of Positive Life-Span Development: Wisdom and Life Longings

2009 ◽  
pp. 170-184
Author(s):  
Susanne Scheibe ◽  
Ute Kunzmann ◽  
Paul B. Baltes
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Life Span Development ◽  
Life Orientation ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Life Course

In search for concepts that help understand how individuals strive for growth and perfection within the boundaries and constraints of human lives, we describe theory and research on the concepts of wisdom, or expert knowledge about human nature and the life course, and Sehnsucht (life longings), the recurring and strong desire for ideal (utopian), alternative states and expressions of life. Both represent relatively new concepts on the agenda of lifespan research, originating from an interest in identifying major topics of public and humanist discourse about the potentials and constraints of life-span development and finding ways to measure them with the methods of normative psychological science. Despite their complexity and multiple meanings, progress has been made in the theory-driven operationalization of wisdom and life longings, allowing new insights into their ontogenesis and role for positive development. Emerging research shows that wisdom and life longings do not directly promote a hedonic life orientation or happiness: neither the insight that life is incomplete (wisdom) nor the experience of this incompleteness (life longings) is compatible with feelings of unequivocal joy and pleasure. Yet, there is emerging evidence that they contribute to other aspects of positive development, emphasizing personal growth, meaning, and the aligning of one's own and other's well-being. We suggest that future research should focus on the links of wisdom and life longings with multiple developmental outcomes and the possible interplay of both concepts in promoting positive development.

scholarly journals Mechanisms linking teenage mothers’ educational attainment with self-reported health at age 50

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Maslowsky ◽  
C. Emily Hendrick ◽  
Haley Stritzel
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Early Childbearing ◽  
Partner Characteristics ◽  
Higher Educational Attainment ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Abstract Background Early childbearing is associated with adverse health and well-being throughout the life course for women in the United States. As education continues to be a modifiable social determinant of health after a young woman gives birth, the association of increased educational attainment with long-term health for women who begin childbearing as teenagers is worthy of investigation. Methods Data are from 301 mothers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 who gave birth prior to age 19. We estimated path models to assess women’s incomes, partner characteristics, and health behaviors at age 40 as mediators of the relationship between their educational attainment and self-rated general health at age 50. Results After accounting for observed background factors that select women into early childbearing and lower educational attainment, higher levels of education (high school diploma and GED attainment vs. no degree) were indirectly associated with higher self-rated health at age 50 via higher participant income at age 40. Conclusions As education is a social determinant of health that is amenable to intervention after a teen gives birth, our results are supportive of higher educational attainment as a potential pathway to improving long-term health outcomes of women who begin childbearing early.

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

scholarly journals Application of Cannabis Use Intention Questionnaire (CUIQ) to First Year University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Inês Teodoro ◽  
Hugo Torres ◽  
Nuno Venâncio ◽  
Guilhermina Moutinho ◽  
Maria Deolinda Auxtero
Keyword(s):  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Self Control ◽  
First Year ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Intent To Use ◽  
First Year University

Cannabis is the illegal drug most used worldwide. Its long-term use increases the risk of depression and schizophrenia, causing a major public health problem. A validated questionnaire was applied to first year students of Instituto Universitário Egas Moniz to assess their intention regarding cannabis use. They do not consider cannabis to be much associated with well-being, they slightly consider the opinion of relatives, and they show a low intent to use the drug, believing themselves to have strong self-control. Scores are above average for 18-y.o. Portuguese students, except for belief in self-control.

scholarly journals Across the COVID-19 Waves; Assessing Temporal Fluctuations in Perceived Stress, Post-Traumatic Symptoms, Worry, Anxiety and Civic Moral Disengagement over One Year of Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5651
Author(s):  
Alessio Gori ◽  
Eleonora Topino
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Stress ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Moral Disengagement ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Well Being ◽  
First Year ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
One Year ◽  
Traumatic Symptoms

This study aimed at investigating the psychological effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy by analysing the trends of perceived stress, post-traumatic symptoms, state anxiety, worry, and civic moral disengagement in four different moments from March 2020 to March 2021. The study involved a total of 1827 Italian participants (30% men and 70% women; Mage = 34.72; SD = 12.40) divided into four groups to which an online survey was administered. The first group completed the survey in March 2020, the second one in August 2020, the third one in November 2020, and the fourth one in March 2021. Results highlighted significant decreases in post-traumatic symptoms and a significant increase in civic moral disengagement over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The levels of perceived stress, worry, and state anxiety remained constant. The correlations between the variables at different times were also explored, as well as gender differences over the year. The COVID-19 emergency has had significant effects on the mental state of the population, with important repercussions for individual and collective well-being during but probably also after the pandemic. This study offers a clear snapshot of the psychological outcomes over one COVID-19 pandemic year, providing important information that may contribute to tailor more effective interventions for mental health.

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