Search Results (28)

Latinos/as are the largest ethnic group in the U.S. and are a continuous source of population growth. Therefore, their health and quality of life are important public health concerns. Acculturation is an important determinant of health for Latinos/as. However, few studies examine models identifying determinants of acculturation along with its relationship to other social and health behaviors. The current study uses social network data from a sample of crowdsourced recruited Latinos/as (N = 300) to examine a structural model between network acculturation, psychological acculturation, social capital, help-seeking, and quality of life (QoL). The model posits several paths through which social networks (i.e., network acculturation) relate to acculturation and other model variables. Directly, network acculturation was found to be significantly related to Latino/a enculturation (−0.83, p = 0.002) and White American Acculturation (0.47, p = 0.003). Latino/a enculturation was related to help-seeking (0.21, p = 0.029) and social capital (0.36, p < 0.001), while White American acculturation was only related to social capital (0.35, p = 0.003). Social capital demonstrated a robust relationship with help-seeking (0.48, p = 0.004) and QoL (0.96, p = 0.003). The findings suggest that determinants of acculturation (i.e., network acculturation) are meaningful contributors to psychological acculturation and other variables relating to Latino/as’ QoL. Full article

U.S. Latino/a college students face distinct stressors, including acculturative stress and enculturative stress, impacting their capacity to engage in prosocial behaviors (voluntary actions benefiting others). Cultural stress can deplete resources essential to engaging in altruistic acts (selflessly motivated helping), yet it can also stimulate selfishly motivated prosocial behaviors. The present study examines how cultural adjustment stressors and cultural identity relate to prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino/a college students. A sample of 1450 U.S. Latino/a college students (M age = 19.7 years; SD = 1.61; 75.4% women) completed an online survey assessing their levels of enculturative and acculturative stress, ethnic and U.S. identity, and altruistic and public prosocial behaviors. A path analysis revealed that higher enculturative stress is associated with lower ethnic identity, which, in turn, predicts increased public prosocial behaviors. Conversely, acculturative stress is linked with higher ethnic identity, leading to elevated public prosocial behaviors. The discussion underscores the importance of mitigating culture-related stress that can stem from home and U.S. society to enhance the well-being of U.S. Latino/as. Full article

This article examines the phenomenon whereby ‘professionalism’ is used as a concept in higher education (HE), specifically regarding HE’s relationships with professions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We examine the implications for human development arising from the influence of professionalism in HE, presenting the qualitative interpretations of second-career academics, a term we use to describe university teaching staff recruited for their prior industrial experience in STEM professions. Using a phenomenographic approach, we examine the conception of second-career academics and how professionalism influences educational policy and practice in HE. We present four successively inclusive conceptions of experiences, with professionalism expressed as making normative judgements of students’ interactions and behaviours, negotiating those interactions and behaviours with students, critiquing the professional applicability of curricula and activities, and changing those curricula and activities to suit the needs of STEM professions. These conceptions expose challenges related to policy and practice and the roles undertaken by second-career academics, including their enculturation of students into the normative expectations of STEM professions, their influence on the apparent correspondence between HE and work in STEM, and their marketing of STEM professions inside HE. Full article

This article discusses the enculturated Catholic ethics of martyrdom embodied by the Martyrs of Fraternity of Burundi, a group of students whose cause is now before the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints for refusing to separate into Hutus and Tutsis during Burundi’s 1993–2005 civil war. Engaging Fratelli Tutti from a local African perspective, it considers how the conviction that all human beings are brothers and sisters is to find concrete embodiment. Its argument develops Emmanuel Katongole’s assertion that the African church provides a living witness of what hope looks like in contexts of violence and war, drawing on Burundian scholarship and more than sixty interviews conducted in Burundi from 2018 to 2024 to develop a thick narrative of fraternal martyrdom and the ethics of Ubuntu. By placing sacrificial solidarity rather than violence at the center of the story of the Martyrs of Fraternity, Burundian Catholics reimagine their civil war in ethical terms. This Burundian embodiment of an ethics of sacrificial solidarity, solidly grounded in its original cultural substratum, stands as a resource for a world increasingly engulfed by war, refusing to let violence have the last word in a story of fraternal love hallowed by sacrifice. Full article

Acculturation/enculturation has been found to impact childhood health and obesity status. The objective of this study is to use cross-sectional data to examine the association between proxies of adult/caregiver acculturation/enculturation and child health status (Body Mass Index [BMI], waist circumference [WC], and acanthosis nigricans [AN]) in the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI), Alaska, and Hawaiʻi. Study participants were from the Children’s Healthy Living (CHL) Program, an environmental intervention trial and obesity prevalence survey. Anthropometric data from 2–8 year olds and parent/caregiver questionnaires were used in this analysis. The results of this study (n = 4121) saw that those parents/caregivers who identified as traditional had children who were protected against overweight/obesity (OWOB) status and WC > 75th percentile (compared to the integrated culture identity) when adjusted for significant variables from the descriptive analysis. AN did not have a significant association with cultural classification. Future interventions in the USAPI, Alaska, and Hawaiʻi may want to focus efforts on parents/caregivers who associated with an integrated cultural group as an opportunity to improve health and reduce child OWOB prevalence. Full article

This study presented a positive deviant case: a Swedish hard-to-staff school which has had a low rate of teacher turnover over time. In line with the purpose of studying positive deviance in organisations, our exploratory inquiry was geared towards understanding how and why ‘at-risk’ teachers, i.e., teachers who teach in subjects which are known to have high levels of staffing difficulties in Sweden, stayed at this particular school. Using a modified grounded theory approach, our results suggested that teachers remained at the school due to being embedded in a protective professional community that was enculturated by different expressions of collegiality. Finally, these findings are discussed in relation to the theoretical concepts of teachers’ job embeddedness and social capital. Full article

Background: Diasporic Indigenous peoples of Mexico living in the United States continue to survive and reclaim their cultures despite multiple disruptions to identity formation resulting from systematic violence and cultural silencing enacted through white settler colonialism in the United States and Mexico. Honoring Indigenous survivance, the authors present a conceptual model of Indigenous identity healing and reformation that mirrors the dynamic qualities of water for Indigenous Mexican peoples living in the United States. Methods: The conceptual model arose from a ceremony-based, participatory, digital archiving project documenting Indigenous oral histories. The model is illustrated through case analysis of three Indigenous Mexican individuals living in the United States whose stories holistically represent the model’s components. Results: The case narratives illustrate how Indigenous Mexican identities are (re)formed by moving through the model components of Rift (disconnection from land, culture, and community), Longing (yearning to find what was lost), Reconnecting (reclaiming cultural practices), and Affirmation (strengthening of identity through community), via Reflection (memory work which propels movement through each stage). Conclusions: Findings suggest that identities can be (re)formed through reclaiming cultural practices and reconnecting with the community. This conceptual model may be useful for further understanding Indigenous Latinx identity development and healing. Full article

Rates of suicidality amongst Indigenous Peoples are linked to historical and ongoing settler-colonialism including land seizures, spiritual oppression, cultural disconnection, forced enculturation, and societal alienation. Consistent with decolonial practices, Indigenous voices and perspectives must be centered in the development and evaluation of suicide prevention programs for Indigenous Peoples in the United States to ensure efficacy. The current study is a meta-synthesis of qualitative research on suicide prevention among Indigenous populations in the United States. Findings reveal little evidence for the centering of participant voices within existing suicide prevention programs. Applied thematic analysis of synthesis memos developed for each article in the final sample surfaced four primary themes: (1) support preferences; (2) challenges to suicide prevention; (3) integration of culture as prevention; and (4) grounding relationships in prevention. The need for culturally centered programming and the inadequacy of ‘pan-Indian’ approaches are highlighted. Sub-themes with respect to resiliency, kinship connection, and safe spaces to share cultural knowledge also emerge. Implications of this work to further the decolonization of suicide prevention and aid in the promotion of culturally grounded prevention science strategies are discussed. Full article

In a precarious occupation, martial arts instructors must be inspiring and build a shared philosophy. Drawing on Taijiquan and Capoeira, which have their philosophical or epistemological roots in Asia and Africa, this article explores core concepts that feature in students’ enculturation. These concepts are grounded in epistemologies contrasting with Papineau’s work on popular and elite sport, Knowing the Score. More specifically, the philosophical approach used builds upon Papineau’s chapters on focus, cheating and racism, although these martial practices are not grounded in the Judeo-Christian Western epistemologies underlying Papineau’s thinking. Indeed, one of the attractions for Western Capoeira and Taijiquan students is precisely their “strange” or exotic philosophical concepts driving specific pedagogical practices. Ethnographic fieldwork in Britain and written and oral accounts of embodied expertise are used to explore the practical uses of these non-Western epistemologies by teachers to build shared cultures for their students. Specifically, we examine the concepts of axé (life force) and malicia (artful trickery) in Capoeira, noting its contrast to Western ideas of energy and fair play. We then examine Taijiquan and the concepts of song (鬆 or “letting go”) and ting (听 or “focused listening”), considering the movement skill of systematic relaxation and the focus on specific components of human anatomy and body technique among adults unlearning embodied tension built throughout their lives. We close with considerations for projects examining the diverse, alternative southern, non-Western, and potentially decolonial and subaltern epistemologies in such martial activities. Full article

More and more, educational researchers have advocated for the implementation of socio-scientific issues (SSI) education. To understand the current situation of, and future development trends in, social science issues-based education research, a content analysis method was used to review articles from SSI education research publications from 2004–2022. A total of 580 research publications were identified for content analysis through a keyword search in Web of Science. The basic characteristics of, and hot topics and future development trends in SSI education research were summarized based on the research analysis, including basic information (including the number of publications, journals, titles, and authors), and the coding of the research information (including the research participants, research methods, research topics, and research fields) in the articles. The results show that the number of publications has been increasing year by year, and the journal with the most publications is the International Journal of Science Education, while Science & Education has the fastest growing number of published articles. Researchers from the United States account for the largest number of authors of articles, and the focus has mainly been on research participants in K–12 education. The research methods are mainly qualitative or mixed research methods, and the research topics mainly focus on the teaching value and significance of social science issues, and the application and introduction of social science issues in subject teaching. The annual number of publications shows a significant increasing trend, while the teaching values and significance of SSI education, such as argumentation, reasoning, decision-making skills, and critical thinking, are hot topics. SSI teaching mainly focuses on environmental issues, and emphasizes the concept of sustainability. This study provides comprehensive discussions around both the basic information and research information, offering valuable insights into the current state of, and future trends in, SSI education research. It is particularly beneficial for individuals new to the SSI education field, and those with an interest in SSI. Full article

Cyberattack prevention factors have a significant impact on the perception of social and moral values in the business context. Despite leaders’ significant role in encouraging and enculturating cybersecurity practices in their organizations, there is a noticeable gap in the literature to highlight empirically how leaders and top management in organizations foster organizational cybersecurity. Therefore, this study aims to explore the role of cybersecurity leadership in financial organizations in preventing cyberattacks and investigate other human and non-technical factors related to the individual in financial organizations. Based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), the research framework was developed with the tallying of new variables focusing on the role of an organization’s cybersecurity leadership, training frequency, and the role of government frequent alerting. This research employed a quantitative research method. The data were collected through a questionnaire from 310 financial executive officers from selected banks in UAE that use digital technology to enhance their daily banking operations. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), the results indicated (1) a significant association between all investigated independent variables and cybersecurity leadership through hypothesis (H8–H14); (2) cybersecurity leadership mediates the relationship between investigated independent variables and cyberattack prevention, from hypothesis (H15, and H16–H22); (3) no significant association between investigated independent variables and cyberattack prevention from hypothesis (H1–H6), except hypothesis (H4 and H7), which show a significant association. The coefficient of cybersecurity leadership in this study is viewed as a prevention element against cyberattacks based on the findings. With greater cybersecurity leadership success, the implementation of cyberattack prevention increases. This study emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity leadership in a cyberspace environment that protects against cyberattacks and promotes cybersecurity awareness within financial organizations and society in UAE. Full article

Smart destinations require a management system that provides convenient real-time use of digital technology in creating, communicating, and delivering value to visitors. Research related to smart island destinations is still limited, let alone those that utilize blockchain technology to create the smartness of the destination. This research is an empirical study that captures the perceptions of stakeholders in the blue economy on smart islands and the use of blockchain technology in order to build smart islands, a destination that consists of many islands that lack connectedness, such as the Seribu Islands in Jakarta, Indonesia. Data were collected using qualitative and quantitative approaches (mixed methods). Qualitative data were collected from scientific journal publications and followed up with VOS viewer analysis, and quantitative data with the questionnaire survey responses from 150 blue economy industry players in the Seribu Islands and structural equation modeling showed that good digital literacy and blue economy management have significant influence on blockchain technology and impact smart islands. This study indicates that, for islands that have challenges in accessibility and connectivity, the presence of blockchain and smart technology is needed to integrate various resources from each stakeholder so that the blue economy in the islands can be developed more effectively and efficiently, while at the same time ensuring the achievement of sustainability. Full article

Much research on migrants has focused on single individuals; however, the large-scale movement of people from one society to another often includes families made up of parents, their children and other relatives. Over time, these families and their members settle into their new society; they experience the process of acculturation and eventually adapt to their new circumstances. The processes of acculturation and adaptation are highly variable across cultural groups, societies of settlement, families and individuals. Sometimes this process is challenging, and may engender disagreements and conflicts among members of a family about how to acculturate. Variations in these patterns allow for the examination of which acculturation experiences and strategies lead to better adaptations. This paper reviews some of the core concepts and frameworks for examining them, and presents some findings on how families and youth acculturate and adapt. It concludes with some suggestions for how to acculturate using the integration strategy to improve family and individual adaptations. Full article

Culture has traditionally been considered as a set of knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, norms, and morals, acquired by a human being as a member of a group. Some anthropologists interpret this as a set of abstract representations, such as information or knowledge, while others interpret it as behavioral control mechanisms. These views assume that the contents of a particular culture must be processed by the minds of individuals, either in a direct way or by resorting to learned mental structures in processes of symbolic socialization. Some critics suggest a problem with these perspectives since they do not provide a convincing explanation of the enculturation process beyond metaphorical images of transfer or internalization of symbolic cultural contents through linguistic transmission. The new embodied theories of cognition, especially enactivism, could give new ideas about what enculturation processes are like, through the concept of participatory sense-making in material culture environments. In this essay, we discuss how an enactive vision of culture could be, and what advantages it would have, as well as the challenges and weaknesses in explaining the culture and its learning processes. Full article

Using games to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can enhance the quality of education. The idea of using digital games to increase individual interest towards STEM has been implemented as gaming technology has evolved in the 21st century. A correlation exists between using digital games and the learning outcomes which suggests that incorporating digital games may develop interest; however, the theoretical discussion on how interest may be developed with digital games remains inconclusive, thus, resulting in the need for further discussion. Hence, we aim to contribute with a discussion on how STEM digital games can develop individual interest in STEM. Previous studies on digital games in the STEM education context support the arguments presented in this study, therefore, there is a high probability that STEM digital games develop interest. Nevertheless, this can only be achieved with a good STEM game design and defining what is a good STEM game design is subjective. Several elements can be used as indicators to describe the quality of a design. These include the pedagogical learning content and the inclusion of fun elements within a design. Therefore, we propose the integration of theories with pedagogy, learning strategies, STEM learning content, game elements, and game principles design to ensure the presence of a three-layer process to develop interest. The creativity of game designers and developers is key to creating appealing STEM digital games providing young players with an inspiring experience. Full article