From dreams to possibilities: the role of gender and family income in aspirations among youth in the city of Yazd

Understanding what youth aspire is widely considered to be a critical step towards recognizing further changes in societies. This article explores young people's aspirations, including personal and collective desires, in a less-studied social setting, Yazd in Iran. This paper also examines the differentiating roles of gender and family income for the importance and chance of accomplishment attached to these ambitions. The data for this study comes from an initial explanatory phase followed by a survey comprising 2700 youth in Yazd. Our findings suggest that marriage-based and political aspirations are the most and least important dimensions, respectively. We also found that the importance given to aspirations and chance of their realization are generally, but not consistently, different in terms of gender and family income. Accordingly, young women, compared to young men, commonly attended more to their ambitions but perceived them as less reachable. In most cases, youth from low-income families considered their desires less accessible than others. Drawing an importance-expectation matrix for each gender group, 'having a healthy body and soul in aging' was introduced as a critical aspiration with the widest gap. We discuss the results and implications vis-a-vis contextual and structural conditions in which the youth are embedded

Workplace Violence and Turnover Intentions among Nurses: The Moderating Roles of Invulnerability and Organizational Support –A Cross-Sectional Study

Aims and Objectives: To investigate whether internal and external violence are associated with turnover intentions among nurses during a period of extreme duress.Background: Workplace violence can negatively impact upon mental and physical health, and turnover intentions. Research focusing on how dimensions of workplace violence, internal versus external, influence turnover intentions, and the factors that mitigate these effect is lacking.Methods: An online cross-sectional survey of multi-item scales was used to collect data from 462 Iranian nurses. We employed path modelling and analyzed the data using SPSS and PROCESS macro. A STROBE checklist was used to report findings.Results: Both dimensions, internal and external, of violence were positively associated with turnover intentions. Moreover, perceived invulnerability and organizational support moderates this association. When individuals perceive themselves as invulnerable and the organizational support as high internal violence is no longer indirectly related to turnover intentions via job satisfaction while external violence is indirectly and negatively related to intentions to quit.Conclusions: Nurses who regard themselves as invulnerable might be motivated to quit when they experience workplace violence. However, they are motivated to stay on the job when they both perceive themselves as invulnerable and the organization as supporting.Relevance to Clinical Practice: Organizations should re-consider their policies and approach towards workplace violence especially during extraordinary times of duress such as during pandemics

Intergroup contact and endorsement of social change motivations: The mediating role of intergroup trust, perspective-taking, and intergroup anxiety among three advantaged groups in Northern Cyprus, Romania, and Israel

Three studies investigated the effect of intergroup contact and social identification on social change among three advantaged groups in Cyprus, Romania, and Israel. In Study 1 (n = 340, Turkish Cypriots), intergroup contact with disadvantaged immigrant Turks positively predicted endorsement of their social change motivations directly, and via intergroup trust and perspective-taking indirectly. In Study 2 (n = 200, Romanians), contact with the ethnic minority Hungarians positively predicted endorsement of their social change motivations via intergroup trust, perspective-taking, and intergroup anxiety, while ingroup identification negatively predicted endorsement of Hungarian ethnic minority’s collective action tendencies via perspective-taking and anxiety. In Study 3 (n = 240, Israeli Jews), intergroup contact positively predicted, while ingroup identification negatively predicted, endorsement of disadvantaged Israeli Palestinian citizens’ social change motivations via perspective-taking, anxiety, and trust. Across three studies, results show that intergroup contact led the advantaged groups to attitudinally support social change motivations of the disadvantaged outgroups through increased trust, perspective-taking, and reduced anxiety, whereas ingroup identification weakened their intention to support social change motivations via perspective-taking and intergroup anxiety in Study 2, and via intergroup trust, perspective-taking, and intergroup anxiety in Study 3

Mental health and intentions to quit among nurses in Iran during COVID‐19 Pandemic: A social identity approach

The positive effects of social identification on mental health are well documented in the literature. However, most of this research has been conducted among small groups in WEIRD (Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61) settings. Understanding how social identity as a psychological source can improve resilience and welfare among frontline healthcare workers in non-WEIRD contexts can help to alleviate the negative impact of large-scale epidemics overall, especially in resource-poor settings and contribute towards improved welfare of key healthcare workers. The present research investigates whether identifying as a nurse could influence mental health and intentions to quit directly and indirectly via positive and negative emotions among a unique sample of Iranian nurses (N = 462) during a risky period, the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple regression results showed that identifying as a nurse was negatively associated with negative emotions which in turn were positively related to depressive symptoms. In a similar vein, identifying as a nurse was positively associated with positive emotions which, in turn, were negatively related to intentions to quit. Results also confirmed that risk perceptions related to COVID-19 positively moderated the effect of social identification on negative emotions only. That is, identification as a nurse was associated with reduced negative emotions only when perceived risk was low. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings

Contact, Political Solidarity and Collective Action: An Indian Case Study of Relations between Historically Disadvantaged Communities

Research on the contact hypothesis has highlighted the role of contact in improving intergroup relations. Most of this research has addressed the problem of transforming the prejudices of historically advantaged communities, thereby eroding wider patterns of discrimination and inequality. In the present research, drawing on evidence from a cross-sectional survey conducted in New Delhi, we explored an alternative process through which contact may promote social change, namely by fostering political solidarity and empowerment amongst the disadvantaged. The results indicated that Muslim students' experiences of contact with other disadvantaged communities were associated with their willingness to participate in joint collective action to reduce shared inequalities. This relationship was mediated by perceptions of collective efficacy and shared historical grievances and moderated by positive experiences of contact with the Hindu majority. Implications for recent debates about the relationship between contact and social change are discussed

Internally displaced persons and the Cyprus peace process

The article focuses on Greek Cypriot internally displaced persons and their attitudes towards the island’s reunification talks. We utilize quantitative data from two representative sample surveys, conducted in 2016–2017, which probed respondents on their views on territorial readjustments, property provisions and power-sharing. Contrary to the current findings in the literature, internally displaced persons status is associated with higher levels of support for a negotiated peace settlement. The article examines the impact of anticipated threats and economic opportunities accompanying a settlement and suggests a set of institutionalized mechanisms to incorporate the views of internally displaced persons and other disadvantaged groups in future reunification talks

From prejudice reduction to collective action: Two psychological models of social change (and how to reconcile them)

Even when the social order appears intractable, social change is constantly unfolding all around us, finding expression in the accumulation of small acts of resistance as much as in dramatic moments of revolution. Psychologists should take interest in the dynamics of social change, whether mundane or dramatic, for at least two reasons. First, the explanation of when and why change occurs – or fails to occur – requires analysis of ordinary people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. To understand fully the conditions under which people act in ways that support or challenge the status quo, we simply cannot afford to overlook the role of psychological factors. Second and related, processes of social change invite us to (re)appraise the moral and political implications of psychological knowledge. How do we reduce discrimination against others? When do we recognize and challenge social inequality and when do we accept or even endorse it? How can we create more inclusive forms of identity and community? Such questions elide the traditional division between scholarship and advocacy. They require us to demonstrate how psychological knowledge helps create a more just and tolerant society. Perhaps less comfortably, they require us to recognize how our discipline may be complicit in maintaining social inequalities. In this chapter, we discuss two psychological models of social change, namely prejudice reduction and collective action. Both models focus on the problem of “-improving relations between groups to reduce social inequality and discrimination. However, they propose different psychological pathways to the achievement of this goal and prioritize different core questions. As we shall see, the prejudice reduction model primarily addresses the question “How can we get individuals to like one another more?” whereas the collective action model primarily addresses the question “How can we get individuals to mobilize together to challenge inequality?” The first section of the chapter elaborates the fundamental principles and underlying assumptions of these models. The second section explores the relationship between the two models of change, focusing on the allegation that prejudice reduction exerts counterproductive effects on collective action. The chapter’s conclusion advocates a contextualist perspective on social change. We hold that any evaluation of the efficacy of psychological models of change must remain sensitive to the “stubborn particulars” (Cherry, 1995) of local conditions and the affordances and obstacles embedded there

Internally Displaced Persons and the Cyprus Peace Process

The article focuses on the Greek Cypriot Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their attitudes towards the island’s reunification talks. We utilize quantitative data from two representative sample surveys, conducted in 2016-2017, probing respondents on their views on territorial readjustments, property provisions and power-sharing. Contrary to findings in the literature, IDP status is associated with higher levels of support for a negotiated peace settlement. The article examines the impact of anticipated threats and economic opportunities accompanying a settlement and suggests a set of institutionalized mechanisms to incorporate the views of IDPs and other disadvantaged groups in future reunification talks

Stress and worry in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic: Relationships to trust and compliance with preventive measures across 48 countries in the COVIDiSTRESS global survey

The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173,429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus resreictions, and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments’ efforts, there was no clear geographical pattern in compliance with behavioural measures. Detailed plots illustrating between-countries differences are provided.Using both traditional and Bayesian analyses, we found that individuals who worried about getting sick worked harder to protect themselves and others. However, concern about the coronavirus itself did not account for all of the variance in experienced stress during the early months of coronavirus restrictions. More alarmingly, such stress was associated with less compliance. Further, those most concerned over the coronavirus trusted in government measures primarily where policies were strict. While concern over a disease is a source of mental distress, other factors including strictness of protective measures, social support, and personal lockdown conditions must also be taken into consideration to fully appreciate the psychological impact of COVID-19 and to understand why some people fail to follow behavioral guidelines intended to protect themselves and others from infection