An Identity Process Theory Account of the Impact of Boarding School on Sense of Self and Mental Health: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Boarding schools exist to provide education for children, but this involves the child leaving the family home and residing in an educational institution. Identity Process Theory suggests that such a change in circumstances can threaten the child’s identity, which triggers coping strategies and impacts on the individual’s self-concept during both childhood and adulthood. This study undertook an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with five adults who boarded as children. The focus was on exploring participants’ beliefs in terms of how the boarding experience affected their sense of self. Emerging themes relate to the (i) coping strategies used by participants during childhood, such as amnesia, compartmentalising, compliance and acceptance, and (ii) long-term effects of boarding on identity, self-concept and intimate relationships. Findings also highlight the interplay of factors such as privilege and social class, which were reported as motives for participants’ parents choosing boarding for their children. The study raises important questions about the long-term health impacts of sending children away to board.

RESHAPING THE HOMOSEXUAL IDENTITY OF MIDDLE-AGED GAY MEN IN AMERICA: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF IDENTITY PROCESS ON ANDREW SEAN GREER’S LESS

The detrimental effects caused by the LGBT victimization in America are directly felt by middle-aged homosexuals nowadays and is internalized into their identity, creating problems that continuously affect them even after LGBT acceptance in the United States. The shift of homosexual identity in middle-aged American homosexuals is thus inevitable in order to regain their identity balance. Andrew Sean Greer’s Less depicts this issue through the internal conflicts of Arthur Less —a character struggling to accept his identity as an aging homosexual man. Arthur’s process in assimilating new experiences around him and accommodating his conceptionabout his homosexual identity become the highlights of this study. The writer utilizes Susan Krauss Whitbourne’s Identity Process Theory that deals with identity assimilation, identity accommodation, and identity balance. The result shows that past LGBT victimization has caused (1) HIV/AIDS trauma, (2) hyper-sexualized image, (3) cynicism towards marriage, and (4) internalized homonegativity, all of which creating the balance disruption on identity. When identity assimilation fails and identity accommodation occurs, middle-aged American homosexuals are encouraged to acknowledge that (1) homosexual identity exists beyond stereotyped sexual context, (2) there are no standardized attitudes that they must adopt, and (3) they are allowed to desire the same sense of comfort and intimacy through committed relationship or marriage, like their heterosexual counterparts.

Type-planning a Fenno-Swedish identity. The housing association for the Swedish speaking areas of Finland and the ideal rural home between 1938 and 1969

Better housing for the rural population was an important part ofthe Finnish housing discussion in the 20th century. Between 1938 and 1969, Bostadsföreningen för svenska Finland (The housing association for the Swedish speaking areas of Finland) promoted rational housingfor the Fenno-Swedish minority. The construction of a collective identityfor a minority through dwelling ideals is the main focus of the article.Methods as identity process theory and perspectives on architecture and nationalism are used to interpret the material. Specific questions relate to how modernist architecture became a symbol when constructing an identity for a non-homogeneous minority. The housing association viewed modernist housing as a solution to a political and ideologicalproblem. With efficient homes, Fenno-Swedish farmers were less inclined to sell their homesteads to Finnish speakers and move to the cities, where they were assimilated into the Finnish culture. Mobility wasperceived as a threat to the minority, since it led to a loss of voters in areas of political importance. Modernist architecture combined with aesthetics from the vernacular building tradition were used to make thefarmers proud of their ancestral homes, willing to stay, securing theideological home of the Fenno-Swedes.

Sense of Place and Place Identity

The paper describes the relationship between identity and the physical environment: social identity theory, place- identity theory and identity process theory. The place identity is focused on the relationship between people and the environmental psychology. Then, the paper tends to explain that social identity theory and identity process theory can also be used explaining the relationship between place and identity. Questions to visualize about: How well do identity process theory and social identity theory describe the influences place has on identity? What is the meaning of place in environmental psychology? Does it have any effect on identity and politics of identity? It also argues that place is not a category of identity. Places have symbols of many different social categories and concepts, places speak and preserve identity on various dimensions and levels.