Class advantages and disadvantages are not so Black and White: intersectionality impacts rank and selves

What role does social class play in the impact of social environment on residents' health

This study aims to identify the role and pathways through which social class plays a part in the impact of the social environment on residents' health. Using data from the China General Social Survey 2021, we analyzed a sample of 2715 participants to assess the role and pathways of social class in the influence of the social environment on residents' health. We employed the Ordinary Least Squares model to quantify the impact of the social environment on residents' health and utilized the Karlson-Holm-Breen method along with the construction of product terms to estimate the mediating and moderating effects of social class. To address endogeneity, we conducted robustness tests using the instrumental variable method. Our findings indicate that in the process of the social environment's impact on residents' health, social class acts as a moderator, functioning with an approximate effect of 20%. In terms of the pathway of action, this moderating function is realized by exerting an influence on residents' mental health. When analyzing the social determinants of health, it is necessary to consider the significant role played by social class and to pay more attention to the potential impact of the mental health of different social classes on their overall health.

In the In-Between: Low-Income Latinx Students Sensemaking of Paradoxes of Independence and Interdependence

Low-income, Latinx students navigate independent norms in U.S. educational systems and interdependent norms in their familial dynamics. Yet, their everyday interactions with important others (e.g., peers, parents, instructors) reveal more complexity in between these contexts, often communicating paradoxes of independence and interdependence. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 35 low-income, Latinx high school graduates before they entered college to examine how their daily interactions in home and school contexts facilitated dynamic and paradoxical engagement with interdependence and independence. Using constructivist grounded theory, we constructed five types of paradoxes. For example, strong practices of interdependence in their college-preparatory high school setting (e.g., extensive academic support) undermined students' desires to be independent. These contradictions reflect an in-between space, referred to as nepantla, where students give voice to and make sense of past, present, and future understandings of how to be a self.

Cortisol awakening response among Latinx and Black students transitioning to college prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Globally, the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has resulted in abrupt shifts in ecological and social environments, including school contexts, which became predominately virtual. This study (1) examines the role of the COVID-19 pandemic (transitioning to college prior to vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic) on cortisol awakening response (CAR) - a biological marker of chronic psychosocial stress - and university belonging among Latinx and Black first-year college students; and (2) explores whether university belonging serves as a mediator in the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and CAR. Latinx and Black students who were in their first semester at a four-year public university in Los Angeles County - one of the United States' hot spots for COVID-19, were recruited for this study. Across two separate cohorts (fall 2019, fall 2020), participants (N = 136) completed an online survey and provided salivary samples to assess for morning cortisol levels. Findings revealed that students who transitioned to college during the COVID-19 pandemic exhibited a flatter CAR and lower levels of belonging than students who transitioned to college prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for intervention, programs and policies aimed at fostering positive transitions to college during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed.

Resilience and Family Socialization Processes in Ethnic Minority Youth: Illuminating the Achievement-Health Paradox

Youth in marginalized communities who "strive" to rise above adversity, including systemic racism and poverty, are considered "resilient." African-American, Latinx, and Asian-American youth often achieve admirable academic success despite limited social capital and high early life stress by adopting a "striving persistent behavioral style" (SPBS). SPBS may be supported by family socialization processes that facilitate reliance on self-regulation processes. Unfortunately, a young person's resilience in one domain (i.e., academic) can come at a cost in other domains, including physical and mental health morbidities that are under-identified and under-treated. Indeed, research suggests a link between SPBS in the face of adversity and later health morbidities among ethnic minority youth. Herein, we describe SPBS as an adaptation to minority stress that not only promotes social mobility but may also stoke physical and mental health disparities. We review how family processes related to academic, emotional, and ethnic-racial socialization can facilitate the striving persistent behavioral style. We emphasize the double bind that ethnic minority families are caught in and discuss directions for future research and clinical implications for individual and family-level interventions. While needed, we argue that individual and family-level interventions represent a near-term work around. Solutions and factors that shape the need for SPBS and its cost must be addressed structurally.

Self-affirmation reduces the socioeconomic attainment gap in schools in England

BACKGROUND

Studies in the United States show that school students from some ethnic backgrounds are susceptible to stereotype threat, that this undermines their academic performance, and that a series of virtually zero-cost self-affirmation writing exercises can reduce these adverse effects. In England, however, socioeconomic status (SES) is a much stronger predictor of academic success than is ethnic background.

AIMS

This study investigates whether self-affirmation writing exercises can help close the SES attainment gap in England by increasing the academic performance of low-SES (but not higher-SES) school students.

SAMPLE

Our sample consisted of students aged 11-14 in a secondary school in southern England (N = 562); of these, 128 were eligible for free school meals, a proxy for low SES.

METHODS

Students completed three short writing exercises throughout one academic year: those randomly assigned to an affirmed condition wrote about values that were important to them, and those assigned to a control condition wrote about a neutral topic.

RESULTS

On average, the low-SES students had lower academic performance and reported experiencing more stereotype threat than their higher-SES peers. The self-affirmation raised the academic performance of the low-SES students by 0.38 standard deviations but did not significantly affect the performance of the higher-SES students, thus reducing the SES performance gap by 62%. The self-affirmation also reduced the level of stress reported by the low-SES students.

CONCLUSIONS

The benefits of this virtually zero-cost intervention compare favourably with those of other interventions targeting the SES academic attainment gap.

Something Old and Something New: Future Directions in Vocational Research With People of Color in the United States

Vocational psychology scholarship has largely overlooked the work experiences of people of color. In this article, we present evidence that vocational research that addresses the work issues of people of color has been neglected in the key outlets for vocational research among vocational psychologists. We outline seven directions for research inquiry with people of color, namely using culturally sensitive research methods, increasing research on the effectiveness of career interventions, integrating interdisciplinary perspectives, merging psychological and educational science with vocational development, using intersectional approaches, examining collective mobility strategies and structural reforms, and assessing the impact of environmental disasters on long-term educational and work outcomes.

Expanding the interpretive power of psychological science by attending to culture

A lack of interpretive power (i.e., the ability to understand individuals' experiences and behaviors in relation to their cultural contexts) undermines psychology's understanding of diverse psychological phenomena. Building interpretive power requires attending to cultural influences in research. We describe three characteristics of research that lacks interpretive power: normalizing and overgeneralizing from behaviors and processes of people in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) contexts; making non-WEIRD people and processes invisible; and misapplying WEIRD findings in non-WEIRD contexts. We also describe research in which leveraging interpretive power prevented these negative consequences. Finally, using the culture-cycle framework, we outline a vision for creating culture change within psychology by implementing culture-conscious practices to guide the formation of research questions, empirical design, and data analysis and interpretation.