1,720,962 research outputs found
Subjective culturer, smoking, alcohol and the Internet dependence
Full text linkCross cultural, ethnographic, anthropological studies, as well as research in the field of developmental and cultural psychopathology, give evidence in support of the idea that “context” (interpersonal environment, conventional social structures, social norms, socio-economic variables, cultural factors) plays a main role in defining which expression of distress is accepted or sanctioned (Draguns, 1995; Gone & Kirmayer, 2010). Different studies show how acculturation plays an important role in the initiation and maintenance of a number of mental illnesses (Oei & Raylu, 2009).
According to the cultural standpoint, our work focuses on the role of the subjects’ cultures in many types of problematic repetitive behaviors, like smoking, alcohol and internet addictions.
The term “subjective culture” can be originally found in Triandis (1972, 2002). According to the author, subjective culture includes ideas about how to live properly and how to behave in relation to objects and people. However, whereas for the author subjective culture is a “characteristic way of perceiving its social environment" by society (Triandis, 1972, p. viii, 3), we recognize that many subjective cultures may be expressed within the same society (Venuleo, Salvatore, & Mossi, 2014; Venuleo, Mossi, & Salvatore, 2014; Venuleo & Marinaci, forthcoming).
Previous studies in the Italian context have already provided evidence that subjective cultures, through which people interpret their social environment, play a major role in differentiating heavy drinkers, as well as pathological gamblers, compared with a control group (Venuleo, Salvatore, & Mossi, 2014).
The current study assessed whether smoking dependent subjects express different subjective cultures compared with alcohol dependent subjects and internet dependent subjects.
Our hypothesis is that subjective cultures also play a role in differentiating various kinds of addiction, having different implications for individuals’ social adapting, Participants, recruited in three different contexts (public health services for the treatment of addiction, casino, undergraduate course) were subjected to the Cigarette Dependence Scale (CDS) (J-F. Etter, J. Le Houezec & T. V. Perneger 2003), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (World Health Organization 1993), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) (K. Young 1998), and the Questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (QUISE) (Mossi & Salvatore 2011), in order to investigate the subjective cultures.
Two different logistic regressions were applied in order to esteem the capability of the QUISE scores to differentiate smoking dependent subjects from alcohol dependent subjects and internet dependent subjects.
Consistent with the hypothesis, the results show that smoking dependent subjects express a different way of connoting the social environment, when compared with alcohol dependent and internet dependent subjects. The former depict the environment as positive and reliable, while the the latter depict it as negative and unreliable. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed
The concept of context in the field of addiction research. A review
Full text linkObjective: In the field of addiction research, the studies have typically focused on the identification of individual factors that affect the onset and maintenance of addictive behaviors. However, during the last 20 years, there has been a growing interest in the role of social and cultural factors and efforts have also been made to re-situate addicts in their social environment. The authors reviewed the literature on addictions with the purpose of investigating how scholars have conceptualized and incorporated contextual influences in their work.
Method: Studies investigating different aspects of the “context”, published in the period 2012-2014 in one of the most representative journal in the field, were analyzed.
Results: From a total of 126 studies examined, 14 macro-categories and 56 sub-categories were identified. Most of the articles identify the context with the socio-demographic variables, the exposition to addictive behaviors in the social environment and different social and familiar factors (like media influence, parental style, etc);
Conclusions: Currently, there is a huge variability in the way of defining and analyzing the role of context. Only few studies addressed the role of culture. The view of culture as the context-container to which individuals belong emerges, with a little recognition of the role of individuals in negotiating their cultural world and the meaning of their experience
Unplanned reaction or something else? The role of subjective cultures in hazardous and harmful drinking
Full text linkThis study compares the impact of levels of impulsivity and subjective cultures through which subjects interpret their experience of the social environment on the probability of hazardous and harmful alcohol use. A sample of 501 participants from Southern Italy completed a series of questionnaires in order to detect their subjective cultures and levels of impulsiveness (attentional, motor and non-planning). Moreover, alcohol consumption, drinking behavior, alcohol-related problems and adverse reactions during the past year were assessed. A sub-group of hazardous and harmful drinkers (n = 106; 21%) was identified and a healthy control group (n = 127; 25%) was selected. Members of the hazardous and harmful group view the social environment as a significantly more unreliable place, and also scored higher on motor impulsiveness and lower on non-planning impulsiveness. Discussion considers theoretical and clinical implications of the results
Subjective cultures of the social environment among problem gamblers, drinkers and internet users
No full textThe cultural context is widely cited as integral to understanding why people engage in behaviour that damages their health. Yet it is rarely the direct object of investigation in the field of addiction behaviour. The current study examines whether the subjective cultures through which subjects interpret the social environment play a role in increasing (or decreasing) the probability of problem gambling, drinking, and internet use.
The questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (ISE) (Mossi & Salvatore 2011) was used in order to detect the subject cultures in a whole sample of 771 participants, recruited in five different contexts (public Health service; Slot-machine room and Bingo center, Undergraduate courses; smoke shops and betting centers, Help Centre for immigrants and the disadvantaged).
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regressions were used to compare problem (both at risk and dependent) group and control for each of the three kinds of harmful behaviour under analysis on ISE scores of subjective culture.
The problem group of gamblers, drinkers and internet users show they differ from control as concerns the evaluation of the social environment. Whereas control groups tend to express trust in social norms and institutions, problem groups tend to perceive their social environment as lacking in rules, and thus as untrustworthy. Within this interpretative frame, to be "reasonable", to act "responsibly" does not appear a key for a person's social adaptation nor a key to acquire power over events and one’s own future.
The results suggest that the way people interpret their social environment might be a key area for a better understanding of harmful behaviour, with different critical effects on social adjustment; the knowledge of subjective cultures might provide valuable information in the development of healthcare strategies
L’IMMAGINE DELLA CONSULENZA PSICOLOGICA PRESSO I DOCENTI DELLA SCUOLA ITALIANA. UN PRE-TESTO PER RIFLETTERE SULLE DOMANDE DI INTERVENTO DEL TERRITORIO E LE ESIGENZE DELLA FORMAZIONE IN PSICOLOGIA
No full textRiconosciamo i modelli culturali con cui gli attori sociali rappresentano la consulenza psicologica come fattore regolativo delle forme di partecipazione al setting dell’intervento (Guidi et al. 2010; Guidi, Salvatore, 2012; Venuleo, Guidi, 2011). Il contributo presenta i risultati di uno studio volto a rilevare i modelli culturali della consulenza psicologica espressi dai docenti della scuola italiana. La ricerca ha utilizzato un questionario Venerdì 27 mattina - Simposi 39 costruito ad hoc, con una metodologia di matrice psicodinamica, la metodologia ISO (Carli, Salvatore, 2001). Lo strumento è stato somministrato a 829 insegnanti delle scuole primarie e superiori di I° e II° grado del Nord, Centro e Sud Italia. Le risposte ottenute sono state sottoposte ad Analisi delle Corrispondenze Multiple (ACM) e ad Analisi dei Cluster (AC). L’ACM ha consentito di identificare le due principali dimensioni simboliche che organizzano le risposte dei docenti. Una concerne la funzione psicologica (mediazione a supporto della relazione con l’utenza versus sviluppo della professionalità docente); l’altra l’utilità del servizio (valorizzazione versus svalutazione). L’AC ha permesso di identificare 5 profili di risposta, indicatori di altrettanti modelli culturali attivi entro la matrice simbolica rilevata. Essi riflettono una diversa simbolizzazione della funzione e dell’utilità della consulenza psicologica. In particolare, l’ancoraggio dell’intervento alle Marginalità (i singoli “alunni difficili”) e alla tecnicalità didattica sembra produrre come precipitato simbolico un deterioramento dell’immagine della consulenza. Si propone un confronto con l’immagine della funzione professionale emergente da studenti di psicologia all’inizio e alla fine del percorso universitario, con l’intento di riflettere sulla capacità dei corsi di laurea di promuovere un’identità professionale in grado di interagire con le domande del territorio e di promuoverne lo sviluppo
Discourses on Addiction among Gamblers and Drug Users in Treatment. An Analysis of the Interviews through Constrained Correspondence Analysis
No full textIn this paper, a study on 40 semi-structured interviews with users of the Italian health services and self-help groups is presented to gain a deeper insight on how members describe, understand, and face their problems with substance or behavioral addiction. A simple correspondence analysis (CA) was applied to the transcripts of the interviews to detect the main dimensions of sense which organize the users’ discourse about their problem and their request for help. In addition, constraint correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to evaluate whether these dimensions are affected by the kind of help context the users belong to, type of addiction, age, and gender. No substantial differences emerged from CA and CCA. Results show that the users’ discourses focus on two different kinds of experience: the substance or gambling problem and the experience of being helped. Furthermore, dis/similarity in the user discourses concerns the way of symbolizing the problem motivating the request for help, identified with the addiction or with the breakup of one’s family and social relationships. Through the interviews, a view of addiction as a disorder affects the way users define their problem and define the goal of the treatment
Towards a cultural understanding of addictive behaviours. The image of the social environment among problem gamblers, drinkers, internet users and smokers.
No full textThe current study examines whether cultural differences in the way of interpreting the social environment affect the probability of different kinds of addictive behaviours. Subjective cultures of the social environment were detected through the questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (ISE) in a convenience sample of 771 participants from Italy. Problem gambling, drinking, internet use and smoking were assessed. A problem group was identified and a healthy group was selected for each of the four kinds of harmful behaviours. Logistic regressions were used to compare problem groups and control on ISE scores of subjective cultures. Problem groups of gamblers, drinkers and internet users were found to differ from control in their evaluation of the social environment, which they considered very unreliable. The problem group of smokers differs from control in their relationship with the social environment, viewed as an anomic place. The findings support the idea that subjective cultures associated with a critical image of the social environment, disparaging social ties and the rules of living together, are more likely to be associated to a maladaptive pattern of behaviour, as addiction can be understood
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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