Culture as an influence on sexting attitudes and behaviors: A differential analysis comparing adolescents from Spain and Colombia

This study analyses the prevalence of sexting and the reasons and attitudes associated with its practice in adolescents with different cultural backgrounds (Colombia and Spain). The sample is made up of 489 Spaniards and 510 Colombians aged between 13 and 18 years. The results show that sexting is strongly influenced by gender and the country, in favor of men and Colombians respectively. The interaction between gender and country establishes that in Spain women and men practice sexting equally, while in Colombia men practice much more sexting than women. Although the practice of sexting increases progressively with age, the levels are higher among Colombian adolescents, especially after 15 years. According to the results, although both groups present a high risk for sexting, socio-cultural aspects and gender constitute differential variables to be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is necessary to design preventive strategies including cultural differences in relation to the sexuality.     

Centering Transborder Students: Perspectives on Identity,Languaging and Schooling Between the U.S. and Mexico

Undocumented families' rates of repatriation to Mexico from the United States have risen throughout the Obama administration, and this trend will likely increase under Donald Trump. This study describes the experiences of Mexican-born youth who grew up in the United States and are back in Mexico. While these children are participants in their families' migration, their input is rarely sought in decisions to leave or return to a country. This article shares transborder students' voices on their struggles to find their identities as Mexican, American, or some combination of the two. They reflect on their schooling experiences across countries, and how these challenges are compounded when they are new to learning in Spanish or indigenous languages in Mexico.     

Comment on Hanasaki Kohei: decolonalization and the assumption of war responsibility

Abstract

The first Asian Lesbian Film and Video Festival, held in Taipei in August 2005, brought forth media art, social activism and cultural exchange on one occasion. It provided a rare opportunity to showcase the experience of Asian lesbians, which is vastly different from the experience of those in Western countries. While there were great similarities in their love experiences among the 36 Asian lesbian shorts selected, they also reflected the differences among the Asian countries in terms of local development of tongzhi culture and community as well as the visibility of tongzhis. Among the Chinese communities, Taiwan was seen to be at the forefront of the development of tongzhi culture, Mainland China was new to the movement, and Hong Kong was somewhere in‐between. Japanese and Korean videos took a critical and reflective attitude towards social regulations and mainstream thoughts, although witty and farcical at times. While the Filipinos show a more tolerant attitude to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community, the major oppressive forces on lesbians were poverty, gender inequality and sexual violence. Only one Israeli documentary was shown at the film festival, which focused on lesbians living in the Jewish Orthodox traditions. The film won international acclaim and attracted much public attention to the issue. Films and videos were found to be an effective means to transcend language barriers and cultural differences for a true cross‐cultural exchange among Asian lesbians. During the few days of festival, a ‘queer nation’, not defined by nationalities or languages, but by the pursuit of love expressions, was constructed around The Taipei House.     

Team processes, team conflict, team outcomes, and gender: An examination of U.S. and Mexican learning teams

Team learning is growing rapidly in popularity in United States (U.S.) and Mexican universities. This instructional approach consists of using learning teams in which participants are required to work together regularly for a semester period of time and produce evaluated team outcomes. These team outcomes, along with their individual performance, have a significant impact on each individual's final assessment. We compare team processes, team conflict, team outcomes, and gender interaction in Mexican and U.S. student teams. U.S. teams report more team-oriented behavior and more cohesiveness, and Mexican teams report more self-oriented behavior and more conflict. Nationality (United States or Mexico) has a moderating effect on the relationship between gender heterogeneity and cohesiveness and conflict. Suggestions are given for applications and future research.     

Managerial characteristics, operational observations, and small business performance: A comparison of US and Mexican ventures

To contribute to our cross-cultural understanding of small business ventures, we investigate manager reports of small business effectiveness in the United States and Mexico. We examine the influence of organizational policies, managerial characteristics, and managerial process observations on reports of business effectiveness. Data were gathered from ventures in both countries, and results showed differences in interpersonal processes, business structure, and gender. Implications for future research are given.     

Is cultural group representation a fair option? Adolescents’ evaluations of forms of decision-making in multicultural Mauritius

Social psychological research on multiculturalism has mostly looked at recognition of differences and much less at equitable participation. The present study investigated adolescents’ fairness judgements of three democratic decision-making procedures (representative democracy, equal group representation, and proportional group representation) and one nondemocratic procedure (cultural group oligarchy) among Hindu (N = 844), Muslim (N = 630) and Creole (N = 310) adolescents in Mauritius. We examined these judgements in two different contexts (i.e. school and national), and in relation to ethnic group identification, age and gender. Results show that representative democracy was viewed as the fairest decision-making procedure and cultural group oligarchy as the most unfair one. The group representation procedures were judged as relatively unfair although there were significant differences by ethnic group, age and gender. Strength of ethnic identification was linked to higher fairness ratings of democratic group representation procedures. The results are discussed in terms of morality, group positions and ideological representations of the Mauritian nation.     

Cultural differences in the perception of critical interaction behaviors in global virtual teams

We investigated whether members of virtual teams from the U.S., India, and Belgium perceived the same interaction behaviors to be critical for team functioning as Dutch members from an earlier study. Thirteen virtual team workers from the U.S., 11 from India, and 11 from Belgium were interviewed by means of the Critical Incident Technique Flanagan [Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51, 327–358]. The total number of critical incidents from all countries was 493 and most incidents could be grouped into the same 13 categories as those found in the original Dutch study. However, the results showed that the distributions of the critical incidents from the American, Indian, and Belgian respondents differed from those of the Dutch. Indian and Belgian respondents also mentioned a new category of critical incidents: Respectfulness. The cultural differences were interpreted by means of Hofstede's [Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.: SAGE Publications] dimensions.     

Are there cultural differences in learning style?

This study examines the role that culture plays in the way individuals learn. Experiential learning theory is used to describe the learning process and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory is used to assess differences in how individuals learn. Using the framework for categorizing cultural differences from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) study, national cultures are examined by cultural clusters and individual cultural dimensions. The first part of the study assesses the relative influence of culture in comparison to gender, age, level of education and area of specialization of 533 respondents born in and currently residing in 7 nations. We found that a significant portion of the variance in the preference for abstract conceptualization was explained by culture, gender, level of education and area of specialization. The variability in preference for active experimentation over reflective observation was accounted for by age and area of specialization. The impact of culture was only marginally significant. In the second part of the study where we examined the influence of individual culture dimensions in shaping the learning style preferences, we discovered that individuals tend to have a more abstract learning style in countries that are high in in-group collectivism, institutional collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, future orientation and gender egalitarianism. Individuals may have a more reflective learning style in countries that are high in in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and assertiveness.     

The role of cultural pressures and group favouritism in shaping Syrian refugees’ identity in the Jordanian work environment

This study seeks to understand the cultural inclusion/exclusion practices that Syrian refugees encounter in the Jordanian work environment, explore whether an ingroup (Jordanian) over outgroup (Syrian refugees) favouritism exists and how such favouritism reshapes Syrian refugees’ social identity in this new environment. Drawing on qualitative-semi structured interviews with 12 Syrian refugees in Jordan, the study highlights different multi-layered cultural exclusion/inclusion practices that Syrian refugees in Jordan face. Through a combined underpinning of social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and the acculturation framework (Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2006), the study reports how these practices re-shape Syrian refugees’ identity around vocational skills. We go beyond the basic types of discrimination against refugees (e.g., gender, race, religion) to highlight economic and legal restrictions as important promoters of cultural exclusion despite the strong cultural cohesion factors. This highlights the significant role of community and societal practices that can go beyond cultural differences between groups, and extend our understanding of SIT.     

Behavior and emotional problems among Jamaican children and adolescents: an epidemiological survey of parent, teacher, and self-reports for ages 6–18 years

The study compared general population samples of Jamaican children ages 6–18 years, via Jamaican versions of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) parent-, teacher-, and self-report forms. Repeated measures ANOVAs with informant as a repeated measures factor, assessed base-rate problem score differences according to children’s area of residence (i.e., urban vs rural), gender, and age. No between subjects residence effects emerged for total problem score. However, adolescents self-reported higher total problem scores compared to the ratings they received from their parents and teachers. No gender total problem score effects emerged for any of the three informants, but girls received higher internalizing, and Somatic Complaints scores. Similar total problem scores across genders, and the high ratio of boys to girls in clinic samples suggest that Jamaican girls may not be receiving adequate services. Age X within subjects interactions revealed higher teacher reported problem scores for young adolescents, reflecting possible developmental changes within the classroom context and teachers’ low thresholds toward these problems. The d statistic revealed base rate syndrome, internalizing, externalizing, and total problem score differences in most Jamaican vs US sub-samples. In addition to the non-CBCL problems observed in earlier studies, these findings clearly indicate a need to ascertain syndrome structure and other psychometric properties of the Jamaican instruments.     

The mediating effect of sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence on citizens and migrants: Impact on perceptions of country images

Reports indicate that international migration patterns will continue to grow between 50 and 60 million per decade. Consequently, people’s perceptions of a country’s image will evolve. Country image is an important phenomenon affecting organizations and people’s decisions to travel, invest, study, migrate, and many more. Hence, this study aims to examine the influence of global and local identity on citizens’ and migrants’ perceptions of their countries’ images. In addition, the paper investigates the mediating effect of lower sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence on a country’s image. Our sample is drawn from Indonesians and Australians who completed survey questionnaires in the two countries. The sample comprises citizens and migrants (n = 1188) from Australia and Indonesia. The results show local and global identity differences in how individuals perceive other countries. For Indonesians, local identity makes people perceive Australia more positively. In contrast, for Australians, global identity makes people perceive Indonesia more negatively. Furthermore, the results indicate the importance of cultural intelligence over sociocultural adaptation. This paper will make several theoretical and managerial contributions. First, the paper contributes to cultural and identity literature. Individuals’ perceptions of a country are influenced by their identity and values. Second, this study shows the importance of sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence. Mere identity (global or local) is insufficient to justify the relationship between identity and perception of a country.     

The social stratification of theatre,dance and cinema attendance

In current sociological literature the relationship between social inequality and patterns of cultural taste and consumption is the subject of a large and complex debate. In this paper the primary aim is to examine, in the light of empirical results from a research project in which the authors are presently engaged, three main, and rival, positions that have been taken up in this debate, here labelled as the ‘homology’, the ‘individualization’ and the ‘omnivore–univore’ arguments. Elsewhere, we have concentrated on musical consumption in England, and find evidence that is broadly supportive of the omnivore–univore argument. Here we ask whether such findings are confirmed in the case of theatre, dance and cinema attendance. A secondary aim of the paper is to bring to the attention of practitioners in the field of cultural policy and administration the need to address the issues that arise through the use of more powerful methods of data analysis than those often applied in the past. We explain how indicators of theatre, dance and cinema attendance derived from the Arts in England survey of 2001 can be subject to analysis so as to reveal two distinctive patterns of attendance and, in turn, two distinctive types of consumer—who can, it turns out, be regarded as omnivores and univores, even if with some qualification. The former have relatively high rates of attendance at all kinds of the events covered, including musicals and pantomimes as well as plays and ballet, while the latter tend to be cinema-goers only, that is, non-consumers of theatre and dance. A range of measures of social inequality are then introduced into the authors' analyses, including separate measures of social class and social status and also of educational level and income, and it is further shown that, again in conformity with the omnivore–univore argument, these two types of consumer are socially stratified. Omnivores are of generally higher social status than univores and also have usually higher levels of education and higher income than do univores (the latter finding marking the main difference with musical consumption, which was unaffected by income once other stratification variables were controlled). In sum, our results for theatre, dance and cinema attendance lend, overall, further support to the omnivore–univore argument as against its rivals, but also indicate that different aspects of social inequality impact on different forms of cultural consumption in varying degrees and probably through largely separate processes.     

Adolescents’ future wishes and fears in their acculturation process

In this study we aim at learning about adolescents’ future fears and wishes from different cultural origins with a view to finding implications for intervention in the furthering of their satisfaction and social integration in their acculturation process. The study sample comprised 938 secondary school students—64.4% Spanish, 19.7% South American and 12.8% African. Wishes and fears were evaluated by means of two open questions and the answers were categorized following traditional content analysis methodology. Results show that the adolescents wish for a satisfactory job, family and economic situation, and that they are concerned about aspects such as their own health and that of their family, the possibility of having a precarious job, isolation from their family of origin, and not forming a family. The findings also allow us to give differential profiles according to the cultural origin of the adolescents.     

Patterns of inequality in private funding of culture across the UK

By calculating an additively decomposable inequality measure following the lines of Shorrocks (1980; see Econometrica, 48(3)) we are able to evaluate regional disparities in private funding of cultural enterprises in the UK in a novel way. The country-wide index of inequality separates funding differences across regions from disparities within regions. Using data on private investment in UK cultural organisations, we consider three datasets: the first includes 139 organisations between 1993 and 2005; the second includes 573 organisations between 2002 and 2005; the third includes 898 organisations between 2005 and 2006. Differences among the 12 UK regions account for between a quarter and a third of overall funding inequalities. The largest contributor to funding inequality of cultural institutions in the UK is the degree of heterogeneity among cultural organisations within each region. We find that successful private fundraising is not significantly associated with the region where the organisation operates or with the particular cultural expression object of its activity. These are significant findings for cultural policymakers working on addressing issues of regional concentration of culture and diversifying sources of funding for the sector.     

Linguistic intergroup bias tells ingroup/outgroup orientation of bicultural Asian Americans

Traditional studies of ethnic relations focus on racialization between Whites and Blacks, or ethnic stratification between Whites and people of color. This study aims at broadening conventional studies of interethnic relations to examine racial attitudes among people who have internalized more than one culture – i.e., the biculturals and multiculturals. Social psychological research suggests that bicultural individuals are capable of switching between two cultural meaning frames depending on contextual demands. Bicultural individuals vary in how well they integrate the two cultural identities internalized in them – i.e., their bicultural identity integration levels (BII levels). Their BII levels lead to either culturally congruent or culturally incongruent behaviors among bicultural individuals. The underlying assumption of linguistic intergroup bias indicates that people tend to describe more abstractly observed positive ingroup behaviors and negative outgroup behaviors and describe more concretely observed negative ingroup behaviors and positive outgroup behaviors. In this study, bicultural Asian American participants are hypothesized to use language of either higher or lower abstraction to describe actions of positive and negative valence performed by either ethnic Asians or European Americans depending on the cultural priming they received and their BII levels. The demonstrated pattern of ingroup enhancement and outgroup derogation of the bicultural participants point out the perceived ingroup/outgroup orientation of these biculturals towards their coethnics and people of the mainstream culture. Effects of the cultural priming and impact of BII levels are also discussed.     

Cultural similarity and adjustment of expatriate academics

The findings of a number of recent empirical studies of business expatriates, using different samples and methodologies, seem to support the counter-intuitive proposition that cultural similarity may be as difficult to adjust to as cultural dissimilarity. However, it is not obvious that these results also are applicable to other groups of expatriates. To explore this eventuality, an electronic survey was directed towards expatriate academics in 34 universities in five European countries. For the purpose of this study, they were sorted into two groups, expatriate academics from EU countries and non-EU countries. Results showed that although the perceived cultural similarity between host and home country for the two groups of investigated respondents was different, there was neither any difference in their adjustment nor in the time it took for them to become proficient. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

National pride,social trust,and cultural nativism: Findings from East and Southeast Asia

Using the latest (fourth) wave of Asian Barometer Survey (2014–2016), this study examines how national pride and two types of trust (general and particular) are related to nativist preference (cultural nativism), independent of anti-immigration attitudes, among citizens in East and Southeast Asian countries. Findings from multilevel models show that, at the individual level, national pride and particular trust are positively related to cultural nativism, while general trust is negatively related. At the subnational-regional level, we also find significant contextual effects. Living in geographic areas with greater national pride is positively associated with nativist preference, as is residency in places with higher levels of particular trust. In contrast, residency in subnational contexts with higher levels of general trust is negatively associated. Finally, the association between national pride and cultural nativism is stronger in regions with greater contextual national pride.     

Do managers and students share the same perceptions of societal culture?

This article explores the notions of convergence and divergence in respect of societal cultural practices and values within and across Austria and the Republic of Ireland, by comparing samples of middle managers and students on nine dimensions of culture. In the context of globalization, we consider whether there is evidence of cultural convergence across the Austrian and Irish samples or if the data of the two countries remain distinct (country effect). We also ask whether differences between managers and students can be attributed to cohort/age effects. Our findings suggest that there is some convergence, but also that the country effect is more dominant than the cohort/age effect for both practices and values. High within-country consistency exists in respect of practices between Irish students and managers and between Austrian students and managers. For values, there is evidence of convergence across all four sub-samples on four cultural dimensions, namely Power Distance, Gender Egalitarianism, Collectivism I and Future Orientation. We discuss whether the dynamics underlying such convergence can be attributed to cultural change, generational differences and/or an idealized worldview held by the younger generation.     

Perceived negative political climate among Hispanic/Latino adolescents before and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election: Associations with internalizing symptoms and substance use

The political climate often changes following the installment of a new president. This volatility presents opportunities for examining how elections might affect vulnerable subgroups such as Hispanic/Latino (HL) adolescents. The present study explored the perception of negative political climate among HL adolescents before and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election and its association with internalizing symptoms and substance use. We conducted the study in Los Angeles and Miami between 2020 and 2021, with a sample of 304 HL adolescents (Females = 60.8 %), aged 15.3 years on average. Participants completed measures of negative political climate (pre- post-election) and measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety, substance misuse, and substance use intentions after the election. We used paired tests and linear mixed-effects modeling to explore changes in perceived negative climate before and after the election. Structural equation modeling was used to determine predictors of negative political climate and its associations with internalizing symptoms and substance use. Results indicated that following the election negative political climate increased significantly in Miami and among Cuban-origin adolescents but not in Los Angeles or among Mexican-origin adolescents. Pre-election perceived negative political climate was significantly predicted by gender, study site, and mother’s nativity. Pre-election negative political climate predicted post-election internalizing symptoms and substance use intentions indirectly through post-election negative political climate. HL youth’s perceived political climate is a complex construct that might vary across different sociopolitical contexts and populational sub-groups. Exploring variations in politically-based cultural stressors and their role as mental health and substance use risk factors is crucial to addressing HL disparities.     

The Engagement of Transnationals in Mexican University Classrooms: Points of Entry Toward Recognition Among Future English Teachers

For better or worse, English continues to expand as the commonly shared lingua franca throughout the world. With an increasing movement of transnational students—armed with English and flowing across borders—three university professors discuss their pedagogies and ways of knowing as they engage transnational students inside Mexican university classrooms for future teachers of English. Situated at an interior Mexican public university, each of them explores their unique positioning and the ways they taught transnational students. One is a transnational Mexican-American instructor; another is a researcher of transnationalism historically based in the U.S., and the other co-author is a Mexican national who learned English as a second language and has witnessed the rapidly changing population of students in the interior of Mexico. Toward the aim of improving the way transnationals access and experience formal education, they provide recommendations for improving pedagogy and expanding research.