National Identity, Implicit In-Group Evaluation, and Psychological Well-Being Among Emirati Women

© The Author(s) 2018. A sense of connectedness, and belonging to a valued social group (social identity processes), has been found to promote psychological well-being. This study, using implicit and explicit assessments, extends the exploration of social identity and well-being to citizens of the United Arab Emirates (Emiratis). In this cross-sectional correlational study, Emirati college women (N = 210), all of them bilingual (English/Arabic), performed an affective priming task designed to assess, implicitly, in-group (Emirati) preference (a positive bias toward the in-group relative to an out-group). Participants also completed the Multicomponent In-Group Identification Scale (MIIS), a measure of in-group identification and self-report measures of English/Arabic language proficiency. Participants also reported their psychological well-being using the World Health Organization’s well-being index. Implicit in-group preference and self-reported Arabic language dominance were independently predictive of higher levels of psychological well-being. The implicit measure was the strongest, most robust, predictor. Interventions aimed at maintaining or increasing a positive sense of a shared social identity may be a useful objective of public mental health strategy

Ethnic Identity and Wellbeing: Implicit in-group identity and language dominance predicts Wellbeing in Emirati Women

dentifying the determinants of psychological wellbeing occupies a central, and important, place in psychological research. Over the past twenty years, a large body of work has accumulated articulating both the constituent elements of wellbeing and the factors that promote and maintain it. However, much of this research has focused attention on the broad factors contributing to wellbeing such as the respective roles played by autonomy, positive interpersonal relations, environmental mastery, self-acceptance and purpose in life (Ryff & Keyes, 1995; Seligman, 2000). One variable and its relationship with wellbeing that has attracted some attention, is the role of cultural identity. Early work on this domain suggested that the incidence of psychological distress was higher in ethnic groups in their adopted countries. For instance, Patel (1992) reported that young British Asian women living in the United Kingdom experienced more psychological difficulties than their white counterparts. Of particular interest was that such a finding appeared to be generation specific and that the findings did not extend to Asian women of grandmother status but who were also living in the United Kingdom (Quraishi & Evangeli, 2007). One broad avenue of interpretation suggests that these age differences are attributable to the concept of cultural identity with older individuals having a more established identity but younger individuals experiencing more flux in identity and perhaps more cultural conflicts as a result. Research has been however equivocal in respect of this issue with Quraishi & Evangeli (2007) reporting that cultural identity status appeared to have minimal overall impact on psychological wellbeing. However, the authors suggest that the relationship may be far less pronounced in non-clinical samples in contrast to clinical samples (i.e., those reporting distress or engaging in self-injury)

Health behaviour changes during COVID-19 and the potential consequences: A mini-review

© The Author(s) 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about profound changes to social behaviour. While calls to identify mental health effects that may stem from these changes should be heeded, there is also a need to examine potential changes with respect to health behaviours. Media reports have signalled dramatic shifts in sleep, substance use, physical activity and diet, which may have subsequent downstream mental health consequences. We briefly discuss the interplay between health behaviours and mental health, and the possible changes in these areas resulting from anti-pandemic measures. We also highlight a call for greater research efforts to address the short and long-term consequences of changes to health behaviours

SIEs motivational CQ on job satisfaction: A two-study examination of power distance and role clarity

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Choosing to work abroad without the sponsorship of an organisation is becoming increasingly commonplace, and this is a defining characteristic of self-initiated expatriates (SIE). Previous research suggests that SIEs’ willingness to interact and adapt to new cultural occupational settings, and their motivational cultural intelligence or cultural quotient (motivational CQ), are particularly important qualities, and that these qualities are related to their levels of job satisfaction. However, it remains unclear how motivational CQ interacts with specific situational aspects of the workplace, such as role clarity and power distance. This study examines the contributions made by motivational CQ and its interaction with power distance in relation to role clarity to determining subsequent job satisfaction. The results indicate that motivational CQ is positively related to role clarity, which helps to improve job satisfaction, and that this indirect effect is moderated by power distance. Furthermore, this pattern of effects is more apparent for Chinese SIEs than for British SIEs. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, as well as the limitations of the study

Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D and risk of cardiovascular events : reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative limited access dataset and meta-analysis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Exploring Culturally Attuned Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as a Means of Improving Quality of life, Emotional Well Being and Academic Performance of Emirati College Students

Derived primarily from the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness has become an integral aspect of second-generation approaches to cognitive therapy. Research exploring such mindfulness-based approaches, is generally positive about their efficacy, particularly with regard to relapse prevention. Less well explored is the acceptability of these approaches, particularly among individuals spontaneously expressing theistic worldviews such as Islam. It is argued that many of the defining principles and techniques used within mindfulness-based approaches are congruent with Islamic values, and in some cases they are highly resonant with specific Islamic directives aimed at shaping human cognition and behaviour. This paper explores the need for culturally appropriate psychotherapeutic interventions in the Muslim world, with a specific focus on the use of mindfulness-based approaches within the Arabian Gulf states. It is argued that Mindfulness based approaches, can be highly resonant with Islamic thought and practice when presented appropriately. This paper details several bridging concepts aimed at helping Muslim participants/clients/therapists make connections between mindfulness-based approaches and the Islamic tradition. An important determinant of any intervention\u27s effectiveness is its acceptability and perceived religio-cultural appropriateness among the target population. We argue that the use of such bridging concepts will, in many cases, make mindfulness-based approaches more appropriate and effective for clients with worldviews shaped by Islam

Generalized Anxiety Mediates the Relationship Between Loneliness and Sleep Quality Amongst Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, restrictions to minimize its spread have had a profound effect. Government instigated restrictions, such as social isolation, have affected millions worldwide, and the downstream consequences of perceived loneliness upon mental health and sleep are largely unknown. A total of 1662 individuals participated in an online survey. Loneliness, anxiety, and sleep quality were assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorders scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively. Higher levels of perceived loneliness, as well as each one-unit increase in anxiety, were independent predictors of poor sleep quality, where OR = 1.16 (95% CI: 1.03–1.31) and 1.16 (1.11–1.21), respectively, and after adjustment. In our path analysis, we revealed significant direct effects between loneliness and sleep quality (β = 0.25, p \u3c .001), as well as generalized anxiety and sleep quality (β = 0.28, p \u3c .001), and generalized anxiety mediated the relationship between loneliness and sleep quality (β = 0.33, p \u3c .001). Heightened anxiety and perceived loneliness appear to be significant drivers of poor sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital media platforms that encourage support groups for those experiencing social isolation are encouraged, along with self-help and meditative practices, which may minimize an increase of mental health and sleep disorder diagnoses post COVID-19

Macbeth Arabia: moral threat and cleansing-related construct accessibility in Arab women

© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The “Macbeth effect” denotes a relationship between threatened moral integrity (e.g., guilt) and cleansing-related cognition and behaviours. This idea has received empirical support and may have implications for our understanding obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Most previous explorations of the Macbeth effect, however, have been undertaken in Europe or North America. This study aimed to test the effect among Muslim, Arabic-speaking, citizens of the United Arab Emirates. Experimental participants (N = 112) completed a task designed to threaten moral integrity (recalling past misdeeds), followed by a word-fragment completion task, where cleansing and non-cleansing completions were possible. A control-group (N = 95) completed only the word-fragment completion task. Participants recalling past misdeeds made significantly more cleansing-related word-fragment completions than their control-group counterparts. This study extends evidence of a Macbeth effect to an Arabic-speaking Muslim population and may have implications for our understanding of OCD within this population

Big data and wellbeing in the Arab world

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. All rights reserved. The rapid and widespread usage of social media platforms, such asTwitter, Facebook and Instagram has given rise to unprecedented amounts of user-generated data. This data contains expressions reflecting users thoughts, opinions and affective states. Systematic explorations of this type of data have begun to yield valuable information about a variety of psychological and cultural variables. To date however, very little of this research has been undertaken in the Arab world. It is important to extend this type of macro-level big data analysis across cultures and languages as each situation is likely to present different methodological challenges and to reveal findings particular to the sociocultural context. This chapter examines research-much of it our own-exploring subjective wellbeing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using data from Twitter and explores the findings from cross-linguistic analysis of happiness (positive-negative affective patterns of language use) and other variables associated with subjectivewellbeing in the region. Additionally, we explore temporal patterns of happiness observed in relation to Ramadan and other events of sociopolitical and religio-cultural significance. The UAE focus is discussed with reference to broader trends in data science, sentiment analysis and hedonometry