Low Income and Mental Health: Can urban parks be the solution for better health?

This study investigates park elements influencing the park visit frequency of low-income communities in an urban area, Kuala Lumpur. A set of survey questionnaires was distributed to identify participants' health history, the frequency of park visits and the park elements that pleasure low-income users during visits to Rimba Bukit Kerinchi Park in Pantai Dalam. The findings show the low-income community was unsatisfied with the park's safety. As a recommendation, additional planning guidance to planners and professional designers assists in accommodating a low-income-friendly park that supports healthy lifestyles. Keywords: Urban park; low-income community; mental health; preliminary study eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA CE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.372

The Well-Being Of Female Headed Households In Rural And Urban Areas : A Case Study In North-Western Malaysia

Past research have indicated that households headed by women are usually poor compared to their male counterparts. This is due to insufficient sources and lack of land, skill or education which can help ensure a good life

Difusi ruangan budaya transeksualisme dan imaginasi geografi pelajar lelaki berpenampilan silang di universiti tempatan Malaysia.

Fenomena transeksual semakin ketara dalam masyarakat Malaysia pada hari ini, termasuk di kalangan pelajar lelaki universiti. Sehubungan dengan itu, artikel ini bertujuan untuk memeriksa dan membincangkan proses difusi ruangan budaya dan imaginasi geografi pelajar lelaki transeksual di universiti tempatan Malaysia. Satu kajian telah dijalankan ke atas 80 orang pelajar lelaki berpenampilan silang di empat buah universiti pada 2007-2009. Mereka dipilih menggunakan teknik persampelan purposive dan snowball, manakala maklumat kualitatif telah dikumpul menggunakan temubual mendalam dan pemerhatian ikut serta. Kajian ini mendapati peranan rakan dan media sangat penting dalam penyebaran budaya transeksual di kalangan responden. Manakala imaginasi dan identifikasi yang diberikan oleh responden terhadap diri mereka, iaitu sebagai wanita, memudahkan mereka menerima gaya hidup transeksual. Kajian ini menyumbang kepada pengetahuan tentang peranan difusi ruangan budaya dan imaginasi geografi dalam menghasilkan pandang darat sosial dan identiti sosial baru di Malaysi

Self-Concept, Attitudes Toward Career Counseling, and Work Readiness of Malaysian Vocational Students

The authors examined the relationship between self‐concept, attitudes toward career counseling, and work readiness among 574 Malaysian vocational students. Attitudes toward career counseling have been studied in Western cultures; however, little is known about how career counseling is perceived in Eastern cultures. Attitudes toward career counseling were examined as a potential mediator of the relationship between self‐concept and work readiness. The authors applied structural equation modeling to explain these relationships. Value of career counseling was found to significantly mediate the link between self‐concept and work readiness. Results supported a direct relationship between positive self‐concept and work readiness skills. This may be due, in part, to a heightened value of career counseling among vocational students that increases career awareness and thus enhances work readiness. Future research could include samples with more female participants and additional constructs, such as self‐efficacy and career adaptability

Individual and culture-level components of survey response styles: a multi-level analysis using cultural models of selfhood

Variations in acquiescence and extremity pose substantial threats to the validity of cross-cultural research that relies on survey methods. Individual and cultural correlates of response styles when using two contrasting types of response mode were investigated, drawing on data from 55 cultural groups across 33 nations. Using seven dimensions of self-other relatedness that have often been confounded within the broader distinction between independence and interdependence, our analysis yields more specific understandings of both individual- and culture-level variations in response style. When using a Likert scale response format, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as similar to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour harmony, similarity with others and receptiveness to influence. However, when using Schwartz’s (2007) portrait-comparison response procedure, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant but also connected to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour self-reliance and self-consistency. Extreme responding varies less between the two types of response modes, and is most prevalent among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant, and in cultures favouring self-reliance. Since both types of response mode elicit distinctive styles of response, it remains important to estimate and control for style effects to ensure valid comparisons

Being oneself through time: bases of self-continuity across 55 cultures

Self-continuity – the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected – is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative, and associative links to one’s past each contributed to predicting the extent to which people derived a sense of self-continuity from different aspects of their identities. Ways of constructing self-continuity were moderated by cultural and individual differences in mutable (vs. immutable) personhood beliefs – the belief that human attributes are malleable. Individuals with lower mutability beliefs based self-continuity more on stability; members of cultures where mutability beliefs were higher based self-continuity more on narrative. Bases of self-continuity were also moderated by cultural variation in contextualized (vs. decontextualized) personhood beliefs, indicating a link to cultural individualism-collectivism. Our results illustrate the cultural flexibility of the motive for self-continuity

Beyond the ‘East-West’ dichotomy: global variation in cultural models of selfhood

Markus and Kitayama’s (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals in 2 large-scale multinational surveys, using improved methods for cross-cultural research. We developed (Study 1: N = 2924 students in 16 nations) and validated across cultures (Study 2: N = 7279 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations) a new 7-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Patterns of global variation support some of Markus and Kitayama’s predictions, but a simple contrast between independence and interdependence does not adequately capture the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. Cultural groups emphasize different ways of being both independent and interdependent, depending on individualism-collectivism, national socioeconomic development, and religious heritage. Our 7-dimensional model will allow future researchers to test more accurately the implications of cultural models of selfhood for psychological processes in diverse ecocultural contexts

Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch

Sex differences in mate preferences across 45 countries: A large-scale replication

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives—an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective—offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries