The Agency Myth: Persistence in Individual Explanations for Gender Inequality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K Carian ◽  
Amy L Johnson
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Strategic Behaviors ◽  
Intersecting Identities ◽  
Individual Subscription ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Longitudinal Dataset

Abstract We leverage a unique longitudinal dataset—98 interviews with 30 college students—to investigate young people’s explanations for gender inequality over time and the implications of those explanations. Through five waves and four years of interviews, we show that young people struggled to internalize structural explanations, instead favoring explanations that conceptualized gender as an individual attribute. Individual perspectives were so intransigent because of respondents’ adherence to what we call the agency myth, the latent cultural idea that individuals, particularly women, have the power to overcome gender inequality through strategic behaviors. The agency myth offered young people a sense of self-efficacy, but prevented their imagining broader solutions for social change. Those who were able to think structurally did so only after rejecting the agency myth. This article shows how the durability of individualist perspectives contributes to persistent gender inequality by privileging individualized solutions over more effective structural ones. We discuss how individual subscription to the agency myth is structured by young people’s intersecting identities, and how the agency myth can be applied to other axes of inequality.

Lessons Learned From Coaching Postsecondary Students With Traumatic Brain Injury

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
Mary R. T. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sudden Onset ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Exhaustive List

Purpose The purpose of this clinical focus article is to provide speech-language pathologists with a brief update of the evidence that provides possible explanations for our experiences while coaching college students with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method The narrative text provides readers with lessons we learned as speech-language pathologists functioning as cognitive coaches to college students with TBI. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather to consider the recent scientific evidence that will help our understanding of how best to coach these college students. Conclusion Four lessons are described. Lesson 1 focuses on the value of self-reported responses to surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. Lesson 2 addresses the use of immediate/proximal goals as leverage for students to update their sense of self and how their abilities and disabilities may alter their more distal goals. Lesson 3 reminds us that teamwork is necessary to address the complex issues facing these students, which include their developmental stage, the sudden onset of trauma to the brain, and having to navigate going to college with a TBI. Lesson 4 focuses on the need for college students with TBI to learn how to self-advocate with instructors, family, and peers.

Moving Up without Losing Your Way

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Morton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
College Students ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
College Experience ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Community Finding

Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this book looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to earn a successful place in society. The book reframes the college experience, factoring in not just educational and career opportunities but also essential relationships with family, friends, and community. Finding that student strivers tend to give up the latter for the former, negating their sense of self, the book seeks to reverse this course. It urges educators to empower students with a new narrative of upward mobility—one that honestly situates ethical costs in historical, social, and economic contexts and that allows students to make informed decisions for themselves. The book paves a hopeful road so that students might achieve social mobility while retaining their best selves.

Multiple Selves and Multitasking: A Dynamic Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022199149
Author(s):  
Shan Xu ◽  
Zheng Wang
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Multiple Selves ◽  
Dynamic Panel ◽  
Over Time

This study integrates the theory of multiple selves within the theoretical framework of dynamic motivational activation (DMA) to identify the dynamic patterns of multiple self-concepts (i.e., the potential self, the actual self) in multitasking (e.g., primary and secondary activities) in daily life. A three-week experience sampling study was conducted on college students. Dynamic panel modeling results suggest that the self-concepts are both sustaining and shifting in daily activities and media activities. Specifically, the potential and actual selves sustained themselves over time in primary and secondary activities, but they also shifted from one to another to achieve a balance in primary activities over time. Interestingly, secondary activities were not driven by the alternative self-concept in primary activities, but instead, by the emotional experiences of primary activities. Furthermore, the findings identified that multitasking to fulfill their actual self did not motivate people to re-prioritize their potential self later.

scholarly journals Longitudinal cohort study of the impact of specialist cancer services for teenagers and young adults on quality of life: outcomes from the BRIGHTLIGHT study

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e038471
Author(s):  
Rachel M Taylor ◽  
Lorna A Fern ◽  
Julie Barber ◽  
Javier Alvarez-Galvez ◽  
Richard Feltbower ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Young People ◽  
Longitudinal Cohort Study ◽  
Longitudinal Cohort ◽  
Cancer Services ◽  
Teenagers And Young Adults ◽  
Over Time

ObjectivesIn England, healthcare policy advocates specialised age-appropriate services for teenagers and young adults (TYA), those aged 13 to 24 years at diagnosis. Specialist Principal Treatment Centres (PTC) provide enhanced TYA age-specific care, although many still receive care in adult or children’s cancer services. We present the first prospective structured analysis of quality of life (QOL) associated with the amount of care received in a TYA-PTCDesignLongitudinal cohort study.SettingHospitals delivering inpatient cancer care in England.Participants1114 young people aged 13 to 24 years newly diagnosed with cancer.InterventionExposure to the TYA-PTC defined as patients receiving NO-TYA-PTC care with those receiving ALL-TYA-PTC and SOME-TYA-PTC care.Primary outcomeQuality of life measured at five time points: 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months after diagnosis.ResultsGroup mean total QOL improved over time for all patients, but for those receiving NO-TYA-PTC was an average of 5.63 points higher (95% CI 2.77 to 8.49) than in young people receiving SOME-TYA-PTC care, and 4·17 points higher (95% CI 1.07 to 7.28) compared with ALL-TYA-PTC care. Differences were greatest 6 months after diagnosis, reduced over time and did not meet the 8-point level that is proposed to be clinically significant. Young people receiving NO-TYA-PTC care were more likely to have been offered a choice of place of care, be older, from more deprived areas, in work and have less severe disease. However, analyses adjusting for confounding factors did not explain the differences between TYA groups.ConclusionsReceipt of some or all care in a TYA-PTC was associated with lower QOL shortly after cancer diagnosis. The NO-TYA-PTC group had higher QOL 3 years after diagnosis, however those receiving all or some care in a TYA-PTC experienced more rapid QOL improvements. Receipt of some care in a TYA-PTC requires further study.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Effects of Motivation and Physical Activity on Depressive Symptoms among College Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5121
Author(s):  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Xiangli Gu ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Jihye Lee ◽  
Mei Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Perceived Competence ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Task Values ◽  
Competence Beliefs ◽  
Over Time ◽  
And Task

High prevalence of depression and physical inactivity have been consistently reported among college students, especially in females. Guided by Lubans et al.’s conceptual framework, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationships of PA motivation with leisure-time PA and depressive symptoms among college students over one academic year. Employing a longitudinal repeated measure design, 1004 college students in China were recruited in this study (28.3% males and 71.7% females; M age = 18.93 ± 0.64 years; 18–22 years old). Participants completed previously validated questionnaires assessing PA motivation (perceived competence beliefs and task values toward PA), leisure-time PA participation, and depressive symptoms in Fall 2016 (Time 1) and Fall 2017 (Time 2). Both male and female college students showed a significant increase of depressive symptoms from freshmen to sophomores (p < 0.05). The regression models indicated that perceived competence beliefs and task values toward PA were significant predictors of depressive symptoms at Time 2 (p < 0.05) after controlling for Time 1 measures in males and females, respectively. Physically active college students consistently demonstrated higher PA motivation, and they displayed fewer depressive symptoms compared to inactive peers over time (p < 0.05). The findings suggest sex-specified motivational intervention strategies and PA promotion programs/opportunities are needed to reduce depression symptoms among college students over time.

Social Change and Psychological Change in Rural Mali

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 965-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmi Schooler ◽  
Leslie J Caplan ◽  
Pakuy Pierre Mounkoro ◽  
Chiaka Diakité
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Psychological Change ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Personality Stability ◽  
Psychological Reaction ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time

We examine the effects of socio-environmental change on personality in Mali in three ways, using data from a longitudinal two-wave (1994, 2004) survey conducted in rural Mali. Firstly, we compare the between-wave personality stability of Anxiety, Self-confidence, Mastery/Fatalism, and Authoritarianism with that in USA, Japan, Poland, and Ukraine. Secondly, we examine socio-economic hardship and political instability in pre-industrial Mali. Thirdly, we examine patterns of psychological reaction to political and social change during the study period. Our findings have implications for comparisons and generalizations across times and cultures about the contribution of socio-environmental conditions to over-time change in personality.

scholarly journals Positive Organisational Arts-Based Youth Scholarship: Redressing Discourse on Danger, Disquiet, and Distress during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5655
Author(s):  
Ann Dadich ◽  
Katherine M. Boydell ◽  
Stephanie Habak ◽  
Chloe Watfern
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Difficult Times

This methodological article argues for the potential of positive organisational arts-based youth scholarship as a methodology to understand and promote positive experiences among young people. With reference to COVID-19, exemplars sourced from social media platforms and relevant organisations demonstrate the remarkable creative brilliance of young people. During these difficult times, young people used song, dance, storytelling, and art to express themselves, (re)connect with others, champion social change, and promote health and wellbeing. This article demonstrates the power of positive organisational arts-based youth scholarship to understand how young people use art to redress negativity via a positive lens of agency, peace, collectedness, and calm.

Changing Attitudes Toward Women: A Longitudinal Study of College Students

1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Etaugh ◽  
Deborah Bohn Spandikow
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Attitudes Toward Women ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Intraindividual Change ◽  
Changing Attitudes ◽  
Shift Hypothesis ◽  
Over Time

Cross sectional data indicate that college students show more liberal attitudes toward women with increasing years of college attendance. This shift may reflect intraindividual change or simply differential dropout of more traditionally oriented students. To study this problem longitudinally, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale was administered to 430 university students who had completed the same questionnaire 2 years earlier. Attitudes toward women generally became more liberal over time for both male and female students, supporting the intraindividual shift hypothesis. For both sexes, attitudes involving women's educational-vocational rights became more liberal than those involving women's marital and maternal responsibilities. Socio-demographic characteristics of subjects who became more traditional were compared with those of subjects who became more liberal.

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