Social Relationships (social + relationships)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences


Selected Abstracts


Goals and Social Relationships: Windows Into the Motivation and Well-Being of "Street Kids",

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
Esther Usborne
Research investigating homeless youth or, as they prefer, "street kids," has primarily described their dysfunction. In order to more thoroughly document their psychological reality and account for variability in their functioning, this study explored the close relationships and personal projects of 50 street kids. Self-determination theory provides a theoretical framework for hypotheses concerning the relationships that social networks and goals have with motivation and subjective well-being. The size of participants' social networks was positively related to internalization and positive well-being. Goal pursuit was also positively related to internalization and positive well-being. These findings,along with descriptive information documenting street kids' motivation, well-being, and family contact,afford us a view beyond their dysfunction, and elucidate factors associated with their optimal functioning. [source]


Book review: Endocrinology of Social Relationships

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009
Bruce S. CushingArticle first published online: 28 AUG 200
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Collective Construction of the Self and Social Relationships: A Rejoinder and Some Extensions

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2000
Shinobu Kitayama
This commentary elaborates on the basic thesis developed by Rothbaum, Pott, Azuma, Miyake, and Weisz and underscores the significance of the co-constructive process of the self and social relationship. Implications for future cultural psychological inquiry in this area are discussed. [source]


Employed Family Physician Satisfaction and Commitment to Their Practice, Work Group, and Health Care Organization

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010
Ben-Tzion Karsh
Objective. Test a model of family physician job satisfaction and commitment. Data Sources/Study Setting. Data were collected from 1,482 family physicians in a Midwest state during 2000,2001. The sampling frame came from the membership listing of the state's family physician association, and the analyzed dataset included family physicians employed by large multispecialty group practices. Study Design and Data Collection. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data about physician working conditions, job satisfaction, commitment, and demographic variables. Principal Findings. The response rate was 47 percent. Different variables predicted the different measures of satisfaction and commitment. Satisfaction with one's health care organization (HCO) was most strongly predicted by the degree to which physicians perceived that management valued and recognized them and by the extent to which physicians perceived the organization's goals to be compatible with their own. Satisfaction with one's workgroup was most strongly predicted by the social relationship with members of the workgroup; satisfaction with one's practice was most strongly predicted by relationships with patients. Commitment to one's workgroup was predicted by relationships with one's workgroup. Commitment to one's HCO was predicted by relationships with management of the HCO. Conclusions. Social relationships are stronger predictors of employed family physician satisfaction and commitment than staff support, job control, income, or time pressure. [source]


Psychosocial Experiences of Parents of a Child With Imperforate Anus

JOURNAL FOR SPECIALISTS IN PEDIATRIC NURSING, Issue 4 2009
Margret Nisell
PURPOSE., This study aims to examine the psychosocial experiences of parents of children with imperforate anus (IA) and to describe their potential positive experiences. DESIGN AND METHODS., Parents of IA children and a comparison group answered a questionnaire, which was analyzed quantitatively and with manifest content analysis. RESULTS., Social relationships and respect for the child's will were more affected among IA mothers. Positive experiences were revealed in relation to the child, the parent, and the family. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS., Support to parents in caring for a child with IA should be individualized and occasionally undertaken through collaboration with experts from child and adolescent psychiatry. [source]


Social relationships and shifting languages in Northern Thailand1

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2010
Kathryn M. Howard
This paper explores how speakers' understandings of the conduct of social relationships mediate changing and socially distinctive syncretic language practices in a Northern Thai community. Although a shift away from vernacular (Kam Muang) speech styles to Standard Thai was emblematically tied to young and urban speakers in nostalgic discourses, syncretic speech styles and metalinguistic discourses also reflected local and socially positioned understandings of institutional roles and social relationships. I argue that scholars of language change and shift should foreground the mediating role of social relationships in speakers' uses and understandings of their communicative repertoires across multiple timescales. [source]


Social relationships and friendships among young people with Down's syndrome in secondary schools

BRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2002
Pat Cuckle
More young people with Down's syndrome are being taught in mainstream schools and interest in the educational aspect of inclusion has grown over the last few years. In this article Pat Cuckle, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, and June Wilson, a support teacher working for Education Leeds, explore patterns of friendship and social relationships among teenagers with Down's syndrome. The young people who took part in the study either attend mainstream schools or resourced provision in mainstream schools. The enquiry provides fascinating insights into the participants' views of friendship and into the range of their social experiences. Pat Cuckle and June Wilson conclude their report with a set of recommendations focusing on the need to create more opportunity for social interaction for young people with special needs. [source]


Client experiences in work rehabilitation in Sweden: a one-year follow-up study

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2007
Eva Wallstedt-Paulsson
Abstract This study, carried out in a work rehabilitation unit in Sweden, investigated how clients perceived their work experiences after a one-year follow up. A semi-structured interview was administered to 14 former clients and a content analysis was applied. Seven categories were derived from the results: ,Expectations of the rehabilitation process'; ,Social relationships'; ,Client influences on the rehabilitation process'; ,Occupations engaged in during the rehabilitation programme'; ,Perceived outcome'; ,Current occupations'; and ,Future aspirations'. The dominating expectations were to find a job, with an overall desire for change. The social relationships with the staff and other clients were of great importance. The positive outcome of the rehabilitation was described as feeling better or having new skills. The perceived negative outcome was that the rehabilitation programme had not turned out as the client expected. The clients reported varying daily occupations after the rehabilitation experience and a majority were contented and optimistic about their future. The main conclusions of the study are that when planning a work rehabilitation programme, efforts have to be made to examine clients' interests and skills, and to develop a dialogue between clients and staff. Further research is needed to evaluate the work rehabilitation experience from the clients' perspective. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd. [source]


TRIBLER: a social-based peer-to-peer system

CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 2 2008
J. A. Pouwelse
Abstract Most current peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems treat their users as anonymous, unrelated entities, and completely disregard any social relationships between them. However, social phenomena such as friendship and the existence of communities of users with similar tastes or interests may well be exploited in such systems in order to increase their usability and performance. In this paper we present a novel social-based P2P file-sharing paradigm that exploits social phenomena by maintaining social networks and using these in content discovery, content recommendation, and downloading. Based on this paradigm's main concepts such as taste buddies and friends, we have designed and implemented the TRIBLER P2P file-sharing system as a set of extensions to BitTorrent. We present and discuss the design of TRIBLER, and we show evidence that TRIBLER enables fast content discovery and recommendation at a low additional overhead, and a significant improvement in download performance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The Contribution of Long-Term Research at Gombe National Park to Chimpanzee Conservation

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
ANNE E. PUSEY
chimpancé; conservación de simios mayores; Parque Nacional Gombe; Tanzania Abstract:,Long-term research projects can provide important conservation benefits, not only through research specifically focused on conservation problems, but also from various incidental benefits, such as increased intensity of monitoring and building support for the protection of an area. At Gombe National Park, Tanzania, long-term research has provided at least four distinct benefits to wildlife conservation. (1) Jane Goodall's groundbreaking discoveries of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) tool use, hunting, and complex social relationships in what was then a game reserve drew attention to the area and created support for upgrading Gombe to national park status in 1968. (2) The highly publicized findings have earned Gombe and Tanzania the attention of a worldwide public that includes tourists and donors that provide financial support for Gombe, other parks in Tanzania, and chimpanzee conservation in general. (3) Crucial information on social structure and habitat use has been gathered that is essential for effective conservation of chimpanzees at Gombe and elsewhere. (4) A clear picture of Gombe's chimpanzee population over the past 40 years has been determined, and this has helped identify the greatest threats to the viability of this population, namely disease and habita loss outside the park. These threats are severe and because of the small size of the population it is extremely vulnerable. Research at Gombe has led to the establishment of conservation education and development projects around Gombe, which are needed to build local support for the park and its chimpanzees, but saving these famous chimpanzees will take a larger integrated effort on the part of park managers, researchers, and the local community with financial help from international donors. Resumen:,Los proyectos de investigación de largo plazo pueden proporcionar beneficios importantes a la conservación, no solo a través de investigación enfocada específicamente a problemas de conservación, sino también a través de varios beneficios incidentales, como una mayor intensidad de monitoreo y construcción de soporte para la protección de un área. En el Parque Nacional Gombe, Tanzania, la investigación a largo plazo ha proporcionado por lo menos cuatro beneficios a la conservación de vida silvestre. (1) Los descubrimientos innovadores de Jane Goodall sobre el uso de herramientas, la cacería y las complejas relaciones sociales de chimpancés en lo que entonces era una reserva de caza atrajeron la atención al área y crearon el soporte para cambiar a Gombe a estatus de parque nacional en 1968. (2) Los hallazgos muy publicitados han ganado para Gombe y Tanzania la atención del público en todo el mundo incluyendo turistas y donadores que proporcionan soporte financiero a Gombe, otros parques en Tanzania y a la conservación de chimpancés en general. (3) Se ha reunido información crucial sobre la estructura social y el uso del hábitat que ha sido esencial para la conservación efectiva de chimpancés en Gombe y otros sitios. (4) Se ha determinado un panorama claro de la población de chimpancés en Gombe durante los últimos 40 años, y esto a ayudado a identificar las mayores amenazas a la viabilidad de esta población, a saber enfermedades y pérdida de hábitat fuera del parque. Estas amenazas son severas y la población es extremadamente vulnerable por su tamaño pequeño. La investigación en Gombe ha llevado al establecimiento de proyectos de desarrollo y de educación para la conservación en los alrededores del parque, lo cual es necesario para encontrar soporte local para el parque y sus chimpancés, pero el rescate de estos famosos chimpancés requerirá de un esfuerzo más integrado de parte de los manejadores del parque, investigadores y la comunidad local con la ayuda financiera de donadores internacionales. [source]


Due Diligence and "Reasonable Man," Offshore

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
Bill Maurer
In the wake of an international crackdown against preferential tax regimes, Caribbean tax havens and other jurisdictions have adopted "due diligence" procedures to manage financial and reputational risk. Due diligence relies on qualitative forms of evaluation and defers grounded and definitive knowledge claims through continuous peer review. In doing so, it mirrors certain forms of ethnographic practice at a number of levels of scale. This article tracks the shifts in financial regulation from crime to harm and from certainty to scrutiny and reflects on their implications for ethnography,as a limited and open-ended process of evaluation warranted by qualitative forms of judgment. It seeks to complicate our picture of contemporary capitalisms by drawing attention to the nonquantifiable and the ethical that lie "inside" them. Where conventional forms of ethnographic critique might look to expose the political or economic interests behind actions, symbols, or social relationships, this article has a more modest goal: to try to understand the similarity of form between due diligence and anthropology. [source]


Metacognition as a mediator of the effects of impairments in neurocognition on social function in schizophrenia spectrum disorders

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2010
P. H. Lysaker
Lysaker PH, Shea AM, Buck KD, Dimaggio G, Nicolò G, Procacci M, Salvatore G, Rand KL. Metacognition as a mediator of the effects of impairments in neurocognition on social function in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Objective:, This study explored whether Mastery, a domain of metacognition that reflects the ability to use knowledge about mental states to respond to psychological challenges, mediated the effects of neurocognition on the frequency of social contact and persons' capacity for social relatedness. Method:, Participants were 102 adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Neurocognition was represented by a single factor score produced by a principal components analysis of a neurocognitive test battery. Mastery was assessed using the metacognitive assessment scale and social functioning by the quality of life scale. Results:, Using structural equation modeling, specifically measured-variable path analysis, a mediational model consisting of neurocognitive capacity linked to mastery and capacity for social relationships and mastery linked with frequency of social contact and capacity for social relatedness showed acceptable fit to the observed data. This persisted after controlling for negative and cognitive symptoms. Conclusion:, Results suggest that certain forms of metacognition mediate the influence of neurocognition upon function in schizophrenia. [source]


Frequency and clinical correlates of adult separation anxiety in a sample of 508 outpatients with mood and anxiety disorders

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 1 2010
S. Pini
Pini S, Abelli M, Shear KM, Cardini A, Lari L, Gesi C, Muti M, Calugi S, Galderisi S, Troisi A, Bertolino A, Cassano GB. Frequency and clinical correlates of adult separation anxiety in a sample of 508 outpatients with mood and anxiety disorders. Objective:, To evaluate the frequency and clinical correlates of adult separation anxiety disorder in a large cohort of patients with mood and anxiety disorders. Method:, Overall, 508 outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders were assessed by the structured clinical interview for diagnostic and statistical manual (IV edition) axis I disorders for principal diagnosis and comorbidity and by other appropriate instruments for separation anxiety into adulthood or childhood. Results:, Overall, 105 subjects (20.7%) were assessed as having adult separation anxiety disorder without a history of childhood separation anxiety and 110 (21.7%) had adult separation anxiety disorder with a history of childhood separation anxiety. Adult separation anxiety was associated with severe role impairment in work and social relationships after controlling for potential confounding effect of anxiety comorbidity. Conclusion:, Adult separation anxiety disorder is likely to be much more common in adults than previously recognized. Research is needed to better understand the relationships of this condition with other co-occurring affective disorders. [source]


Victimization: a newly recognized outcome of prematurity

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 8 2004
Line Nadeau PhD
Victimization by peers affects 10 to 20% of school children under the age of 12 years. Physical, verbal, and psychological victimization (being pushed, hit, called names, teased, being the target of rumours, theft, extortion) is associated with short- and long-term adjustment problems, such as peer rejection, social withdrawal, low self-esteem, anxiety, loneliness, and depression, as well as academic problems and school drop-out. Research on populations of school children (primary and secondary) has associated victimization with personal risk factors (the victim's characteristics and behaviour) and interpersonal risk factors (social relationships between peers). Studies on the social adjustment of preterm children at school age show that, even in the absence of a major motor or cognitive disability, this population has several personal risk factors associated with victimization. The objective of this study was to compare the level of victimization experienced by a group of 96 seven-year-old children born extremely preterm (EP, <29 weeks of gestation; 49 females) against that experienced by a group of 63 term children (34 females) matched for age and sex, maternal level of education, and family socioeconomic status. The children born EP had a mean gestational age of 27.3 weeks (SD 1.2) and a mean birthweight of 1001.1g (SD 223) and normal birth weight children had a mean gestational age of 39.5 weeks (SD 1.5) and a mean birthweight of 3468.7g (SD 431). Physical and verbal victimization were assessed in a school setting by peers with individual sociometric interviews (Modified Peer Nomination Inventory). After controlling for physical growth (height and weight) at the age of 7 years, the data indicate two independent effects: males were more victimized than females, and children born preterm experienced more verbal victimization by their peers than their term classmates, even when participants with a visible motor, intellectual, or sensory disability were excluded. Several hypotheses are presented to account for the higher incidence of verbal victimization of preterm children. [source]


Human Vulnerability, Dislocation and Resettlement: Adaptation Processes of River-bank Erosion-induced Displacees in Bangladesh

DISASTERS, Issue 1 2004
David Mutton
The purpose of this research was to identify and analyse patterns of economic and social adaptation among river-bank erosion-induced displacees in Bangladesh. It was hypothesised that the role of social demographic and socio-economic variables in determining the coping ability and recovery of the river-bank erosion-induced displacees is quite significant. The findings of the research reveal that displacees experience substantial socio-economic impoverishment and marginalisation as a consequence of involuntary migration. This in part is a socially constructed process, reflecting inequitable access to land and other resources. Vulnerability to disasters is further heightened by a number of identifiable social and demographic factors including gender, education and age, although extreme poverty and marginalisation create complexity to isolate the relative influence of these variables. The need to integrate hazard analysis and mitigation with the broader economic and social context is discussed. It is argued that the capacity of people to respond to environmental threats is a function of not only the physical forces which affect them, but also of underlying economic and social relationships which increase human vulnerability to risk. Hazard analysis and mitigation can be more effective when it takes into account such social and demographic and socio-economic dimensions of disasters. [source]


At-risk mental state (ARMS) detection in a community service center for early attention to psychosis in Barcelona

EARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2010
Yanet Quijada
Abstract Aim: To describe the strategy and some results in at-risk mental state (ARMS) patient detection as well as some of the ARMS clinical and socio-demographical characteristics. The subjects were selected among the patients visited by an Early Care Equipment for patients at high risk of psychoses, in Barcelona (Spain) during its first year in operation. Methods: Descriptive study of the community,team relations, selection criteria and intervention procedure. Description of patient's socio-demographic and symptomatic characteristics according to the different instruments used in detection and diagnoses, taking account of four principal origins of referrals: mental health services, primary care services, education services and social services. Results: Twenty of 55 referred people fulfilled the at-risk mental state criteria, showing an incidence of 2.4 cases per 10 000 inhabitants. They were mainly adolescent males referred from health, education and social services. Overall, negative symptoms were predominant symptoms and the more frequent specific symptoms were decrease of motivation and poor work and school performance, decreased ability to maintain or initiate social relationships, depressed mood and withdrawal. Conclusions: It is possible to detect and to provide early treatment to patients with prodromal symptoms if the whole matrix of the community , including the social services , contributes to the process. The utilization of a screening instrument and a two-phase strategy , the second carried out by the specialized team , seems to be an appropriate approach for early psychosis and ARMS detection. [source]


Moving Beyond Postdevelopment: Facilitating Indigenous Alternatives for "Development"

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2003
George N. Curry
Using the example of smallholder oil-palm production in Papua New Guinea, this article illustrates how elements of a market economy and modernity become enmeshed and partly transformed by local place-based nonmarket practices. The persistence, even efflorescence, of indigenous gift exchange, in tandem with greater participation in the market economy, challenges conventional notions about the structures and meanings of development. The introduced market economy can be inflected to serve indigenous sociocultural and economic goals by place-based processes that transform market relations and practices into nonmarket social relationships. These kinds of inflections of the market economy are common and widespread and therefore worthy of consideration for their theoretical insights into processes of social and economic change and the meanings of development. The article concludes by outlining some preliminary thoughts on how development practice could be modified to provide more scope for this process of inflection, so that development strategies accord better with indigenous sociocultural meanings of development. [source]


The "End of Geography" in Financial Services?

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2000
Local Embeddedness, Territorialization in the Interest Rate Swaps Industry
Abstract: This paper provides evidence that the globalization of financial services has not undermined the importance of local embeddedness in world financial centers, among global banks. Using qualitative data from interviews with senior bankers in the interest rate swaps (derivatives) industry in Australia, in this paper I demonstrate the importance of spatial relationships and processes of local embeddedness in the production of swaps. Local embeddedness is attributable to the rapid exchange of financial information in formal dealing networks that serve as central information sources, enabling dealers to formulate a "market feel" that influences their dealing strategies. Information interpretation and decision making in dealing processes and specialist financial labor provide the foundations for the product-based learning orientation of swaps dealing. Dealing networks are underpinned by social relationships, requiring face-to-face interaction that is facilitated by spatial proximity. Although the global swaps industry is dominated by multinational banks, the centrality of these embedded networks impedes globalization in interest rate swaps dealing. The global swaps industry comprises an international network of highly localized but interconnected operations based in world financial centers. [source]


Delinquent Pedigrees: Revision, Lineage, and Spatial Rhetoric in The Duchess of Malfi

ENGLISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE, Issue 3 2009
Michelle M. Dowd
Locating John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi within a cluster of early seventeenth-century concerns about legitimacy and hereditary succession, this essay traces the ways in which Webster strategically alters his primary narrative source, William Painter's The Palace of Pleasure, so as to expose rather than to suppress the indeterminacy of patrilineality. Webster's tragedy focuses specifically on a remarrying widow and her children, a particular social problem that makes visible the contradictions inherent to the early modern system of patrilineal inheritance. The action of the play thus stages the tensions between the dominant legal form of patrilineality and the material practices shaping and changing it. Drawing in part on the theories of Michel de Certeau, this essay takes a fresh critical approach to the play by placing particular emphasis on the distinctively spatialized aspects of Webster's dramaturgical rendering of his source material and noting the ways in which he uses the ideological and physical spaces of the stage to highlight the inscrutability of the succession. In addition, in its focus on Webster's revisions of Painter, the essay considers how drama as a genre can spatially reimagine the social relationships and possibilities for agency that are produced through patterns of hereditary succession. As such, The Duchess of Malfi serves as a useful case study for theorizing the narrative and dramaturgical methods by which patriarchy is constructed, contested, and reformulated in early modern English culture (M.M.D.). [source]


Long-term Prognosis and Psychosocial Outcomes after Surgery for MTLE

EPILEPSIA, Issue 12 2006
Sophie Dupont
Summary:,Purpose: To assess the seizure-freedom rates and self-perceived psychosocial changes associated with the long-term outcome of epilepsy surgery in patients with refractory medial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis. Methods: A standard questionnaire was given to 183 patients who underwent surgery between 1988 and 2004, and 110 were completed. Results: The mean duration of follow-up after surgery was 7 years, with a maximum of 17 years. The probability that patients were seizure-free after surgery was dependent on the definition of the seizure freedom. For the patients who were seizure-free since surgery (Engel's class Ia), the probability was 97.6% at 1 year after surgery, 85.2% at 2 years after surgery, 59.5% at 5 years after surgery, and 42.6% at 10 years after surgery. For the patients who still experienced rare disabling seizures after surgery but were seizure-free at least 1 year before the time of assessment, the probability was of 97.6% at 1 year after surgery, 95% at 2 years after surgery, 82.8% at 5 years after surgery, and 71.1% at 10 years after surgery. The psychosocial long-term outcome, as measured by indices of driving, employment, familial and social relationships, and marital status, was similar to the psychosocial short-term outcome. It did not depend on seizure freedom or on follow-up time interval and was not influenced statistically by seizure frequency in cases of persisting seizures. Most but not all patients noticed a substantial overall improvement in their psychosocial condition; 48% drove (increased by 7%), 47% improved (14% worsened) in their employment status, and 68% improved (5% worsened) in their familial and social relationships. Overall, 91% of patients were satisfied with the surgery, and 92% did not regret their decision. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that temporal lobe surgery has real long-term benefits. Two specific conclusions emerge: (a) the long-term rates of freedom from seizure depend on how seizure freedom is defined, and (b) the psychosocial long-term outcome does not change dramatically over years and does not depend on seizure freedom. [source]


Naked Mole-Rat is Sensitive to Social Hierarchy Encoded in Antiphonal Vocalization

ETHOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
Shigeto Yosida
The maintenance of social relationships is critical for group-dwelling species. Social animals often exhibit behaviors such as antiphonal vocalizations that reduce conflict and maintain affiliations. Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) have a complex hierarchical society comparable to that of bees and ants. They are also known for their extensive vocal repertoire, which may have evolved in the absence of visual cues. The most frequent vocalization used by naked mole-rats is the soft chirp (SC). It has an antiphonal nature and may function in rank identification and in maintaining affiliations. Relative body weight differences, which are directly related to social rank, are positively correlated with SC emission rates. SCs are elicited from either physical touch or the SC of another conspecific, and other cues might contribute to SC utterance. In the current study, we examined whether an SC alone was able to elicit SC responses. Specifically, we presented artificial SC-like sounds and determined whether the response rate was modulated by the acoustic properties of the stimulus. An analysis of response latency revealed that animals responded to the audio stimuli, and a single audio stimulus could elicit responses from two animals. Thus, antiphony in naked mole-rats may occur among three or more animals. We also found that animals were able to discriminate the acoustic properties of the stimulus and responded more frequently to audio stimuli resembling SCs from large animals than to those resembling SCs from small animals. Therefore, naked mole-rats may be able to judge social relationships (dominant or subordinate) based solely on SCs. The constraints of subterranean habitats and increased social complexity may have led to the evolution of this communication system. [source]


Components of Relationship Quality in Chimpanzees

ETHOLOGY, Issue 9 2008
Orlaith N. Fraser
A novel approach to studying social relationships in captive adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) was taken by using principal components analysis (PCA) to extract three key components of relationship quality from nine behavioural variables. Based on the loadings of the behavioural variables, the components appeared to match previously hypothesized critical aspects of social relationships and were therefore labelled Value, Compatibility and Security. The effects of kinship, sex combination, age difference and time spent together on each of the relationship quality components were analysed. As expected, kin were found to have more valuable, compatible and secure relationships than non-kin. Female,female dyads were found to be more compatible than male,male or mixed-sex dyads, whereas the latter were found to be most secure. Partners of a similar age were found to have more secure and more valuable relationships than those with a larger age gap. Individuals that were together in the group for longer were more valuable and more compatible, but their relationships were found to be less secure than individuals that were together in the group for a shorter time. Although some of the results may be unexpected based on chimpanzee socio-ecology, they fit well overall with the history and social dynamics of the study group. The methods used confer a significant advantage in producing quantitative composite measures of each component of relationship quality, obtained in an objective manner. These findings therefore promote the use of such measures in future studies requiring an assessment of the qualities of dyadic social relationships. [source]


The Long-Term Effects of Reconciliation in Japanese Macaques Macaca fuscata

ETHOLOGY, Issue 11 2001
Nicola F. Koyama
With one exception, all previous studies of reconciliation in non-human primates (friendly reunion between former opponents) have focused on demonstrating the immediate, short-term effects despite the widely held view that reconciliation has a long-term function of repairing social relationships following aggression. To investigate this long-term function I compared mean interaction rates between opponents during the 10 d following reconciled and non-reconciled conflicts to baseline levels of interaction. Aggression rates during the 10 d after non-reconciled conflicts were significantly higher than the baseline rate, whereas after reconciled conflicts aggression was minimal. Similarly, grooming, proximity and approach rates during the 10 d after non-reconciled conflicts were significantly lower than the baseline rate whereas grooming, proximity and approach rates in the 10 d after reconciled conflicts were restored to baseline levels. These results indicate that there are consequences to not reconciling with a former opponent and highlight the fact that these may be costly in terms of increased risk of long-term aggression and reduced affiliation. The data support predictions from the Relationship-Repair Hypothesis suggesting that reconciliation functions as a mechanism for the repair of social relationships damaged by aggression. [source]


Educational needs, metabolic control and self-reported quality of life

EUROPEAN DIABETES NURSING, Issue 1 2005
A study among people with type 2 diabetes treated in primary health care
Abstract The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing. In order to reduce long-term complications and to promote a better life for these patients, health care professionals are important advocates in education and counselling. More knowledge is therefore needed to explore the association between educational needs and quality of life. In total, 211 people with type 2 diabetes (response rate 48%) were recruited from general practices in a geographically well-defined district in Bergen, Norway. All participants completed a questionnaire measuring demographical and clinical variables, quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref), satisfaction with education and counselling, and symptoms related to the disease. A blood sample was taken from each patient for determination of HbA1c. The participants reported receiving most information on diet, physical activity and treatment and less information on foot care and long-term complications. Satisfaction with education was significantly positively correlated with self-reported overall quality of life, and quality of life within domains for psychological health, social relationships and environment. More intensive treatment was significantly associated with lower quality of life within the physical health and social relationships domains. For 32% of the participants, HbA1c values did not satisfy the Norwegian guidelines (adjusted for age). The results from the present study emphasise a need for health education in diabetes primary health care especially in relation to foot care and long-term complications. The association between satisfaction with education and quality of life makes it important to develop educational and counselling methods for nurses in primary health care. Copyright © 2005 FEND. [source]


Agreeableness is related to social-cognitive, but not social-perceptual, theory of mind

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 4 2008
Daniel Nettle
Abstract We hypothesise on a number of grounds that the personality dimension of Agreeableness may be associated with inter-individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) functioning. However, it is important to distinguish social-perceptual from social-cognitive ToM. Previous findings on ToM in psychopathic individuals, sex differences in ToM and the associations between ToM and social relationships, all suggest that social-cognitive ToM is more likely than social-perceptual ToM to relate to Agreeableness. In separate empirical studies, we find that Agreeableness is substantially correlated with social-cognitive ToM performance, but uncorrelated with social-perceptual ToM performance. We suggest that the propensity or motivation to attend to the mental states of others may be central to the personality dimension of Agreeableness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Self-esteem: a behavioural genetic perspective

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2002
Michelle B. Neiss
Self-esteem, the affective or evaluative appraisal of one's self, is linked with adaptive personality functioning: high self-esteem is associated with psychological health benefits (e.g. subjective well-being, absence of depression and anxiety), effective coping with illness, and satisfactory social relationships. Although several pathways have been hypothesized to effect within-family transmission of self-esteem (e.g. parenting style, family relationship patterns), we focus in this article on genetic influences. Genetic studies on both global and domain-specific self-esteem and on both level and stability of self-esteem converge in showing that (i) genetic influences on self-esteem are substantial, (ii) shared environmental influences are minimal, and (iii) non-shared environmental influences explain the largest amount of variance in self-esteem. We advocate that understanding of current issues in self-esteem research will be enriched by including behavioural genetic approaches. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Talking about others: Emotionality and the dissemination of social information

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
Kim Peters
There is evidence that we may be more likely to share stories about other people to the extent that they arouse emotion. If so, this emotional social talk may have important social consequences, providing the basis for many of our social beliefs and mobilising people to engage or disengage with the targets of the talk. Across three studies, we tested the situated communicability of emotional social information by examining if the ability of emotionality to increase communicability would depend on the emotion that was aroused and the identity of the audience. Study 1 showed that participants were more willing to share social anecdotes that aroused interest, surprise, disgust and happiness with an unspecified audience. Study 2 provided a behavioural replication of these findings. Study 3 showed that the communicability of emotional social talk did vary with audience identity (friend or stranger). Together, these findings suggest that emotional social events (particularly those that arouse disgust and happiness) are likely to become part of a society's social beliefs, with important consequences for the structure of social relationships. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Interpersonal leveling, independence, and self-enhancement: a comparison between Denmark and the US, and a relational practice framework for cultural psychology,

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
Lotte Thomsen
We argue that the relational model that people use for organizing specific social interactions in any culture determines whether people self-enhance. Self-enhancement is not a functional consequence of the (independent or interdependent) cultural model of self. Across three studies, Danes self-enhanced considerably less than did Americans but were more independent on the Twenty Statements Test, made more individual attributions about social life, made more autonomous scenario choices, and were more independent on the self-construal scale. Public modesty did not account for these Danish-American differences in self-enhancement. However, Danes practiced interpersonal leveling, preferring equality of outcome more than did Americans. This leveling strongly and inversely predicted self-enhancement within both cultures and mediated Danish-American differences in self-enhancement. In contrast, no independence measure systematically predicted self-enhancement within both cultures nor mediated the cultural differences in self-enhancement. This dissociation of independence and self-enhancement demonstrates that self-enhancing downward social comparisons are not functionally necessary for an independent concept of self. We conclude that social relationships, not the model of the self, mediate the mutual constitution of psyche and culture. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Men's Recollections of a Women's Rite: Medieval English Men's Recollections Regarding the Rite of the Purification of Women after Childbirth

GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 2 2002
Becky R. Lee
This study examines the recollections of medieval English men, found in proof,of,age inquests, regarding their participation in the rite of the purification of women after childbirth. Because the rite of purification was reserved to women, scant attention has been paid to how this rite and the customs surrounding it played in the lives of medieval men. These men's recollections situate postpartum purification within the festivities celebrating the birth of a man's heir. For them, it is a public event celebrating paternity and lineage, and a forum for the negotiation of social relationships. [source]


PATHS IN TRANSNATIONAL TIME-SPACE: REPRESENTING MOBILITY BIOGRAPHIES OF YOUNG SWEDES

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2008
Lotta Frändberg
ABSTRACT. This article sets out to capture and describe individual transnational mobility from a long-term, biographical perspective. The purpose is to discuss the use of a time-geographical form of notation to represent people's transnational mobility as paths in time and space, and to demonstrate how such representations can contribute to explaining some of the dynamics of longdistance mobility. An advantage of using time-space paths is that several aspects of an individual's travel biography can be represented in a single image: intensity and extensity are immediately evident, and the temporal and spatial relationships between the various mobility actions are made visible. Using data describing all transnational trips taken during childhood and adolescence by sixty-two Swedish youth with different backgrounds, three aspects of how trajectories develop over time are discussed in more detail. The first concerns overall change in travel pattern with time. A dominant pattern of increase in travel with increasing age is observed, indicating the importance of further investigating how travel behaviour is related to experience and life-course transitions. Second, sequential relationships between migration and temporary mobility are examined. In spite of the relatively small number of respondents, a wide range of such relationships are disclosed in the material. Third, regularity and repetition in long-distance travel patterns is discussed as an increasingly important aspect of contemporary transnational mobility. Among these young people, highly regular travel is often motivated by enduring long-distance social relationships, but is also generated by leisure or holiday travel alone. [source]